Sawston Hall is situated to the right of the long and straggling village of Sawston, on the high-road to Cambridge, from which it is distant about six miles. For many centuries it has been the residence of the Huddlestons, an ancient and honourable family, of the Roman Catholic faith. The mansion lies low, and is partially hidden by thickly-clustered cottages and gardens. It is a large quadrangular building, erected during the reign of Queen Mary, under circumstances which we shall presently explain. It retains much of its original character, both externally and internally; and, although it cannot boast of great architectural beauty, it may be considered as a good example of the gable-ended style of the sixteenth century. The principal entrance is by a low door-way, underneath a porch, leading into a spacious hall, paved with Kettering stone and black marble, and lighted by two windows, exhibited in the appended wood-cut, and a large bay-window

on the same side.[1] The wainscotting has been stained to imitate walnut-wood. The walls are adorned by several finely-painted portraits. Of the rooms on the upper floor there are none that demand especial notice: two of the bed-chambers are, however, hung with faded tapestry, concealing doors that lead to remote parts of the building. The antique damask bed-furniture and quilted coverlets are relics of ages long passed away. The Gallery, hung with old family portraits, extends nearly the whole depth of the mansion—being upwards of one hundred feet long by about eighteen wide, with oak panels to the ceiling. A door-way in the court-yard conducts to a neat chapel, containing a window of stained glass, and an altar of fine Egyptian marble, inlaid with lapis lazuli. The venerable edifice

derives its principal attraction from its associations with the olden time: it is impossible to wander through its now nearly deserted apartments, without reading a solemn and impressive passage from history. Its great characteristic is solitude. The present occupant—a bachelor of venerable years—is almost the last of a distinguished and honourable race, leading a secluded life in the house consecrated by a long line of noble ancestors. Though dwelling apart from the business and turmoil of life, secluded alike from the toils and anxieties of the world, where

there are, nevertheless, many who can testify to the active benevolence of his nature, to his worthily representing the virtues of generations of great and good men; and that when he dies “his works will follow him.”

In supplying some details of the family history, we avail ourselves of the genealogical roll, which the courtesy of the venerable representative permitted us to inspect. We copy the superscription: the document itself is upwards of eighteen feet long, and contains a multitude of names

“This Pedegree, Genealogy, or liniall Descent of the Ayntient and Rightworthey Famylie of Hodlestone of Salstone, in the Countey of Cambridg, and of Hodlestone, Lords of Milham, in the Countey of Cumberlande, and of divers other Manners and Lordshipps, shewing theire Matches and Aliances with many Princely, and Honorable, and Right Noble famyleyes, faithfulley and carefulley Drawne and Collected out of the Publick Recordes of this Kingdom, Ayntient deedes and evidences, bookes of Arms, and other venerable Prooves, by John Taylor, at the Lute, in fleetstreet, Anno 1641.”

The pedigree on the maternal side begins with Henry I., continues through the various monarchs who filled the throne of England down to Edward III. and John of Gaunt, whose sole daughter, Joane, became the wife of Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmoreland, by whom she had a son, Richard, married to Alice, daughter and heir of Thomas Montague, Earl of Salisbury; at whose death, in 1428, the earldom became extinct, but was afterwards revived in the person of the aforesaid Richard, from whom descended Joane (wife of William Fitz-Allan, eighth Earl of Arundel), Richard Earl of Warwick, the “King-maker,” and John Marquis of Montagu, slain with his brother at the battle of Barnet. This last married Isabella, daughter and heiress of Sir Edmond Inglethorpe, Knt., by whom he had five daughters, coheiresses, of whom one, Isabella, was the wife of Sir William Hodleston, Knt., of Salston, in the county of Cambridge; to him the estate descended in right of his wife. The deed of conveyance, dated 17th Henry VII., is in the possession of Mr. Huddleston.

On the paternal side, the list commences with Nigell de Hodleston, settled in Cumberland at the time of Henry I., which Nigell, surnamed Propositus (provost or warden), “gave to the Abbey of Selby two carrucates of land and a half in Millum, and parte of his tythe in Hodleston, with the socage, &c.” About the same period mention is made of Godard de Millum, who gave to the Abbey of St. Mary of Furney’s certain lands “for the safety of his soul, and of all his ancestors.” Sir Adam de Hodleston sat in Parliament as Knight of the Shire, in the third of Edward II., and afterwards became connected by marriage with Miles de Stapleton de Bedell, of the county of York. Millum Castle was fortified and embattled, in 1335, by Sir John de Hodleston; and a Richard de Hodleston was a man-at-arms at the battle of Agincourt, in the retinue of Sir William de Harington, Knight of the Garter. He was knighted after the engagement, by the king.

From an intermarriage among the descendants of Nigell and Goddard, sprang the above-mentioned Sir William Hodleston, whose grandson, John,[2] (afterwards knighted by Mary), was united to Bridgett, daughter of Robert Cotton, of Landwade, or Lanwood, ancestor of the present Sir Vincent Cotton; for him, or by him, Sawston Hall, as it now stands, was erected.

The circumstances connected with the building of Sawston Hall are akin to Romance. The popular tradition is, that it was erected at the cost of Queen Mary, who, when a fugitive from her enemies, after the death of Edward VI., found shelter in the ancient house of the Huddlestons. Her pursuers reached the Hall within a very short time after she had quitted it; and in their rage of disappointment at losing their prey, burnt to the ground the mansion that had harboured her. She is said to have witnessed the conflagration from a distant hill; and to have exclaimed, “Let the house burn; I will build Huddleston a better.”

“She kept her word:” writes a modern historian. “Sawston Hall was built by her order, and at her cost.” Unfortunately, however, there exists evidence that the Queen forgot her promise, if she ever made it, to her preserver. It is believed, indeed, that “she gave the stone from Cambridge Castle to rebuild the House,” but it is certain that, at least, it was unfinished many years after Mary’s death, although commenced during her lifetime. In the court-yard are two stones, which record the dates—probably of the commencement and termination of the building. Upon one are the initials, J. H., and the date 1557; on the other, those of E. H., (Edmund, son of Sir John,) with the date 1584.

The village of Sawston stands in the hundred of Whittlesford, and deanery of Camps. There are four manors in this parish—Pyrotts, Dernford, Dale, and Huntington—all now the property of Mr. Huddleston. The manor of Pyrotts continued until the year 1329 in the immediate descendants of Pirotus, who held it under Eudo Fitzherbert, Steward of the Household to William the Conqueror. Sir Edmund de la Pole died, seised of this manor and Dernford, in 1419. Mr. Huddleston’s ancestor came into possession of them—which had descended from the De la Poles through the Ingeldesthorps to the noble family of Neville—by his marriage with the daughter of the Marquis Montagu. The manors of Dale and Huntington were purchased by Sir Edmund Huddleston before the year 1580; the manor of Dale, or Le Dale, had been in the Saliston, or Sawston, family, who held it under the manor of Pyrotts by the service of finding an armed soldier whenever the owner of that manor should attend the King to the wars. Near the entrance to the park, there formerly stood an ancient cross, the shaft and pedestal of which alone remain. It forms the subject of our initial letter.

The church of Sawston, which abuts on the park, appears to have been built about the thirteenth century; like most of the churches of Cambridgeshire, it possesses a fine open porch. Sir John Huddleston, who spent the greater part of his fortune in the service of Philip of Spain after Mary’s death, lies buried in the chancel here. The following inscription is engraved on a brass plate placed on the tomb, represented in the annexed woodcut.