Hinchingbrooke House in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, was built around an 11th century nunnery. After the Reformation it passed into the hands of the Cromwell family, and subsequently, became the home of the Earls of Sandwich, including John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, reputedly the "inventor" of the modern sandwich.
On 8 March 1538, Richard Williams (alias Cromwell) had the grant of the nunnery of Hinchinbrook, in Huntingdonshire, for the undervalued price of £19. 9s. 2d. while he was an official Visitor overseeing the dissolution of the monasteries. His son, Henry Williams (alias Cromwell)—a grand father of Oliver Cromwell—built the house adjoining to the nunnery, and upon the bow windows he put the arms of his family, with those of several others to whom he was allied.
In 1970, it became part of Hinchingbrooke School, housing the 6th form. Hinchingbrooke School was formerly Huntingdon Grammar School which, on the site of what is now the Cromwell Museum in Huntingdon, was attended by Oliver Cromwell and Samuel Pepys. The school now has around 1900 pupils.
More recently, while still being used as a school Hinchingbrooke House has also become used as a conference centre, and is also for, dinner dances and as a wedding venue. It is open for tours on Sunday afternoons in the summer season.
Famous quotes containing the word house:
“A nation grown free in a single day is a child born with the limbs and the vigour of a man, who would take a drawn sword for his rattle, and set the house in a blaze that he might chuckle over the splendour.”
—Sydney Smith (1771–1845)