Madingley

An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the County of Cambridgeshire, Volume 1, West Cambridgshire. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1968.

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Citation:

'Madingley', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the County of Cambridgeshire, Volume 1, West Cambridgshire( London, 1968), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/cambs/vol1/pp176-188 [accessed 6 October 2024].

'Madingley', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the County of Cambridgeshire, Volume 1, West Cambridgshire( London, 1968), British History Online, accessed October 6, 2024, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/cambs/vol1/pp176-188.

"Madingley". An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the County of Cambridgeshire, Volume 1, West Cambridgshire. (London, 1968), , British History Online. Web. 6 October 2024. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/cambs/vol1/pp176-188.

In this section

31 MADINGLEY

(O.S. 6 ins. aTL 36 S.E., bTL 46 S.W., cTL 35 N.E., dTL 45 N.W.)

The village of Madingley is about 3½ m. somewhat N. of W. from Cambridge, centrally placed in a parish of 1768 acres. The Cambridge to St. Neots road forms the long S. boundary of the parish; the remaining boundaries enclose with it a rough semicircle and follow old fields except in part on the W. where a decayed road running N. from Hardwick and Toft divides Madingley from Dry Drayton.

Madingley

The ground slopes N.E. with drainage to the Beck Brook and varies from over 200 ft. to less than 50 ft. above O.D., with boulder clay on the high ground and gault on the low ground. Most of the village lies on an irregular strip of chalk marl between the two.

There is a plentiful water supply. A powerful spring at N.G. TL 41135965, some 300 yds. W. of Moor Barns Farm (Monuments (6) and (7)), doubtless supplied the 'famous Bath . . . thought to be one of the coldest in England' described by Cole (B.M. Add. MS. 5823, 268).

Madingley Hall (Monument (2)), begun by Sir John Hynde in 1543 and from the mid 17th century in the Cotton family, dominates the village, which has been displaced, probably more than once, by successive emparking. An engraving by Kip (Britannia Illustrata (1707), No. 57) shows houses along the line of a hollowway (Monument (10)) to the W. of the church. Today the houses are disposed in two groups, each about ¼ m. from the church, and respectively to the N. and E. of it. They are predominantly 19th-century and in various materials; none is of any note apart from Monument (3), a reputed manor house, of the 15th or early 16th century, oddly placed on the N.E. edge of the park.

Vancouver (Ag. of Cambs., 105) describes the parish at the end of the 18th century as technically open-field, but there has never been a parliamentary enclosure.

Ecclesiastical

a(1) Parish Church of St. Mary Magdalene adjoins the entrance gates of Madingley Hall; the park runs up to the walls on the N. side, the churchyard being on the S. only. The fabric consists of a Chancel, Nave with North Aisle, clearstorey and porches, and West Tower. Much of the walling is plastered; where visible it is of fieldstones, clunch rubble and reused materials, with dressings of freestone and clunch, some of which have been repaired in Roman cement; the roofs are covered with lead, tiles and slate. The existence of a former church is suggested by the presence of reused 12th-century ashlar and by the bowl of the font (Plate 5; see below), although the latter may not have always belonged to Madingley. The church, with the possible exception of the S. wall of the nave, seems to have been rebuilt from E. to W. in the 13th and early 14th centuries. A clearstorey was added in the late 14th or 15th century, and about this time, judging from the irregular fenestration in the S. wall of the nave, any idea of building an aisle on that side was abandoned. In 1770–80 Sir John Cotton spent £300 on the chancel, shortening it by 12 ft. There was a restoration in 1872–4 and another in 1885; the top stage of the tower and the spire were rebuilt in 1926.

Madlngley, the Parish Church of St. Mary Magdalene

Architectural Description—The unbuttressed Chancel (24¼ ft. by 18½ ft.) has three modern lancets in the E. wall, which itself is of 18th-century origin. In the N. wall are two lancets in clunch, and in the S. wall is a third similar lancet opposite the first; all three have been widened, the original apertures being indicated by irregularities in the sills. Opposite the second lancet is a two-light window with modern mullion and reticulated tracery, but the opening and the label with head stops are 14th-century restored. An original external string-course has been restored in the E. wall and has been dropped at the W. end of the S. wall to admit the window last described. The chancel arch is of two chamfered orders, the outer comparatively slight, with a label to the W.; the semi-octagonal responds have moulded caps and bases and have been mutilated to fix a screen, apparently of stone. N. of the arch in the nave is an upper doorway with continuous chamfered jambs and head, perhaps 14th-century, but no stair survives.

The Nave (57½ ft. N. to 58½ ft. S. by 20½ ft.) has an early 14th-century N. arcade of five bays with arches of two moulded orders having labels on both faces, and quatrefoil piers (Plate 12) with small rolls between the foils. The responds are half piers with the labels terminating in mutilated stops. Above the arcade on the nave side is a horizontal moulded string. The S. wall has openings in two heights, the upper range consisting of five clearstorey windows described below. The first window of the lower range is 14th-century and of three cinque-foiled lights with ogee intersections forming quatrefoils in a depressed head and outside label with head stops; the window is possibly reset as the restored casement mould of the jambs and head is not of a piece with the mullions and tracery. The restored second and the fourth windows are each of two cinque-foiled lights in a four-centred head with casement moulds in the jambs similar to that of the first window; the third window is of a single cinque-foiled light; all late 14th- or 15th-century. Between the second and third windows is a re-worked doorway with splayed jambs, possibly 13th- or early 14th-century in origin. The late 14th- or 15th-century clearstorey has five windows on either side, each of two cinque-foiled lights in a four-centred head; those on the S. are original but those on the N. have been completely restored.

The North Aisle (8½ ft. to 9¼ ft. wide) is of the early 14th century but has been heavily restored, with dressings in Roman cement; the roof and embattled parapet are modern. The end walls each have a late mediaeval window of three graduated cinque-foiled lights in a four-centred head. In the long wall are two two-light windows with moulded jambs and splays; the lights of the first are cinque-foiled and it has a quatrefoil in the head; the second has trefoiled ogee lights and is of net type; both have outside labels with stops. Between the windows is a doorway of three continuous moulded orders with a label, and with moulded splays. An external string runs round the buttresses at the N.W. angle; an irregularly placed buttress at the N.E. angle is probably a rebuilding; short horizontal lengths of dressed stone either side of the porch at window-head level may represent two further buttresses that have been removed.

