reports that an Anglo-Saxon leader took control of a village near the river near Duloe Brook, and this was called Ea-tun, meaning waterside-village. Another settlement a little further north was called Forda, and later simply Ford. At this early time, the river was much wider and shallower than nowadays, and in dryer periods it was possible to ford it. The majority of the population were pagan, and the Pope sent Augustine in 597 AD, to impose Christianity. Augustine's work was successful and a hundred years later most of East Anglia was Christian. A mother church was built in Eaton to serve as a focus for a large area on the west bank of the Great Ouse. The Norman Conquest The local landholder at Eaton at the time of the Norman Conquest was Ulmar, a thegn (or thane) and he was superior to two sokemen; the soke was a subsidiary area of land and control. In time the area became known as Soka de Eton by 1247 AD. In 1645 it was known as Eton cum Soca, and in the nineteenth century this had become Eaton Socon. The manor of Eaton included two water mills, a church and a priest; there were 38 villein families, seven smallholders and eight tied labourers. The manor of Eaton was allocated at first to Lisois de Moutiers, but by the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 it had been transferred to Eudo Dapifer; he was a steward in the Royal household, and therefore an extremely important person, bringing prestige to Eaton. In this period the Priory at St Neots, at the time still considered part of Eynesbury, was gaining in importance because of the presence of the relics of Saint Neot, an important and famous holy man. Eventually that part of Eynesbury became known as St Neots as a result. At the same time a small religious house was established in Eaton Socon. William of Colmworth and a group of monks, not affiliated to any particular order, was given a site at Bushmead by Hugh de Beauchamp, who had his base in Bedford, in about 1195. After 1215 the site became an Augustinian priory, but it never rivalled the prestige of the St Neots priory. Eaton Socon Castle Hugh de Beauchamp built a castle in present-day Eaton Socon around 1140. It was probably of timber construction with earthworks and may never have been completed,