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STATION ROAD
Part Four
The Manor House: The Early Years,
Royal Connections, Gold Coins Snails!
By Stephen Bull

In the pages of the Meridian over the last few issues the author of this series has encouraged the reader to stroll along Station Road and observe something of the past history of Church End, the northern end of the village

Proceeding along Station Road we have familiarised ourselves with the ‘story’ of the wharf, now Swan Pond; strolled through Hogs Pasture; visited the Parish Church; and looked over the church north wall at the site of the ancient Priory. We have now arrived at the charming Elizabethan Manor House opposite the church.

The Manor
“The Manor”, as it is often referred to, has long been the subject of the artist’s brush and the photographer’s camera lens and been depicted on post cards and greetings cards. It may be assumed that a Manor House with its walled garden has stood on or near the present site for over 700 years; and its historical associations extend to well over 1,000!

Manorial government: It has already previously been mentioned that the Anglo-Saxons introduced the ‘manorial system’ of local government to these shores (The Swavesey Meridian: August/September 2002). The counties which they controlled were divided into districts, called ‘hundreds’, and into smaller territorial divisions or ‘manors’, each with its feudal lord(s). Most villages would have had several owners and several manors (Fen & Upland). The manor was the administrative centre for the estate of local lords of the manor and the manorial system was the backbone of local government, later adopted by the Normans following the Norman Conquest in 1066, for close on a 1,000 years.

Prior to the Conquest the ‘principal’ or ‘main’ manor of Swavesey belonged to one Edetha/Eddeva or more commonly Edith the Fair*¹ the Consort/Queen of the Saxon king Edward the Confessor (d.1066). The ‘royal connection’ with Swavesey is represented by the “Royal SWAN, classical bird of Beauty (for Edith the Fair) standing aloft on the Swavesey village sign”; situated appropriately at the head of Market Street (The Story of SWAVESEY Village Sign). With the arrival of Norman conquerors, and presumably on the compilation of the Doomsday survey the ‘favoured’ manor of Swavesey was given, together with the church and other choice lands in East Anglia, to Count Alan de la Zouch, Earl of Brittany, William I (the Conqueror)’s son-in-law (F&U). Count Alan, not only held the ‘main’ manor, together with the church, a mill and a fishery on the River Ouse, but also land in Fen Drayton, Boxworth, Willingham and Longstanton and was perhaps the biggest lay landowner in the area. The de la Zouch family heraldic shield with nine gold coins is portrayed centrally on the Swavesey village sign.

The Manor House: In 1230 Roger de la Zouch acquired a manor in Swavesey in exchange for his lands in Brittany. Used as a residence by its lords on an occasional residence de la Zouch in 1232 was granted “fifteen oaks (trees) for making lodgings at his ‘manor’ of Swavesey” (Ravensdale). This site was probably at Manor Farm, opposite the church (AoSEC).

The de la Zouch family seemed to have valued Swavesey highly. With the building of a residence commercial development into a market ‘town’ followed (Ravensdale). By the late 12th century Swavesey was an inland port with a quayside (The Swavesey Meridian: April/May 2002).

In 1278-79 Elena de la Zouch was “lady of the manor” (Ravensdale). Records of that time indicate that Swavesey was clearly a ‘market town’ with a population nearing a thousand.

Lords of the Manor-1500’s-1850: During the 16th and 17th centuries the Swavesey manor was held by the family of Sir John Cutts during which time this late medieval Manor House was much altered (AoSEC). The elaborate monument in the Lady Chapel is a memorial to Anne Kempe, Lady Cutts, who died in 1631 (Yule).

In the late 1700’s the Manor changed hands and another big lay landowner entered the scene. In the late 1770’s Thomas Cockayne “purchafed of (sic) the late Duke of Bedford the leafe of this manor, which is held on lives under the bifhop (of Ely)” (Lyson’s Magna Britannia Vol II).

Williams records that Cockayne owned ‘all’ the manors of Swavesey (which again indicated that there was more than one manor in the village). In the Swavesey Chronicle: Abridged Extracts from the Cambridge Chronicle relating to the Village of Swavesey 1776-1899 p1 mention is made of the “Manors of Swavesey, and Hobbledods Bennets”. Interestingly the village sign includes the badge of the ancient Hoddendod Manor - the snail! Swavesey’s second Manor was situated to the south of Market Street. This strange old name is Anglian dialect for the Common or Garden Snail (The Story of the SWAVESEY Village Sign) and the snail is depicted to the right of the sign.*²

Soon after his purchase of the lease of the manors in 1781 a report appeared in The Cambridge Chronicle: Poaching Warning that trespassers on Manors of Swavesey, and Hobbledods Bennets, will be prosecuted. Gamekeepers and Tenants to exercise great vigilance. Thomas Cockayne Lord of the Manor. 29 September 1781.

Thomas Cockayne’s philanthropy in the village was also widely reported and included the provision of a school treat, an extract of the report in the Chronicle reads: “..... the children of the national and Sunday Schools, some 158 in number were treated to an excellent dinner tea through the liberality and kindness of Thomas Cockayne, Lord of the Manor. The children ....... marched in procession to the Manor House grounds, the Church bells merrily sweetly welcoming their approach. The children, teachers (etc.) were all sumptuously regaled with good old English fare of roast beef plum pudding. In the evening the children & teachers had tea.” The long report concluded: “At the close of the Treat the Rev. T.C. Grover, Curate exhorted the children to show by their future conduct both in School and throughout the Parish that they were worthy of the kindness they had experienced from Thomas Cockayne ........”. 30 July 1842.