The unbuttressed N. porch is of the late 14th or 15th century. The entrance arch is restored in Roman cement and is of two orders, the outer continuous, the inner carried on semi-octagonal attached shafts with moulded caps; the side windows, likewise restored, are each of two cinque-foiled lights in a four-centred head. The S. porch is a post-mediaeval rebuilding.

The unbuttressed West Tower (8½ ft. square) is in three retreating stages above a basement, the top stage with embattled parapet and stone spire having been rebuilt. The spire is octagonal and has trefoil-headed lights in the cardinal faces half way up; these and a door at the base of the spire to the E. have crocketed and finialed ogee canopies or labels. The much restored W. window is of net type; in the middle stage there are small loops to N. and S.; the rebuilt top stage has a window of two trefoiled lights in each face. The acutely pointed tower arch is elaborately moulded with responds similar in design to those of the nave arcade; it is framed in a segmental-headed recess which seems to be the finish to a skin added on the E. face of the tower soon after it was built. The tower would appear to have been raised soon after the nave; the W. returns of the latter with their angle buttresses and the parapet of the original gable lap the party wall, the parapet on the S. having a kneeler with two mask stops. Internally the E. quoins of the tower are exposed above the added skin and there is a weathering for the original nave roof. There is no stair.

Madingley, the Parish Church of St. Mary Magdalene

Section through Nave showing West Wall

Fittings—Bells: three; 1st, now in N. aisle, inscribed in Lombardic capitals, initial cross, 'dicor ⋮ ego ⋮ thomas ⋮ laus ⋮ est ⋮ xpi ⋮ sonus ⋮ omas', 14th-century (Raven, Church Bells of Cambs., 13–14); 2nd (recast in 1927) and 3rd by Thomas Newman 1723. Brass indent : in chancel, for inscription panel only. Chest : with front of three arcaded and enriched panels, 17th-century. Coffins: fragments at present in S. porch include part of a lid with stepped cross base, 13th-century; they may be some of those found built into the tower and salvaged in the restoration of 1926–7 (A. H. Lloyd, 'The Parish Church of Madingley', C.A.S. Procs. XXXI (1931), 108). Communion rails : said to have come from Great St. Mary's, Cambridge (B.M. Add. MS. 5805, 63), with twisted balusters, coupled at intervals, having carved bases and with enriched top and bottom rails, late 17th- or early 18th-century; odd balusters made up into candlesticks and similar church furniture are evidently from the same source. Communion table : with four columnar legs and moulded bottom rails, 18th-century; top made up of 17th-century woodwork. Door : in S. doorway of nave, of overlapping vertical boards; original scrolled hinges with leaf terminals, mutilated; 13th- or 14th-century. Font (Plate 5): with square bowl divided into rectilinear panels carved with cheveron, interlaced arcading, tooth ornament, etc.; stem of same dimensions having angle shafts with moulded caps and bases; bowl 12th-century, stem 13th- or 14th-century; perhaps from St. Etheldreda's, Histon (A. H. Lloyd, ibid., 117–8). Glass : all reset; in chancel—in first window on S. side (not mentioned by Lloyd) (1) four saints with tabernacle work and background fragments, 16th-century: half figure with book and large knife, fragmentary black-letter inscription 'S(ce?)ba . .(o?).m', perhaps St. Bartholomew; a figure with a ewer; St. Mary Magdalene with a casket; unidentified, in prayer with angels above; in first light of second window (shown in E. window in Cole's sketch B.M. Add. MS. 5805, 62) (2) Christ crucified, with Virgin and St. John against an elaborately painted background depicting a city, presumably Jerusalem, in the middle distance with landscape beyond, early to mid 16th-century; in second light of second window (3) Virgin and Child, St. John Baptist with lamb and book and black-letter inscriptions 'ecce agñ dei' and 'deo honor et gloria in secula seculorum'; the window is completed with badges and black-letter mottoes on scrolls: a falcon with 'Ely', three palms flanked by the letters 'Ion' and 'mer' (? for John Palmer archdeacon of Ely, 1592); the initials 'IC' (? for John Cutt), etc.; 16th-century restored; above and in tracery (4) borders and tabernacle work, 14th-century and later. In nave, most if not all reset—in head of second window on S. (5) a few fragments, 16th-century; in third window (6) two emblematic figures in yellow stain: the first, of a woman, reconstructed; the second, of a man with crown, sceptre and sword; 16th-century. In N. aisle, reset—in first window of long wall (7) a few late mediaeval fragments.

Monuments and Floor slabs. Monuments : In chancel—on N. wall (1) of John Hynde Cotton, 1807, grey and white marble tablet, with scrolled top, signed 'RD. WESTMACOTT, LONDON'; (2) of Dame Jane Cotton (Hynde) (Plate 138), 1692: reclining effigy on shallow tomb chest beneath an elaborate inscription tablet, all of alabaster and black marble; the deceased is depicted in a shift with a cap or veil, her right elbow on a rolled mattress and cushion; the tomb chest has a short inscription in a boldly moulded frame with garlanded side-pieces; the tablet above is draped with a swag carved with five cherub heads and flanked by garlands with four cherub heads at either side; above the tablet is a cornice with festooned achievement of arms between two urns; (3) of a female infant, born and died the same day, name and date unspecified; small wall monument in alabaster gilt and slate: the child, in swaddling clothes, lies beneath a crown inscribed 'Coronat Innocentia', flanked by standing angels; tablet below, in scrolled frame, is inscribed with an affecting epitaph ('Afferte rosas, virginei chori', etc.); Cole's transcripts of the registers suggest she may have been Elizabeth Stewkeley, 1636 (B.M. Add. MS. 5852, 103 and 105); on S. wall (4) of Commander Charles Cotton, R.N. (Plate 139), 1828; signed 'RICHARD WESTMACOTT, SOUTH AUDLEY STREET, LONDON; (5) of Sir Charles Cotton, Admiral of the White, 1812, marble wall monument with inscription tablet surmounted by naval trophies, signed 'FLAXMAN R. A. SCULPTOR'. In N. aisle—against W. end of N. wall (6) of Jane Cotton (Plate 14), 1707, effigy in the round on a shallow tomb chest backed by a framed panel: the lady is depicted kneeling on a cushion, bareheaded, and reading from a book; the tomb chest, which is buttressed by carved consoles at the corners, carries the inscription; the background panel, which is set in a moulded and shaped frame with swags and garlands at the sides rising to a cartouche of arms with cherub heads and flanking lamps, is blank. In the churchyard are a quantity of 18th-century head and foot stones. Floor slabs: in chancel— (1) of Ann Timbs, 1734; (2) of Agnes Stewkeley, 1641; (3) of Anne Grove (Stewkeley), 1707; (4) of William Stewkeley, 1717; (5) of Timothy Tymbs, 1741; (6) of Ursula Stewkeley, 1704. Paintings: six framed wooden panels depicting Apostles, stated by Cole to have been formerly in the gallery at the Hall and to have been given to the church by Sir John Cotton in or before 1779 (B.M. Add. MS. 5848, 449): St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Andrew, St. Thomas, St. James the Great and St. John; Flemish, late 16th- or early 17th-century. Panelling: dado against N. and S. walls of tower, 17th-century. Plate: includes an inscribed cup by Thomas Buttell, c. 1570; and a paten, London 1741, inscribed and dated '1756'. Recesses: In N. aisle—(1) with pierced tracery in square head, 14th-century; immediately W. of foregoing (2) plain, square, mediaeval. Royal Arms (Plate 126): over S. doorway, of George III, 1801–1816, in artificial stone, stated by Lloyd to be by Coade and Sealy of Lambeth. Sundial: reset in E. wall of chancel, mediaeval. Miscellaneous: affixed to inside walls of ground stage of tower, ten wooden figures; apparently angels, defaced and without wings, from a late mediaeval roof. (Dowsing, who visited the church early in 1644, ordered '14: Cherubims in wood to be taken down'—The Cambridge Journal of William Dowsing 1643, ed. A. C. Moule (1926), 8).

