1066–1597: Lisles Manor
Westwick Hall was built by the Linton family in the 1850s. However, the history of the estate can be traced back at least as far as the Norman conquest of 1066. At that time, the basic unit of land ownership in England was the ‘manor’. Manors typically consisted of a large manor house, inhabited by the lord of the manor, and a surrounding estate. The estate typically included both land reserved for the lord of the manor’s own personal use (the demesne) and land let to tenants. A lord often owned several manors in different parts of the country, in which case a particular manor house might only be inhabited by its lord for short periods of time before he moved onto another of his manors. Nevertheless, even when the lord was absent, the manor house would have formed the centre of administration for the estate.
In the case of Westwick, the Domesday Book of 1086 records the presence of two manors at the time of the Norman conquest. The larger of the two, which would later be known as Lisles and would eventually become Westwick Hall, was owned in 1066 by Blaecwin the sheriff of Cambridge, who held it directly from King Edward. After the conquest, the manor, along with some additional land previously held by the abbey of Ely, passed to Odo who held it from Picot the sheriff of Cambridge. The Domesday Book records that the manor had two ploughlands (a ploughland was an area of land that could be ploughed by a team of eight oxen in a year), which would have been about 240 acres. Three-quarters of this formed the lord’s home farm (demesne) while the remainder was occupied by three tenant households.
By the 1150s the manor appears to have been owned by Ralph, chamberlain of Bishop Nigel of Ely, and held by his tenant Anketil Vavassor. By 1199 it was owned by Robert de Lisle, grandson of Ralph, who also married a granddaughter of Odo (Picot’s tenant from 1086). The manor then remained with the Lisle family and their successors, the Windsors, Scropes, and Hindes, for the next four hundred years until 1597. During this time the size of the demesne (the land for the lord’s own use) was reduced and more of the land let to tenant households. In 1279, for example, the manor was recorded as having 60 acres of demesne, eight tenements of 15 acres each, six of 7.5 acres each, and a freeholder with 15 acres. By the early 16th century, the lord of Lisles was receiving about twice as much income from rent as from his own home farm.
A windmill, known as Lowe Mill and owned by Sir Robert de Lisle, was recorded in 1315 and was probably sited in the northern part of Westwick. It may have also been present in 1279 given that one of Lisle’s tenants at that time was surnamed the miller. The mill later fell out of use after rent from it declined in the early 16th century.
1597–1809: Expansion
William Hinde sold Lisles manor, with 125 acres of land, to Edmund Bendyshe in 1597. Edmund was succeeded after 1610 by his son Robert, who appears to have bought up additional land in Westwick around this time, including land that had at one time been part of the smaller Belbouches manor. Robert Bendyshe sold the enlarged estate to Martin Perse in 1618. Perse bought up further land (at least 25 acres). He was succeeded in 1636 by his son Valentine, who is thought to have lived in the manor from his marriage in 1637 until 1652 when he sold the estate to John Buck. The manor house was evidently quite large by this point, having been recorded in 1674 as having 12 hearths.
The Buck family owned the manor until at least 1722, when Thomas Buck was listed as owner, and possibly until 1765 when the manor was sold. By this point the estate comprised some 340 acres of land, which included most of Westwick parish as well as some land outside of it. The owner was listed as W. T. Cook in 1802 and 1805.
1809–1891: The Lintons
Salmon Linton (d.1803) was probably tenant of the manor during the ownership of W. T. Cook, and his son William Linton is said to have bought the manor around 1809. It seems that the Lintons already had a presence in Westwick prior to this, with a farm of around 100 acres owned by a Londoner having been leased to a member of the Linton family in 1703. This farm, lying in the north of the parish and likely including land from adjacent parishes, is thought to have been broken up by sale in 1789 with the arable parts going to the Lintons. Around this time the Lintons also bought up two other freeholds of 22 acres and 29 acres, and by 1836 (having acquired the manor and its estate of 340 acres) they owned almost 4/5 of Westwick.
The Lintons built Westwick Hall in 1855–56, replacing the previous manor house. The grounds of the hall included a malthouse, which was in use throughout the mid 19th century, and a windmill for milling corn. The mill was recorded in 1836 and was sited southeast of the hall. Prior to its construction there had probably been no mill in the village since Sir Robert de Lisle’s earlier mill from 1315 had fallen out of use after the early 16th century.
After William Linton’s death in 1861 he was succeeded by his son, John Linton. The Lintons continued to buy up land from surrounding landowners, and by 1861 the Lintons’ farm was recorded as covering 500 acres (extending well beyond Westwick). This included about 175 acres for arable crops and enough pasture for over 700 sheep and lambs (the number recorded in 1866). It employed a workforce of 25 or more people, and apart from a shoemaker, a carpenter and a few railway workers the population of Westwick at this time consisted almost entirely of the Lintons’ farm labourers. A bailiff and two farm servants lived with the Lintons in 1851, but the bailiff had been provided with his own house by 1861 and probably lived at the newly built Westwick Hall Farm from 1868. Many of the labourers lived in Westwick Terrace, a row of 8 dwellings built by John Linton in 1875 to house his workers. Meanwhile, John Linton’s domestic staff increased, and by 1881 he was employing five servants as well as a footman (from 1871) and a gamekeeper (from 1881).
1891 onwards
John Linton died in c.1891 and was succeeded by his son John H. H. Linton. The farm was then let to a series of tenant farmers, who also occupied the hall from 1894. The scale of farming was reduced during this period, with only 100 sheep recorded in 1905 compared to 700 in 1866. The Lintons’ windmill was removed at some point between 1886 and 1901, and the outlying farmstead that the Lintons had built at Cuckoo Hill in the north of the parish was also taken down after 1901. The size of the estate was reduced to 450 acres in 1910, and was eventually sold by John H. H. Linton in 1936. Westwick Hall and park (35 acres) was bought by W. D. Womersley, while Westwick Hall Farm and the remainder of the estate was bought by Bertram Pearson. The Pearson family farmed most of Westwick from Westwick Hall Farm from 1939 until the 1960s.
Westwick Hall continued to function as a private dwelling, as it does to this day. A newspaper report of September 1952 records that a fete was held there in aid of the Oakington Recreation Ground fund, and by 1988 the hall was owned by Mrs. R. M. Burdett (daughter of W. D. Womersley). The hall still stands in the village today.
Sources include:
- ‘Westwick: Introduction’, 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, C P Lewis( London, 1989), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol9/pp107-108 [accessed 20 July 2024].
- Westwick.indd (scambs.gov.uk)
- Archaeology of Cambridgeshire Vol 2: South East Cambridgeshire and the Fen Edge, Alison Taylor, Cambridgeshire County Council, 1998
- Liable to Floods: Village landscape on the edge of the fens A.D.450-1850, J.R.Ravensdale, Cambridge University Press, 1974
- The Cambridgeshire Coprolite Mining Rush, Richard Grove, Oleander Press, 1976
- Coprolites (bernardoconnor.org.uk)
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