Historical names: Ripton; Magna Riptona; Riptona Abbatis; St John’s Ripton
Location: Abbots Ripton, Huntingdonshire
Places / associated places: Abbots Ripton, Huntingdonshire
Listed in Domesday Book: Yes
Location & Extent
GPS Location & Recorded Land Areas
Representative GPS point: 52.38472, -0.17846
Identity: confirmed — The registry name, Abbots Ripton location, TNA/MDR record F271763, and authority GB/NNAF/M289818 correspond to the principal manor of Abbots Ripton, historically Ripton, Magna Riptona, Riptona Abbatis and St John’s Ripton. Historic England and county-history evidence identify this manor with the Abbots Ripton Hall and earlier moated manor-house sites.
Representative point: 52.38472, -0.17846
Basis: documented_manor_house — Abbots Ripton Hall, Hall Lane, is the documented later manor-house site and is explicitly described by Historic England as the site of the old manor. Coordinates are from the documented Abbots Ripton Hall location at OS grid TL241779.
Point confidence: high
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period:
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: The sources establish the manor's location, descent and association with Abbots Ripton Hall, Moat House and other historical lands, but do not provide a complete, unambiguous perimeter of the historical manorial land. The available 1623 and 1775/1776 estate-map references are evidence leads rather than accessible boundary documentation. The registered 22-hectare Abbots Ripton Hall park is a later historic garden and park boundary, not the full medieval or post-medieval manor extent, and the modern Abbots Ripton parish or present 6,250-acre estate cannot safely be substituted for the manor.
Sources:
- Abbots Ripton Manor, TNA/MDR record F271763: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F271763 — Registry record for the exact manor and its authority/reference.
- Abbots Ripton Hall, Historic England National Heritage List entry 1130177: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1130177 — Identifies Abbots Ripton Hall in Abbots Ripton at NGR TL 24078 77859, states that an earlier house on the site was almost completely rebuilt, and identifies the main portion of the manor and its historical ownership.
- Abbots Ripton Hall, Historic England Register of Parks and Gardens entry 1000610: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1000610 — States that the manor was held by Ramsey Abbey, later passed through the St John, Awdley, Bonfoy, Caesar and Fellowes families, and describes the old manor-house site at Abbots Ripton Hall. It also documents the separate approximately 22-hectare registered park boundary and cites the 1776 estate map and 1841 tithe map.
- Moated site in Bellamy’s Grove, Historic England scheduled monument entry 1016671: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1016671 — Documents a medieval moated site within the parish and discusses its possible relationship to the post-medieval manor and hamlet of Esthorpe, while expressly noting that the peripheral settlement’s precise location and extent are unknown.
- Abbots Ripton Conservation Area Character Statement, Huntingdonshire District Council: https://www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk/media/2316/abbots-ripton-conservation-area-character-statement-adopted-march-1996.pdf — Provides local historical context for the manor’s alternative names, Ramsey Abbey ownership, St John and later ownership, the division of the estate, Abbots Ripton Hall and the earlier moated manor house now associated with Moat House.
- Abbots Ripton Estate, estate history: https://www.arfco.co.uk/about-the-estate — Confirms the continuing estate association with Abbots Ripton and Wennington and describes the much larger modern estate; this was not used as a proxy for the historical manor boundary.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- No historically defensible complete manor polygon was found in the consulted accessible sources.
- The approximately 22-hectare Historic England registered park-and-garden boundary is not the historical manorial extent.
- The present Abbots Ripton Estate, parish boundary and modern administrative boundaries were not substituted for the manor boundary.
- Historic England sources contain a date conflict for William Henry Fellowes’s acquisition of the principal portion: 1760 in the registered-park narrative and 1794 in the listed-building entry and local conservation statement.
- The earlier moated manor-house site and the Bellamy’s Grove/Esthorpe moated site demonstrate historical manorial occupation or associated lands but do not by themselves establish the full territorial perimeter.
