OLD HURST
Waldhyrst, Waldehirst (xiii cent.); Woldhirst,
Wold Hyrst (xiv cent.); Waldehurst, Whollde Hurst
(xvi cent.).
The parochial chapelry of Old Hurst or Oldhurst lies
in the centre of the hundred of Hurstingstone. (fn. 1) The
land rises to 130 ft. above ordnance datum on its
western boundary from which it slopes down to the
low-lying ground about Somersham to the east. Old
Hurst and Woodhurst no doubt from their names
formed at one time a wooded district, but there is
very little woodland now in either of them. They are
both chapelries in the parish of Slepe or St. Ives and
were in existence as such in the 12th century, parochial
rights being obtained shortly before the middle of
the 13th century. (fn. 2) The chapel of Old Hurst has
now been united to Woodhurst and the curate
lives at the latter place.
The stone known as the Abbot's Chair is on
the boundary between Old Hurst and Woodhurst
on the St. Ives road. Here the hundred courts were
held. (fn. 3)
The village stands on high ground at the west side
of the parish on the road from Huntingdon to Ramsey,
about 5½ miles from Ramsey and 3½ from St. Ives.
From the village two branch roads connect the road
from Huntingdon with that from St. Ives to Chatteris,
and it is round the ring formed by these roads that
the village is built. The village is composed of the
parochial chapel lying on the north side of the more
northern of the two branch roads and some four farmhouses with their cottages and a public house. Of the
four farms, namely, the Manor Farm, the College
Farm, Porch House Farm and Marsh's Farm, the
buildings of the Manor Farm are of most interest.
The house was probably built by George or Nicholas
Gascoigne about 1600, possibly to supersede the
monastic manor house within the moated site a little
to the north-east. The Manor Farm is a brick house
covered with slates, which has been much altered from
time to time, the north-east wing being the oldest part.
There is a fine original staircase, and a barn forming
one of the outbuildings is a good specimen of 17thcentury timber-frame work with brick-nogging.
The parish comprises 1,077 acres, most of which are
arable, producing wheat, barley and oats. The soil is
a heavy clay.
MANORS
The manor of OLD HURST was
originally parcel of the manor of Slepe
and was granted with Slepe (q.v.) to
Ramsey Abbey by King Edgar in 974. With Woodhurst it probably became a separate manor in the 11th
century but both of them continued tithings of the
soke of Slepe. The manor of Old Hurst may perhaps
be traced to Ingelran [de Auco], who with Everard and
Pleines held 4 hides in Slepe of the abbot of Ramsey in
1086. (fn. 4) Ingelran's land seems to have passed to Roger
Fitz Mowin, who made an agreement with Abbot
Reynald (1114–30) regarding the old fee at Hurst
which Ingelran had held, and a rent in Fordham which
Turkill his uncle had owned. (fn. 5) Roger was living in
1134, (fn. 6) but by 1166 Ralph Mowin was holding, with
another, 4½ hides in Hurst, (fn. 7) possibly the 4 hides in
Slepe referred to above. William Mowin who conveyed land in Old Hurst to
John Mowin in 1228, (fn. 8) may
have been a son of Ralph. Sir
William Mowin, as one of the
abbot's knights, in 1244 sent
William his son and John his
nephew in his stead to serve
in Scotland. (fn. 9) John Mowin,
possibly the nephew of Sir
William, was holding 2 hides
in Old Hurst in 1251, (fn. 10) and in
1272 brought an action against
the Abbot of Ramsey and
Prior of St. Ives as to the advowson of the church of
Old Hurst, in which he claimed that Ralph his grandfather presented to the church in the time of Henry II. (fn. 11)
In the same year John Mowin the elder conveyed a
messuage and 3 carucates of land in Old Hurst to John
Mowin the younger and Ascelina his wife. (fn. 12) John the
younger was holding in 1281 (fn. 13) and was a justice for
gaol delivery in 1288. (fn. 14) He was apparently succeeded
by William Mowin who, with his wife Mabel, was
dealing with the manor in 1328. (fn. 15) Shortly after this
date the manor, it seems, was conveyed to trustees on
behalf of the Abbot of Ramsey. In this way it passed
to Robert de Thorp, whose son Robert in 1349 made
a charge of £40 on the manor formerly of William
Mowin for the benefit of Philip de Brampton, chaplain, and Robert de Kendale, clerk. (fn. 16) This rent charge
was conveyed to Nicholas de York (Everwyk), clerk.
