Report

REPORT TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.

1. May it please your Majesty.

We, the undersigned Commissioners, appointed to make an Inventory of the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions connected with or illustrative of the contemporary culture, civilization and conditions of life of the people in England, excluding Monmouthshire, from the earliest times to the year 1714, and to specify those which seem most worthy of preservation, humbly submit to Your Majesty the following Report on the Monuments in Huntingdonshire, being the Tenth Interim Report on the work of the Commission since its appointment.

2. We tender to Your Majesty our respectful thanks for the gracious message which accompanied Your Majesty's acceptance of our Inventory of the Western Division of the County of London.

3. We have to record, with great regret, the death of our colleague, Mr. Leonard Stokes, a Past President of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and one of the original members of this Commission.

We desire also to thank Your Majesty for having nominated the Marquess of Hartington to succeed him as a Commissioner.

4. We have pleasure in reporting the completion of our enquiries into Huntingdonshire, an area containing 1,221 monuments in 102 parishes, with an average of 12 monuments per parish.

5. Following our usual practice, we have prepared an illustrated volume containing a full Inventory of the monuments in the County, which, under the advice of the Lords Commissioners of Your Majesty's Treasury, will be issued as a nonParliamentary publication.

6. No alteration has been found necessary in the order and method of describing the monuments scheduled from that pursued in the description of the monuments in the County of Essex. The detailed Inventory is introduced by the usual Sectional Preface.

7. As in the previous volumes, the descriptions of monuments have been referred for revision to the incumbents of each parish, and to the principal owners of domestic buildings, and we are satisfied that no important monument dating from the earliest times to the year 1714 has been omitted.

8. We desire to record our gratitude to Mr. Granville Proby, F.S.A., of Elton Hall, Huntingdonshire, for his generous gift to His Majesty's Treasury, which has enabled us to pursue our usual practice of employing our investigating staff away from London during the summer months and confining our London enquiries to the shorter winter days when work in the country becomes almost impracticable. Owing to the financial exigencies of the times, the Treasury found it necessary to curtail our allowance for travel and subsistence, and it is Mr. Proby's gift that has made it possible to defray the extra cost of subsistence and travel away from London without additional cost to the taxpayers.

9. Our special thanks are also due to Mr. Inskip Ladds, A.R.I.B.A., Diocesan Surveyor of Ely Diocese, for having revised the proofs of the volume and laid his extensive local knowledge unreservedly at the disposal of the Commission. We also desire to thank Mr. G. Wyman Abbott, F.S.A., Canon W. M. Noble and Dr. J. R. Garrood for valuable assistance in the course of the investigations.

10. We humbly recommend to Your Majesty's notice the following monuments in Huntingdonshire as "especially worthy of preservation":—

Earthworks and Roman

7. Bluntisham-cum-Earith.

(3). The Bulwark, Earith. A 17th-century fort.

Condition—Fairly good, except at S. angle.

17. Chesterton.

(1) The Castles; earth-ramparts of a small Roman town.

Condition—Poor.

19. Conington.

(7) Conington Round Hill; an earthwork of unusual form and doubtful purpose.

Condition—Good or fairly good.

45. Hilton.

(2) The Maze; a circular turf-cutting, made in 1660.

Condition—Fairly good.

49. Huntingdon.

(6) The Castle; the earthworks of a large mount and bailey castle with an outer court.

Condition—Fairly good, but works much injured by railway.

77. Stanground.

(3) Horsey Hill; a 17th-century fort.

Condition—Fairly good.

98. Wood Walton.

(2) Castle Hill; small mount and bailey castle.

Condition—Poor.

Ecclesiastical

3. Alconbury.

(1) Parish Church of SS. Peter and Paul; dating from c. 1250 with good detail in the chancel, and a 15th-century roof.

Condition—Good.

4. Alwalton.

(2) Parish Church of St. Andrew; dating from the 12th century, with interesting remains of vaulting.

Condition—Good.

7. Bluntisham-cum-Earith.

(2) Parish Church of St. Mary; dating from the 14th century, with an unusual apsidal chancel.

Condition—Generally good, but cracks in tower.

11. Buckden.

(1) Parish Church of St. Mary; dating from the 13th century, with good 15th-century nave, S. porch, roofs and glass.

Condition—Good.

