Samuel
Lewis's Topographical
Gazeetter 1831
CONINGTON,
a parish in the hundred of PAPWORTH, county of CAMBRIDGE, 3¼ miles (S.
by E.) from St. Ives, containing 202 inhabitants. The living is a rectory,
in the archdeaconry and diocese of Ely, rated in the king's books at £9.
15. 10., and in the patronage of the Bishop of Ely. The church is dedicated
to St. Mary. There is an endowed school. Traces of the moat surrounding
the site of an ancient fortress, called Bruce Castle, may be discerned.
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CONINGTON
is a parish on the borders of Hunts, 4 miles south from St. Ives station
on the London and North Eastern railway, 7 south-east from Huntingdon
and 10 north-west from Cambridge, in the hundred of Papworth, petty sessional
division of Cambridge, union of St. Ives, county court district of Huntingdon,
rural deanery of North Stowe and archdeaconry and diocese of Ely.
The
church of St. Mary is an edifice of brick and stone in mixed styles, consisting
of chancel, nave and a tower of stone with a spire and containing 4 bells,
with the following inscriptions:- tenor, Virgo coronata duc nos ad regna
beata; 2 (early 14th cen-tury), Asumpta est Maria in celis gaudent angeli
lau-dantes benedicunt (sic) dominum; 3, Milo Grey me fecit 1635; 4th,
Sancta Maria, era pro nob's (nobis): the tower and spire were restored
and the bells rehung in 1911: there is a monumental vault, breast high,
running nearly the entire length of the nave on the south side, and several
monuments to members of the Cotton, Askham, Hatton and Gardner families:
the nave was rebuilt in red brick in 1737 by Dingley Askham esq. and the
chancel in stone in 1871: there are 118 sittings. The register dates from
the year 1538.
The
manor of Conington (Contone or Cunitone. in the Domesday Survey, A.D.
1086) was successively in the families of Connington, Dansie, Hutton,
Baker and Watson, and in 1644 was purchased by Sir Thomas Cotton bart.
M.P. of Connington, Hunts, the son of Sir Robert Cotton bart. the founder
of the famous Cottonian library; and afterwards, by the marriage of Frances,
heiress of the Cotton family, to Dingley Askham esq.; it thence successively
descended by female heirs to the families of Hatton, of Long Stanton,
and Gardner, the last named family acquiring it by the marriage of the
Rev. Philip Gardner D.D. of Brynadda, Merionethshire, with Harriet, daughter
of Sir Thomas Hatton 8th bart. of Long Stanton. Conington Hall, the seat
of Philip Thomas Gardner esq. D.L., J.P. is an ancient mansion of brick,
restored at different periods. P. T. Gardner esq. D.L., J.P. and Messrs.
Arthur Lilley and John Scambler are the principal landowners. The land
is all freehold.
The
soil is clay and loamy gravel; subsoil, clay and gault The chief crops
are wheat, beans and barley. The area is 1,522 acres; the population in
1921 was 108 in the civil parish and 234 in the ecclesiastical parish."
[Extracts
from Kelly's Directory - Cambridgeshire - 1929]
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Domesday Book Entry
In PAPWORTH Hundred.
In CONINGTON Picot holds 1 hide and 1 virgate from Robert.
Land for 1 plough; it is there, with 3 smallholders. Meadow for 1½ ploughs.
Value 16s; when acquired 20s; before 1066 as much. A man of Earl Waltheof's
held this land; his jurisdiction lay in Longstanton.
In CONINGTON 8 Freemen hold 2 hides and 3 virgates from
Gilbert. Land for 2½ ploughs; there are there, with 8 cottagers. Meadow
for 2½ ploughs. The value is and was 25s; before 1066, 20s. They held
it themselves from Ulf and could sell; their jurisdiction lay in (Fen)
Stanton.
In CONINGTON Payne holds 2 hides from Hardwin. Land for
2 ploughs. In lordship 1 plough; 1 villager with 4 smallholders have 1
plough. 2 slaves; meadow for 2 ploughs. Value 20s; when acquired 16s;
before 1066 as much. 3 Freemen of King Edward's held this land; they found
2 cartages and 1 escort, and could withdraw.
War
Memorial
The
war memorial and the men on it have been documented on the Genweb
Cambridgeshire page.
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