Secular

a(2) Madingley Hall, house and grounds, is on the W. side of the present village of Madingley. The house, which stands on a rise with slopes to the E. and N. affording pleasant views of the park and gardens, is of two to three storeys with attics and some cellars. Much of the walling is brick-faced, but it incorporates a considerable amount of reused limestone or clunch ashlar and rubble, and the S. wing is predominantly of these materials; the roofs generally are tiled.

Some documentary evidence for the history of the building has been extracted from the extensive papers of the Cotton and King families, now in the possession of Col. C. H. Antrobus of Wootton Rivers, Wiltshire; but this evidence is far from complete and has been supplemented by inference from the fabric itself, interpreted in the light of what is known of successive occupants. Notes by Col. T. W. Harding (Harding Papers, now at Barclays Bank, Cambridge), with plans, explaining what was done by or for him between 1906–10 have also been used.

The manor of Burdelys or Burlewas, so called from the Burdelys family who held it from the 12th century until 1347, was probably the most considerable in the parish. It also came to be known as the 'shire manor' after it was acquired by the County, apparently in 1468 (B.M. Add. MS. 5805, 70), the income from it being used to pay the salaries of the County's parliamentary representatives. In 1543 John Hynde (d. 1550), serjeant-at-law, later King's Serjeant and a Justice of the Common Pleas, obtained an act of parliament by which the manor was made over to him against an annual payment of £10 to the sheriff for the knights. Although Hynde had evidently been resident at Madingley for many years (he is described as 'of Madingley' as early as 1526 in a receipt in St. John's College muniments—ref: SJC XXV/224), it seems unlikely that the present house was begun before the enabling act in 1543; the date '1543' on a reset panel in the mezzanine room and the initials 'KH' for Katharine (Parr) and Henry, used at several points, are confirmatory evidence. The main range and the S. wing were probably well advanced by the king's death in 1547. The suggestion, insecurely based on Archbishop Laud's report for 1639 (History of the Troubles and Tryal . . . of William Laud (1695), 562), that the roof of the main range is one taken from the church of St. Etheldreda at Histon, demolished towards the end of the 16th century by Sir Francis Hynde, is improbable on a number of grounds. If the roof is reused a more plausible source would be Anglesey Abbey, of which John Hynde became possessed in 1539–40 (T. Tanner, Notitia Monastica (1787), s.v. Anglesey), which could also have supplied stone for the S. wing.

Francis Hynde, son of Sir John, was a minor at his father's death and there are indications that he did not reside at Madingley for a year or two. Francis was knighted in turn and died in 1596.

In spite of a discrepancy in his chronology, Laud's report shows that Sir Francis Hynde was engaged in major works at Madingley towards the end of his life. St. Etheldreda's, Histon, the materials of which he is stated to have used, was probably demolished in or about 1588 (C.U.L., Baker MS. XXVIII, 204) and they can only have been used for the N. wing. That they were so used was confirmed in 1874 when the E. end of the wing was taken down and a quantity of reset 'ecclesiastical fragments' was removed and incorporated in the church of St. Andrew, Histon, which was then being restored (Country Life XXXII, (1912), 454–65). A pedigree of the Hyndes, dated 1705, (Antrobus papers, Box 11) which states specifically that 'sir ffrancis Built the wing off Madingley House in the year 1591' is thus probably correct in substance, although the operation possibly went on for some years and may not have been entirely completed by Sir Francis' death. The wing included a loggia in the basement and a gallery on the first floor 87 ft. long (sale particulars of 1856 in C.U.L.).

Madingley Hall

After the death of Sir Francis the property passed successively to his sons Sir William Hynde (d. 1605) and Sir Edward Hynde (d. 1633). Sir Edward was an enthusiast for hawking and animal-baiting (pedigree of 1705 in Antrobus papers, Box 11) and almost certainly commissioned the wall paintings in the 'Murals Room'. In 1631 Sir Edward's grandson and heir died accidentally leaving only an infant daughter Jane (d. 1692). She was married at a tender age to Sir John Cotton (d. 1689) 1st Bart. of Landwade. Little was done to the house during the later 17th century, but the 3rd Baronet, Sir John Hynde Cotton, who succeeded in 1712 and died in 1752, made extensive changes. An engraving by Kip (Britannia Illustrata (1707) No. 57) depicts the house and garden from the N. before these were effected. About 1726, to judge from rainwater heads reset on the modern E. end of the N. wing, an unknown architect rebuilt the stair at the W. end of the wing, filled in the space to the W. of the hall and created the saloon. This last has heraldic embellishments alluding to the 3rd Baronet's second marriage in 1724 to Margaret Trefusis (Craggs) (H.M.C., Portland, VII, 384); she died in 1734.

