WILLINGHAM MANOR OF THE BISHOP OF ELY
In 1238 the king gave 50 oaks to the bishop of Ely to rebuild his houses at Willingham. The manor house, standing north of the church in an enclosure known later as Lordship close, was substantial enough in 1244 to accommodate the king's household. In 1357 it included a hall with chambers at its upper and lower ends, a kitchen, and other rooms called the 'knyghtchambre' and 'clerkchambre', mostly in good repair, and a dilapidated treasury and chapel. Inquisitions were held there in 1370 and 1371, but it was afterwards abandoned by the bishops, who were leasing their demesne by c. 1480. In 1592 the close contained three houses and a barn. The south-west part of the close was used to extend the churchyard in 1866.
Willingham Manor of the Bishop of Ely has been described as a probable Palace.
Today, there are no visible remains.
OS Map Grid Reference: TL405706 Latitude 52.31575° Longitude 0.05928°
Willingham: Manors and other estates
Ufi probably left the whole village to Ely Abbey between 996 and 1001. In 1066 Ely's Willingham Manor was assessed at 7 of the 7½ hides there, the remainder being divided between a tenant and sokeland of the abbey. On the creation of the diocese of Ely in 1109, the manor became part of the bishop's portion and was held by his successors for the next five centuries. By 1600 the land was mostly alienated and the manor comprised little more than quitrents and manorial rights, some of which were difficult to enforce.
In 1599 Bishop Heton conceded the manor to the queen, who sold it in 1601 to Miles Sandys (cr. Bt. 1611). Sandys and his son and namesake conveyed it in 1626 to Thomas Parke (d. 1631), perhaps as an indirect marriage settlement for his daughter and heir Elizabeth and the younger Sandys (kt. 1626), who possessed it by 1631. Heavily in debt, Sandys conveyed the manor in 1649 or 1650 to trustees, one of whom, Richard Holman, became sole owner between 1664 and 1668. By will proved 1678 Holman gave it to his son and namesake ( d. 1679), whose successor John Holman by will proved 1689 left it to his nephew John Brownell. Brownell, of age in 1691, was lord until 1735. He was later said to have shot himself, leaving the manor to his steward Dingley Askham. Askham (d. 1781) probably gave it with his younger daughter Harriet on her marriage in 1752 to Sir Thomas Hatton, Bt., of Long Stanton. Hatton (d. 1787) was succeeded in turn by his sons Sir John (d. 1811) and Sir Thomas Dingley Hatton (d. 1812), the latter's heirs being his six sisters. On the partition of their estate c. 1816, Willingham fell to Elizabeth Ann Hatton, under whose will, proved 1845, it passed with the reunited Hatton estate in Long Stanton to a distant relative, Daniel Heneage Finch-Hatton (d. 1866). The manorial rights descended in turn to his sons Edward Hatton Finch-Hatton (d. 1887) and William Robert (d. 1909), then to the latter's sons George Daniel (d. 1921) and Nigel Montagu Finch-Hatton, (fn. 16) who in 1922 sold them to W. H. Francis (d. 1940). The latter's son W. M. Francis died in 1970 and in 1973 the lordship was sold by his heirs to Mr. R. B. Johns, who retained it in 1982.
Citation: 'Willingham: Manors and other estates', in A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 9, Chesterton, Northstowe, and Papworth Hundreds, ed. A P M Wright and C P Lewis (London, 1989), pp. 402-404. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol9/pp402-404 [accessed 23 January 2019].