GREAT GIDDING
Redinges, Gedelinge (xi cent.); Gydding, Geddinge (xiii cent.); High Gyddyng, Gidding Prior
(xv cent.); Much Gyddyng, Great Gidding (xvi cent.).
The parish of Great Gidding is bounded on the
north-east by the Bullock Road with Glatton and
Sawtry adjoining; on the south-east by Little Gidding and Winwick, and on the north-west and part of
the south by the parish of Luddington in the Brook,
Northants. The Alconbury Brook forms a small
part of this latter boundary and then passes through
the middle of the parish. The parish contains
2,348 acres of clay land. Its altitude at the brook is
125 ft. above the Ordnance datum, and it rises to
about 205 in the north and to 225 in the south. The
village is in the middle of the parish and on the north
side of the brook. Some 17th-century houses of
timber and thatch remained until recently, but they
are rapidly disappearing. On the west side of the
street was a 17th-century stone-built house with
mullioned windows and a thatched roof, and bearing
a stone inscribed 1629 i.h. above the doorway; but
it has been partly pulled down. The church and
vicarage house are at the south-west corner of the
village; and at the north-east corner is the windmill,
now disused.
Manors
At the time of the Domesday Survey
(1086) the land of Gidding seems to
have consisted of two parts—(1) 10
hides, now comprising Great and Little Gidding,
held by William Engaine (4½ hides), Eustace the
Sheriff (4½ hides) and the Abbot of Ramsey (1 hide),
and (2) 7½ hides, now constituting Steeple Gidding
(q.v.), held by the Abbot of Ramsey.
The 4½ hides held by William Engaine (fn. 1) had been
held in the time of King Edward by Britheue. William
Engaine also held, amongst other property, Laxton
and Pytchley, in Northants, and a certain Richard
Engaine held Abington and Benefield, Northants, and
Stibbington, Hunts. It is generally supposed that
William and Richard were brothers, but Viel son of
Richard Engaine, (fn. 2) always considered as the grandson
of William, seems to have held all the above-named
properties, which suggests that William and Richard
may have been father and son. Viel married Alice,
daughter and heir of William de Lisures, and had two
sons, Richard Engaine and Fulk, who took the name of
Lisures. He probably had a third son, Warner, to whom
he appears to have given a part of the manor of Gidding,
to be held in chief of the king. (fn. 3) This portion became
the separate manor and parish of Little Gidding (q.v.).
Engaine. Gules crusily and a fesse dancetty or.
The remaining part, known as ENGAINE MANOR
in GREAT GIDDING, went to his eldest son,
Richard, who died about 1177, leaving by his wife
Margery (daughter of Richard FitzUrse, and in
1185 wife of Geoffrey le Breton, who had married
her without the king's leave (fn. 4) ) a son, Richard, who
in 1198 was holding Gidding by serjeanty of hunting
wolves, (fn. 5) and died in 1209. (fn. 6) By his wife Sara, daughter
and co-heir of William de Chesney, he had two sons,
Richard and Viel. The former died unmarried and is
said to have been buried in Huntingdon Priory. Viel
married Rohesia, whose surname does not seem to be
known, and had four sons: Viel, who died young;
Henry, who succeeded his father; William, who died
childless after 1244; and John, who succeeded his
brother Henry. (fn. 7) Viel himself died in October 1248, (fn. 8)
and in 1261 his son Henry
was holding two carucates in
Gidding by the serjeanty of
hunting. (fn. 9) Henry died childless in 1272, when his brother
John (fn. 10) succeeded to the estates.
