In 957, King Eadwig granted to his faithful minister Wulfstan 9 hides (mansas or hida) in CONINGTON (Cunictune) to hold freely for his life and with power to bequeath to whom he pleased. The land granted seems, from the boundaries given, to have been east of the Ermine Street (Earninga Straete). According to Sir Robert Cotton, Conington was granted to Turchil the Dane, who was banished in 1021 and died, apparently in England, in 1039. It was this Turchil who, at the command of King Cnut, divided the fen among the adjoining townships. Sir Robert Cotton says that the property was then granted by King Edward the Confessor to Waltheof. There is much confusion, however, and it would seem that Waltheof's predecessor (at least in part of the property) was Turchil of Harringworth, whose wife, Thurgunt or Hurugonda, left land at Sawtry to Ramsey Abbey, that her body might be buried there. All the lands of Turchil of Harringworth were given by King William to Earl Waltheof and his wife Judith, daughter of Lambert, Count of Lens, and niece of the Conqueror. The monks of Thorney claimed that 6 hides of the 9 hides at which Conington was assessed had been leased by them to Turchil, and on representing the matter to Waltheof he, being a holy and just man, returned the lands to the Abbey. The monks, however, fearing that Fulcard their abbot, with whom they had differences, might waste these lands and give them to his kinsfolk, offered them to Waltheof on the same terms as Turchil held them. Waltheof accepted the offer and held the 6 hides at Conington at farm at the rent of a mark. After his execution for alleged participation in the rebellion of 1075, Conington was held by his widow Judith, who was holding in 1086. She, however, ceased to pay the yearly farm of one mark to Thorney Abbey, and no one has since paid it. Maud, daughter of Judith, married Simon de St. Liz, who thus became Earl of Huntingdon and succeeded to the possessions of his wife's mother.
After the death of Simon, Maud married about 1109, as her second husband, David son of Malcolm III, King of Scotland, who ascended the throne of Scotland in 1124 on the death of his brother Alexander I. David resigned his earldom of Huntingdon with the lands attached to the honour, about 1136, in favour of his son Henry, who died in 1152. The earldom and honour of Huntingdon were thereupon given by King Stephen to Simon, son of Simon de St. Liz and Maud, daughter of Waltheof, who died in the following year. In 1157, Henry II acknowledged Malcolm, King of Scotland, as Earl of Huntingdon and endowed him with the lands of the honour. He was succeeded in 1165 by his brother William the Lion, of Scotland. William forfeited on his invasion of England in 1174, when Simon de St. Liz, son of the second Simon above mentioned, was acknowledged Earl of Huntingdon. He died in 1184, when the earldom was re-granted to William the Lion, who resigned it to David, his younger brother. David died in 1219, and was succeeded by his son John le Scot, Earl of Huntingdon, Cambridge and Chester. John died in 1237, when his widow Helen, who had married Robert de Quincy, held Conington with other lands until dower should be provided for her. Conington was, however, for a time in the hands of Simon de St. Liz, the illegitimate brother of Earl Simon III, who died in 1184. He was seneschal of David, Earl of Huntingdon, in 1194, from whom another Simon de St. Liz, probably his son, claimed the manor in 1214. A third Simon, said to have been the seneschal's grandson, claimed it in 1235 from John le Scot, Earl of Huntingdon and Chester.
St. Liz.
Party indented argent and gules.
On the partition of the great estates of John le Scot, Conington fell to the share of his sister Isabel, wife of Robert de Brus of Annandale, who was holding Conington in 1242. The overlordship continued with the elder branch of the Brus family and passed from Robert and Isabel to Robert, their elder son, called the 'Competitor' for the Scottish crown. In 1279 the overlordship was held by Robert de Brus of the King of Scotland. From the Competitor, who died in 1295, it passed to Robert de Brus, his son, who, in right of his wife, became Earl of Carrick. He died in 1304, and the overlordship of Conington, which formed a part of the dower of Eleanor, his second wife, then the wife of Richard le Waleys, was held by her in 1318. Robert, son of the last Robert de Brus, was crowned King of Scotland in 1306, when his English possessions were forfeited. Eleanor died in 1330, after which date the overlordship merged in the English crown, and the manor was held in chief as parcel of the honour of Huntingdon for a third of a knight's fee.