The park was enlarged in 1743–4 (B.M. Add. MS. 5805, 68). The 4th Baronet, also Sir John Hynde Cotton (d. 1795), built the stables in 1755 and commissioned Capability Brown to landscape the grounds in 1756 (draft contract and two letters in Antrobus papers, Box 2). In 1758 the gateway to the Old Schools in Cambridge, taken down in 1754, was re-erected at the approach to the stables (R.C.H.M., Cambridge, 12). The N.W. turret was reinstated with associated and other minor changes then or in the subsequent decade. If the oft-repeated statement that James Essex worked at Madingley (J. Nichols, Literary Anecdotes VI (1812), 624–5) is correct, these works are presumably to be attributed to him.

In 1861 the house was let to Queen Victoria for the Prince of Wales' use, while he was an undergraduate at Cambridge.

The last Cotton died in 1863 and their connections, the Kings, remained in possession until 1871 when the estate was purchased by Mr. Henry Hurrell. In 1874 the N. wing, which is described in the caption to Kip's engraving as being 'in front 150 foot', was curtailed to E. involving the destruction of the long gallery and part of the loggia; other work included the further subdivision of the lower hall, some partitioning of which at the N. end had already taken place in the 18th century.

Col. Harding bought the property in 1905 and carried out extensive works during the next five years, at first with the advice of R. D. Oliver, and later to the designs of J. A. Gotch. The latter was responsible for the partial reinstatement of the N. wing. The formal gardens to the N. of the house were laid out in 1913–14. In 1929–30 Mr. Ambrose Harding formed the library in the S. wing.

Cambridge University acquired the Madingley estate in 1948. Soon afterwards the stables were virtually rebuilt and general renovations carried out.

The E. elevation (Plate 110) comprises the front of the mid 16th-century main range and the modern projecting E. end of the N. wing. The front is in two heights with a partoctagonal turret at the S. end balanced by a three-sided projection, which has been refashioned in the 18th century, occupying the angle between the old and new work. Between these extremities are the oriel and porch, both of which rise approximately to the base of the main parapet. The walling is of red brick with areas of diaper in black which provide negative evidence for the position of original openings. Dressings are of freestone, including some reused blocks mostly of shelly limestone, and of clunch; they include a chamfered plinth and moulded string-courses at first-floor and eaves levels. The upper string, studded with paterae and masks, returns some distance along the adjacent S. side of the N. wing. Windows are mostly of the 18th century and are of various forms including a number with moulded architraves and in some cases projecting keys; two, lighting the saloon, have round heads. The wrought-iron grilles in the heads of these last and the panelled mullions and transoms in others are modern.

The four-sided oriel has an 18th-century upper stage but retains an original string-course below the parapet, suggesting that it must always have been of the present height; the string is carved with paterae including two on the S. bearing the initials 'IH' and 'VH' for John and Ursula Hynde. Between the stages is a broad band of stonework including six elaborately cusped panels, cut down and reset, framing heraldic plaques in clunch: (a) achievement of arms of Curson with initials 'VH', (b) three feathers against a sun in splendour with initials 'PE' for Princeps Edwardus, (c) Tudor royal arms with supporting angels, (d) a crowned Tudor rose, with initials 'KH' for Katharine (Parr) and Henry, (e) crowned and gartered Tudor royal arms with dragon and lion supporters, (f) achievement of arms of Hynde with the initials 'IH'. The lower stage of the oriel has been blocked but the original moulded angle mullions and outside edge of the sill can be traced. The twostage plinth has three cusped panels in each of the side faces carved with blank shields and paterae.

The wall between the oriel and the porch now features four 18th-century or modern windows, but the rear arch of an original window centrally placed in the upper floor was discovered during recent repairs to the saloon, while in the lower stage traces of an old window jamb can be seen immediately N. of the porch.

The porch itself has three-stage diagonal buttresses and rises to a modern battlement above a moulded and enriched string. The entrance doorway in clunch has jambs of two continuous moulded orders, square outer and three-centred inner head with pulvinated spandrels and a moulded label; the door is mid 18th-century. Above is a clunch panel of a crowned shield of the Tudor royal arms in a garter with dragon and greyhound supporters and Tudor rose and the initials 'KH' for Katharine and Henry. The shallow oriel above the entrance is 18th-century. Two cusped bull's eyes in Roman cement in the lower side walls appear to be 18th-century also; of the glass in grisaille with date '1764' recorded in 1949 only the first two digits now remain.

Madingley Hall

Sections showing the relation between floor levels in the Main Range & the S.E. turret

The main wall between the porch and the turret has no diaper. On the ground floor is a rectangular two-light window in clunch, original but restored, with casement-moulded jambs and head and a moulded label. A quarry, reset, is inscribed 'Wm. Game Glazier March ye 19th 1760'. Above are two 18th-century sashes. Flanking these in the return walls of the porch and the turret are traces of a jettied timber projection which was apparently an original feature.

The S. turret has six free faces. The top third has been rebuilt in the 18th century and in 1910, replacing the jettied lantern shown in Kip's engraving. A clunch doorway with four-centred head and label at the foot of the N.E. faces gives access to an original spiral stair the solid wooden treads of which frame into a central newel. The stair is lit by two single-light and three two-light windows, irregularly disposed, most of which are probably original. A short distance up, a number of modern treads mark the position of a small original corbelled landing alongside the stair leading through a clunch doorway with moulded four-centred head into a mezzanine room. The doorway has been enlarged by lowering the threshold and the original plank door has been correspondingly extended. Some 10 ft. above ground-floor level in the S.E. face of the turret is a blocked original doorway with moulded four centred head leading off a second original landing out of the turret. Its purpose is unknown but the distribution of diaper suggests that a structure of some kind was, or was to be, attached. A third original landing with remains of a balustrade and a blocked clunch doorway with four-centred head led over the projection already inferred between the turret and the porch. A window in the S.W. face adjoining the entry into the 'Murals Room' has the inscription 'HENRY GVNEL 1615' scratched on its S.E. splay.