John, who held Great Gidding
by the service of taking the
hare, fox, cat, wolf and badger
in Huntingdonshire, Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Rutland, married Joan, daughter
and heir of Gilbert de Greinville, of Hallaton, (fn. 11) Leicestershire, and died in 1297. He was succeeded by his
son John, (fn. 12) who married Elena, daughter of Robert
FitzRoger of Clavering. John, who had summons
to Parliament as a baron from 1299 to 1322, died,
without issue, on 28 September 1322, and his
brother Nicholas died in December of the same
year, (fn. 13) before receiving livery of the estates, which
passed to John the son of Nicholas. (fn. 14) This John
married Joan, daughter of Sir Robert Peverel
of Castle Ashby, Northants; he had summons to
Councils from 1324 to 1350, and to Parliament from
1355 to 1357, and died in 1358. (fn. 15) His elder son
John had predeceased him, leaving a widow, Joan,
daughter of Sir William de St. Quintin, who married
secondly Sir William Colville; (fn. 16) and he was succeeded
by his second son Thomas, (fn. 17) who married Katharine,
daughter of Hugh Courtenay, Earl of Devon. (fn. 18)
Thomas was summoned to a Council in 1358, and
died without issue in 1367, (fn. 19) when his estates passed
to his three sisters: Joyce, wife of John de Goldington, Elizabeth, wife of Sir Laurence de Pabenham,
and Mary, wife of Sir William Bernak. (fn. 20) The manor
was still held by the serjeanty of hunting 'vermin,'
and the three co-heirs made provision among themselves for the performance of it. (fn. 21)
Gidding fell to the pourparty of Elizabeth and Sir
Laurence de Pabenham. Elizabeth died in 1377, and
Sir Laurence in 1400, (fn. 22) and Gidding passed to Elizabeth's daughter Katharine, wife firstly of Sir William
Cheyne, of Fen Ditton, and secondly of Sir Thomas
Aylesbury. (fn. 23) Katharine, as widow of Sir Thomas
Aylesbury, was still holding the manor in 1428, (fn. 24) but
in May 1449 it was granted to trustees on the marriage of John, son of Laurence Cheyne, to Elizabeth,
daughter of Sir Thomas Rempston. (fn. 25) Sir Thomas
Cheyne, the son of John and Elizabeth, had two wives:
Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Huddleston, of Irthlingborough; and Anne Wanneford, daughter of William,
Baron Parre of Kendal. He died in 1514, when his
only daughter and heiress, Elizabeth, was only nine
years old, (fn. 26) but had been married three years before
to Thomas Vaux, son and heir of Nicholas, first
Baron Vaux of Harrowden. (fn. 27) The manor passed to
their son William, third Baron Vaux of Harrowden,
who, in 1587, with his sons Henry and George, sold
it to Lewis Lord Mordaunt and Edward Watson. (fn. 28)
Watson. Argent a cheveron engrailed azure between three martlets sable with three crescents or on the cheveron.
Edward Watson, who was already in possession of
the rest of the parish, was knighted in 1603, and his
wife was Ann, daughter of Kenelm Digby of Stoke
Dry, Rutland. He died at Rockingham, in 1617, and
was succeeded by his son, Sir
Lewis Watson. (fn. 29) Sir Lewis,
who had married firstly Catherine, only daughter of Peregrine Lord Willoughby de
Eresby, who died in 1610, and
secondly Eleanor, daughter of
Sir George Manners, was
created Baron Rockingham in
1645.
His son, Edward, second
Baron Rockingham, married
Lady Anne Wentworth,
second daughter of the Earl
of Strafford, and, dying in
1689, was succeeded by his
son, Lewis, third Baron and first Earl of Rockingham.
He married Catherine, daughter and ultimate heir of
George Lord Sondes and Earl of Feversham. His
eldest son, Edward, predeceased his father in 1722,
leaving three sons, Lewis, Thomas and Edward.
Lewis succeeded as second Earl of Rockingham, but
died childless in 1745, being succeeded by his brother
Thomas, who died unmarried in 1746. Edward also
having died unmarried, the earldom became extinct. (fn. 30)
Thomas left his estates to his cousin, Lewis Monson,
second son of John, Lord Monson, on condition that
he assumed the surname and arms of Watson. (fn. 31) Lewis
Watson (Monson) married, in 1752, Grace Pelham,
daughter of Henry Pelham, brother of the Duke of
Newcastle, and in 1760 was created Baron Sondes. (fn. 32)
He died in 1795, and was succeeded by his son Lewis
Thomas, second Baron, who died in 1806.
