HINCHINBROOK HOUSE,
HUNTINGDONSHIRE.
INCHINBROOK—the seat and residence of John William Montagu, seventh Earl of Sandwich—is situated within “a short mile” of the ancient town of Huntingdon. Few mansions in England possess a deeper interest, or have weightier associations connected with them; for, although not actually born within these walls, here the Protector, Oliver Cromwell, passed many of his boyish days: here occurred not a few of the incidents which formed his character; and here, probably, originated that peculiar temperament which afterwards gave birth to mighty issues.
The House stands upon the site of a very ancient Priory of Benedictine Nuns, said to have been founded by the Conqueror; the “holy ladies” having been removed thither from Eltesly, in Cambridgeshire, where, according to Leland, “was sumtyme a Nunnery, where Pandonia, the Scottish virgine, was buried, and where there is a Well of her name yn the south side of the quire.” The site of this Priory was granted—29 Henry VIII.,—to Sir Richard Williams, the lineal representative of the Welsh Lords of Cardigan and Powis, whose father having married the sister of the famous Earl of Essex, assumed the name of Cromwell. Sir Richard rose rapidly into favour with his uncle’s imperious master, the Eighth Henry, obtained the lucrative appointment of one of the Visitors of Religious Houses, and on the Dissolution had a lion’s share of rich Abbey lands; becoming, in consequence, one of the wealthiest commoners of England. In 1546, he was succeeded by his son, Sir Henry, called, from the liberality of his largesses, “the golden knight.” By him the mansion at Hinchinbrook was built, partly out of the materials of the adjacent nunnery, the memory of which is still preserved by the names, “Nun’s Bridge,” and “Nun’s Meadow,” continued by tradition to places on the west side of the park. In 1564, the mansion had the honour of receiving Queen Elizabeth as a guest. Sir Henry left a large family. Sir Oliver inherited Hinchinbrook, and Robert, the second son, was the father of the Protector. The uncle was also the godfather of Oliver Cromwell; and in this house many of his boyish days were passed.
From causes insufficiently explained, the revenue of Sir Oliver dwindled; and, being under the necessity of alienating part of his hereditary estates, he sold Hinchinbrook to Sir Sidney Montagu, of Barnwell, knight—the ancestor of the present Earl of Sandwich—in whose family it has since remained. Thus, the heir apparent, afterwards the Protector, instead of inheriting a large patrimony, had but a poor prospect; his father, to augment his income, became a brewer, dwelling in a comparatively “meane house within the towne;”[33] and it is matter for curious speculation how far the visits of James I. to Sir Oliver impaired the fortunes of the house, and the consequent impoverishment may have biassed the character of his nephew; who, possibly, if he had been heir to the enormous estates acquired by his grandfather, might have been contented with his destiny, and have never drawn a sword which continued out of the scabbard until a monarch had perished on a scaffold.[34] In Huntingdon, Oliver Cromwell was born, on the 25th April, 1599, “by birth,”—as he described himself in Parliament fifty-five years afterwards,—“a gentleman, to live neither at any considerable height nor yet in obscurity;” and in the church which adjoined his father’s house, the church of St. John, long ago removed, he was christened, four days afterwards, as appears by the entry (of which we made a fac-simile copy) in the books, now preserved in the church of All-Saints.
Above this entry some loyalist had written, “England’s plague for five years,” which the pen of some Parliamentarian had afterwards struck through. The hand-writing of this pithy sentence seems, to judge from the characters and the ink, nearly as old as the registry itself.