Richard Cromwell

With the Priory now closed it was in 1538 that Richard Williams alias Cromwell received a royal grant of the priory with its “church, steeple, churchyard and house and all lands.”
Sir Richard's father Morgan Williams had married Katherine Cromwell but Richard took the Cromwell name as a tribute to Katherine's father Thomas Cromwell Earl of Essex who was executed in 1540.

Sir Richard Cromwell died in 1545. He had acquired Ramsey Abbey, Hinchingbrooke and lands of other religious houses. He does not seem to have lived at Hinchingbrooke, which was about this time occupied by William Cook, who sub-let part of the house and barn together with the stable, gatehouse and great close. However Sir Richard did start the conversion of the nunnery into a house.

Sir Henry Cromwell

Sir Henry, eldest son of Sir Richard, used Hinchingbrooke as a winter residence. He pulled down part of the nunnery and erected a fine Elizabethan house surrounded by an open court in its place.

The new building was mainly made of materials brought from Barnwell Priory, particularly the gilded roof of the great dining-hall. Because of his generosity and magnificence Sir Henry Cromwell was known in his day as the Golden Knight, and it is said that in his journeys from Hinchingbrooke to Ramsey Abbey, his summer residence, he threw money out of his coach to the people who collected to see him pass.

Sir Henry was four times sheriff for the county and once returned as member of Parliament. He entertained Queen Elizabeth here in 1564 when she knighted him. Henry handed over Hinchingbrooke to his son Oliver in 1602. Henry died on 6 January 1604 and was buried in All Saints' Church, Huntingdon

Sir Oliver Cromwell

James I spent a night here, 27 April 1603, when progressing south from Scotland to take possession of the English throne.
Sir Oliver Cromwell on this occasion made many presents to the king “a cup of gold, goodly horses, deepe-mouthed hounds, divers hawkes of excellent winge,” while a deputation of the heads of Cambridge University, clad in scarlet gowns and corner caps, attended to present a learned speech in Latin. In return for this James I on his Coronation Day, 24 July 1603, made Sir Oliver a Knight of the Bath.

The family fortunes were already weak because of Sir Henry's lavish spending but Sir Oliver Cromwell, Sir Henry's eldest son, to whom Hinchingbrooke now passed, carried on the family tradition of entertaining royalty, and James I was constantly there.

Over-generous spending was Cromwell's downfall and Hinchingbrooke was eventually sold to Sir Sidney Montagu on 20 June 1627.