The History of  
Hinchingbrooke House  

the Hart of Hinchingbrooke

hyncel

wylton

oliver cromwell

edward montagu

pepys

fourth earl

5th-7th earls

Eighth Earl

ninth earl

headteachers

housetour

school

 

 

Samuel Pepys

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".

On 15 October 1664 he visited Hinchingbrooke and found the "water-works and the Ora, which is very fine; and so is the house all over, but I am sorry to think of the money at this time spent therein."

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."

Samuel Pepys wrote a personal diary during the 1660's. He was able to visit Hinchingbrooke whenever he was in Brampton seeing his father. Why is Samuel Pepys' diary an important original information source?

 

Other Links

Pepys Diaries

Pepys biography