The S. elevation (Plate 111) comprises the brick-built end of the main range, which rises to a stepped gable, and the long side, in reused stone, of the domestic S. wing. A projecting chimney, original but now adapted as a bay lit by reproduction windows, forms a central feature. There was a doorway with four-centred head in it in 1905, now apparently reset at the W. end of the corridor range of the S. wing. At the W. end a low rectangular turret, which is also original but has been heightened, probably contained garderobes; there is an old blocking on the ground floor in the S. face; approach passages to the small closets were housed in a canted lean-to on the E. side of the turret, now reduced to a single storey. The fenestration of the elevation is varied, but includes a number of windows, in clunch or freestone, some original but all more or less restored, divided into lights by mullions or by mullions and transoms; the two largest of these flank the projecting chimney on the ground floor, that on the E. being of ten lights in two tiers, the upper tier with two-centred heads and sunk spandrels, that on the W. of six lights, also in two tiers, and with the upper tier having four-centred heads. The W. end of the S. wing in similar reused stone has a central stepped gable, with the W. side of the garderobe turret balanced by the W. end of a corridor range on the N. side of the wing, forming a symmetrical composition. The S. and W. stepped gables are both topped by ornamental chimney stacks of two octagonal shafts, respectively restored and modern; the central chimney projection retains its shafted stack as does a similar projecting chimney on the N. side of the wing, and a fifth stack, also shafted, is placed across the ridge at the junction of the wing with the main range.

The N. elevation, an unbroken façade with closing turrets, is in brick, the W. half largely original with moulded stringcourses. There are a number of H-shaped wall anchors, some of which may be old, but few old openings survive apart from the loggia in the basement and this was extensively restored in 1907.

The loggia as planned was some 10 ft. wide generally and had a front of eleven arches, now reduced to seven, all blocked. The survivors include two at the N. end which had already been hacked back and covered with a brick skin before Kip's engraving was made. The four lost arches, at the E. end, were presumably demolished in 1874. The piers are of two sizes asymmetrically disposed with attached Ionic shafts in front rising full height to a break-front cornice and flanked by moulded imposts from which spring the moulded four-centred arches with their carved keys some of which have been restored. At the back the piers have vertical chamfers finished at the top with masks or volutes. Badges above the cornice over all the shafts except the last two are in a variety of materials; two, very much eroded, in clunch, are presumably the earliest. The loggia is divided in three places by original cross walls; two of these, respectively behind the penultimate and last piers, are pierced by original openings; in the first case an archway with a four-centred head; in the second a doorway, the moulded N. jamb of which, integrated with the pier and having staples for hinges, alone survives. Between these two openings is the lower part of a slender limestone column also original but reset, with vertical and spiral fluting.

Sash windows lighting the floor above the loggia are mid 18th-century, except for the first, which is modern.

Madingley Hall

Loggia under North Wing

The W. turret, reinstated perhaps c. 1760, apparently on the foundations of that shown by Kip which was demolished when the main stair was installed c. 1726, masks two openings, except for their E. jamb stones which are still visible.

Much of the W. side of the house is hidden by accretions. The gabled W. end of the S. wing, already described, is echoed by that of the N. wing. This last has evidently been cased up; it frames a large round-headed window in Roman cement serving the stair and a roundel into the attic. To the S. the W. face of the infilling block of c. 1726 is in four bays and three heights with sash windows having flat arches of rubbed brick and moulded stone sills, and with two brick platbands, the upper of which is moulded.

The interior of the house was extensively modernised in 1906–10 and again during the last decade. A number of old features have been reset, and a few have been introduced from elsewhere; there is also much reproduction work.

The original front doorway, with stop-moulded jambs and continuous square head, leads into the screens passage, the corresponding doorway at the W. end of which is a modern replacement; two further doorways in the S. long wall are also modern. The second of these leads into a low room in which is a modern overmantel incorporating some reused 17th-century woodwork, and a painting of a young man inscribed 'A° 1607 ÆT 18'. (He is perhaps Francis Cutts, who was baptised in Madingley church 14 June 1588, and who is known to have died, apparently by violence, shortly before his father in 1607—B.M. Add. MS. 5852, 102; H. W. King 'The Descent of the Manor of Horham, and of the Family of Cutts', Essex Arch. Soc. Trans. IV (1869) 25–42.)

The Dining Hall (44½ ft. N. to S. by 27½ ft.), formerly a lower hall, retains the N. half of a clunch fireplace surround with four-centred head; old scratchings include an inscription '1589 Anthon(ie?) Hynde'. The ceiling is modern and is 2 ft. higher than the original level. Reset in the modern screen at the S. end are a number of 16th-century carved panels (Plate 119) including shields of Hynde and Curson, while the doors at the N. end, which are of Stuart character but may be 18th-century, incorporate further panels including a crowned shield of the Tudor royal arms with a label of three points, and the monograms 'IC' and 'GC'. These panels and others reset in the mezzanine room had been put together to form a frieze in the porch, probably in the 18th century, and were moved in 1907. The N. doors lead into a passageway taken out of the N. end of the lower hall some time prior to 1856 (see dimensions in Sale Catalogue of that date in C.U.L.). Reset in this passage are two early 18th-century doorcases with pulvinated friezes and dentil cornices.

The decoration of the Stair Hall (32¾ ft. E. to W. by 21 ft.) is 18th-century but wall thicknesses and other indications suggest that the staircase of c. 1726 (Plate 135) may replace an earlier one. It is of oak and rises from ground to first-floor level in three flights divided by quarter landings. The handrail is moulded and swept; the balusters are turned and slightly carved with newel posts treated as fluted Corinthian columns. The balustrade ends abruptly on the bottom step with a quarter turn. Additional emphasis is given to the string by lengthening and overlapping the returns from the tread nosing, with carved scrolls beneath the lower of the overlapping returns. A dado of fielded panels against the wall has attached fluted Corinthian shafts opposite the newel posts. A narrow extension of the stair with corresponding softwood dado leads from the first-floor landing to the N.W. turret. The stair hall is now lit by a large round-headed window on the W. and includes a lobby on the E. separated from the stair by two Ionic columns, with antae, supporting a dentilled entablature; these last and the paving of diagonal slabs relieved by small black diapers may be of c. 1760. Similar columns on the E. side of the first-floor landing were moved from the lower hall screens when the landing was created in 1906–7.

