Denton is a small hamlet along the access road from Conington village towards Stilton. In the 11th and 12th centuries it was known as Denton Manor and passed through many hands, the main landholders being the

Bishops of Lincoln and the Beville family. In 1505  Denton Manor was bought by Thomas Cotton, the great grandfather of Sir Robert Cotton as it bordered the Conington Estate which he had inherited from relatives. Sir Robert Cotton was born there in 1571. The Conington Estate has a very long history through the Anglo Saxon lordship of Earl Waltheof who was married to Countess Judith, niece of William the Conqueror and through their line of descent of the Scottish Monarchy through the Canmores, the Bruces and the Stuarts from David 1st of Scotland through his marriage to Countess Judith's daughter Matilda and later landholders such as The Beville Family and the Heathcotes, which will be covered in later articles.

Sir Edward Bradley, better known as the writer Cuthbert  Bede was Rector of All Saints Church from 1859 to 1871

The manor-house of the Cottons, stood on the land adjoining the south side of the churchyard, on the precise

spot now occupied by a barn and farm buildings. The base of this barn is a portion of the foundation of the old house, which having fallen into a ruinous state was pulled down about the year 1816 by the then lord of the manor, Admiral Wells, of Holme Wood Hall. Since then, in 1855, the farm house was built.  Nothing much remains now except the Farm and farm buildings and the ruins of the Old All Saints Church, abandoned in the 1960s. In the picture of the Conington Estate and Castle, below, which was a large stately home ( for more information see

This Month's Feature.) Denton would be just above the top left hand corner of the picture. It continued to be

held, with Conington, Glatton and Holme until the 18th century presumably till the death of Sir John Cotton in 1752. It then passed with Glatton and Holme to the Wells family.  It was acquired by Mr. J. Ashton Fielden in 1903, and

was sold in 1920 to Mr. Joseph Emerton, The Conington Estate passed to the Heathcote family.