His son, Richard Lewis, third Lord Sondes, sold
Great Gidding in 1827 to William, fourth Earl Fitzwilliam (fn. 33) (son of the third Earl Fitzwilliam and Anne
Watson Wentworth, daughter of the Marquess of
Rockingham). William died in 1833. His son,
Charles William, fifth Earl Fitzwilliam, who died in
1857, left his property to his second surviving son, the
Hon. George Wentworth Fitzwilliam, who, dying in
1874, was succeeded by his son, Mr. George Charles
Wentworth Fitzwilliam, who died in 1935, and whose
executors are the present owners of the manors.
The Engaines of Great Gidding appear to have subinfeudated a portion of their property later known as
the EMBERTON FEE. Nicholas de Emberton,
son of William, son of Payn, was holding a mesne
lordship in the middle of the 13th century. At
his death his lands in Emberton, Bucks, passed to coheirs, Eleanor, the wife of Thomas Furneys, and Isabel,
who claimed as daughter of William le Lord. These
ladies were possibly sisters of Nicholas, whose father
William, son of Payn, may have been known also as
William le Lord. Eleanor's portion of Emberton
went from the Furneys to the Tolthorps, and then to
the Chamberlains; Isabel's part was acquired by the
Tyringhams, who were holding in the 18th century. (fn. 34)
The property seems to have been in Gidding,
Saleu (evidently Salom in Leighton Bromswold)
and Luddington (Northants); part of it, a tenement
in Great Gidding, was again subinfeudated by the
Embertons to William, son of Roger de Saleu, and
Joan his wife, for one-sixth of a knight's fee. When
Henry Engaine, in 1252, claimed homage and suit of
court from William and Joan, Nicholas de Emberton
agreed to acquit them of it. (fn. 35) By 1322 the Embertons
seem to have disappeared, although their name still
remained, and a quarter of a knight's fee called
Emberton fee was held of John Engaine by William
de Salue, William Est of Lullington [i.e. Luddington],
Helen his sister, and Robert Boveton of Gidding;
and it is stated that John Engaine held it of Ralph
Basset of Weldon. (fn. 36) It does not seem possible to
trace this property any farther.
Some time before 1514, a certain John Stile bought
a house, two cottages and 100 acres of land in Great
Gidding from Thomas Collis. (fn. 37) John Stile left this
property to his wife, Elizabeth, for life, and then to
his daughter and heir, Alice, the wife of Avery Cowper. (fn. 38) Elizabeth married, as her second husband,
one Robinson, but they neglected to pay the reliefs
and fines due to Sir Thomas Cheyne, (fn. 39) and litigation
followed, in the course of which Avery and Alice
sued Sir Thomas's widow for detaining the deeds
relating to the property. (fn. 40) In 1531, Thomas, Lord
Vaux of Harrowden, took possession of the premises
and expelled Avery and Alice and their two children,
turning them and their goods into the street. (fn. 41)
The house at this time was known as Collis House or
Collis Place, but it cannot now be identified.
The manor held by the Priory of St. Mary, Huntingdon, and known as GIDDING PRIORS, may be
identified with the 4½ hides held in 1086 by Eustace
the Sheriff, and of him by Ingelran de Auco; it had
been held by a sokeman named Alwold, and his five
brothers, as sokeland of the king's manor of Alconbury. Alwold and his brothers claimed that Eustace
had unjustly taken their land from them, and the
jurors said that they had seen neither a seal nor any
giving of seisin to Eustace. At the same time, Ralph
son of Ilger, the king's steward of the manor of
Alconbury, claimed that the land was a berewick of
that manor, and as to this, the jurors simply said that
on the day that King Edward was alive and dead it
was a berewick in Alconbury in the king's farm; (fn. 42)
but they said nothing as to what had happened in the
meantime. Of this land, William Engaine claimed
half a virgate and 18 acres, 'with the witness of the
whole hundred.' (fn. 43)
Eustace retained the land, and it is evident that it
ceased to have any status as a berewick of Alconbury.