Shortly after 1242 Robert de Brus and Isabel his wife, sister and co-heir of John le Scot, gave the manor of Conington to Bernard, their younger son, to be held of the honour of Huntingdon. Here Bernard apparently built a house. He joined the Barons against Henry III and his lands were forfeited after the Battle of Evesham in 1265. He died before August 1266. Conington, however, had been settled on his widow Constance de Morteyn, who was holding it in 1276–1286. Their son Bernard probably redeemed it from Robert de Brus, his overlord and uncle, as he redeemed Exton in Rutland in 1280. He was holding Conington in 1295, and died in 1301. A little while before his death he granted the manor of Conington to his son Bernard (III), and in 1303 Agatha, his widow, was holding dower there. Bernard (III) was holding in 1316 and settled the manor in 1325 on himself and Agnes his wife, with remainder to their son Bernard (IV), who was then apparently about to marry Maud, daughter of Ralph de Crophull. The manor had fallen in value about this time owing to the meadows and fens having been drowned by the great inundation of waters. An earlier settlement had granted further remainders to John and Edmund, younger sons of Bernard and Agnes. Bernard de Brus (III) died in 1330 seised with Agnes his wife of the manor and advowson of Conington, leaving Bernard (IV) his son and heir.Bernard (IV) did not long survive his father, and left as his heir his brother John. His widow Maud, who afterwards married Bennet de Fulsham, appears to have had some interest in Conington, under a settlement, until her death in 1350. John de Brus settled the manor in 1342 on himself and his wife Margaret and his heirs,and in the same year, as Lord of Conington, was called upon to answer the Abbot of Ramsey for disseising the abbey of lands in Walton. He died in 1346 and left Bernard, a posthumous child who died within a year of his birth, and four daughters. The custody of the heir and afterwards of the co-heirs was granted to John de Grey of Ruthyn in 1347. The wardship and marriage of the four sisters were sold by John de Grey to John de Verdon and by him to Master Simon de Islip, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. Islip sold them to John de Wesenham, a wealthy merchant, who married Agnes, the eldest daughter, to Hugh de Wesenham his son, and in order that he might take the whole inheritance, the other three daughters Joan, Elizabeth and Helen were, in 1347, placed in monasteries. Joan went to Nuneaton at the age of about nine, and Elizabeth and Helen, aged respectively about seven and five, were sent to the Priory of Bullington in Lincolnshire, and were professed there within a year. Agnes was married to Hugh de Wesenham about 1353. In 1358 she was declared the sole heir of her brother, the whereabouts of Joan, it was said, being unknown, and the two other sisters being professed nuns. Hugh and Agnes entered into possession of the whole estate, but their right was almost immediately challenged by Nicholas Grene, husband of Joan, who apparently had left Nuneaton Priory and married. A good deal of litigation followed. Hugh pleaded that Joan took the habit of religion when she was eleven, and continued to wear it until she was over sixteen. According to the rule of Fontevrault, of which Nuneaton was a cell, if any woman over twelve wore the habit of the order for a year, she was deemed to be professed. Upon this point an inquiry was made by the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, by whom it was found that Joan was not professed up to 24th June 1358. It was eventually adjudged that the inheritance should be divided equally between the two sisters, and a partition was made in 1359.
Brus.
Azure a saltire and a chief or.
Wesenham.
Sable a fesse dancetty between three molets argent.