About the Manor
Abbots Ripton Manor was the principal manor of Abbots Ripton, historically also known as Ripton, Magna Riptona, Riptona Abbatis and, after the Dissolution, St John’s Ripton. It was recorded in Domesday Book in 1086 as land of Ramsey Abbey, with Ramsey Abbey named both tenant-in-chief and lord. The medieval manor included the site of the later Abbots Ripton Hall and an earlier moated manor house, now generally associated with Moat House. After the Dissolution of Ramsey Abbey, the manor was granted by the Crown to Sir John St John in 1541 in exchange for the manor of Paulerspury in Northamptonshire. It subsequently descended through the St John family, passed to Oliver St John, Earl of Bolingbroke, and was conveyed in 1640 to Hugh Awdley. On Awdley’s death in 1662 the estate was divided between his great-nephews Nicholas and Thomas Bonfoy, creating two principal moieties or portions. One portion descended through Nicholas Bonfoy to Hugh Bonfoy; the other descended through Thomas Bonfoy to his daughter Susan, who married Sir Charles Caesar. The portions were subsequently reunited under the Caesar family. Julius Caesar inherited the manor in 1741 and later sold it. The principal portion was acquired by the Fellowes family, with sources differing over whether the acquisition occurred in 1760 or 1794. The 1794 date is chronologically compatible with William Henry Fellowes, who was born in 1769, and is therefore used for the principal Fellowes conveyance while the earlier 1760 statement is retained as a source conflict. A separate part of the estate remained with descendants of the Bonfoy line, including the Rooper family, until the De Ramsey/Fellowes interest acquired the remainder in the 1850s. The consulted sources do not establish a complete deed-by-deed descent for every intervening Fellowes, Caesar, Bonfoy or Rooper holding, so those gaps are preserved rather than filled by genealogical inference.
Ownership / Holder Account
Abbots Ripton Manor was held by Ramsey Abbey from at least the Domesday Survey of 1086 until the Dissolution in 1539. The Crown granted it in 1541 to Sir John St John. It descended through the St John family to Oliver St John, Earl of Bolingbroke, who conveyed it to Hugh Awdley in 1640. Hugh Awdley’s death in 1662 resulted in division between Nicholas and Thomas Bonfoy. The Nicholas Bonfoy moiety passed to his son Hugh Bonfoy in 1679; the Thomas Bonfoy moiety passed to Susan Bonfoy, whose marriage to Sir Charles Caesar brought that portion into the Caesar family. The two portions were later reunited under the Caesars. Julius Caesar held the manor from 1741 until its sale in the mid-eighteenth century. The principal portion was acquired by the Fellowes family, reported as 1794 by the Huntingdonshire conservation statement and Historic England’s Abbots Ripton Hall entry, although the latter’s registered-park narrative also gives 1760 and names William Henry Fellowes. This is an unresolved source conflict. The Fellowes/De Ramsey family continued as lords of the manor, while another part remained with the Rooper descendants until the 1850s, when the De Ramseys acquired the remainder. John Ailwyn Fellowes, 4th Baron de Ramsey, is identified by the estate history as becoming the family’s current lord in 1993; the sources consulted do not provide a later manorial conveyance or a definitive post-1993 change of lordship.
Records & References
Sources and references mentioning this manor/title which are not necessarily conveyances or transfers.
49 records found · showing 49–49.
1252-1252: inquisition on customs and rents
Held by: The National Archives
Conveyance & Descent
First holder to present holder: blood proximity & distance travelled
First recorded holder: Sir John St John
Present holder:
Recorded title journey: 12 holder entries in this manor's saved Conveyance & Descent history.
No recorded holder currently has a usable saved direct-blood or collateral-blood relationship path from which to calculate proximity percentages.
First recorded holder → present holder
A usable saved blood relationship path between the first recorded holder and the present holder has not yet been recorded, so that first-to-present genealogical distance cannot be calculated.
Transfer: Granted by the Crown in exchange for the manor of Paulerspury, Northamptonshire
Shared holding: St John family
Co-holders: John St John, Oliver St John
Previous holder: Ramsey Abbey
Following the Dissolution of Ramsey Abbey, the Crown granted Abbots Ripton Manor to Sir John St John in 1541. The Huntingdonshire conservation statement expressly describes the transaction as an exchange for the manor of Paulerspury in Northamptonshire. The end date is based on the reported death of Sir John St John in 1558; the source also reports that he had granted the village to his son Oliver in 1543, so the exact legal date at which Oliver became the manorial holder is not completely clear.
Source: Huntingdonshire District Council, Abbots Ripton Conservation Area Character Statement, sections 3.4-3.5; local historical account citing the St John conveyance. — source link
John St John, Member of the St John family, successor to Oliver St John, 1st Baron St John of Bletsoe
Transfer: Succeeded to the St John family estate after the death of Oliver St John, 1st Baron St John of Bletsoe
Shared holding: St John family
Co-holders: Sir John St John, Oliver St John
Previous holder: Oliver St John, 1st Baron St John of Bletsoe
The local-authority account states that John St John inherited the title and associated estate after Oliver’s death in 1582 and died in 1596 without a male heir. It identifies the subsequent passage of the manor to John’s younger brother Oliver.