The overlordship remained with Eustace's successors
the Lovetots, the Earls of Gloucester and Stafford,
and the Dukes of Buckingham until the attainder of the
last Duke, in 1521, when it passed to the Crown. (fn. 44)
Ingelran de Auco retained the under-tenancy for a
time, but eventually granted it, as one knight's fee
in Gidding and Lullington, to the Priory of St. Mary,
Huntingdon, of which the Lovetots and their successors were patrons; and this grant was confirmed
by King Henry and subsequent kings. (fn. 45) The priory
continued to hold it until the Dissolution; and on
22 July 1546 King Henry VIII sold the manor and
lordship, the rectory and the advowson of the vicarage
of Great Gidding for £1,541 7s. 8d. to Edward Watson
of Rockingham. (fn. 46)
Presumably William Engaine made good his claim
to the half-virgate of land; and it was probably this
land which his grandson, Viel Engaine, gave to the
Priory of St. Mary, Huntingdon, and which Prior
Robert, in his first year, granted to Robert de Lulyngton son of William the reeve (prepositus). (fn. 47)
The one hide held by the Abbot of Ramsey in 1086
was held from him by Lunen. (fn. 48) It afterwards became
known as GIDDING MOYNES or CLAREV AUX
MANOR.
An unidentified manor, called BRADENACHE,
appears to have been in or near [Great] Gidding. It
had been granted by Ramsey Abbey, before 1130, to
William de Houghton, chamberlain to King Henry I, (fn. 49)
and between 1133 and 1135 William granted it back
to the abbey, together with one hide in Great Gidding,
which had been held with it, and the grant was confirmed by King Henry I. (fn. 50) In 1139 and 1140 Pope
Innocent III confirmed to the monks 'Bradenache,
which the said King [Henry I] granted to you.' (fn. 51)
Apparently the abbey lost this land in the time of
King Stephen, for Abbot Walter is stated to have
recovered it, (fn. 52) and King Henry II again confirmed it. (fn. 53)
Le Moyne. Argent two bars sable with three molets sable in the chief.
Abbot Reginald (1114–1130) had granted to Hervey
le Moyne, Luddington, Gidding (except the part
which Henry the Archdeacon
had), Raveley, Sawtry, and
one virgate at Upwood, (fn. 54) but
excepting Bradenache, which
was held by William de
Houghton. Hervey's son,
Oliver, must have made some
claim to Bradenache, for
about 1154–60 he and his
sons quitclaimed all their
rights in it to the abbey. (fn. 55)
Abbot Walter is said to have
alienated some 4 virgates and
about 264 acres of land in
Bradenache to various tenants,
and one hide of land in Gidding to Oliver le Moyne,
without the consent of the convent. (fn. 56) In 1221 Warin
de Bradenache quitclaimed to the abbey 7 virgates
of land in Bradenache. (fn. 57)
We hear no more of Bradenache, but the hide in
Gidding remained in the Moyne family and followed
the descent of Great Raveley (q.v.) (fn. 58) until 1404. It
seems to have gone with some property in Luddington.
In 1276 William le Moyne the elder, of Raveley, conveyed to William le Moyne the younger, of Raveley,
the manors of Raveley, Rowey, Sawtry, Gidding and
Luddington; (fn. 59) and in 1286 the son successfully
maintained an action against his father for disseising
him of his tenements in Gidding and Lullington. (fn. 60)
After being made the subject of numerous settlements by various members of the le Moyne family, (fn. 61)
they were settled by Sir William le Moyne upon his
wife for her life. (fn. 62) Sir William died in 1404, (fn. 63) and
his wife enjoyed the estates until her death in 1411–12.
