Much of the area covered today by Oxmoor in Huntingdon was once land belonging to the Earls of Sandwich, who lived in Hinchingbrooke House.
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Map of the area covered by part of Oxmoor, 1826. North is at the left of the map, and east is at the top. You can see that some of today's roads follow the routes of trackways depicted in this early 19th century map.
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In 1952 the Town Development Act was passed with the object of relieving congestion in London and other large cities, and thereby infuse new life and vigour into declining county towns. Huntingdon Borough Council applied for such a development, and by 1955 London County Council had drawn up detailed plans to build 1,000 new houses in Huntingdon.
Huntingdon could not easily expand to the south or west so it was decided that land to the east, beyond Newtown and into the village of Hartford, would be used for the new housing. The name "Oxmoor" came from Oxmire Lane, a narrow muddy lane which in the 18th century gave access to the fields which would be developed. Other road names in the area - such as Godeby Crescent and Judson Crescent - came from the names of people farming plots of land in the 1820s, as shown on the map above.
Work began on building Oxmoor's houses on 28 June 1960. On 11 March 1961 the first families moved in.
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Land acquired in St Peter's Road for industrial development
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Building work underway at Oxmoor
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More building work at Oxmoor
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Sources:
The original of the 1826 map is held at CRO Huntingdon, reference Accession 223 part. The photographs of the building work taking place were taken in 1963, and are also held at CRO Huntingdon, as part of Accession 1096.
Further information about the origins of Oxmoor's street names can be found on the website of the Oxmoor Opportunities Partnership, available through the link in the right-hand column.
More details about the creation of Oxmoor can be found in Alan Akeroyd and Caroline Clifford, Huntingdon: Eight Centuries of History (2004).