A History of the County of Huntingdon: Volume 3. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1936.
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'Parishes: Winwick', in A History of the County of Huntingdon: Volume 3, ed. William Page, Granville Proby, S Inskip Ladds( London, 1936), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/hunts/vol3/pp120-124 [accessed 12 October 2024].
'Parishes: Winwick', in A History of the County of Huntingdon: Volume 3. Edited by William Page, Granville Proby, S Inskip Ladds( London, 1936), British History Online, accessed October 12, 2024, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/hunts/vol3/pp120-124.
"Parishes: Winwick". A History of the County of Huntingdon: Volume 3. Ed. William Page, Granville Proby, S Inskip Ladds(London, 1936), , British History Online. Web. 12 October 2024. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/hunts/vol3/pp120-124.
In this section
WINWICK
Wineuuiche (xi cent.); Wynwycke (xvi cent.).
Winwick lies on the western borders of Huntingdonshire, adjoining Northamptonshire; part of the parish (about 959 acres) was formerly included in Polebrook Hundred (Northants), but it was wholly transferred to Huntingdonshire in 1888. (fn. 1) Hamerton and Old Weston are situated to the south of it and the Giddings to the east. The Alconbury Brook forms the northern end of its eastern boundary, the land along its banks being liable to floods.
The village is 4½ miles south-east from Barnwell station on the Northampton and Peterborough branch of the London Midland and Scottish Railway, 7 miles south-east from Oundle, and 7½ miles north of Kimbolton; it lies near the centre of the parish on a road running from north-west to south-east. At the eastern side of the village is the church of All Saints, and grouped nearby are the former vicarage house, the school and the Congregational Chapel built in 1865 by Isaac Knighton. At the northern end is the Three Horse Shoes Inn, a little to the north of which is a homestead moat already described. (fn. 2) The Manor House is also situated near the church, in a northwesterly direction. A short distance west of the Manor House is Dalkeith House, and a little farther west, on the main road, there is a windmill. About a mile to the west of the village is Winwick Lodge.
The parish lies at a level of about 112 ft. to 225 ft. above Ordnance datum, and has an area of 1,781 acres. Its soil and subsoil are stiff clay. The chief crops grown are wheat, barley, and beans. The population in 1921 was 169. The population of Winwick seems to have suffered severely from plague in the 16th century. The registers mention 'the outbreak of plague at Winwick anno Dom[in]i 1546,' when 40 people, including the vicar, were buried between March and August.
Manors
Winwick was assessed in the Domesday Survey (1086) under both Huntingdonshire and Northamptonshire. Five hides of land in the former county were held of the king by Eustace the Sheriff, but in the reign of Edward the Confessor 2½ hides belonged to Aschil, who had sake and soke, and 2½ hides were held by Alwold, Leuwine and Eilaf, the soke belonging to the king's manor of Alconbury. In Northamptonshire he held half a hide of the king, formerly in the possession of Achi; the similarity of this name to that of Aschil suggests their identity. The descent of the lands in Winwick is difficult to trace, as Eustace was also a sub-tenant of the Abbey of Peterborough, which held most of the Northamptonshire lands in Winwick, and other sub-tenants seem to have held of both overlords. (fn. 3) The overlordship of the lands Eustace had held in chief passed to the Lovetots and descended until 1219 with Southoe (q.v.), the caput of their barony. (fn. 4) On the death in that year of Nigel de Lovetot, Winwick was included in the pourparty of Alice, one of his three sisters and coheirs. (fn. 5) Her son William Patrick was holding her third in 1236 (fn. 6) and before 1242 gave it to his sister Margery, wife of Warin de Vernon. (fn. 7) She afterwards married John de Littlebury and with him conveyed her share of the Southoe barony to Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, in 1259. (fn. 8) The overlordship continued in the possession of the Earls of Gloucester and their descendants, the Earls of Stafford and Dukes of Buckingham, (fn. 9) until the attainder of Edward, Duke of Buckingham, in 1521, when it was forfeited to the Crown.
