Isaac Barrow, the theologian and mathematician, lived for two years at Spinney Priory, now becoming locally called 'Abbey' which was at that time owned by his grandfather, also named Isaac Barrow. Henry Cromwell Perhaps the most celebrated former owner of Spinney Abbey, and one who actually dwelt there, is Henry Cromwell, the fourth son of Oliver Cromwell. Henry lived in Spinney Abbey after his retirement from his office as Lord Deputy of Ireland at the Restoration. He was a well-respected and capable man, and having petitioned the King was allowed to continue living in peace there despite his father's fate. He owned Spinney from 1659 to his death in 1673, and tradition has it that King Charles II visited him there in September 1671. Henry Cromwell is buried with his wife at Wicken parish church. The New House The new house – the current building – was built in 1775. The cellar of the original priory still survives below and in it the great stones of the mediaeval masons are seen, along with some iron fittings which have perhaps inevitably gained the reputation of being the remains of mediaeval prisoners' restraints – although there is no evidence to support such a tale. Other older parts are incorporated into the building – some of the old priory doors, for example. The farm had problems with flooding, and until the installation of the diesel pumps which still drain it today, this has always been a difficulty. A number of tenants came and went with little success. By 1883 the owner and occupier was Robert Chambers Golding, known as 'Old Golding'. He built the large barn known as Old Golding's Barn, which is still in use. It bears his initials 'RG'. His son, Chambers Waddelow Golding, known as 'Young Golding', was an eccentric who drank himself to an early death. He once took a horse upstairs, and the imprint of a hoof can be discerned upon the stairs still. The Fuller family Since at least 1695 in adjacent Padney, the Fuller family had been farming alongside Spinney Abbey. In 1892 Thomas Fuller brought his family to farm at Spinney Abbey, and by 1918 the freehold was in the family, and has remained there with various changes to the farm boundaries. In 1900 the farm was a mixed, mainly arable farm. it is still a working farm now farming traditional slow-growing breeds, English Longhorn