Hinchingbrooke School is located on the outskirts of Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, near Godmanchester. The main building is an 800 year old building called Hinchingbrooke House. The grounds once housed a nunnery that was closed down during the reign of King Henry VIII. The building remained unoccupied for a short while, until the land was given to Richard (Williams) Cromwell. Richard's eldest son, Henry, was the first Cromwell to actually live in the house as a winter residence, converting the nunnery into a house. Henry passed the house down to his eldest son, Oliver, in 1602. Due to lavish spending to entertain the king's many visits, Oliver was forced to sell the property. It was purchased by Sir Sidney Montagu in June of 1627. Upon the death of Sir Sidney, the house was passed down to his son Edward, who is responsible for much of the current structure now called Hinchingbrooke House. The house stayed in the Montagu family through the years, with each owner being named an Earl. George Charles Montagu, the ninth Earl, was the last Montagu to own the house. After his death in 1962, the house was sold to the Local Authority. Because of its state of decay at the time, it was almost torn down, but in 1970 it was decided to remodeled and turned into a comprehensive school, and later it was also used as a conference center and banquet hall.