Nearby churches
"CONINGTON is a parish on the borders of Hunts, 4 miles south from St. Ives station on the London and North Eastern railway, 7 south-east from Huntingdon and 10 north-west from Cambridge, in the hundred of Papworth, petty sessional division of Cambridge, union of St. Ives, county court district of Huntingdon, rural deanery of North Stowe and archdeaconry and diocese of Ely."
"The soil is clay and loamy gravel; subsoil, clay and gault The chief crops are wheat, beans and barley. The area is 1,522 acres; the population in 1921 was 108 in the civil parish and 234 in the ecclesiastical parish."
[Kellys Directory of Cambridgeshire 1929]
The Monumental Inscriptions for St Mary's churchyard, 1715-1976, are recorded in the Cambridge Records Office. These inscriptions are also available on microfiche from the Cambridgeshire Family History Society Bookstall.
The Census Records from 1841-1891 can be found in the Cambridge Record Office. In addition the 1851 Census for Conington is available in full transcript form, on microfiche, from the Cambridgeshire Family History Society Bookstall.
"The church of St. Mary is an edifice of brick and stone in mixed styles, consisting of chancel, nave and a tower of stone with a spire and containing 4 bells, with the following inscriptions:- tenor, Virgo coronata duc nos ad regna beata; 2 (early 14th cen-tury), Asumpta est Maria in celis gaudent angeli lau-dantes benedicunt (sic) dominum; 3, Milo Grey me fecit 1635; 4th, Sancta Maria, era pro nob's (nobis): the tower and spire were restored and the bells rehung in 1911: there is a monumental vault, breast high, running nearly the entire length of the nave on the south side, and several monuments to members of the Cotton, Askham, Hatton and Gardner families: the nave was rebuilt in red brick in 1737 by Dingley Askham esq. and the chancel in stone in 1871: there are 118 sittings. The register dates from the year 1538."
[Kellys Directory of Cambridgeshire 1929]
Conington, St. Marys: Records of baptisms 1538-1975, marriages 1583-1975, burials 1583-1992 and banns 1756-1975 reside in the Cambridge Record Office. The Bishop's Transcripts for the years 1599-1695, 1711-1841 can be found in the Cambridge University Library. Indexed transcripts exist in the Cambridge Record Office for baptisms 1538-1900, marriages 1538-1900 and burials 1538-1900.
"The manor of Conington (Contone or Cunitone. in the Domesday Survey, A.D. 1086) was successively in the families of Connington, Dansie, Hutton, Baker and Watson, and in 1644 was purchased by Sir Thomas Cotton bart. M.P. of Connington, Hunts, the son of Sir Robert Cotton bart. the founder of the famous Cottonian library; and afterwards, by the marriage of Frances, heiress of the Cotton family, to Dingley Askham esq.; it thence successively descended by female heirs to the families of Hatton, of Long Stanton, and Gardner, the last named family acquiring it by the marriage of the Rev. Philip Gardner D.D. of Brynadda, Merionethshire, with Harriet, daughter of Sir Thomas Hatton 8th bart. of Long Stanton. Conington Hall, the seat of Philip Thomas Gardner esq. D.L., J.P. is an ancient mansion of brick, restored at different periods. P. T. Gardner esq. D.L., J.P. and Messrs. Arthur Lilley and John Scambler are the principal landowners. The land is all freehold."
[Kellys Directory of Cambridgeshire 1929]
The Conington War Memorial has been transcribed and researched.
Land Tax: records were compiled afresh each year and contain the names of owners and occupiers in each parish, but usually there is no address or place name. These records reside in the Cambridge Record Office for the years 1798 (on microfilm), 1829-32 and 1880-1948.
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[Last updated 20 March 2003 Martin Edwards]