The stair-hall lobby is entered from the S. by an 18th-century round-headed archway panelled in wood, with moulded imposts and carved scrolled key. In the E. wall is a door in a panelled and enriched door-case, also 18th-century, leading to the Dining Room (31 ft. E. to W. by 18½ ft.). This last has a dado of fielded panels in standard 18th-century style, but the shutters, enriched cornice and geometrical panelled ceiling (Plate 118) all in Jacobean idiom with heraldic embellishments are also of c. 1757 (Antrobus papers, Boxes 7 and 11). The doorcases are modern. The 18th-century chimneypiece of carved marble and wood replaces an elaborate 17th-century feature moved c. 1935 to Herstmonceux (Country Life, LXXVIII (1935), 632, 636); it was formerly in the billiard room immediately above, and incorporates a portrait of Loelia, Duchess of Portsmouth, dated 1673, from the long gallery. Another 18th-century chimney-piece in a room to the E. in the modern end of the N. wing was moved from the lower hall in 1906–10.

The plan form of the S. wing is in two parallel ranges, that on the N. containing on the ground floor three corridor rooms, in the first of which is a secondary staircase of the 18th century; this rises to the second storey and has moulded strings and handrail, turned balusters and square newels, with a dado of fielded panels. Two doorways connecting the corridor rooms and a third opening into them from the W., all with chamfered jambs and continuous four-centred heads, in clunch or freestone, are old but the third has been reset. The wall separating these rooms from the rest of the wing finishes at its E. end with a segmental brick arch of two chamfered orders having a moulded label to the N. which butts against the W. wall of the main range above the entrance to the screens passage. Combined access is thus provided to the corridor rooms and to the Library (39¾ ft. E. to W. by 21 ft.) formerly a kitchen and related offices. A clunch fireplace in the E. wall, removed from John Veysey's house in Cambridge (R.C.H.M., Cambridge, 312), has moulded and enriched jambs, and four-centred inner and square outer head with carved spandrels. The enrichments include paterae carved with various initials and numbers, including 'A~O', 'DNI', '15' and '38'; the N. spandrel has a shield with arms of the Grocers' Company and the S. spandrel one with the merchant's mark. A second fireplace in the S. wall has been removed to form a bay window. In the W. wall is a restored brick recess with four-centred head which was used for a time as a fireplace, with a bread oven on the S. having a hood supported on two reused stone corbels. The old roof does not provide for a chimney at this point, and the arched recess is in fact ceiled by part of an original stair, restored in the 18th or 19th century, which rose from the garderobe passage in a single curving S. to N. flight to the attic. In the cellar at the W. end of the wing is a corresponding substructure of three brick arches with four-centred heads. Blocked openings in the N. wall of the library include three doorways the middle one of which opening into the room is original. The library ceiling is 18th-century or later. From the S.W. corner of the library a narrow vaulted passage with a second entry on the N.W. from a small room at a slightly higher level occupying the W. end of the wing leads into the lower garderobe.

The principal room on the first floor of the house is the Saloon (42½ ft. N. to S. by 26¾ ft.) lined with bolection-moulded panelling in three heights rising to an enriched modillion cornice; larger panels at the ends with carved frames enclose landscape tapestries. Four oak doorcases, symmetrically disposed in the end walls, with enriched scroll pediments, are original. The Baroque ceiling (Plate 118) has a shaped central panel, and smaller panels and cartouches in the cove enriched with masks, foliage, and vases of flowers. The room was formed between 1724 and 1734 on the site of the upper hall or great chamber into which a floor had meanwhile been inserted. Traces of the joists for this floor were found during recent renovations behind the panelling on the W. side about the level of the upper rail; at the same time parts of two original blocked windows with stone splays and three-centred rear arches in brick, one on the E. side and one on the W., and part of the rectangular outer head of a moulded fireplace surround, with brick relieving arch, S. of the existing chimney-piece, were revealed. The present fireplace, of bolection-moulded veined marble with a shouldered head, is surmounted by a carved overmantel, painted and gilt, framing a circular painting, of the late 17th or early 18th century in the Rubens manner, of two cherubs; below the panel is a cartouche of arms, Cotton with an inescutcheon of Craggs. The windows on the E. side are set in panelled round headed archways with moulded and enriched imposts; a third, central, four-centred archway, with soffit ornamented with strapwork, leads into the oriel, which is panelled and ceiled in the same manner as the body of the saloon. Over this central arch in a richly carved cartouche is a shield of Cotton of ten quarterings with an inescutcheon of Craggs.

A blocked clunch doorway leading into the N.E. corner of the saloon from the adjacent angle projection has stopped ovolo-moulded jambs and continuous square head; it is late 16th-century and presumably afforded access through a small lobby from the gallery.

N. of the saloon a room of the same dimension E. to W. has been divided up, but some of its 18th-century enriched cornice survives. The Prince Consort's Room and a similar bedroom adjoining on the S. are to the W. of the saloon; both have fielded panelling in two heights, six-panelled doors, and fireplaces with eared inner surrounds of marble and outer surrounds of carved wood.

S. of the saloon the former antechamber, lined with 18th-century fielded panelling, took in the closet over the porch which is entered through a panelled arch. This room has been divided into a bedroom and a lobby to the W.

The S. end of the main range was gutted in 1906–7. Above the low ground-floor room beyond the screens passage is a mezzanine, with a further room over it known as 'King Edward VII's Room'. The upper room has been heightened by lowering the floor level with a corresponding adjustment to the ceiling of the mezzanine. The 'King's Room' is lined with modern panelling which incorporates a badge of three feathers with the initials 'PE'. The mezzanine retains original 16th- or 17th-century panelling in five heights in which some mid 16th-century carved panels were reset in 1907, one of two winged beasts with a shield and the date '1543' (Plate 119). The door at the E. end, of Stuart character, is also reset. The clunch fireplace surround with moulded jambs, four-centred inner and square outer head, is surmounted by a wooden over mantel (Plate 119) incorporating a reset panel of the Tudor royal arms with dragon and greyhound supporters, crown with initials 'KH', a portcullis and a rose; flanking it are reset panels with (S.) a shield of Hynde with initials 'IH' and (N.) a shield of Curson with initials 'VH'; all three panels are mid 16th-century.

The first-floor rooms and corridor in the S. wing retain many of their 18th-century fittings, including panelling and fireplace surrounds in marble and wood. That immediately W. of 'King Edward VII's Room' has an arched and panelled bed recess. In the room at the W. end is a scratching 'Abraham Redgrave May the 7 1752 Joyner'. Adjoining this room is a stair to the attic with moulded string and rail, flat shaped balusters and a square newel.

