| Country: | England |
| Coordinates: | 52.138°N 0.081°W |
| Official Name: | Harston |
| Population: | 1,729 |
| Population Ref: | (2011) |
| Civil Parish: | Harston |
| Shire District: | South Cambridgeshire |
| Region: | East of England |
| Shire County: | Cambridgeshire |
| Static Image Name: | Harston village sign.jpg |
| Static Image Caption: | Harston village sign in the green |
| Constituency Westminster: | South East Cambridgeshire |
| Post Town: | CAMBRIDGE |
| Postcode District: | CB22 |
| Postcode Area: | CB |
| Dial Code: | 01223 |
Harston is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, located around 5 miles (8 km) south of Cambridge. In 2011, it had a population of 1,740.[1]
The village sign was erected in the Queen's Silver Jubilee year and depicts the eight artesian wells that used to exist in the village, a bee skep commemorating a history of honey making, and rooks.[2]
In the Domesday Book Harston is listed under the hundred of Thriplow, and has 29 households.
Harston House is a historic private house in Harston. It was formerly known as Harston Hall. It is grade II* listed.
Although the main building is seventeenth century parts of its structure date back to at least 1480 Roman tiles have been found in the grounds and in the foundations of Harston House, supporting a tradition that a property has stood on this land ever since Roman times. The house is noteworthy for its distinctive features of English architecture, including its original Tudor fireplace, original fine wooden panelling from the seventeenth century and its rare pilasters made of clunch.
This is not to be confused with Harston House student accommodation at Addenbrooke's hospital.
"Sir. W. Graham Greene's mother came to the house in 1891 and soon afterwards (1893) she bought it from the Longs after the death of Mrs. Long. It had been in the hands of the Long family for some time and was known in those days as the Long House of the Longs. Mr. Long was a very tall man and had sons who were all over six feet in height. He was a great character and many stories are told about him. He used to add to his already great height by walking around his garden on stilts and this enabled him to see what was going on over the garden wall. Some legends belonging to the time of the Civil War have been told of Harston House but they carry no conviction Formerly a large brick dove cote stood at the end of the orchard but was unfortunately pulled down by Mr. Long. Its huge foundations still trouble the gardener in his digging operations and it was this Dove Cote which was large enough to seat fifty men when the Horkey feasts were held there. Tradition has it that the Dove Cote was built on the site of a Roman villa".
"It was at Harston I found quite suddenly I could read — the book was Dixon Brett, Detective. I didn't want anyone to know of my discovery, so I read only in secret, in a remote attic, but my mother must have spotted what I was at all the same, for she gave me Ballantyne's The Coral Island for the train journey home — always an interminable journey with the long wait between trains at Bletchley..."
The village is located on the A10 road, which provides links to Cambridge and the M11 motorway to the north, and Royston, Hertford and London to the south. The village was also once served by a railway station on the Hitchin-Cambridge Line. However, the station closed in 1963 under the Beeching Axe. Foxton railway station, on the same line as the former Harston station, is located south of the village.