The estates were then divided into three pourparties,
but the names of the co-parceners do not seem to be
definitely known. They were probably William
Clarevaux, son or grandson of Sir William's aunt
Juliana; Joan, wife of Thomas Priour; and Joan, wife
firstly of John Tyndale and secondly of John Hore; (fn. 64)
these two ladies being probably daughters or granddaughters of two other aunts of Sir William. In
1405 Gidding had been conveyed by Thomas Priour
and Joan his wife, William Clarevaux the elder and
Robert Langton to John Lucas, clerk, and Roger
Louth, and the heirs of John Lucas, (fn. 65) no doubt as a
family settlement. Gidding and Luddington, however, evidently became the property of the Clarevaux family, for in 1487 John Clarevaux was holding from the Abbot of Ramsey 'the lands and tenements formerly held by Hervey le Moyne in High
Gidding.' (fn. 66)
The estate again fell to co-heirs and again they are
not named. It seems possible that one was the wife
of Richard Smith; that a second was Margaret
Colthyrst, widow; while a third may have been
Alice, wife of John Huke. (fn. 67) The shields of arms in the
chancel of the church seem to suggest that one of the
Watsons had married a Clarevaux, and this may have
been the fourth co-heir; the Watsons certainly seem
to have been in possession of the whole estate soon
afterwards. Margaret Colthyrst, in 1512, sold her
quarter part to Richard Smith. (fn. 68) Edward Watson
married Emma, daughter and heir of Anthony Smith, (fn. 69)
and apparently in her right obtained Richard's share
of the estate. He died in 1530, seised of the manor of
Much Gidding held of the king as of his court of
Huntingdon. (fn. 70) His elder son, Henry, was in the
Priory of Newstead, and his father left him only £20,
the manor going to the second son, Edward, on
attaining his majority. (fn. 71) Edward married Dorothy,
daughter of Sir Edward Montagu of Boughton, (fn. 72) and,
in 1546, purchased from the king the manor, etc.,
of Great Gidding which had belonged to the Priory
of St. Mary, Huntingdon. (fn. 73) He died in 1584. His
son and successor, another Edward, who was knighted
in 1603, and married Ann, daughter of Kenelm
Digby, (fn. 74) purchased the Engaine manor in Great
Gidding in 1587 (fn. 75) (q.v.), and so became possessed of
the whole parish.
Im 1303, the king granted to John Engaine, and
his heirs, a weekly market at Gidding, on Wednesdays,
and a yearly fair on the vigil, feast and morrow of the
Nativity of St. Mary, (fn. 76) but neither of them is heard
of again.
Church
The church of ST. MICHAEL consists of a chancel (29½ ft. by 15¾ ft.),
nave (44½ ft. by 16½ ft.), north aisle
(58½ ft. by 9½ ft.), south aisle (57½ ft. by 11½ ft.),
west tower and spire (12 ft. by 10 ft.), and south
porch. The walls are rubble with stone dressings,
and the roofs are covered with slates and lead.
The church is not mentioned in the Domesday
Survey (1086). There was, however, a stone church
here before the middle of the 13th century, which is
the date of the present south doorway, and the late
13th-century chancel is, doubtless, a rebuilding of
part of that earlier church; a western tower was
added to it in the first half of the 14th century, but
the belfry was not built until about 1370. The nave
and the chancel arch were rebuilt c. 1400; and, some
sixty years later, the two aisles, the clearstory and
the porch. The parapets of the tower and the spire
were not built until the early years of the 16th century.
The church was restored in 1870, (fn. 77) when the walls
of the chancel were raised and a new roof put on,
and the porch rebuilt. The tower and the chancel
arch were restored in 1925.