The attic room at the S. end of the main range is known as the 'Murals Room'. In the S. wall is a fireplace of plastered brick with stop-chamfered jambs and four-centred head. Above this last and fitted to the rear arch of a window to the E. is part of a wall painting (Plate 128) depicting sportsmen in a rural setting mounted and on foot, with dogs, baiting bears. The W. splay and rear arch of the window are also painted partly with trial brush strokes. Loose in a wooden frame is a section of plaster with part of a boar hunt, similar in style, originally on the W. side. On the N. wall are two paintings divided by a horizontal beam: the upper painting is of a landscape hawking scene; below (Plate 128) are two panels of 'antique work' made up of arabesque, baboons, grotesques and architectural forms, each flanked by pilasters, with part of a further panel. All were presumably executed between 1605 and 1633 for Sir Edward Hynde.

The Roofs, both of the main range and of the two wings, are to a large extent those originally provided. That of the main range (Plate 40), of the type known as 'false hammer beam', 78 ft. by 27½ ft. and of twelve trusses forming eleven bays, is somewhat uncharacteristic of contemporary secular idiom and possibly reset. Enrichments on the ends of the hammer beams and false hammer beams may have been removed. The first six and a half bays are over the saloon, which rises into the roof space, and were presumably visible from the floor of the upper hall or great chamber; the remainder covers two attic rooms above the screens and service end. The trusses are in three tiers below a high moulded and cambered collar, at which point the roof was ceiled. Both principal and, where original, common rafters are moulded up to collar level; the lower purlins are also moulded, but the upper purlins, the tops of the rafters, a short king post and a ridge piece, all of which were concealed, are plain. Curved braces, moulded and carved, support the hammer beam, with similar braces from the hammer post to a false hammer beam, and from this last to the collar, below which they form a four-centred arch. Mortices, centrally placed in the faces of the collars are evidently for longitudinal beams supporting the ceiling. Several later dormers interrupt the roof, and replacement timbers on the E. side of the penultimate bay suggest that a further large dormer has been lost.

The roof over the old part of the N. wing is original and has main trusses with queen posts between upper and lower collars and two purlins either side. The W. truss, now protected by a brick skin, bears traces of studwork and is weathered on the W. The roof narrows towards its E. end by increasing the S. pitch. The roof space contains attic rooms approached from the N.W. turret by a passage along the W. end and S. side. There is an 18th-century cornice at the head of the turret and in the passage. Two of the attic rooms have 18th-century fireplace surrounds.

The roof over the S. range, in seven bays with original E. to W. numbering and likewise original, is of hammer-beam type with arch braces from hammer posts to low collars, but most of the collars have been cut to improve access and a number of tie beams have also been inserted.

The Cellars have been modernised in part; that at the W. end contains the substructure of a disused stair as already described.

The former Stables, dated 1755 on the clock turret but almost entirely rebuilt, occupy the N., W. and S. sides of a court to the S.W. of the house, and now provide student accommodation, garages, etc. The approach is by a roadway from the E. through a 15th-century stone Gateway, reset with alterations in 1758 in a brick screen wall ranging with the E. front. The entrance arch has wide jambs with a series of rolls and casement mouldings, three of the former being treated as shafts with octagonal caps and bases. The ogee head, originally four-centred, has a series of bowtells above the caps separated by hollows and is enclosed by a label. This and a square outer label, broken by the apex of the arch, converge on two stops carved as half angels; the traceried spandrels between the labels enclose Tudor roses. The archway is flanked by pilaster buttresses in which are two pairs of canopied niches. Above the archway and entirely of the 18th century is a shouldered pediment with crocketed pyramids over the buttresses. The space between the pediment and the arch has an achievement of the royal arms of Edward IV with sun in splendour flanked by portcullis and rose badges, below which respectively are shields with the crest and arms of Hynde. The doorways in the side walls, of stone, have moulded jambs and continuous ogee heads beneath moulded square labels; they retain their original doors. Either side of the arch is an old wooden bench in Gothic idiom with tall backs panelled and traceried. The W. elevation of the gateway is relatively plain. In the pediment is a shield of Cotton of ten quarterings framed in elaborately carved and fretted strapwork and foliage and with a scroll bearing the date 'MDCCLVIII'. On the shoulders of the arch are two oval cartouches with (N.) Cotton impaling Parsons and (S.) a monogram.

The grounds of Madingley Hall consist of gardens and a park. The Gardens include a kitchen garden of about 1¾ acres to the S. of the house, surrounded by a red-brick wall which is perhaps mid 18th-century, and divided into two plots by a cross wall. Part of the enclosing wall on the N. was reduced in 1908, when rusticated brick piers were built either side of the gap and adorned with 18th-century stone urns brought from Histon Manor. W. of this garden at N.G. TL 39156043 is an 18th- or 19th-century icehouse.

The Park was extended in 1743–4 (B.M. Add. MS. 5805, 68). A presumably earlier boundary in the form of a curving bank and ditch can be traced along the edge of the wood to the N. of the house between N.G. TL 39466068 and 39156050. The hollow-way (Monument (10) below) to the W. of the church may follow the line of the same enceinte. There is mention of a park as early as 1232 (Reaney, 'Place-names of Cambs.', 181).

In 1756–7 the park to the N. and E. of the house was landscaped by Capability Brown. He made a 'Lawn' surrounded by a gravel walk on the N. side and another on the E. running down to a serpentine lake; also a 'Fosse' from the E. end of the N. wing running in a N.E. direction towards the wood. The modest 18th-century sham bridge at the S. end of the lake, in red brick with stone dressings, having a central elliptical arch and two smaller round arches, is presumably Brown's and the decaying cedars are likely to be of his planting. The draft contract makes it clear that these changes involved the destruction of whatever was left of the lay-out illustrated by Kip. The position in the early 19th century is clearly shown on the map of 1811 in the C.R.O. Since then Brown's design has in turn been obscured by the terraces, hedges and fountains created just before the first world war.

