Diddington
village in Cambridgeshire, England, UK
Diddington is a small village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. Diddington lies approximately 5 miles (8 km) south-west of Huntingdon, near Buckden. Diddington is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire as well as being a historic county of England. Its population at the time of the 2011 census was 139.
History
In 1085 William the Conqueror ordered that a survey should be carried out across his kingdom to discover who owned which parts and what it was worth. The survey took place in 1086 and the results were recorded in what, since the 12th century, has become known as the Domesday Book. Starting with the king himself, for each landholder within a county there is a list of their estates or manors; and, for each manor, there is a summary of the resources of the manor, the amount of annual rent that was collected by the lord of the manor both in 1066 and in 1086, together with the taxable value.
Diddington was listed in the Domesday Book in the Hundred of Toseland in Huntingdonshire; the name of the settlement was written as Dodinctun and Dodintone in the Domesday Book. In 1086 there were two manors at Diddington; the annual rent paid to the lords of the manors in 1066 had been £5 and the rent had increased to £6.5 in 1086.
The Domesday Book does not explicitly detail the population of a place but it records that there was 14 households at Diddington.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Diddington” as village in Cambridgeshire, England, UK. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as village in Cambridgeshire, England, UK. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2120015. Authority coordinates are 52.270, -0.250. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2011, 1085, 1086 and 1066.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Diddington”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Diddington primary sources, Diddington archive and Diddington research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Diddington”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Diddington” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.