In 1086, Oilard was the sub-tenant of Eustace the Sheriff in his two Huntingdonshire holdings, and possibly Widelard, his tenant in Northamptonshire, was the same man. (fn. 10) The next recorded sub-tenant of the Lovetot fee in Winwick was William Cardun, who held 1 knight's fee in 1166. (fn. 11) He probably held one of the Huntingdonshire holdings and the half hide in Northamptonshire, but, later, part of this land seems to have been alienated, as his successors did not hold a whole fee. (fn. 12) Thus when Margery de Littlebury alienated her pourparty to Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, in 1259, the heirs of Geoffrey de Caxton held part of the fee (fn. 13) and presumably Geoffrey, who was also a tenant of the Abbey of Peterborough fee in Winwick (q.v.), had previously held it. In 1226–7, Peter Cardun subinfeudated 2½ hides of land in Winwick in Huntingdonshire and half a hide in Northamptonshire in exchange for land in Essex to William Cardun to hold of Peter as threequarters of a knight's fee. (fn. 14) Peter Cardun continued to hold this part of Winwick as mesne lord. It was known in the 14th century as the MANOR OF WINWICK and ultimately formed part of KNYVETS MANOR. Peter died before September 1259. (fn. 15) His heir seems to have been Isabel, the wife of Gredland de Bovariis. They were living in 1263–4, (fn. 16) but in 1270 had been succeeded by Reginald de Massingham and his wife Alice, (fn. 17) who granted the service owed by Ralph Cardun in Winwick, which was part of Alice's inheritance, to Theobald Broyl. (fn. 18) It may be noted that Juliana, the widow of Peter Cardun, was still living and holding dower in his lands. The mesne lordship is mentioned in 1372, but disappears after that date. (fn. 19)
William Cardun, the grantee of 1226–7, held the manor in demesne as late as 1243. (fn. 20) By 1263 he had been succeeded by Robert Cardun, (fn. 21) and in 1270 the tenant was Ralph Cardun. (fn. 22) John Cardun suc- ceeded him, probably before 1275, and certainly before 1279. (fn. 23) A tenant of the same name appears in 1316 and 1330. (fn. 24) In the latter year he proved his right to claim one fish and one gallon of salt from carts so laden passing through Winwick, as tribute or custom paid as of immemorial right for passage through his demesne, because the king's highway passing between Thurning and Hemington was at this point deep and dangerous and costly to maintain. (fn. 25) In 1331 John Cardun of Winwick acknowledged a debt of £300 to his son Ralph, (fn. 26) and was dealing with lands in 1333. (fn. 27) He was presumably succeeded by Ralph, but there is no further reference to the family. The manor of Winwick was acquired by Sir John Knyvet, who died seised in 1381 of a manor in which was included both a manor belonging to the Peterborough Abbey fee in Northamptonshire (q.v.) and also 82 acres of arable, a separate pasture, together with assized rents of free tenants of the yearly value of £9 3s. 4d. and 3 capons, which were held of the Earl of Stafford and lay in Huntingdonshire. (fn. 28) These latter were evidently the lands of the Carduns' manor. He held jointly with his wife Eleanor, who died seised of the composite manor in 1388 and was succeeded by their son and heir John. (fn. 29) The latter died in 1418 (fn. 30) and his son was holding in 1428 as Sir John Knyvet. (fn. 31) He settled the manor on his son John and Alice his wife, in 1430, to be held by them and their issue on condition that if they were ever divorced or separated their right to the property was to cease. Sir John died in 1445, when John, the son, inherited. (fn. 32) He was succeeded by Sir William Knyvet, presumably his son, who granted the manor to his younger son Charles and Anne, his wife, for life. He died in 1515, when Edmund, aged 7, his great-grandson, son of Thomas, son of Sir William's elder son Edmund, was declared his heir and next of kin. (fn. 33) Charles Knyvet was still living in 1522. (fn. 34) The manor was conveyed by Sir Thomas Knyvet, the son of Edmund, (fn. 35) Edmund [Knyvet], Anthony Knyvet, and John Cheetham and Katharine, his wife, to Thomas Trice and his son Richard in 1565. (fn. 36) The Trices were a Godmanchester family, (fn. 37) and as the Knyvets seem to have been in financial difficulties, they may have acquired it first on mortgage. In any case, Richard Trice and his two brothers, with their wives, sold the manor in 1583 to William Farren and John Knight senior. (fn. 38) This sale seems to have resulted in the breaking up of the manor. Edward Collyn, who died in 1624 seised of tenements formerly parcel