Queen Mary’s Escape from Sawston

In 1553 Sir John Huddleston sheltered the Princess Mary at Sawston Hall and helped her escape to Framlingham, and a mob loyal to Lady Jane Grey plundered his house. The village women of Hone’s day still told how Mary slipped away disguised as a milkmaid with a pail on her arm. When her guide bade her look back she saw the hall in flames, and she promised that if she became queen she would rebuild it in stone. Fuller records that she later gave Huddleston the stones of Cambridge Castle to build his house.