The late 13th-century chancel has a three-light
east window, nearly all modern; on either side of it
is a rectangular locker. The side walls have wallarcades of two bays each, which, however, do not
extend to the west wall; the arches are two-centred
of one chamfered order continuous at the ends, but
supported on a moulded corbel in the middle. Under
the eastern arch on the north is an original two-light
window with a 15th-century head and mullion, and
under the western is an original triple lancet window;
westward of the arcade is an original doorway with
moulded jambs and a two-centred head, and an
original single-light low-side window. The south wall
is generally similar to the north, but there is no
doorway, and the window west of the arcade is a
mid 14th-century three-light with reticulated tracery;
there is an original piscina with trefoiled head and
projecting circular basin, and the sill of the easternmost window is carried down to form a seat. On
the walls are six modern shields of arms, all of Watson
impaling (1) Clarevaux, (2) Digby, (3) Bertie, Lord
Willoughby de Eresby, (4) Manners, (5) Montagu
quartering Monthermer, and (6) Smith. The chancel
arch, c. 1400, is two-centred, of two chamfered orders
on semicircular respond-shafts with moulded capitals
and bases.
The nave, c. 1400, has an arcade of four bays on
each side having two-centred arches of two chamfered
orders resting on circular columns with moulded
capitals having octagonal abaci and moulded bases,
and similar attached half-columns as responds. The
late 15th-century clearstory has four two-light windows with four-centred heads on each side. The
contemporary roof has moulded beams, jack-legs and
braces, all much restored, but the stone corbels below
the jack-legs are ancient.
The late 15th-century north aisle has in the east
wall an original three-light window and a semioctagonal bracket. The north wall has three similar
windows, the westernmost modern; an early 14thcentury doorway with a two-centred head and continuous chamfered jambs; a blocked square-headed
window, visible on the outside only; and a 14thcentury piscina with a two-centred head and a
rectangular basin. (fn. 78)
The late 15th-century south aisle has in the east
wall an original three-light window and a square
bracket. In the south wall are two similar windows;
a mid 14th-century three-light window with reticulated tracery; a mid 13th-century doorway with a
two-centred head of two orders, the outer order
moulded and resting on detached jamb-shafts with
moulded capitals; and a 14th-century piscina with
ogee head and rectangular basin. The lean-to roof has
a few old beams at the west end, one being inscribed
'1629 John Lamb Churchwarden'; and some of
the corbels below the jack-legs are ancient.
The 14th-century west tower has a two-centred
tower arch of two chamfered orders, the lower resting
on semi-octagonal attached shafts with moulded
capitals and plain plinths. The west window is a
two-light with transom and a two-centred head. In
the third stage is a spherical-triangular window with
tracery formed of three quatrefoils. The belfry
windows are double two-lights with embattled transoms and two-centred heads. The tower has diagonal
buttresses which stop below the belfry windows,
and is surmounted by an embattled parapet below
which is a band of quatrefoiled square panels, and a
stone spitter in the centre of each front. From
behind the parapet rises a 15th-century octagonal
stone spire having two tiers of spire-lights, both twolights and both on the cardinal faces.
The much restored 15th-century south porch has
a two-centred outer archway of two continuous chamfered orders; the side walls each have a squareheaded single-light window, mostly modern. A triangular stone sundial, inscribed '1653 Richard Trewe
Thomas Daniel C.W.,' now lying loose in the vicarage
garden, is said to have come from the gable of this
porch.
The modern font has a square bowl on a central
and four smaller shafts, all octagonal.
There are five bells, inscribed: (1) T.C. [or
T.G.] 1670. (2) Taylors bellfounders Oxford 1839.