of the manor, held houses with 200 acres of arable land of the Crown as of the honour of Gloucester besides meadow, rents and services, (fn. 39) and in 1619 one of his tenants, Richard Knight, was said to hold of 'his seigniory,' (fn. 40) but it is doubtful if he really had any manorial rights. His son and heir was Edward, then a minor, who died in 1685/6. (fn. 41) Richard Knight also held lands formerly belonging to the Priory of Huntingdon and other lands held of the honour of Gloucester by military service. (fn. 42) Edward Knight, apparently a cousin of Richard, who died in 1630, also held a messuage, 72 acres of land and common rights, which had been parcel of Knyvet's manor, and had been held by Richard Trice. (fn. 43)
A so-called manor appears in 1763, when it was apparently in the hands of Rowland Hunt, D.D., who with his wife Mary, and Sarah Wells, spinster, was dealing with it then, while Mary Hunt and Sarah Wells were the owners in 1794. (fn. 44)
Isaac Knighton purchased the Manor Farm in the 19th century, and it was stated in 1855 that he claimed the manorial rights. (fn. 45) His widow was called lady of the manor in 1885 and 1890. The Manor Farm, with the manor or reputed manor of Winwick, was put up for auction in 1916 by the trustees of the late Bateman Brown. (fn. 46)
It seems probable that the third of the Huntingdonshire holdings of Eustace the Sheriff mentioned in Domesday Book was granted in the reign of Henry I to the Priory of St. Mary, Huntingdon, (fn. 47) which was a tenant of the Lovetot fee in the 13th century (fn. 48) and held land at Winwick valued at 47s. at its dissolution. (fn. 49) The Prior does not seem to have had manorial rights in Winwick, although he paid separately for his land to the sheriff's aid in the county (fn. 50) and was said in 1285 to have withdrawn his tenants from the shire and hundred courts for the last eight years. (fn. 51) In 1619 Richard Knight of Winwick died seised of a messuage and 60 acres of land there which had formerly belonged to the priory.
The Abbey of Peterborough had lands in Winwick in Northamptonshire (Polebrook Hundred) in 1086 which consisted of half a hide held by Eustace, the soke of which was in Oundle; 1½ hide held by Isenbard and Rozelin with the soke in Warmington; and 2 hides and 3 virgates held by two knights and two servientes and a sokeman, with the soke in Stoke Doyle. (fn. 52)
It appears impossible to identify these holdings, with the exception of the half-hide held by Eustace (who here also was the well-known Sheriff), which later was the holding (q.v.) of the Abbey of Sawtry. Another half-hide belonging to the Peterborough fee in Winwick, recorded in 1125, has been tentatively identified with land held in 1086 by the two serjeants, but it is curious that no record of the land held by the two knights exists in the many registers of the Abbey. (fn. 53) The descent of this half-hide, which was quit of the ward of Rockingham Castle on payment at the rate of 4s. from each knight's fee, (fn. 54) is difficult to unravel. In 1125 it was held by Eustace de Winwick and Brithwold, who were then said to 'serve with the knights.' (fn. 55) In 1146, Pope Eugenius III confirmed the tenement of Brithwold to the Abbey, amongst fees from which tithes were paid. (fn. 56) This and later entries suggest that Brithwold was the immediate tenant of the holding; it was later reckoned as a thirteenth part of a knight's fee, (fn. 57) although he held only a quarter of a hide of land in his own hands, the other quarter being subinfeudated to Eustace de Winwick and his successors, (fn. 58) who did the service due from it directly to the Abbey, but paid their homage to Brithwold and his successors. (fn. 59) Brithwold may have been succeeded by William de Caxton, who gave 60 acres in Winwick to the Priory of Huntingdon. (fn. 60) In 1189, (fn. 61) Geoffrey de Winwick was the tenant and may probably be identified with Geoffrey de Caxton, who was holding in 1200 and 1211. (fn. 62) The next tenant seems to have been Simon de Caxton, presumably his son, to whom Saher de Quincy, Earl of Winchester, granted land in Keyston, of which he was overlord, between 1190 and 1216. (fn. 63) The earl and his successors thereby claimed priority of wardship of the succeeding Caxtons, which should have belonged to the Abbots of Peterborough, in right of the Winwick lands. (fn. 64) Another Geoffrey, probably the brother of Simon, was the tenant in 1243, (fn. 65) but died before 1246–7, when his heirs were his sister Ampholisa, the wife firstly of Geoffrey Chamberlain of Hemingford and secondly of Sir