Biggin Abbey

Biggin Abbey, Horningsea Road, Fen Ditton

History of Biggin Abbey

Listed building:

Farmhouse. Late C14 with C17 additions and alterations. Cement rendered limestone and clunch and local C17 brick.

The farmhouse is a surviving part of the residence of the Bishops of Ely and was visited by Henry III, Edward I and Edward II;  it was once moated. A small attic room known as the ‘Monks Prison’ may have been used as a chapel and was described by Wm Cole. Cole, Wm.

---

The estate at Fen Ditton centred on the manor of Biggin, was one of the pre-Conquest possessions of Ely.

The buildings were extensively rebuilt by Bishop Northwold in 1251 and a licence to crenellate was granted in 1276. The moat was almost completely destroyed in the 1970s