CASTOR, a parish in the liberty of PETERBOROUGH,
county of NORTHAMPTON, 4§ miles (W.) from
Peterborough, comprising the chapelries of Sutton and
Upton, and the hamlet of Ailesworth, and containing
959 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry
of Northampton, and diocese of Peterborough,
rated in the king's books at £52. 12. 8., and held in
commendam with the see of Peterborough. The church,
dedicated in 1124 to St Keneburgha, who founded a
nunnery here, is a spacious cruciform edifice, with a
beautiful Norman tower of two stages, surmounted by
a spire, rising from the intersection: the three arches
on the south side of the nave are semicircular, resting
on massive round pillars; the opposite three are pointed,
and supported by hexagonal columns. This village, and
the opposite one of Chesterton, occupy the site of the
Roman station Durobrivce, by the Saxons called Dormancester;
a great quantity of coins from Trajan to
Valens, fragments of urns, tiles, &c., have been discovered.
The Roman highway, called Ermin-street, comjnenced
here, and proceeding some distance, branched
off into two divisions, the remains of which are still
visible, one being called the Forty foot way, leading to
Stamford, and the other Long Ditch, or High-street,
running by Lolham-Bridges, through West Deeping,
into Lincolnshire; together with what is termed Lady
Keneburgha s way, which is supposed to have been', an
ancient paved way leading from a fortress at the other
side of the Nyne, which runs through the parish, to
a castle on the hill, where the Roman governor resided:
the place was destroyed by the Danes. Mr.
John Landen, an eminent mathematician, was born
here, in 1719.