Benwick is a village and civil parish in the Fenland district of Cambridgeshire, England. It is approximately from Peterborough and from Cambridge. The population of Benwick was recorded as 1137 in the United Kingdom Census 2011 with 452 households. The River Nene (Old Course) (part of the Middle Level Navigations) passes through the village, which is thus accessible by boat from the inland waterways network in England. History The settlement's name is derived from the Old English bean or beam, and wic, meaning "farm where beans are grown" or "farm by a tree-trunk." Benwick's High Street is built on a roddon; the silt banks of the old West Water river. The earliest records of village refer to a garrison built in Benwick by Geoffrey de Mandeville in 1143. In 1221, Benwick had 15 tenants and by 1251, 32. It used to be in the parish of Doddington, one of the largest parishes in England. Under the Doddington Rectory Division Act of 1856 it was divided into seven rectories. H. C. Darby, in his Drainage of the Fens, records that in 1611 a scholar from the continent, toured the Isle of Ely, noting that the houses in Benwick were all surrounded by water, like islands, and the inhabitants were occupied with fishing and fowling. In 1774 the Earl of Orford remarked of Benwick that "the number of children crossing near a cottage and a school added much to the scene, in appearance much like the best Flemish Landscapes". In 1737, it was reported 'From March in the Isle of Ely we hear of a most audacious and uncommon Outrage committed on the 6th inst. at Berwick, a small Village between March and Whittlesey, by a numerous Body of Irishmen, who having swarm'd in those Parts for Harvest-Work, upon a Quarrel with the Inhabitants they ravag'd and plunder'd the whole Town and the next Day they attempted the like at March (and) might probably have succeeded, had not Numbers from Whittlesey came opportunely to the Succour of the March-Men but after a sharp Engagement, wherein several were wounded on both Sides, the Irishmen were put to the Route, leaving behind them only five of their Companions, who were taken Prisoners and committed to Wisbech Goal'. In 1864 the village lock-up was demolished and sold. From 1898 to 1966 Benwick was the terminus of the Benwick goods railway which ran from Three Horseshoes