Editing St Ives, Cambridgeshire (section)

===After the Norman Conquest===
Slepe was listed in the [[hundred (county division)|Hundred]] of [[Hurstingstone (hundred)|Hurstingstone]] in Huntingdonshire in the [[Domesday Book]]. It states that

<blockquote>In St Ives, the Abbot of Ramsey had 20 [[Hide (unit)|hides]] to the geld [taxable]. [There is] land for 24 ploughs, and he had land for 2 ploughs in [[demesne]], apart from the aforementioned hides. There are now 3 ploughs in demesne and 39 [[Villein|villains]] and 12 smallholders who have 20 [or 6?] ploughs. There is a church and a priest, and 60 acres of meadow [and] woodland pasture 1 [[League (unit)|league]] and a half broad. Value before 1066 was £20 and now £16. Three of the Abbot's men, Everard, Ingelrann and Pleines, have 4 hides of this land, and 3½ ploughs. 5 villagers and 6 smallholders with 3 ploughs. [They have] the church and the priest. Value 45s. Eustace claims 2½ ploughs. ''Note: merged from differing translations of the original text in Latin''.<ref name = domesday1>John Morris (editor), ''Domesday, Book: 19: Huntingdonshire'', Phillimore, Chichester, 1975, ISBN 0 85033 130 7, section 204c</ref><ref name = domesday2>Ann Williams and G H Martin, editors, ''Domesday Book: a complete Translation'', Penguin Books, 2002, ISBN 0 140 51535 6, page 554</ref></blockquote>

Burn-Murdoch explains that "A hide was an area of land, probably about 120 acres. Land "in lordship" was cultivated by the lord of the manor as his own Home Farm.
Villeins and borderers were different kinds of peasant. A league was probably about one and a half miles. The Eustace who claims some of the land was the sheriff of Huntingdonshire).<ref name = shaping31>Burn-Murdoch, ''Shaping'', page 31</ref>

As St Ives continued to be a focus for travel in the area, it developed in importance as a trading point and a staging point for travellers. In 1107 the ford crossing of the river was replaced by a wooden bridge, at the site of the present-day stone bridge. The wooden bridge further encouraged the importance of St Ives, but it incurred heavy maintenance costs and in the early 15th century it was decided to replace the wooden bridge with [[St Ives Bridge|a stone bridge]]; this was completed in 1426.<ref name = labrum>E A Labrum (editor), ''Civil Engineering Heritage: Eastern and Central England'', published by Thomas Telford Limited for the Institution of Civil Engineers, London, 1994, ISBN 771970X, pages 94 and 95</ref><ref name = burn-bridge>Bob Burn-Murdoch, ''St Ives Bridge and Chapel: A History and Guide'', published by the Friends of the Norris Museum, 2001, ISBN 0 952590034, pages 5 to 10</ref><ref name = dickinson2>Philip G M Dickinson, ''St Ives Bridge and Chapel, Huntingdonshire'', published by the Norris Museum St Ives, 1962, page 2</ref>