Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
If you would like to write a summary for this topic, email phil [at] gyford [dot] com
Hinchinbroke was Sir Edward Montagu’s seat, from which he afterwards took his second title. Hinchinbroke House, so often mentioned in the Diary, stood about half a mile to the westward of the town of Huntingdon. It was erected late in the reign of Elizabeth, by Sir Henry Cromwell, on the site of a Benedictine nunnery, granted at the Dissolution, with all its appurtenances, to his father, Richard Williams, who had assumed the name of Cromwell, and whose grandson, Sir Oliver, was the uncle and godfather of the Protector. The knight, who was renowned for, his hospitality, had the honour of entertaining King James at Hinchinbroke, but, getting into pecuniary difficulties, was obliged to sell his estates, which were conveyed, July 28th, 1627, to Sir Sidney Montagu of Barnwell, father of the first Earl of Sandwich, in whose descendant they are still vested. On the morning of the 22nd January, 1830, during the minority of the seventh Earl, Hinchinbroke was almost entirely destroyed by fire, but the pictures and furniture were mostly saved, and the house has been rebuilt in the Elizabethan style, and the interior greatly improved, under the direction of Edward Blore, Esq., R.A.—B.
This fine old house still exists and is now a school, some of the parkland
around it is open to the public
and there are Websites on the school
http://www.hinchbk.cambs.sch.uk/
and on the park
http://www.huntsdc.gov.uk/Countryside/main/hichpark.htm
The school Website has a section devoted to the house
http://www.hinchbk.cambs.sch.uk/historical/house.htm
Thanks, Chris Jefferies.
Note that the modern spelling is ‘Hinchingbrooke’.
Duncan Grey, a teacher at Hinchingbrooke School, runs a useful website on Pepys:
http://www.pepys.info/
Hh: thumbnail history and photos:
dates:
http://www.hinchbk.cambs.sch.uk/historical/tour/ws10.html
photos circa 1900:
http://www.huntingdon-town.info/town/info/hinchinbrooke/old_photos.htm
Pepys, politics and the Montagus at Hinchinbrooke (1627-1962)
brief description of Huntingdon and Hinchinbrook(e) House
Hinchinbrooke and Cromwell
Hinchingbroke
Another site with pictures, paintings and history see;
http://www.hinchhouse.org.uk/edward/edward.html