12. Buckworth.

(1) Parish Church of All Saints; dating from the 12th century, with good tower and spire of c. 1300.

Condition—Good.

13. Bury.

(1) Parish Church of the Holy Cross, dating from early in the 12th century, with good chancel-arch and W. doorway, 13th-century tower and ruins of a late 15th-century W. chapel.

Condition—Poor.

19. Conington.

(1) Parish Church of All Saints; dating from c. 1500, with good W. tower and monuments.

Condition—Good.

26. Elton.

(1) Parish Church of All Saints; dating from the 13th century, with a good W. tower of c. 1500, and two pre-Conquest crosses.

Condition—Good.

27. Eynesbury.

(2) Parish Church of St. Mary; dating from the 12th century or earlier, has interesting late 12th-century detail and a remarkable series of early 16th-century benches.

Condition—Good.

30. Fen Stanton.

(1) Parish Church of SS. Peter and Paul; dating from the 13th century, has a fine mid14th-century chancel.

Condition—Good.

31. Fletton.

(2) Parish Church of St. Margaret; dating from the 12th century, has some remarkable pre-Conquest carvings.

Condition—Good.

34. Little Gidding.

(1) Parish Church of St. John; mainly re-built in 1714, has interesting fittings of that date and of the 17th century.

Condition—Good.

36. Godmanchester.

(3) Parish Church of St. Mary; dating from the 13th century, has a W. tower of 1623 and some good carved stall-work.

Condition—Good.

39. Haddon.

Parish Church of St. Mary; dating probably from the 11th century, has portions perhaps of pre-Conquest work and a 12th-century chancel-arch.

Condition—Good.

49. Huntingdon.

(2) Parish Church of St. Mary; dating from the 12th century, with good 13th-century detail and 14th-century W. tower.

Condition—Good.

51. Keyston.

(1) Parish Church of St. John the Baptist; dating from the 13th century, and with a very fine 14th-century W. tower and spire.

Condition—Good, except roof of S. transept.

52. Kimbolton.

(1) Parish Church of St. Andrew; dating from the 13th century, with good detail in the W. tower and interesting paintings and plate.

Condition—Good.

54. Leighton Bromswold.

(1) Parish Church of St. Mary; dating from the 13th century, and restored and re-roofed by George Herbert. Interesting early 17th-century tower and fittings.

Condition—Good, generally.

62. Great Paxton.

(1) Parish Church of the Holy Trinity; dating from the middle of the 11th century, and retaining the crossing and part of the nave of this date.

Condition—Good.

65. Ramsey.

(1) Parish Church of St. Thomas of Canterbury; dating from late in the 12th century, was built probably as a large Guest House or Hospital.

Condition—Fairly good.

69. St. Neots.

(1) Parish Church of St. Mary; dating from the 13th century, and with a handsome 15th-century W. tower and carved roofs.

Condition—Good.

75. Southoe.

(1) Parish Church of St. Leonard; dating from the 12th century, with a richly ornamented S. doorway.

Condition—Good.

85. Tilbrook.

(1) Parish Church of All Saints; dating from the 12th century, with early 16th-century rood-screen complete with loft.

95. Wistow.

(1) Parish Church of St. John the Baptist dating from the 14th century, with good 15th-century nave, screens and glass.

Condition—Good.

101. Yaxley.

(1) Parish Church of St. Peter; dating from the 13th century, with good detail of c. 1300 and interesting paintings and screen.

Condition—Good.

Secular

3. Alconbury.

(4) Bridge; of four spans, perhaps of 15th-century date.

Condition—Fairly good.

11. Buckden.

(4) Buckden Palace; late 15th-century remains of a house of the Bishops of Lincoln, with foundations of earlier buildings.

Condition—Ruined, but fairly good structurally.

(6) Lion Hotel; an early 16th-century building with good ceiling-beams to the hall.

Condition—Good, much altered.

26. Elton.

(3) Elton Hall; has a gatehouse and vaulted undercroft of late 15th-century date.

Condition—Good.

44. Hemingford Grey.

(2) Manor House; a mid 12th-century Hall-block of stone with some original details.

Condition—Good.

49. Huntingdon.

(8) Huntingdon Bridge; mainly of c. 1300, and an excellent example of its period.

Condition—Good.

