ments, chiefly of the Cottons; and against the north wall the honorary inscription, Prince Henry of Scotland, Lord of Connington, and Imperator, Rex Francia, Anglo-Saxonum, Angliæ, Scotia. Among the monuments are four large marble Medallions with inscriptions for Sir Robert Cotton; his son Sir Thomas, who died in-1662; and his grandson Sir John, and his second wife, both of whom deceased in 1702. The epitaph on Sir Robert is as follows: ** Manerii de Connington, Antiquæ et nobilis Familia Bruceorum ejusd. Manerii Dominorum, per parentalem successionem hæres; Natus 22 Januarii MDLXX Dentonia; Et juxta hic conditur expectans Resurrectionem falicem, The inscription written by Dr. Smith for his son Sir Thomas, who died in May, 1662, commences thus: THOMAS COTTONUS, Baronettus Rob. filius, hæres, et imitator paterna sedulitatis in conquirendis Britannicarum Antiquitatum monumentis H. S. E. Oppressæ patriæ et Regi Caroli I. fidem præstitit. Bibliothecam inestimabilem summo studio nec minoribus impensis conservavit, locupletavit, et pos-. teritati eruditæ dicavit. &c. On a blue marble slab in the chancel is inscribed, 'Under this. stone resteth the body of John Cotton, fourth son of Thomas Cotton, Lord of this Manor of Connington; he lived eighty-eight years. To his family he gave the mannors of Glatton, Holme, Sawtrey, Beawmes, Steeple Gidding, and Denton. He deceased on New-year's day, An. Dom. 1635. STILTON, a well-known village on the high north road, has obtained additional celebrity from giving name to a peculiar kind of Cheese, which has not unfrequently been called the English Parmesan. Nn 3* Parmesan. Marshall, in his Remarks on the Agriculture of the Mid land Counties, asserts, that, this cheese was first made by a Mrs. Paulet, of Wymondham, near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, who was related to, or intimately acquainted with, the celebrated Cooper Thornhill, who kept the Bell Inn in this village, and that she supplied his house with this new manufacture; which he fre quently sold as high as half-a-crown per lb. hence it acquired the name of Stilton cheese from the place of sale." Thornhill was a famous rider, and it is recorded of him, that "he rode three times to London in eleven hours;" and that he won the cup at Kimbolton with a mare which he took accidentally on the course, after a journey of twelve miles. He had a corn-rick of the value of 8001. at Stilton, which, though placed on high stones, was found to have the whole inside eaten through by rats and mice, when intended to be threshed. The number of houses in this Parish in 1801, was 111; that of inhabitants, 509. Stilton is thus characterized in the pages of Drunken Barnaby. Veni Stilton, lento more, Thence to Stilton slowly paced, At NORMAN CROSS, near where the road branches off to Peterborough, have been built, during the late and present war, very extensive Barracks, partly of wood, and partly of brick. They were erected principally for the reception of French prisoners, several thousands of whom are now confined here, and for whom it has become the principal inland depôt. They include a very large area, and are surrounded by a high wooden pallisade. YAXLEY, * Some account of the process of making Stilton cheese will be found in the general description of Leicestershire, Vol. IX. of this Work, p. 326-328, YAXLEY, A SMALL but ancient market-town, called Takesle in tlie Domesday Book, has of late increased in importance, from the contiguity of the Barracks at Norman Cross. The market was for a long time discontinued, but has of late been revived: it was originally granted to the Abbots of Thorney, one of whom, surnamed De Yakesley, who died in 1291, was a native of this town. The Church is a handsome fabric, and particularly remarkable for its well proportioned spire, which is seen at a considerable distance on all sides round. The number of houses in this Parish, in 180!, was 215; that of inhabitants, 986. ELTON, formerly Aylton, was the seat of the famous and ancient family of the Sapcotts;' one of whom, Sir Richard Sapcott, Knt. was Sheriff of Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire in the ninth of Edward the Fourth. Camden mentions à private Chapel here of singular workmanship, and most beautiful (painted) glass windows, that was built by Elizabeth Dinham, widow of Baron Fitz-Warin, who married into the Sapcott family.' The Manor-House was rebuilt after the Restoration, by Sir Thomas Proby, Bart. who married a daughter of Sir Thomas Cotton, of Connington, and represented this county in several Parliaments. His collateral descendant, John Joshua Proby, K. P. created Earl of Carysfort by his present Majesty in 1789, is now owner. A curious Tower of the old mansion is still remaining here... SAWTREY ALL-SAINTS, SAWTREY JUDITH, and