In 1356 Gilbert de Warewyk, chaplain, and Nicholas de
York received licence to alienate the manor of Old
Hurst with other lands to the abbot and convent of
Ramsey, (fn. 17) and thus it became merged in the abbey
possessions.
Mowin. Or three cinqfoils and a quarter gules.
In 1535 the Abbot of Ramsey leased the site of the
manor for eighty years at a rent of £7 (fn. 18) to Ralph Clay,
who conveyed his interest to Andrew Jenour of Great
Dunmow. (fn. 19) The manor was granted in 1544 to Sir
William Parr, Lord Parr of Horton, at a rent of
44s. 8½d., but his interest reverted to the crown
(fn. 20) and
in 1588 it was leased in reversion to John Pratt, groom
of the Poultry; courts baron,
views of frankpledge and other
rights being reserved to the
crown. (fn. 21) In 1590 the reversion of the manor in fee was
granted to George Gascoigne, (fn. 22)
to whom, and to his son
Nicholas, the manor was leased
by Andrew Jenour and Francis
Browne of Old Hurst on 12
June 1605. (fn. 23) On the following day George and Nicholas
Gascoigne leased it to Kenelm,
son of Andrew Jenour, who
again leased it to George and Nicholas for forty
years. (fn. 24)
Gascoigne. Argent a pale sable charged with a conger's bead or.
Sir Nicholas Gascoigne (knighted in 1603) died
seised of the manor, which he held of the king in chief,
in 1618. (fn. 25) His son and heir John was then an infant,
and Elizabeth his widow occupied the manor. (fn. 26) In
1634 it was leased for 99 years to Henry Pigott. (fn. 27) John
obtained livery of his father's lands in 1637, (fn. 28) and in
1639, with Elizabeth his wife, he conveyed the manor
to Owen Brett and Charles Estcott, (fn. 29) possibly in trust
for John Fountayne, of Lincoln's Inn. On 25 April
1646 Fountayne begged to compound for delinquency
in escaping from the Gatehouse, to which he had been
committed by the House of Commons, and going to
Oxford, three years before. (fn. 30) In April 1647 he
petitioned for release from continued imprisonment,
and in July represented that it was impossible for him
to set a value on his manor of Old Hurst, because
during sequestration the houses there had been pulled
down and the lands wasted. He was granted two
months to inform himself of the value of Old Hurst
manor and of his manor of Ampney St. Peters in
Gloucestershire. (fn. 31) The composition papers refer to his
father-in-law Robert Davis, and to his younger children
by his first wife, who had brought a great portion,
which he settled upon them in 1642. He died on
4 June 1671, aged 70. (fn. 32) His eldest son and heir, John,
who had married Elizabeth, daughter and heir of
Major John Monckton of Melton, died in 1680,
and bequeathed his estates to his brother Thomas
Fountayne, who in the same year dealt with
the manor. (fn. 33) The manor apparently passed to the
daughters of Thomas Fountayne's brother John,
namely Elizabeth wife of Sir Richard Osbaldeston,
and Theodosia wife of Robert Monckton, (fn. 34) who were
holding in 1694. In 1711 it was in the hands of John
Fountayne (who had succeeded his father Thomas at
his death in 1709), and who dealt with the manor in
1713. (fn. 35) He died in 1736 leaving four sons, the eldest
of whom, Thomas, died without issue in 1739. The
latter's brother John Fountayne, D.D., Dean of York,
was holding the manor in 1780. (fn. 36) As lord of the
manor he received an allotment of land at the inclosure
of Somersham Heath in 1796, (fn. 37) and at the inclosure
of Old Hurst common fields in 1801. (fn. 38) The Dean of
York died in 1802, his heir being his only surviving
grandson, Richard Fountayne Wilson, son of his
daughter Elizabeth, wife of Richard Wilson. Richard
Fountayne Wilson died in 1847, and his second son,
James, of Elm and of Melton Park, Doncaster, who
took the name of Montagu under the will of the Rt.
Hon. Frederick Montagu of Papplewick, held the
manor until his death in 1891, when he was succeeded
by his son, Frederick James Osbaldeston Montagu. (fn. 39)
Fountaine. Or a fesse gules between three
elephants' beads sable.
Wilson. Sable a leaping wolf or and in the chief
three stars argent and a quarter or charged with a cross formy gules.
Montagu. Argent a fesse indented of three
points gules and a border sable.
