The Church at HOUGHTON consists of a nave, south aisle, and chancel, with a tower surmounted by a high octagonal spire at the west end. The nave and aisle are separated by four sharp pointed arches, and a high pointed arch, now stopped up by a gallery for singers, formerly opened between the nave and tower. In the south wall of the chancel is a double piscina, divided by a short column. The manor of Houghton belongs to Lady Sparrow, of Brampton, by heirship from Sir Robert Barnard, Bart.

HEMMINGFORD ABBOTS, now a small village on the south bank of the river Ouse, was given to the Abbots of Ramsey, by the munificent Bishop Ethelric, about the time of King Canute, and it continued in their possession till the period of the Dissolution. It afterwards became the property of Robert Page, Esq. of whom it was purchased by the Barnards, Baronets. The Church consists principally of a nave, chancel, and aisles, with an embattled tower, surmounted by an octagonal spire, at the west end. The nave is divided from the aisles by four pointed arches, on each side, rising from octagonal columns, and was anciently open to the tower by a high pointed arch. In the chancel are memorials of the Dickens family, of whom Charles Dickens, L. L. D. was forty-seven years Rector of this parish; he died in 1794, aged seventy-four. Here also is a monument for John Hildersley, Esq. Barrister at Law, who died at the age of seventy, in 1731. The altar-piece, which is a good painting of the miracle of the five loaves and two small fishes, was given by the late Dr. Dickens.

HEMMINGFORD GREY, or EAST HEMMINGFORD, with its appurtenances, was granted to the Church of Ramsey, with several other manors, by King Hardecnut, or Hardicanute, through the entreatics of his mother, Emma, who was a most magnificent lover of the Christian faith, and of monastic discipline.' The charter, as given from the Saxon, in the History of Ramsey, runs thus: Hardecnut, King, and Alfgive (Emma) the Queen his mother, to Ældnoth, Bishop, and Tuni, Earl, and Keuric, and all Officers of the County of Huntingdon, health. We make

* Cotton MS.

+ History of Ramsey, P. II. In Hist. Ang. Scrip. Vol. III.

make known unto you, that we, in the name of the Holy Trinity, have given and granted to the Church of Ramsey, for the Soul of King Cnut, our Lord, and our own souls, the eastern land of Hemmingford, and all that belongs to it, with sac and soc, as full and honourably as when in our own hands. Whosoever, therefore, shall try to alienate this our donation from the said church, may he be alienated in the day of judgment from heavenly joy, and may he have for his lot, the punishments of hell together with the devils.* East Hemmingford was afterwards granted, by the Abbot and Convent, to Wlfwin, son of Alfwyn, to hold for his life, on condition that, after his death, it should again revert to the church, together with other Manors then in his possession; but all the estates of Wlfwin being scized, after the Norman Conquest, by King William, were granted by him to Alberic de Ver, who possessing the whole by force, left it as an inheritance to his heirs.'t In the seventeenth of Edward the Second, John, Lord Grey, of Wilton, died seized of Hemmingford Turbervill, as this manor was then called; though it afterwards obtained the adjunct of Grey from his family in the time of Charles the Second it was held by the Newmans,

The Church stands close upon the south bank of the Ouse river, and consists of a nave, chancel, and aisles, with a tower at the west end the columns supporting the arches of the nave and aisles, appear of Norman origin, as do the arches, which have been mostly altered into the pointed form: an obtuse arch divides the nave from the chancel. In the east window are various fragments of early painted glass: the west window is not unhandsome, Within the altar-rails is an oval monument of white marble for JAMES JOHNSON, L. L. D. Chancellor of Ely, with a long Latin inscription: he died in February, 1727, at the age of fifty-five. Against the south wall is another monument of white veined marble, in memory of Griffin Lloyd, Esq. who died in 1682, aged sixty-two. Here also are some memorials of the Greene family, of whom the Rev. Charles Greene, A. M. died at the age of fiftyeight,

History of Ramsey, P. III. C. 98.

+Ibid, Chap. 100.

eight, in July, 1803; and against the south wall is a tablet for the Margetts family. The number of inhabitants in the two Hemmingfords, in 1801, was 660; that of houses 105,

