In 1900, Cottenham was described as a large village and parish, 4 miles north from the Histon station on the St. Ives and Cambridge branch of the Great Eastern railway, 2-and-a-half miles south-west from Oakington station on the same line and 6-and-a-half north from Cambridge. The principal street is lighted with gas from works the property of the Cottenham Gas Co. Limited.

The soil is various; subsoil, loamy clay. The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats and beans, fruit and vegetable produce. The area is 7,224 acres; the population in 1891 was 2,517.