Source: Huntingdonshire District Council, Abbots Ripton Conservation Area Character Statement, section 3.4-3.5. — source link
Transfer: Succeeded his elder brother John St John as the manor passed through the St John family
Shared holding: St John family
Co-holders: Sir John St John, John St John
Previous holder: John St John, Member of the St John family, successor to Oliver St John, 1st Baron St John of Bletsoe
The Huntingdonshire conservation statement says that after John St John died without a male heir in 1596, the manor passed to his younger brother Oliver. It then records a further succession to Oliver’s son in 1618.
Source: Huntingdonshire District Council, Abbots Ripton Conservation Area Character Statement, section 3.5. — source link
Transfer: Inherited the Nicholas Bonfoy moiety in 1679
Holding arrangement: Share — One moiety or principal half of the divided estate
Shared holding: Bonfoy family, Nicholas branch
Previous holder: Nicholas Bonfoy
The consulted local historical account states that Nicholas Bonfoy’s son Hugh inherited half of Abbots Ripton Manor in 1679. No later instrument has been located showing the exact date or mechanism by which this moiety passed out of Hugh Bonfoy’s hands. The later history indicates that the two portions were ultimately reunited under the Caesar family, but the precise conveyance is not established.
Source: Local historical account, “Episode 26 – Abbots Ripton, Cambridgeshire,” citing the Victoria County History and related sources. — source link
Transfer: Conveyed to Hugh Awdley in 1640; the estate was divided after his death in 1662.
Previous holder: Oliver St John, Earl of Bolingbroke
Hugh Awdley held Abbots Ripton Manor from the conveyance of 1640 until his death in 1662.
Transfer: Received one of the two principal portions created by the division of the estate after Hugh Awdley’s death.
Holding arrangement: Share — One moiety or principal half of the divided estate
Previous holder: Hugh Awdley, London financier and property owner
Nicholas Bonfoy received one principal moiety of Abbots Ripton Manor on the division following Hugh Awdley’s death.
Transfer: Received the other principal portion created by the division of the estate after Hugh Awdley’s death.
Holding arrangement: Share — One moiety or principal half of the divided estate
Previous holder: Hugh Awdley, London financier and property owner
Thomas Bonfoy received the second principal moiety of Abbots Ripton Manor after the 1662 division.
Transfer: Inherited the Thomas Bonfoy moiety and brought it into the Caesar family through her marriage to Sir Charles Caesar.
Holding arrangement: Share — Thomas Bonfoy moiety
Previous holder: Thomas Bonfoy
Susan Bonfoy held the portion descended from her father Thomas Bonfoy; her marriage to Sir Charles Caesar transferred the relevant family interest into the Caesar line.
Sir Charles Caesar
Transfer: Acquired the Bonfoy moiety through his marriage to Susan Bonfoy.
Holding arrangement: Share — Susan Bonfoy’s moiety
Previous holder: Susan Bonfoy
Sir Charles Caesar held the portion of Abbots Ripton Manor that entered the Caesar family through his marriage to Susan Bonfoy.
Transfer: Inherited the reunited manor portions in 1741 and later sold the manor.
Previous holder: Caesar family
Julius Caesar inherited Abbots Ripton Manor in 1741 after the two principal portions had been reunited under the Caesars.
Transfer: Acquired the principal portion of the manor, with 1794 being the date adopted in the supplied record despite a conflicting report of 1760.
Holding arrangement: Share — Principal portion of the manor
Previous holder: Julius Caesar
William Henry Fellowes acquired the principal portion of Abbots Ripton Manor in 1794 according to the chronology adopted in the authoritative record; an alternative 1760 date is expressly retained there as unresolved source conflict.
De Ramsey/Fellowes family
Transfer: Acquired the remaining part of the estate from descendants of the Bonfoy line, including the Rooper family.
Holding arrangement: Share — Remaining portion of the estate
Previous holder: Rooper descendants
The De Ramsey/Fellowes interest acquired the remainder of the Abbots Ripton estate from the Rooper-descended interest in the 1850s, reuniting the principal portions.
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