Records at Huntingdonshire Archives
The Highways Act 1862 allowed Quarter Sessions to combine rural parishes into highway districts administered by an appointed board. In Huntingdonshire four such districts were set up: Hurstingstone (covering roughly the area administered later by St Ives Rural District Council), Leightonstone (Huntingdon RDC area), Norman Cross (Norman Cross RDC area) and Toseland (St Neots RDC area). Ramsey parish set up its own highway district. These boards were responsible for the upkeep of roads in their area.
Following the Local Government Act of 1894 the responsibilities of highway boards were gradually transferred to the relevant Rural District Councils or (for larger roads) to the County Council. This transfer often did not take place for many years. In some instances the inheriting RDC merely carried on using the same book as the outgoing highway board, so that the same volume contains the minutes of both the board and the succeeding highways committee.
Urban areas were not included in the highway board scheme. Roads in Huntingdon, Godmanchester, St Ives and St Neots were (before 1894) the responsibility of the relevant borough council or local board.
Huntingdonshire Archives has some records of all the Highway Boards mentioned above.