By the partition the houses at Conington and Exton in Rutland were to be divided for the accommodation of each sister and her husband, and at Conington a new doorway was made for Agnes's use, and Joan and her husband were to have access to the chapel. In 1361 Nicholas Grene and Joan settled their half-share on themselves in fee tail. In 1368 both sisters and their husbands received quitclaims as to their holdings from Athelina or Alana, daughter of Bernard de Brus of Thrapston. After this date the whole manor seems to have passed to the Wesenhams, although the Grenes retained a moiety of the advowson. Agnes, after the death of Hugh de Wesenham, granted the manor to Thomas Kirkeby (d. 1407) for life. She afterwards married Robert Lovetot, who died in 1393, when Robert de Wesenham, son of Agnes and Hugh, then aged 30, succeeded to the manor of Conington and half the advowson. Robert de Wesenham enjoyed his inheritance only a few years and died in 1399, leaving a son Thomas his heir, aged 13 years, whose wardship was granted in 1400 to John de Elvet, one of the King's clerks. Thomas de Wesenham lived till 1460, when he was succeeded by his brother Robert, aged 60 years, who died childless in 1477. His heirs were the descendants of his sisters Joan Folville and Cecily Rydyll. Joan's daughter Mary, then aged 54, married firstly William Cotton, secondly Thomas Lacey and thirdly Sir Thomas Billing, chief justice of the King's Bench. Ann Kebell, another daughter of Joan, had a son John, then aged 40 years, who was a serjeant-at-law, and father of George and Thomas Kebell. Cecily Rydyll had a son Thomas who was then aged 36. The manor of Conington, however, had been settled under the will of Thomas de Wesenham, dated 4 Nov. 1460, on Thomas Cotton, son and heir of William Cotton, and his heirs male with remainder to Richard his brother, and ultimate remainders to the other heirs mentioned.
Cotton.
Azure an eagle argent with beak and legs or.
Thomas Cotton (I) married Alianora Knightly (who afterwards married John Mulshoe) and died in 1505, leaving Thomas (II) his son and heir, aged 25 years. Thomas (II) married Joan, daughter of John Parys, in 1512 and died in 1517, leaving a son and heir Thomas (III), aged 2 years. This Thomas Cotton married Lucy, daughter and co-heir of Thomas Harvey. He made his will in 1574, in which he left Conington to his wife for life and other property to his grandson Robert, son of his son and heir Thomas (IV), and charged his estate in favour of his sons Robert, Philip, Lawrence, John and Kenelm. He died in the same year, leaving Thomas (IV) his son and heir, aged 30 years. Thomas married firstly, about 1565, Elizabeth, daughter of Francis Shirley of Stanton Harold, by whom he had two sons, Robert and Thomas. By his second wife Dorothy, daughter of John Tamworth, whom he married before 1579, he had four sons, Henry, Thomas, Ferdinand and John. He died at Conington in 1592, when his eldest son Robert was 21 years of age. At the time of his death his six sons and two brothers, Philip and John, were all living at Conington.
Heathcote.
Ermine three roundels vert with a cross or upon each.
Robert, the eldest son, was the celebrated antiquary whose manuscripts form one of the most treasured collections in the British Museum Library. He was knighted in 1603. He, it is said, suggested the creation of baronets as a means of raising money for the Crown, and obtained the title for himself in 1611. He was member of Parliament for Huntingdon in 1604–11, and for various places at other times. He fell into disgrace, being accused of writing a seditious pamphlet. He died at his house at Westminster in 1631, his widow Elizabeth, daughter of William Brocas, surviving him. His heir Thomas (V), who was then 36 years of age, was sheriff of Huntingdonshire in 1636–7 and member of Parliament for the county in 1640 and for other constituencies. He married firstly Margaret, daughter of Lord William Howard, and secondly Alice, widow of Edmund Anderson. He died in 1662 and was succeeded by Sir John Cotton, his son. Sir John married firstly Dorothy, daughter of Edmund Anderson, and secondly Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Honywood, and died in 1702. He was succeeded by his grandson John, son of his son John Cotton, who married Elizabeth, daughter of James Herbert. The last-named John died in 1731, and was succeeded by his uncle Sir Robert Cotton, on whose death in 1749 the manor of Conington went to his son Sir John Cotton, who died without male issue in 1752. The manor of Conington was sold in that year to Sir John Heathcote of Normanton, son of Sir Gilbert Heathcote, a wealthy merchant of London. Sir John conveyed Conington to his second son John, who married in 1764 Lydia, daughter of Benjamin Moyer, and died in 1795. He was succeeded by his son John, who married Mary Ann, daughter of George Thornhill. He died in 1838, leaving his son and heir, John Moyer Heathcote, J.P., D.L., and High Sheriff in 1854, who married the Hon. Emily F. R. Colborne, daughter of Nicholas, first Baron Colborne, and died in 1892. His son, John Moyer Heathcote, J.P., D.L., who succeeded, married Louisa Cecilia, daughter of Norman Macleod of Macleod, and died in 1912. His son, Mr. John Norman Heathcote, is the present owner.
