The History of |
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Hinchingbrooke House |
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Edward Montagu The First Earl of Sandwich was second cousin to - and patron of - Samuel Pepys. Hinchingbrooke and its owner figure largely in his Diary. Pepys attended Huntingdon Grammar School for a year or two around 1644. The Grammar School was in the building which is now the Cromwell Museum and now, as Hinchingbrooke Comprehensive School, uses Hinchingbrooke House.
The Earl started elaborate alterations and additions to the Elizabethan mansion. On 9th December 1660 Pepys notes that he (Pepys) has commissioned Mr. Kennard, master joiner at Whitehall to go to Hinchingbrooke about the alterations and nearly twelve months later he complains that they are very backward. On October 13th 1662 he "like[s] well of the alterations" especially the staircase, though he thought the outside should be "more regular and modern".
The terrace wall, next the road, called by Pepys "the wall on the mount," is of 1663-4, and built largely of old material; but the southern part is of a slightly later date. On 9th
October 1667 Pepys wrote that "The house is most excellently
furnished, and brave rooms and good pictures, so that it does please me
infinitely beyond Audley End."
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