"The Site, with Several Manors of the Rich Abbey of Ramsey All in the Same County", Was Granted to Sir Richard Williams, Alias Cromwell, in AD
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
HISTORY OF OWNERSHIP "The site, with several manors of the rich abbey of Ramsey all in the same county", was granted to Sir Richard Williams, alias Cromwell, in AD. 1540. This was in consideration of his good service, a payment of £4663 4s 2d and an annual rent of £29 16s. Two years earlier Sir Richard had acquired Hinchingbrooke Priory in Huntingdon which was developed for domestic use. At Ramsey he converted a six bayed ecclesiastical structure in the abbey into a summer residence. Sir Richard's grandson, Sir Oliver Cromwell, sold Hinchingbrooke House to Sir Sydney Montagu in 1627 and lived in Ramsey until his death in 1655 in the 93rd year of his age. Sir Oliver's grandson, Sir Henry, died in 1673 when the property passed to Henry's sisters Carina and Elizabeth. In 1675 they sold a reduced estate to Colonel Titus, a royalist and member of Parliament for Huntingdon. He lived in Ramsey in the summer and at Bushy Park in the winter. In 1701 the estate was mortgaged to Sir John Fellowes, who probably intended to acquire the Ramsey Estate. He was unable to do so but his nephew Coulson, of Eggesford in Devon, made the purchase in 1737 from the legatees of the daughter of Colonel Titus. Coulson's father, William, owned Eggesford Hall and no. 13 Lincoln's Inn Field. The next door neighbour in London was John Soane for whom no. 12 was built in 1792. Coulson's grandson, William Henry Fellowes, succeeded to the estate in 1804 and in 1808 commissioned Soane to modernise the old house at Ramsey. This apparently included the making of an entrance way from Abbey Green and the construction of a new garden. In 1837 the estate passed to Edward Fellowes, created Baron De Ramsey in 1887. In 1837 he commissioned Edward Blore to make further improvements. In 1931 the trustees of the 3rd Lord De Ramsey moved the family residence to Abbots Ripton Hall and sold the Ramsey Abbey house to Diana Broughton his sister. Diana died at the age of 29 in 1937 but had expressed a wish that the Ramsey Grammar School should relocate to the Abbey. The property was leased to the governors for ninety nine years at the nominal annual rent of £1 in 1938. Lord Fairhaven of Anglesey Abbey is the son of the late Diana Broughton. David Cozens .