Bernard de Brus had view of frankpledge and royal rights in Conington as part of the honour of Huntingdon. A free fishery called a 'botesgate' in Whittlesea Mere was purchased by Thomas Cotton (d. 1576) from Sir Richard Williams alias Cromwell.
The Bevilles of Wood Walton (q.v.) held a large freehold in Conington. In 1261 Richard de Beville was called upon to answer for disseising Reginald de Bocking and Eufemia his wife of common of pasture over 1,000 acres of fen in Conington, Sawtry and Glatton, and liberty of cutting rushes pertaining to their free tenement in Conington. It was agreed that they should have their common of pasture and should cut rushes as might be necessary for their own use. Reginald de Bocking was still holding land in the manor in 1279. In 1332 Robert de Beville and William Attehalle were amerced for impounding the beasts of Sir John de Den in a place called 'Seggemor' in Conington. We have reference to a Thomas Beville at Conington in 1336–52, and William Beville was a tenant in 1461. Later we find the Bevilles of Chesterton (q.v.) as freeholders of the manor. William, son of William Beville, died in 1503 seised of a freehold in Conington held by the rent of a pair of gloves, and was succeeded by his brother Robert.
The monastery of Chicksand in Bedfordshire held lands in Conington in 1279, which after the Dissolution were granted in 1540 to Philip Parys and Margaret his wife. Two years later Philip Parys conveyed them to Thomas Cotton, when they became absorbed into the chief manor.
The Priory of St. Mary of Huntingdon also held lands in Conington, which were confirmed to it, as a virgate of land, by bull of Pope Eugenius in 1147. These lands after the Dissolution passed to Thomas Cotton under the same deeds as those above mentioned referring to the monastery of Chicksand.
The leper hospital of St. Margaret near Huntingdon was endowed with lands in Conington by King David I (1124–53) and King Malcolm IV (1153–65) of Scotland, which were confirmed to it by Isabel de Brus and Robert her son. In 1294 the king claimed the year and day of the lands in Conington of Geoffrey, son of William son of Henry de Conyngton, an outlaw, which he held of the warden and brethren of the hospital of St. Margaret. It was found on inquiry in 1307 that the hospital did not owe suit at the view of frankpledge for the Brus manor. After the decline of the hospital these lands were granted in 1461 to the master and fellows of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, who by deed dated 10 March 1564 sold them to Thomas Cotton, from whom they passed with the chief manor.
Malcolm IV, King of Scotland, granted lands in Conington to the Abbot of Sawtry, and David, Earl of Huntingdon, in 1219 gave with his body, to the Abbot of Sawtry, 8 virgates of land in Conington. This gift was confirmed by Isabel de Brus, daughter of Earl David, but the grant was contested by Earl John in 1228. Robert de Brus confirmed these gifts in 1254, and in 1279 the abbot was said to hold a hide with seven tenants. After the Dissolution these lands were granted in 1537 to Richard Williams alias Cromwell, who in 1540 sold them to Thomas Cotton, from which time they passed with the principal manor.
Victoria County History - Published 1932