It seems there were originally three Hursts in the
manor of Slepe or St. Ives, Old Hurst, Woodhurst
and Derhurst, the distinguishing prefixes first appear
ing in the 13th century. The manor of DERHURST
was held by a family that ultimately took the name
of Hawker but was known indifferently as le Ostricer,
Ostriciarius, Accipitrarius, and le Haucker. The
manor was held in chief of the king by the serjeanty
of keeping a goshawk for the use of the king at his
expense. William Rufus (1091–1100) ordered William
son of Osmund to return to the Abbot of Ramsey
land in Hurst and to remove his falconry there. (fn. 40) The
order was repeated by Henry I who directed William
the Hawker to repossess Abbot Aldwin of the land
in Hurst of which he had deprived him. (fn. 41) Sewin the
Hawker and Alwan his wife were holding lands in
Needingworth and Slepe in 1102–7. (fn. 42) Baldric le
Ostricer or Haucker died in 1232 seised of lands in
Slepe held of the king in chief when Roger his son
and heir did homage for them. (fn. 43) Roger was holding
the serjeanty in 1261, (fn. 44) but in 1262 Alan le Ostricer
did homage for the lands of his father Robert, (fn. 45)
possibly a brother of Roger. Alan died in 1274 seised
of a messuage and carucate of land in St. Ives held by
the serjeanty of keeping a goshawk. He left a widow
Maud and a son Simon then aged eight years, whose
wardship was given to the prior of St. Ives. (fn. 46) Simon
le Haucker died in 1303 holding by the same service
and leaving a widow Alice and a son John aged nineteen
years. (fn. 47) In 1317–18 John le Hawker and Nicholas his
brother, Maud widow of Alan le Hawker and Alice,
widow of Simonle Hawker, joined in selling certain lands
of the manor to William de Corton. (fn. 48) In 1318 William
de Corton conveyed his holding to the Abbot of
Ramsey for finding a chaplain in the church of St.
Benedict of Ramsey to pray for the said William, his
ancestors, the king and others. The abbey, however,
was to be free from such obligation if it supplied a
chaplain to celebrate divine service in the chapel of
the manor of Derhurst in the vill and parish of Slepe
or if that chapel should be ruinous, in the parish
church of Slepe. (fn. 49) The manor was at the same time
sold by John le Hawker for 500 marks to the Abbot of
Ramsey who assigned the profits from it to the new
work of the church. (fn. 50) The manor thus became
absorbed into the possessions of the Abbey of Ramsey.
It was attached to the office of chamberlain and was
let from time to time as the lands late of John
Haucker. (fn. 51)
Another property was held by a family who bore
the local name. In 1251 Yvo de Hurst held 4 virgates
of land in Old Hurst of the manor of St. Ives. (fn. 52) He
or another of the same name was holding in 1281 and
in 1303; (fn. 53) while in 1302 Thomas son of Thomas de
Hurst occurs. (fn. 54) In 1306 land in Old Hurst was
granted by Richard de Molesworth to Yvo son of
Thomas de Oldhurst, (fn. 55) and in 1318 Roger de Hurst
was a tenant of the manor. (fn. 56) This estate may perhaps
be identified with the manor in Oldhurst which John
de Lancaster and Mabel his wife demised to the Abbot
of Ramsey in 1343. (fn. 57)
An inclosure Act for dividing and inclosing the open
fields and commonable places in Old Hurst was passed
in 1801. (fn. 58) Compensation was made under this Act
to Sir Robert Burton, lord of the manor of Woodhurst
from such part of Somersham Heath as had been
allotted to Old Hurst at the inclosure of that heath,
in lieu of certain ancient foldage rights belonging to
Old Hurst, and from the same source to John Fountayne, lord of the manor, in lieu of his rights in the
waste lands. (fn. 59)
CHURCH
The church of ST. PETER consists of
a chancel and nave under one roof
(44 ft. by 18¼ ft.), and a modern vestry
on the north. The walls are of rubble with stone
dressings and the roofs are tiled.
The church or chapel was possibly built by Ralph
Mowin who is said to have presented to it in the reign
of Henry II (1154–89). (fn. 60) The thickness of the north
wall suggests that it is of 12th-century date, but the
church was practically rebuilt and slightly lengthened
late in the 13th century. A considerable restoration
took place in 1868, the east wall was rebuilt in 1903,
and other small works were done in 1924–5.
The two-light east window of the chancel is of
13th-century date, re-set. In the south-east angle is
a pillar-piscina, the 12th-century shaft of which was
found in the wall in 1868, but the bowl is modern.