Nigel de Radwell, and his nephew Stephen de Titchmersh. (fn. 66) Their inheritance in Winwick consisted of a messuage and 140 acres of land, a larger holding than the half-hide of 1086. (fn. 67) In the partition of the lands of Geoffrey, made in 1246–7, Stephen de Titchmersh granted all his moiety in Winwick to Ampholisa and Nigel de Radwell and renounced his claim to the tenements which Geoffrey had held in fee. In return they granted to him and his heirs 80 acres of land with pasture in Winwick together with the capital messuage and the lands and services of their villein tenants. (fn. 68) This partition was probably made on the marriage of Ampholisa and Nigel de Radwell, since previously during her widowhood she had granted her land in Winwick and various homages and services there, in particular those of her nephew and co-heir, to her second son Simon Chamberlain. (fn. 69) This grant was confirmed by her elder son, Warren Chamberlain, to whom Simon and his heirs owed homage and service. (fn. 70) After her second marriage, Simon also obtained from her, as appears by a confirmatory charter of Warren, the messuage which James de Winwick formerly held, together with 42 acres of land. (fn. 71) This charter, as copied in Henry de Pytchley's Book of Fees, clearly records the grant of the messuage and land. But it seems impossible that it was more than a grant of the mesne lordship, since James de Winwick's heirs still held Eustace de Winwick's twenty-sixth part of a knight's fee in demesne. (fn. 72) It may have been a confirmatory charter of land he already held in demesne. The history of this mesne lordship is obscure. In 1275 it was said to have been quitclaimed by Warren Chamberlain's heirs, his daughter Anastasia and her sister, probably Isabel, the wife of Hugh le Marsh, to the Abbot of Peterborough, to whom the sub-tenant then did homage. (fn. 73) On the other hand, Simon Chamberlain's successor, John Chamberlain, did homage in 1290 to the new Abbot of Peterborough, Richard de London, for the whole thirteenth part of a fee, when he acknowledged that he held 80 acres of land in Winwick. (fn. 74) He died, leaving another John Chamberlain as his heir in the wardship of Abbot Godfrey (fn. 75) (1299–1311). John's son and heir Ralph was also a minor, and his wardship and marriage were sold to his mother by Abbot Adam de Boothby (1321–23), but the boy was seized at Oundle by the overlord of his Keyston tenements, who claimed priority. (fn. 76)
He was in seisin of a thirteenth part of a knight's fee in 1346, when he appears as Ralph le Despenser, son of John Chamberlain, but no further mention of the Caxton inheritance at Winwick has been found.
No record of the other moiety of the half-hide, which Eustace de Winwick held in 1125, appears till 1211, when James de Winwick held a twenty-sixth part of a fee in Winwick. (fn. 77) In 1254, Stephen de Winwick was the tenant. (fn. 78) As has been said, these tenants appear to have been responsible for the service due to the Abbey of Peterborough and to have paid feudal and shire aids themselves, but their homage belonged to the Caxtons and the Chamberlains until after the death of Warren Chamberlain. His daughter Anastasia and her sister, apparently Isabel, wife of Hugh de Marsh, quitclaimed all their right to the homage of Henry, son of Stephen de Winwick, who consequently did homage in 1275 to the Abbot. (fn. 79) In 1316, William, son of Stephen de Winwick, was the tenant, (fn. 80) but no further record of the holding can be traced.
Probably the whole thirteenth part of a knight's fee, and other land in Winwick held of Peterborough, of which the earlier history has disappeared, were bought by Sir John Knyvet, who died in 1381 seised of the manor of Winwick in Northamptonshire, which he held jointly with his wife Eleanor. (fn. 81) At the time of her death, she held it of the Abbey of Peterborough by fealty.
The half-hide held by Eustace the Sheriff in 1086 of the Abbey of Peterborough may be identified with the land in Winwick which formed part of the two fees of the soke of Oundle held of the Abbey of Peterborough by the Lovetots. (fn. 82) Like their other holding here (q.v.), it descended to the sisters of Nigel de Lovetot in the early 13th century, but no share in these two fees was assigned to Roysia, the wife of Hubert de Bromford. In the next generation, Margery de Vernon, in her widowhood, and Nigel de Amundeville granted all the homage and service of their tenants in these fees to John de Caux, Abbot of Peterborough (1249–63), their overlord, (fn. 83) so that the mesne lordship disappears.
