Horseheath is a village in

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

, England, situated a few miles south-east of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, between

Linton Linton may refer to: Places Australia * Linton, Victoria Canada * Linton, Ontario * Linton, Quebec United Kingdom England * Linton, Cambridgeshire * Linton, Derbyshire * Linton (near Bromyard), Herefordshire * Linton (near Ross-on-Wye), Her ...

and Haverhill, on the A1307 road. It was known to the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

s, and it had for a while a fine house in a great park, but both are now gone. The population of the village is included in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Bartlow Bartlow is a small village and civil parish in the South Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire, England, about south-east of Cambridge and west of Haverhill in Suffolk. The River Granta runs through the village. History At Bartlow is on ...

Church

Its 600-year-old church contains

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

fragments. The fine

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, a blaze of light from great transomed windows, is 15th century, and its lofty height is crowned by a noble roof with a great span, with massive moulded beams and carved bosses. The oak

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

screen also dates from the 15th century and still has traces of painting in its panels. There is a 16th-century

sundial A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...

. It has a 500-year-old

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

, and treasured brasses and monuments of lords and ladies of its greater days: the Audleys and the Alingtons. A fragment of old glass in the church has the shield of the Audleys, one of whom distinguished himself at the Battle of

Poitiers Poitiers (, , , ; Poitevin: ''Poetàe'') is a city on the River Clain in west-central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and the historical centre of Poitou. In 2017 it had a population of 88,291. Its agglomerat ...

, in 1356. A brass portrait in the church shows William Audley, who was alive at the time, standing with his feet on a lion, magnificent in armour and with a very long sword. William Alington, Treasurer of the Exchequer (d. 1446) also has his tomb in Horseheath church is marked by a monumental brass describing him as sometime treasurer of Ireland and treasurer of Normandy. Near him is the brass of Sir Robert Alington, Knt., laid to rest in May 1552. (Sir Robert had been married to Margaret, daughter of Sir

William Coningsby Sir William Coningsby ( – September 1540) was an English Member of Parliament and a Justice of the King's Bench. Biography William Coningsby was born by 1483, the son of Sir Humphrey Coningsby of Aldenham, Hertfordshire. He was educated at Eto ...

, Knt., King's Justice).

Giles Alington (MP) Sir Giles Alington (June 1499 – 22 August 1586) was a knight; Lord of the Manor of Horseheath, Cambridgeshire; and High Sheriff and MP for Cambridgeshire. Family background In the lead up to the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 King Richard III appo ...

(June 1499 - August 22, 1586) was Master of Ordnance to King

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

, and lies in splendour with his son, the above-mentioned Sir Robert (who predeceased his father), one above the other, both in armour, heads on helmets and feet on hounds. There is another Giles Alington, K.B., of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's day on an impressive alabaster monument with his wife and their six children, he in slashed breeches and armour, she in a ruff and hooped skirt.

Horseheath Hall

The Alingtons, one of whom, Sir William Alington, was killed at the battle of Bosworth,Clay, John W., FSA, editor, ''The Visitation of Cambridge, made in 1575 & 1619'', London, 1897, pp.14-17. held the manor here and lived at Horseheath Hall. The Alingtons thrived under the Stuarts and had the privilege of handing to the King his first drink at coronations. The house was rebuilt in 1663-65 by architect Sir Roger Pratt; (''Vitruvius Britannicus'' is wrong in assigning the house to Webb). It was a Classical eleven-bay house with a three-bay pediment, quoins, hipped roof, balustrade and belvedere on the roof. It was further enlarged in 1688, but pulled down in 1777. The splendid wrought-iron gates went to St John's College and

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

, and the rectory at Cheveley.

References

Mee, Arthur Arthur Henry Mee (21 July 187527 May 1943) was an English writer, journalist and educator. He is best known for ''The Harmsworth Self-Educator'', ''The Children's Encyclopædia'', ''The Children's Newspaper'', and '' The King's England''. The ...

, ''The King's

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

'', New revised edition, London, 1965, p. 150. *

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

, extract from ''The Buildings of England - Cambridgeshire'', London, 1st edition 1954, 2nd edition 1970, p. 410-411.

External links

Horseheath Village website
{{authority control Villages in Cambridgeshire Civil parishes in Cambridgeshire South Cambridgeshire District