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It is no coincidence that St.Ives, with its bridge, grew to become a town, while nearby settlements where the river was still only crossed by a ford or a ferry never grew beyond the size of villages. Upstream from St.Ives, one such ford may have given its name to the twin settlements of Hemingford Abbots and Hemingford Grey. Below St.Ives, both Holywell and Needingworth had ferry crossings until quite recent times (perhaps on the site of fords, as the river is comparatively shallow at both places.) But it was St Ives that had the bridge, and it was St Ives that grew to be a town

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