Madingley Hall

Panel in Dining Hall

a(3) House (probably Class B; Plate 107), known as Madingley Manor, framed and plastered, partly of two storeys, partly of one storey and attic, with hipped thatched roofs, is generally of mediaeval date. The hall was floored in the 17th century, the intersecting stop-chamfered ceiling beams in the corresponding ground-floor room being of that time. Concurrently the S.W. cross wing was added, or more probably rebuilt, with continuous jetty along the S.W. side. This cross wing was extended later in the 17th or 18th century. The house has been modernised and none of the existing doors or windows is original though some are no doubt in the original positions.

The hall space runs N.E. and S.W. and is divided by two tie-beam and crown-post trusses into three unequal bays, that at the N.E. end being almost as long as the other two combined; that at the S.W. end is the smallest and may correspond roughly to a screens passage. The middle truss has chamfered and roll-moulded posts which rise to chamfered haunches from which spring arch braces to the tie beams; the haunch at the N.W. end of the truss has a chip-carved roundel (Plate 36) resembling a six-petalled flower. Between the upper ends of the braces the underside of the tie beam is roll-moulded with a central boss similarly carved. The roof has been reconstructed but the upper surface of the tie beam has three mortices for a crown post with down braces. The other truss is plain and the arch braces are missing; the upper surface of the tie beam is similarly morticed for a down-braced crown post.

The N.E., solar, wing is jettied at both ends and the studwork is of heavy scantling. The ground-floor room is divided into two bays by a cross beam, moulded with a double ogee, stopped at the N.E. end and mutilated at the S.W. end. Above it on the first floor is a roughly chamfered and cambered tie beam with one brace surviving.

The S.W. wing has a ceiling to the ground-floor room at the N.W. end divided by intersecting beams into four bays. One of these beams has a double-ogee moulding similar to that of the ground-floor cross beam in the solar wing, but reused.

a(4) School and School House, built to resemble a hall and cross wing in a 16th- to 17th-century idiom with gable parapets to the cross wing, windows with wood mullions and transoms and a shafted chimney stack at the junction. The walls are faced with white bricks on edge in Flemish bond. A stone plaque bears the date 1844.

a(5) Milestone (N.G. TL 39674083), of freestone, triangular on plan, much damaged, inscription on S. face 'DRY DRAYTON' alone legible; 18th- or 19th-century.

d(6) Moor Barns Farm consists of a house and buildings. The 17th-century House (Class J; N.G. TL 41425966), two-storeyed, framed and plastered, with tiled roof, has been lengthened in red brick to the N. in the 18th century, and there are later extensions on the E. side. The Buildings on the W. are predominantly of the 18th and 19th centuries; some are framed and boarded, one is of clunch ashlar.

a(7) Middle Farm buildings of the 18th and 19th centuries include a barn, in three bays, framed and boarded, with half-hipped thatched roof, inscribed 'TM 1760' on a brace; a granary, framed and boarded, on brick piers with a tiled and hipped roof, perhaps 18th-century.

Earthworks

d(8) Moated Site (Class A2(a); N.G. TL 413596; E. enclosure only on O.S. maps), at the foot of a slope falling N.E. from the Cambridge-St. Neots road, and consisting of two contiguous trapezoidal enclosures. The site, which is under pasture, is apparently that of the manor house of Burdelys or Burlewas (W. M. Palmer, C.A.S. Procs. XXXVIII (1939), 1; Reaney, 'Place-names of Cambs.' lx and 181).

The W. enclosure measures 165 ft. N., by 106 ft. E., by 150 ft. S., by 96 ft. W. The E. enclosure is 150 ft. N., by 130 ft. E., by 146 ft. S., by 120 ft. W. They are surrounded by a dry ditch 20 ft. to 30 ft. wide and 1 ft to 2 ft. deep which may once have been filled by a spring at the S.E. angle. This ditch does not seem defensive since the ground inside is lower than that outside to the S.

Madingley, Monument 8

c and d(9) Enclosures (N.G. TL 400595, partly on O.S.), in Madingley Wood on slopes falling N. from the CambridgeSt. Neots road which runs through boulder clay along the ridge.

In the W. part of the wood is a trapezoidal enclosure measuring 475 ft. N.E., by 305 ft. N.W., by 487 ft. S.E. by 487 ft. S.W. with a ditch 16ft. to 20 ft. wide and 1 ft. to 2 ft. deep with internal and external banks 10 ft. to 18 ft. wide and 6 ins. to 1½ ft. high. An entrance 12 ft. wide in the S.W. side 300 ft. from the W. angle may be original. Attached to the first enclosure on the slopes to the N. is an irregular quadrilateral measuring 210 ft. N., by 494 ft. E., by 344 ft. S.S.W., by 352 ft. W.S.W. 1ts ditch is 18 ft. to 25 ft. wide and 3 ft. to 3½ ft. deep with a bank 12 ft. to 15 ft. wide and 1 ft. to 1½ ft. high on either side. The purpose of these two enclosures is unknown.

The E. part of the wood is divided into four rectangular plots by slight banks and the whole wood is surrounded by a multiple banked and ditched earthwork, partly destroyed on the S. by road widening. This has one or two banks 10 ft. to 15 ft. wide and 1½ ft. high between two or three ditches 6 ft. to 12 ft. wide and 1½ ft. deep. None of these banks is defensive and they may be successive copse banks as recent as 18th-century.

a(10) Hollow-way (N.G. TL 394603), commencing 30 yds. to the W. of the church and curving S.W. to W. across a N.W. chalk scarp; it is 550 ft. long, 50 ft. wide, 5 ft. deep and 20 ft across the flat bottom. The hollow-way was in use in 1811 (map of 1811 in C.R.O.). It appears to follow the line of an earlier park perimeter.

(11) Cultivation Remains (not on O.S.). Ridge and furrow 100 yds. to 230 yds. long with straight and slightly curved ridges 7 yds. to 11 yds. wide and 6 ins. high arranged in roughly rectangular furlongs survives in the park and a few other places in the parish, e.g. at N.G. TL 412595. Most of it appears to be the remains of the former open fields. Traces of similar ridge and furrow are visible on air photographs over the S. and E. of the parish.

In the early 13th century there was a three-field system, mention being made of 'West', 'More' and 'North' Fields (information E. Miller: Charter in St. John's College Muniments, Drawer XXV No. 124, dating from between 1219 and 1233).

(Ref: map of 1811 (C.R.O.); tithe map 1849 (T.R.C.); W. M. Palmer, C.A.S. Procs. XXXVIII (1939) 1; air photographs: 106G/UK/1490/3244–52, 4235–40.)