(10) Hinchingbrooke; a large courtyard house of the 16th century, incorporating remains of a Benedictine nunnery.

Condition—Good.

(12) The Grammar School; part of the Hall of a 12th-century hospital.

Condition—Good.

(13) Walden House; a fairly good example of a late 17th-century house.

Condition—Good.

(22) George Hotel; retains a late 17th-century gallery at one end of the courtyard.

Condition—Good.

(29) Cowper House; an early 18th-century range of houses with one room retaining its original fittings.

Condition—Good.

52. Kimbolton.

(2) Kimbolton Castle; mainly of late 17th and early 18th-century work, the latter by Vanbrugh. Good leadwork and some original fittings.

Condition—Fairly good, but E. portico out of true.

54. Leighton Bromswold.

(2) The Castle; an early 17th-century gatehouse.

Condition—Good.

65. Ramsey.

(3) Ramsey Abbey; remains of the late 15th-century gatehouse, and probably of the 13th-century Lady Chapel of the Benedictine Abbey.

Condition—Of gatehouse, partly ruinous, of rest, good.

69. St. Ives.

(3) St. Ives Bridge; a stone bridge of late 14th or early 15th-century date with a small chapel over the middle pier.

Condition—Poor.

69. St. Neots.

(2) St. Neots Bridge; built probably in the 14th century, but much repaired and re-built in the 16th century.

Condition—Good.

73. Sibson-cum-Stibbington.

(3) Stibbington Hall; mainly built in 1625, is a complete example of its period.

Condition—Good.

(5) Wansford Bridge; a stone bridge dating partly from 1577, partly from 1672–4 and partly from 1795.

Condition—Good.

78. Staughton, Great.

(9) Village Cross; a moulded stone shaft with a sundial on the top dated 1637.

Condition—Good.

86. Toseland.

(3) Toseland Hall; built c. 1600, is a complete example of its period.

Condition—Good.

11. We offer our grateful thanks to the Rev. E. E. Dorling, F.S.A., for revision of the descriptions of Heraldry; to Mr. Oswald Barron, F.S.A., for revision of the descriptions of Costumes and spelling of names; to Mr. Mill Stephenson, F.S.A., for revision of descriptions of Brasses; to Mr. J. Murray Kendall, M.B.E., F.S.A., for revision of the descriptions of Armour, and to Mr. R. E. Mortimer Wheeler, M.C., D.Lit., F.S.A., for the Sectional Preface dealing with the Roman period and for revision of descriptions of Roman Remains.

12. We desire to express our acknowledgment of the good work accomplished by our Executive Staff in the persons of Mr. A. W. Clapham, O.B.E., F.S.A., Mr. J. W. Bloe, O.B.E., F.S.A., Mr. E. A. R. Rahbula, F.S.A., Mr. G. E. Chambers, F.S.A., Mr. P. K. Kipps, Mr. A. T. Phillips and Miss M. G. Saunders; also by Miss M. V. Taylor, M.A., F.S.A., who has investigated the Roman Remains in the County.

13. We regret exceedingly that from loss of staff and its continued non-replacement by reason of Treasury ruling, and, a fortiori, refusal to entertain any immediate prospect of its expansion, it has not been possible to go forward with the pre-war intention of the Commission to train and place senior investigators in charge of separate areas with competent staffs under them to report the results of their enquiries to a central office in London for final editing and publication.

14. Since the publication of the last Report, the Commission has begun the survey of the monuments of the County of Hereford.

15. The next Inventory of the Commission will therefore deal with the County of Hereford in two volumes, followed by the third and concluding volume of the County of London.

16. In conclusion we desire to add that our Secretary, Mr. George Duckworth, C.B., F.S.A., has continued to afford invaluable and unremitting assistance to us, your Commissioners.

All of which we submit with our humble duty to Your Majesty.

Signed:

CRAWFORD & BALCARRES (Chairman).

DILLON.

J. F. F. HORNER.

J. G. N. CLIFT.

E. J. HORNIMAN.

ARTHUR J. EVANS.

C. HERCULES READ.

M. R. JAMES.

D. H. MONTGOMERIE.

WILLIAM PAGE.

C. R. PEERS.

HARTINGTON.

GEORGE H. DUCKWORTH,

Secretary.

22nd June, 1926.