The ‘Cockayne philanthropy’ continued through his daughter, Hon. Mrs. Dudley Ryder of Ickleford, Hitchen, Lady of the Manor of Swavesey owner of the Rectory and other farms and properties in the village. Although not resident in the village she displayed a close interest in the welfare of children and the poor, and was the benefactor for the restoration of the Parish Church in 1866-67 (Williams).

Manor Farm: Gentleman Farmer Hanslip Long up to 1900s: Responding to an advertisement for the tenancy of Manor Farm in the Cambridge Chronicle & University Journal Huntingdon Gazette dated 26th July 1851 resulted in the arrival of one Hanslip Long. The farm was described as follows:-

Parish of Swavesey 11th October (1851) next
A desirable farm called The Manor Farm in the Parish of Swavesey (a railway passing through the village) comprising of, a good residence with all the requisite agricultural and pasture land as now occupied by Mr Henry Wiles whose tenancy will expire at the above time.
The Manor Farm consisted of land surrounding the Manor House and Hill Farm, Lolworth. This amounted to over 500 acres and belonged to the Lord of the Manor, Mr. Thomas Cockayne.

Gentleman farmer Hanslip and his wife Martha had a large family of six sons and four daughters and in 1851 became tenants of Manor Farm and took up residence in the Manor House (The Fisherman: Lent 1993). Hanslip Long soon became involved in village affairs. Looked upon as a progressive farmer he was one of a group of farmers who organised the first ploughing match in Swavesey in 1857.

The close proximity of the Manor House proved a convenient venue for the short lived Horticultural Shows in the mid-1850s. The Cambridge Chronicle reported:- Satisfactory arrangements have been made for visitors to the Show in the grounds of the Manor House. The Eastern Counties Railway [as it was then] afforded every facility to travellers, there will be a brass band to increase the attraction. 9 July 1853.

The preparations for the customary new year School Feast invariably provided by the Long family. In 1863 Mrs Long, together with her house servant 17-year-old Harriet Gilby, prepared a meal for “upwards of two hundred (children) in the Schoolroom”. Following the departure of the children homewards the choir and bellringers “enjoyed dancing, round games, singing and traditions under the mistletoe bough. The crowd then adjourned to the Church where the ringers tolled a mournful knell for the departing year, then a merry peal for the new. Later a chorus of merry voices were heard singing at the corner of Market St. and the Manor folk were disturbed by sundry discords”. Cambridge Chronicle 3 Jan.

Another event eagerly looked forward to in the cold winter months in the 1860s was ice skating on one of Hanslip’s fields (on Mere Fen?) (Cambridge Chronicle 1861 1867).

While living at Swavesey Miss Louisa Long, the second daughter of Hanslip and Martha Long, was married at St. Andrews, and a very colourful event that must have been. The path from the Manor House to the Church was carpeted and as the bride and eight bridesmaids approached the Church walk girls from the National School who lined the route scattered flowers in front of the bride (Cambridge Chronicle 30 Oct 1858/The Fisherman).

By 1870 Hanslip Long was farming the Manor Farm jointly with his son George. Shortly afterwards, Hanslip and Martha returned to Carlton (near Newmarket) where they both died and are buried in the parish churchyard (The Fisherman).

The legacy of their twenty years’ spent in Swavesey is remembered by the Parish Clock installed in St. Andrews church tower. The clock was presented to the parish by his son, George, in memory of his mother and father and thereby providing farm labourers working in the surrounding fen fields the time as it struck each hour on the large tenor bell in the tower (The Fisherman). [George and his wife Ann Elizabeth lived and farmed at “The Priory” in School Lane (now demolished and situated at the entrance to the Cherry Trees development)].

*1 Queen Edith the Fair : Lysons’ Magna Britannia states that “The manor of Swavefey, which had belonged to Editha, of confort of King Edward the Confeffor, was given by the conqueror to Alan le Zouch, Earl of Britanny, his fon-in-law”. Another source goes even further: “Before the Conquest the village of Swavesey belonged to Edit the Fair, and, like so much of her property, it was given by William I (the Conqueror) to Alan of Brittany” (A Victorian History of the Counties of England: A History of Cambridge the Isle of Ely II page 315). The Swavesey village sign leaflet erroneously describes Edith as “the favourite daughter of EDWARD the CONFESSOR”. This statement is incorrect because Edward and his wife Edith had no children.

*2 The small cul-de-sac “Hobbledod Close” (Snail’s Close!) off Wallman’s Lane was named after the ‘second’ Manor which would have stood close by.

Acknowledgements:-

1. “Archaeology of Cambridgeshire: Vol 2: South East Cambridgeshire the Fen Edge” (AoCSEC) by Alison Taylor;
2. "The Buildings of England: Cambridgeshire” by Pevsner;
3. “Fen and Upland : 2,000 Years of History" (1961);
4. “History on Your Doorstep” by J.R. Ravensdale (1982);
5. "The Swavesey Meridian”: April/May 2002, August/September 2002;
6. “The Swavesey Chronicle”: Compiled by H. Hepher (1982);
   
7. Leaflet: “The Story of SWAVESEY Village Sign”: (1979);
   
8. “Swavesey in the 19th Century”: Dennis Williams;
   
9. Guide to “The Parish Priory Church of St. Andrew” by Revd. John-David Yule (1996).