Sawston was part of the inheritance of Lady Isabella Neville, 5th. and youngestdaughter of John, Marquis Montague, brother to the earl of Warwick (known as the“Kingmaker” died 1471)
She married, c.1486, William Huddleston (d.1509) 3rd. son of Sir JohnHuddleston of Millom and Mary Fenwick. They lived at Millom, while Sir John wasin Cambridgeshire and Gloucestershire, but their son John c. 1488-1530, andgrandson, another John (d. 1557) built a house at Sawston.
The Huddlestons were strongly Catholic, despite the Reformation. After thedeath of the boy king, Edward VIth (1553) , the Protestant Duke ofNorthumberland proclaimed his daughter-in-law, Lady Jane Grey as Queen. Thepeople rallied to the Princess Mary Tudor, eldest daughter of Henry VIIIth, andCatherine of Aragon.Northumberland tried to capture Mary, but she fled towards East Anglia and wassheltered by John Huddleston at Sawston, reputedly on the advice of AndrewHudleston, his cousin, one of Mary’s gentlemen. She escaped in disguise thenext morning, but Northumberland’s troops burnt down the hall. Mary promised torebuild it when she became Queen.
Mary was crowned Queen in 1553 and on her marriage to Philip of Spain,apppointed John vice-chamberlain to Philip.
The rebuilding was completed by 1584, and with the country now being hotly Protestant under Queen Elizabeth, and the Catholic religion proscribed, several“priest’s holes” were secretly incorporated into the house as shelter and hidingplaces for the many Catholic priests .
In spite of persecutions and fines, the Sawston Huddlestons remained Catholic,living quietly in the country. (One, Henry Huddleston was implicated in theGunpowder Plot, (1605) but was only fined and escaped with his life.)
The family continued at Sawston till the 1970’s. The house is now a languageschool.