SAWTREY ST. ANDREWS, are all contiguous parishes, crossed by the high road between one and two miles southwards from Connington. Sawtrey All Saints, alias Moygne, so called from an Nn 4* * ancient * In the Cotton MS. is the following copy of a grant of arms, made by Thomas Grendall to William Moigne, before the reduction of the fleralds under one regulation. A touz ceux que c'este presente Letives verront ou curont, Thomas Grendale de Fenton, Cosyn & heir a JOHAN BEAUMEYS, jadys de Sautre, Sali3 ch. Ditur Comme les Armes Ancestry ancient family of that name, contains about seventy houses, and 450 inhabitants. Sawtrey Judith, corruptly Ivit, was the site of a Cistercian ABBEY, founded by the second Simon de St. Liz, Earl of Huntingdon, about the year 1146, on the land which had belonged to the Lady Judith, wife to Earl Waltheof. It was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and supplied with monks from Warden Abbey, in Bedfordshire. At the period of the Dissolution, its revenues supported an Abbot, twelve Monks, and twenty-two servants; and were then estimated at the annual value of 1411. 3s. Sd. according to Dugdale; or at 1991. 11s. 8d. according to Speed. Henry the Eighth afterwards granted the Abbey, and its appurtenances, to his favorite, Sir Richard Cromwell; and by this grant the Church of All Saints at Fulbourn, in Cambridgeshire, passed as appendant to Sawtrey. The buildings have. been long destroyed. Richard Bruce, Lord of Annandale, was buried here; and Henry Saltrey, a writer on Purgatory, was either a native or monk of this place.* The number of houses in this parish in 1801, was thirty-eight; in that of Sawtrey St. Andrews, twenty-nine. Roman urns were found in Sautre Field, about a mile from the town, in 1772.'† Sawtrey Beaumes is thought to have been the birth-place of BEAU MAIS, Bishop of London in the time of Henry the First, and surnamed Rufus, to distinguish him from his nephew, who was d'Ancestry du dit Johan, apres le jour de son moriant, soient par Loi, & droit d'Eritage à moy eschoietz com à son proschein Heir du son linage: Sachetz moy l'avant dit Thomas avoir donnée & grantee per y cestes les entiers avant dittes Armes, oue leurs appurtenante a WILLIAM MOIGNE, Chivaler, quelles Armes c'est a scavoir sont d'argent oue une crois d'asure, oue cinque garbes d'or en le crois. A avoir & tenir touz les avant dittes Armes, que leur appurtenantz au dit Monsieur William, a ces heires & assignes a tous jours. En Tesmoignance de quelle chose a cestes presentes Lettres Jay mis mon sealx. Donne a Sautre le vint seconde jour de Novembre, l'an du Regne de Roy Richard Seconde, quinxisme. Gough's Cam. Vol. II. p. 161. + Ibid. from Spalding Soc. Min. was afterwards Bishop of the same See. He was appointed the first Warden of the Marches of Wales, and afterwards Governor of the whole of Salop: he died in January, 1127,-8. UPWOOD, near Ramsey, anciently Upwode, was given by King Edgar to Duke Ailwin, who passed much time here in the sports of hunting and hawking.' He also died here in his Hall, or Court, which he had previously granted, with the Manor, and its appurtenances, to the monks of Ramsey. After the Dissolution, the Manor became the property of Sir Richard Cromwell, whose eldest son and heir, Sir Henry, gave it, with other lands, to his third son, Henry Cromwell, Esq. who resided here, and was chosen a Member for Huntingdon in the first Parliament of James the First. He bequeathed it to his nephew, eldest son of Sir Oliver Cromwell, of whom it appears to have been purchased during the Protectorate, by Sir Peter Phesant, Judge of the Upper Bench. It has since passed through various hands, by pur>chase and otherwise, to Sir Richard Bickerton, Bart. Knight of the Crescent, and Vice Admiral of the White, who derived it from his father, Rear Admiral Sir R. Bickerton, Commander in Chief, and Governor of the Dock-yard of Plymouth. The latter, who was created a Baronet in 1778, and died of an apoplexy in 1792, made considerable improvements in UPWOOD HOUSE, which also appears to have been altered by the Cromwells in the time of James the First. The late Admiral was buried in Upwood Church; as was also Sir Peter Phesant, and several of the Cromwell family; but the latter have no memorials. The monument of Sir Peter, which is placed up against the north wall of the chancel, is thus inscribed: *Hist. Ram. chap. 24. M. S. At Upwood is a Chimney-piece (removed from its situation by the late Sir Richard Bickerton) carved with the arms of Henry Cromwell, Esq. and his second wife, Margaret, second daughter of Sir Thomas Wynde, Knt. of South-Wotton, Norfolk; and representations of two naked figures, a man and a woman, crowned with laurel, with the initials H. C. and M. C. beneath them. Noble's Crom. Vol. I. p. 28. |