The first sub-tenant of this land whose name is recorded was Walter, son of Walter, who, in order to avoid the succession of his nephew and heir Walter de Gisney, the son of a sister whom he hated, granted the reversion of the fee after his death to John de Vaux. (fn. 84) The latter granted it to the Abbey of Sawtry before 1211, when the abbot paid the scutage due to Nigel de Lovetot (d. 1219), the mesne lord. (fn. 85) After the extinction of the mesne lordship, the abbots did homage to the Abbots of Peterborough, (fn. 86) and owed suit to the court of Castor, for which they paid an annual composition. (fn. 87) It may be noted that the Abbey of Sawtry was also the tenant of land in the fees of the Priory of Huntingdon and of the Carduns. (fn. 88) At the time of the Dissolution, the Sawtry lands in Winwick were valued at £3 a year. (fn. 89) The property was granted in 1537 to Sir Richard Williams, alias Cromwell, (fn. 90) and in 1540 he obtained licence to alienate it to John Elryngton. (fn. 91)
In 1279, the Prior of the Hospital of Armeston held one virgate of land in Winwick (Northamptonshire) by the gift of Alice de Turberville. (fn. 92)
All the Winwick lands in Huntingdonshire owed suit to the sheriff's turn, but after the Earl of Gloucester acquired the pourparty of the Lovetot barony he withdrew the suit of his tenants. (fn. 93) He and the succeeding overlords held a view of frankpledge and leet at Sawtry for their tenants there and in Winwick and other vills in the county. (fn. 94) After the attainder of the last Duke of Buckingham in 1521, the leet remained in the Crown, until James I granted it to George Whitmore and others, the fishing grantees. (fn. 95)
Church
The church of ALL SAINTS consists of a chancel (24½ ft. by 13½ ft.), nave (44¼ ft. by 18 ft.), north aisle (49¾ ft. by 10¾ ft.), south transept (16¼ ft. by 11½ ft.), south aisle (39¾ ft. by 9¾ ft.), west tower (9½ ft. by 9½ ft.), and modern south porch. The walls are of coursed rubble with stone dressings, and the roofs are covered with lead and stone slates.
The church is not mentioned in the Domesday Survey (1086); but the 12th-century south doorway points to a stone church at that period. The chancel, nave and south aisle were rebuilt in the middle of the 13th century, and the north arcade was formed and the aisle added about 1325. The chancel arch was rebuilt, to the full width of the chancel, about 1340; and the south aisle walls were probably raised and reconstructed at the same time. The south transept was built in the early part of the 15th century, and the west tower towards the end of the century. Early in the 16th century the clearstory was added to the nave, the whole of the roofs were renewed, and the north aisle largely rebuilt. The church was drastically restored in 1864, when the south transept, south aisle, clearstory, porch and the upper part of the spire were rebuilt. (fn. 96) The spire (98 ft.) was struck by lightning on 25 June 1935, and has been repaired.
The mid 13th-century chancel has a modern threelight east window with geometrical tracery in a twocentred head, and a mutilated stone bracket on each side of it. The north wall has two 13th-century lancet windows. The south wall has an early 14thcentury two-light window with simple tracery in a two-centred head, and a blocked doorway only visible inside. The chancel arch, c. 1340, is twocentred, of two hollow-chamfered orders, the lower order resting on semicircular attached shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The roof is modern.
The mid 13th-century nave has a north arcade, c. 1325, of four bays having two-centred arches of two chamfered orders resting on octagonal columns and semi-octagonal responds all with moulded capitals and bases. The mid 13th-century south arcade is of four bays having two-centred arches of two chamfered orders resting on one octagonal and two circular columns and semi-octagonal responds, all with moulded capitals and bases; the capitals all have the nail-head ornament. The clearstory has three windows on the north and two on the south, all modern cusped squares. The early 16th-century roof is of flat pitch and has moulded beams, jack-legs and braces.
The early 16th-century north aisle has an early 14th-century three-light east window with intersecting tracery in a two-centred head. The north wall has three early 16th-century square-headed windows, the eastern of three lights and the others two lights; and a blocked early 16th-century doorway with fourcentred head and continuous moulded jambs. The west wall has an early 16th-century two-light window similar to those in the north wall. The contemporary pent-roof, much restored, has moulded beams with carved bosses at the intersections; three of them have carved scrolls, inscribed respectively 'Tom,' 'Rob' and 'I. Elington Siv.'
The early 15th-century south transept has an original four-light transomed south window with vertical tracery in a depressed four-centred head; and a 14th-century piscina with trefoiled ogee head and octofoiled basin. On the west is an early 15thcentury half-arch to the aisle of two chamfered orders. The very low-pitched roof, much restored, has early 16th-century moulded beams, jack-legs and braces, and carved bosses. It has two modern shields of arms, (1) the See of Ely impaling Bishop Turton; (2) a stag trippant, the crest of the Duke of Buccleuch.
