Punting has its roots in the Middle Ages when people needed to navigate water that was too shallow for conventional rowing crafts, such as the Fens, near to Cambridgeshire, which are particularly marshy. These also enabled trades such as eel fishing as well as helping businesses to transport their cargo. This method of transportation started to die out in the 19th century, but they started to make a comeback around 1860-1880 as pleasure boats in and around the river Thames. The square shape of punts makes them extremely stable and this makes them ideal for carrying passengers.
As they gained popularity, they were introduced to Cambridge as a pleasure craft around 1902-1904 and soon became the most popular river vehicle. Rivers were relied on less and less for trade purposes, so river traffic decreased making it safer and less crowded for pleasure boaters and punts quickly became the most common river vehicle on the river Cam in Cambridgeshire, be it
