On Thursday 10th August 1564, 6 years after she came to rule, Queen Elizabeth I dined at ‘Fennystanton’. On her progress from Cambridge, where she had been entertained by the learned, to Hinchingbrooke Priory as a guest of Sir Henry Cromwell, grandfather of the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell.
She dined with Richard Cox the then Bishop of Ely, made so by Queen Elizabeth, he had been imprisoned by Queen Mary for his beliefs. But as a staunch supporter of the Protestant cause this man of 64 years old was still a useful ally and trusted servant. During 1571 he held prisoner for her majesty John Leslie, Bishop of Ross, for plotting to marry Mary Queen of Scots to the Duke of Norfolk.