The 13th-century south aisle, altered in the 14th century, has, in the south wall, two 14th-century three-light windows with intersecting tracery in two-centred heads, the western being nearly all modern; and a 12th-century doorway, reset with a pointed arch, the outer order having the chevron ornament and the inner order having a roll moulding. The west wall has a mid 14th-century two-light window with flowing tracery in a two-centred head. The roof is modern but retains a few old timbers.
The late 15th-century west tower (fn. 97) has a twocentred tower arch of two chamfered orders dying into the side walls. There is no west doorway. The west window is of two cinquefoiled lights with a quatrefoiled spandrel in a four-centred head; and the belfry windows are plain two-lights with four-centred heads. The tower, which is built partly within the nave, has diagonal buttresses at the north-west and south-west corners rising nearly to the heads of the belfry windows, and is divided into stages by three string-courses. It is finished with a simple cornice from which springs an octagonal broach spire having two ranges of spire-lights, both on the cardinal faces; the lower of two-lights with tracery in a gabled head, and the upper of single-lights. The stairs are in the south-west angle and have doorways both from the outside and inside.
The modern porch has a two-centred outer arch of two moulded orders carried on three circular detached shafts having moulded capitals and bases. The side walls have each a quatrefoiled circular window in a square surround.
The early 13th-century font has a square bowl with the angles taken off, on a square central shaft with chamfered angles, and four octagonal angle shafts with carved capitals and moulded bases.
There are five bells, inscribed: (1) 1716; (2) J: Eayre fecit 1756 Thomas Wade Churchwarden; (3) Preaes God only; (4) s. kateri; (5) J: Taylor & Co: Founders Loughborough 1864. The first is probably by Henry Penn, of Peterborough; the third and fourth are by Newcombe of Leicester. They were re-hung by John Taylor & Co., in 1864. There were four bells in 1552, (fn. 98) but by 1709 there were five bells and a clock. (fn. 99)
There is no chancel screen, although it would seem that one remained until 1748, in which year Archdeacon Timothy Neve ordered it to be taken down. (fn. 100) The south transept is inclosed by two modern oak screens which have one traceried head and a few pieces of brattishing from an early 16th-century screen, which apparently existed in this position in 1851. (fn. 101)
The early 17th-century Communion table has turned and carved legs and carved rails. There is a 17th-century bench with turned legs in the tower.
There is a small brass plate with inscription to Edward Collins, son of Edward Collins of Winwick, d. 1685/6 this is now on the tower floor, but its original slab lies outside the porch; a modern brass slab to Sarah Ruff, 1721; and a War Memorial, 1914–18.
The registers are as follows: (i) baptisms, marriages and burials 8 January 1538 to 16 January 1757; (ii) marriages 12 August 1755 to 11 August 1812; also, on some plain pages bound in at the end, baptisms and burials 17 April 1757 to 15 September 1812.
The church plate (fn. 102) consists of a silver cup inscribed 'for . the . towne . of . wynwyc . 1569' no date-letter, but a Norwich maker's mark; a silver cover paten for the same, inscribed '1569' marked as the cup; a pewter flagon inscribed 'The Parish of Winwick in Northampton and Huntingdonshire. Simon Peake Churchwarden 1737,' scratched on base 'Winwick 1839.'
Advowson
A vicarage was ordained during the episcopate of Bishop Hugh de Welles, and the rectory and patronage of Winwick belonged, until the Dissolution, to the Prior and Convent of Huntingdon, who presented Geoffrey de Winwick to the vicarage c. 1218. (fn. 103) The rectory and advowson were granted to John Whiting and others in 1552 (fn. 104) and were sold in the same year to Sir Edward Montagu, the Lord Chief Justice; (fn. 105) they descended through his heirs the Dukes of Montagu and Dukes of Buccleuch (fn. 106) until 1913, when the advowson was acquired by the Bishop of Ely, the present patron.
Charity
Sarah Ruff, by will dated 18 Dec. 1721, gave the residue of her real and personal estates to the poor of the parish. The endowment of the charity now consists of land containing about 6 acres let at a yearly rent, and £431 5s. 8d. Consols with the Official Trustees. The income is distributed in money to the poor of the parish.