ST. IVES,

A small town, pleasantly situated on the banks of the Ouse River, was, in the Saxon times, called Slepe, and by that appellation is mentioned in the Domesday Book; but it afterwards obtained the name of St. Ives from Ivo, a Persian Archbishop of much sanctity, who is reported to have travelled through England about the year 600, preaching the Gospel with unremitting dili gence. In the reign of King Edgar, Æthelstan Manvessune, a noble Saxon, bequeathed various estates to the Abbey of Ramsey, and, among others, certain land of Slepe, and the land of Haggethorn; but these estates were not to become the property of the church till after the death of Alfwenne, his youngest daughter;' and' if she had an heir, of him also.' Some disputes, however, arising as to this disposition of his property, it was agreed on a compromise, that the land of Slepe, after the decease of Alfwenne, should altogether remain to the Church of Ramsey, whether she had children or not ;†' and proper sureties were entered into for the performance of this agreement. All this was done at Slepe, under the testimony of Ethelsi, the son of Æthelstan, the Alderman, and Leofric, the son of Ethelwyn, the Alderman, Edric, Lefric, &c. Ten hides of the Ville of Slepe' were, notwithstanding, usurped by Oswald, a priest, who was brother to the widow of Æthelstan Manvessune;' but these were at length secured to the Abbey, by an exchange for other lands.§

The Monks of Ramsey having thus obtained full possession of Slepe, laboured to turn it to the best advantage; and in a few years afterwards, the remains of Ivo, which were pretended to be accidentally discovered by a ploughman, were conveyed, with much solemnity, to Ramsey; and the place where they had been found,

Hist. of Ramsey, P. II. Chap. 29.

+ Ibid.

Ibid.

Ibid. Chap. 45.

found, was honoured by the erection of a PRIORY, or Cell, subordinate to the former Abbey. The account of the discovery of Ivo's remains is thus given.

"These things being thus atchieved, it happened that ST. Ivo, whom the Ancient of Days, rising from above, and foreknowing, had decreed, before the beginning of the birth of the first day, to visit the Church of Ramsey, to be happily found at the same time. The blessed relics of that holy Archbishop, which venerable antiquity of many ages had entombed in the land of the estate of Slepe, near the channel of the river Ouse, were found, whilst the plougher turned up the bowels of the earth deeper with the plough, compelled by the will of God, with oxen. Cleaving fast to the possession of so great a treasure, which, while all were ignorant whose remains they were, the Saint appearing in a visit by night to a certain honest man of the ville, affirmed to be his own, and directed the discovery to be made known at Ramsey, where three of his companions were also to be found. The Lord Abbot Ednoth, convinced of the truth of this vision by supernatural testimony, sent for his associate in good works, the Abbot Germanus; and these two having the precious relics of exalted piety placed upon their shoulders, conveyed them, attended by a great multitude of people, to the Church of Ramsey, where, at this day, they shine with renowned miracles. In the tenth year then after the death of our patron Earl Ailwyn, and on the same day on which he had been entombed, viz. 8th kal. of May, the earth, through the Divine bounty, gave us a new advocate, not in any wise to be afterwards snatched from us by destiny, who, from the place of his repose, unceasingly intercedes before God for the same, nay, even for all his worshippers.* The reality of the discovery of the Saint's remains, was, however, not wholly regarded as satisfactory in those credulous days; for the Monkish historian affirms, that Ednoth, who is by most conjectured to have been once Bailiff of Slepe,' for deriding the truth of the vision, and calling the Saint himself, Saint Cobler, was, in vengeance of his persevering

Ibid. P. III. Chap. 68.

6

persevering rashness,' plagued with boots to the end of his life;' in order that, through this destruction of the flesh, his spirit might deserve to be saved in the day of the Lord."*

On the spot where St. Ivo is stated to have been found, Abbot Ednoth built a Church; and soon afterwards, anno 1017, the Priory was erected by Earl Adelmar, who placed here some Benedictine Monks from Ramsey, and granted them various possessions and privileges: other immunities were granted by Pope Urban the Second. In the year 1207, the Church and Priory offices were burnt; but being rebuilt, continued in subordination to Ramsey, till after the Dissolution, when, in the thirty-sixth of Henry the Eighth, the site of the Priory was granted to Sir Thomas Audley. The Priory Barn and Dove House are yet standing in the north-east part of the town, but they do not exhibit any thing remarkable.

The opinion that St. Ives had a Mint in the Saxon times, says Mr. Gough, "rests entirely on a mistake of a coin of Eadmund having on the reverse Ive Moneta, the name of the Mint-master, § which, in the Philosophical Transactions,' was appropriated to St. Ives; whereas that name was not known in the Saxon times, and it is called Slepe in Domesday." In this town, the Earl of Holland, who had taken up arms for Charles the First, was made prisoner, after his defeat on the seventh of July, 1648.¶

The Church is a very light and neat edifice, consisting of a nave, chancel, and aisles, with a north and south porch, and a handsome tower, surmounted by a spire, at the west end. The nave is separated from the aisles by four large arches on each side, rising from slender piers, having half columns at the sides. The tower is sustained on strong piers, and is open to the aisles by pointed arches;