The 12th-century north wall has two two-light and one
single-light windows, and a plain doorway now opening
into the modern vestry, all of 13th-century date. The
13th-century south wall has two two-light windows
each with a quatrefoiled circle in its head; near the
western end was a third now reduced to a single light.
The south doorway has jamb shafts and a moulded
arch, the inner order being trefoiled; the modern door
has portions of the 13th-century hinges refixed. The
eastern windows in both side walls have low sills for
seats. The 13th-century west wall has a two-light
window, and in the gable above it are two modern
recesses for bells; previously to 1868 the bells were
hung in a wooden turret on the roof. The ancient
altar-slab remains, and one consecration cross may
still be seen on it.
The roof is almost entirely modern and the division
between chancel and nave is marked externally by an
oak cross with a floral figure on each side, bearing a
strong resemblance to a crucifix and its attendant
figures. It was erected in 1868 by the vicar, the Rev.
C. D. Goldie.
The late 13th-century font has an octagonal bowl
with tracery on each face, supported by a central stem
with eight engaged shafts.
There are two bells, inscribed: (i) 1630; (ii) H.
Hvnston, R. West, C.W. 1705. The first is by J.
Keene, the second probably by Newman. In 1552
there were two bells. (fn. 61)
There is a memorial slab on the chancel floor to
William Archdeacon (d. 1755) and a glass window in
the south wall to Mark Richards (1914) and Sarah
(1891) his wife, dedicated 1922.
The registers are as follows: (i) baptisms (1682),
marriages (1654) and burials (1691) to 2 October 1812,
marriages ending in 1753; (ii) marriages, the official
book from 10 October 1756 to 8 June 1812.
The church plate consists of a silver cup and paten,
unmarked, but of late 16th century date. The paten
may be plated and of later date. A silver salver, 1748,
formerly in the church, has disappeared.
Old Hurst Church, from the south
ADVOWSON
The church of Slepe with its
chapels was confirmed to the Priory
of St. Ives by Popes Urban in
1185–7, (fn. 62) and Honorius in 1224; (fn. 63) also by Pope
Gregory, as the church of Slepe and the chapels of
Oldhurst and Woodhurst belonging to the church,
in 1229. (fn. 64) The advowson was in 1272 claimed
against the Abbot of Ramsey and Prior of St. Ives, by
John Mowin, who alleged that his grandfather Ralph
Mowin presented in the time of Henry II, but he lost
his case. (fn. 65)
Plan of Old Hurst Church.
It was complained in 1251 that the burial of the
dead of the two chapels of Old Hurst and Woodhurst
belonging to the parish church of St. Ives, formerly
buried at St. Ives, had recently been buried in an
unconsecrated graveyard at Old Hurst to the prejudice
of the mother church. (fn. 66) It was stated at the same
time that Ramsey Abbey presented the vicar to the
said church and chapels because the Prior of St. Ives
as parson received all tithes of sheaves and hay at
St. Ives, Woodhurst, and Old Hurst. (fn. 67) The advowson
of the chapelry has since then, with occasional
intervals, descended with the advowson of the church
of St. Ives of which it is a member.
The rectory was held on lease at the Dissolution
by Robert Plumb at a rent of £4. (fn. 68) In 1544 it was
leased with the rectory of St. Ives to Thomas Audley
for 21 years. (fn. 69) Another lease for 21 years was made in
1573 to John Sotherton, gent, (fn. 70) and on the surrender
of this lease in 1586 it was leased to Thomas Wynde
for 21 years. (fn. 71) The rectory, together with the advowson,
which had been excepted from the previous
grants, was in 1588 granted to Edmund Downing
and Miles Dodding with other rectories, (fn. 72) and was in
1600 conveyed to the Bishop of Ely. (fn. 73) In 1634 the
rectory and advowson were held together, apparently
on lease, by Sir Christopher Martyn, knt. (fn. 74) They
were held by Robert Bernard in 1646. (fn. 75) Sir Robert
Bernard's daughter Lucy married Sir Nicholas
Pedley, (fn. 76) who was stated later to be holding the
impropriate rectory. (fn. 77) At the inclosure of 1801 this
was in the hands of George Catchmaid Morgan,
and an allotment was then made to the impropriator
and vicar for glebe and for common rights, and also
for ithes, of land proportionate to their tithes. (fn. 78)
The advowson was in 1679 held with the impropriate rectory of St. Ives (q.v.) and the advowsons of
St. Ives and Woodhurst, (fn. 79) and with them was conveyed in 1682 to John Dryden by
Robert Audley and
others. (fn. 80) It is now held with that of St. Ives.
There are no charities for this parish.