Pampisford

Pampisford is a village, south of Cambridge, on the A505 road near Sawston, Cambridgeshire, England. The remaining section of a defensive ditch, dug to close the gap between forest and marsh, is known as Brent Ditch, which runs between Abington Park and Dickman's Grove, and is most clearly seen in the park of Pampisford Hall. Famous local families The Herald's Visitations (1575 and 1619) record an armiger holding an estate here, John Killingworth, who is designated "of Pampisford", although he appears to have resided at another Killingworth estate, West Hall Manor at Mundford, in Norfolk. John had been educated at Queens' College, Cambridge. The Killingworths also held Balsham Place Manor in Cambridgeshire and John purchased Clare Priory in Suffolk from John Frende in 1589, who had it at the dissolution. It appears that the Killingworths were feudal tenants of the manor at Pampisford, held from the Cloville family as superiors who held the manors at Pampisford as far back as 1428 from the Abbot of Ely, the original superior. The Victoria County History states "the lords [superiors] of the manor were non-resident from the mid 15th to the mid 19th century". In his Will, John Killingworth describes Pampisford as his "chief mansion". The old parish registers for Pampisford record the burial there of "John Killingworth, Esquire", on 24 May 1617. "In a house in Pampisford there are, in the parlour window, Arms for Richard Killingworth [d.1586] and his wife Margaret Beriff, and in one of the main bedrooms are Arms for his son (inscription:) 'John Killingworth Esquire [who] married Beatrice daughter of Robert Alington'. In the same window are another set of Arms for John Killingworth and his second wife Elizabeth Cheyney. It is presumed this was the manor house at that time. Pampisford Hall, the principal manor of the village, was acquired by marriage with the Marsh heiress in the early 18th century by the Parker family. On the death of William Parker in 1776 the estate was divided for a time between his sisters, Grace and Elizabeth. Grace died in 1781 and her portion passed to Elizabeth, who married William Hamond. On her death in 1789 the whole estate passed to her son William Parker Hamond I who, in 1812, was succeeded by his son William Parker Hamond II. It was he who was responsible for erecting the hall (1820-1831) on farmland belonging to the Manor Farm, and laying out the grounds.