(3) Taylor . s founder . s Oxford: 1839. (4) J. Taylor & Co.: founders Loughborough 1873. (5) Conjugium partus mysteria festa decoro anno Domini
1756. The first is by Tobias Norris III and the fifth
by Joseph Eayre. In 1709 there were six bells, (fn. 79) but
by 1724 there were only five. (fn. 80)
The Communion table, c. 1640, has turned legs and
simple carving on the rails. The early 17th-century
Communion rails consist of an upper and lower series
of turned balusters, the former alternated with turned
pendants and having arches of thin boards from
baluster to baluster. There is a 17th-century hutchshaped chest in the tower, with carved legs and
panels and inlaid rails and muntins. An alms-box
formed from a 15th-century post, found in a loft,
has been refixed in the church. On the south
wall of the chancel has been fixed a small octagonal
piece of oak inscribed with the words 'Sator, Arepo,
Tenet, Opera, Rotas,' with the initials and date
'E.R. 1614.' The screen was ordered, by the
Archdeacon, to be removed and the king's arms
to be set up in 1748, (fn. 81) but the latter are not there
now.
In the vicarage garden is a large octagonal late 14thcentury capital with a hole through it, perhaps the
head of a chimney.
There are the following monuments: in the
chancel, to Edmund Salmon Bagshaw, d. 1890; the
Rev. Wm. Salmon Bagshaw, formerly vicar, d. 1922,
and Sarah Maria Hayley, his wife, d. 1928; Florence
Louisa, d. 1918, and Ann Mary Frances Sarah, d.
1922, daughters of the Rev. W. S. Bagshaw; War
Memorial, 1914–18; and glass window to R. B.
Hatfield, 1869. In the north aisle, to the Rev. Benj.
Johnson, vicar, d. 1843, and Catherine, his wife, d.
1835. In the tower, floor slab to C. J. 1843.
The registers are as follows: (i) baptisms 20 November 1579 to 15 January 1666/7, marriages 16 November
1574 to 10 October 1604 (the end of the book is
missing), and burials 8 January 1581 to 20 December
1652; (ii) baptisms, marriages and burials 9 February 1669/70 to 18 January 173½; (iii) the same
28 May 1732 to 8 April 1787, marriages end 5 October
1772; (iv) baptisms and burials 7 May 1787 to
23 December 1812; (v) marriages 11 October 1772
to 29 December 1812.
The church plate consists of (fn. 82) a silver cup hallmarked for 1638–9; a silver cover paten similarly
hall-marked; a silver-mounted glass flagon hallmarked for 1871–2; a pewter plate; a pewter dish;
a large pewter alms-dish; a pewter jug.
Advowson
The church of Great Gidding was
on the land held by the Priory of
St. Mary, Huntingdon, and at an
early date the rectory was appropriated to the priory
and a vicarage was ordained.
In the time of Bishop Hugh de Welles (1209–35) it
was ordered that the vicar should have a house next
the church. (fn. 83)
The advowson of the vicarage followed the descent
of the Priory manor to the present day. (fn. 84) When,
however, the living was consolidated with that of
Little Gidding, on 2 July 1875, the presentations were
made in turn by Mr. George Charles Wentworth
Fitzwilliam and the Lord Chancellor; and when, in
1925, the combined benefice was united to that of
Steeple Gidding, the patron of that benefice took his
turn with the others.
Charities
Doles or Little Gidding Annuity.—
Nicholas Ferrar about 1635 gave to
the poor of the parish a rentcharge
of £1 per annum issuing out of the estate of Little
Gidding. This sum is regularly received by the
Parish Council and distributed to the poor in money.
The Almshouses.—The origin of this charity is
unknown. The endowment consists of 6 acres
2 roods 36 poles of grass land, together with the four
almshouses thereon. The land is let by public
auction to the highest bidder and the rent applied
towards the repair and upkeep of the almshouses.
In the year 1925 the land was let for £11.
Unknown Donor.—A sum of £45, representing the
endowment of the charity, was embezzled. The
charity no longer exists.
The Recreation Ground.—This consists of a grass
field containing 3 acres 3 roods 36 poles, which is let
annually by public auction. The net rent is carried
to the general account of the Parish Council. In
1926 the land was let for £10.
The Allotments.—Land consisting of two arable
fields containing 9 acres 3 roods 8 poles is rented by
the Parish Council from the lord of the manor, and
sublet to poor parishioners at a low rent.
No profit is made on the allotments.