Description of Places in Hertfordshire Arranged Alphabetically
Abbreviations of architectural terms:—
E.E. = Early English.
Dec. = Decorated.
Perp. = Perpendicular.
Abbots Langley (1½ mile S.E. of King’s Langley Station) is a village on prettily wooded high ground near the river Gade. It is famous as the birthplace of Nicholas Breakspeare, who, having vainly endeavoured to be admitted as a monk in the great Benedictine monastery at St. Albans, studied at Paris and eventually became Pope Adrian IV. He died in 1158 at Anagni; tradition states that he was choked with a fly whilst drinking. The village probably owes its name, first, to its length, “Langley” signifying a long land; second, to the fact that in the days of Edward the Confessor it was given to the Abbots of St. Albans by Egelwine the Black and Wincelfled his wife. An entry in Domesday records that there were two mills on this manor, yielding 30s. rent yearly, and wood to feed 300 hogs. The Church of St. Lawrence has nave, aisles and clerestory; a chancel with S. aisle, and square embattled tower. The windows are mostly Perp., but those of the S. aisle are Dec. Note (1) the monument to Lord Chief Justice Raymond, died 1732; (2) the brasses in nave to Thos. Cogdell and his two wives, 1607, and to Ralph Horwode and family, 1478. Late in the reign of Henry VIII. the vicarage was rated at £10 per annum. An inscription in the chancel, copied in Chauncy, reads “Here lieth Robert Nevil and Elizabeth his wife, which Robert deceased the 28th of April in the year of our Lord God 1475. This World is but a Vanity, to Day a man, to Morrow none.” Prince Charles held a Court at Abbots Langley during the Reign of James I.
Albury (3½ miles E. of Braughing Station) is a village near the river Ash. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, dates from the fourteenth century; it was recently restored. There was an earlier structure so far back as the days of Stephen, in whose reign Robert de Sigillo gave the profits of the church at Eldeberei to Geoffery, first Treasurer of St. Paul’s Church, London. An interesting will, dated 4th November, 1589, records that Marmaduke Bickerdy, Vicar of Aldebury, gave an acre of land in the neighbourhood to provide a sum for distribution among the poor on every Good Friday. In the chancel the mutilated effigies of a man and woman are said to represent Sir Walter de la Lee and his wife. Sir Walter sat in nine Parliaments in the interests of the county—at Westminster, Northampton and Cambridge, and was Sheriff of Herts and Essex. He died during the reign of Richard II. Albury Hall, close by, is a fine old mansion, where the “Religeous, Just and Charitable” Sir Edward Atkins, Knight, and Baron of the Exchequer, died in 1669. The village is usually a quiet spot, with little business, but it is pleasantly situated; the proximity of the river and some scattered cottages and farms enhance its attractiveness.
Albury End is a small hamlet about 1 mile S.W. of Albury.
Aldbury (1½ mile E. from Tring Station) is a village on the Buckinghamshire border, nestled in a beautiful valley close to Ashridge Park (q.v.). It is the “Clinton Magna” of Bessie Costrell, and the author of that story, Mrs. Humphrey Ward, lived at Stocks, a few minutes’ walk from the village. On the Tring side Aldbury is sheltered by swelling fields and to the E. beech woods cover the hillside, which is topped by the “Aldbury Monument,” a granite column about 100 feet high erected to the memory of Francis, third Duke of Bridgewater, whose labours and enterprise for the extension of canals earned for him the well-known title “the father of inland navigation”. As a village of the Old English type Aldbury has perhaps no equal in the county. In the centre is the green and pond, under the shadow of an enormous elm; close by stand the stocks and whipping-post, recently in excellent preservation. The Church of St. John the Baptist is E.E.; it was restored in 1867. Visitors should notice the old sundial on a pedestal in the churchyard, and the Verney Chapel, which is separated from the nave by a screen of stone, and contains a monument to Sir Robert Whittingham, who was slain at the battle of Tewkesbury. The church also contains memorials of the Hides and Harcourts, families who left several charities to the poor of the parish. In the days of Edward the Confessor the manor of Aldeberie was held by one Alwin, the king’s thane. The ascent of the wooded slope towards the Bridgewater monument takes the visitor through one of the most beautiful districts in the county, and a noble prospect stretches before him as he looks back through the beeches towards the village in the valley beneath.
Aldenham (2 miles S.W. from Radlett Station M.R.) is a village pleasantly situated near the river Colne, reached by way of Berry Grove at the W. end of the village. The churchyard is locally famous for the tombs of a man and woman named Hutchinson, which, singularly enough, have been riven apart and almost destroyed by three sycamore trees about a century old. The Church of St. John the Baptist is largely Perp. with earlier portions, and is worth a visit, if only for the oaken nave-roof, believed to date from about 1480, and for the font of Purbeck marble, probably 750 years old. An object of greater interest in some eyes is the fine parish chest, formed from one massive piece of oak nearly ten feet in length, and furnished with iron clamps and hinges of great size; there are few finer old parish chests in England. Note also (1) the triple sedilia in chancel; (2) the many brasses dating from 1450, several of which are to the Cary family; (3) two palimpsest brasses in the vestry, one of which bears a portion of a mutilated inscription to one Long, an alderman of London, who died in 1536. The church was restored in 1882 by Sir A. W. Blomfield, F.S.A. Aldenham House, property of Lord Aldenham, dates from the days of Charles II., and stands in a park of about 300 acres.
Aldenham Abbey, once known as Wall Hall, stands close to the parish church; it is about a century old, and belongs to the Stuart family.
Aldwick Farm is 1 mile N.E. from Marston Gate Station, L.&N.W.R.
Allen’s Green, a hamlet 2 miles N.W. from Sawbridgeworth, contains little of interest.
Almshoebury (1½ mile W. of Stevenage Station, G.N.R.) is about fifteen minutes’ walk from the ruins of Minsden Chapel (q.v.).
Amwell is a tiny hamlet 1 mile S.W. of Wheathampstead Station, G.N.R.
Amwell, Great, a parish and village 1½ mile S.E. of Ware Station, G.E.R., is very prettily situated near the New River, and is known by name to many who have never visited the neighbourhood, for the village is frequently mentioned in the essays and letters of Charles Lamb. The church stands on a wooded slope; near by are the village stocks, the tiny island upon which stands a monument to Sir Hugh Myddelton, the projector of the New River, and the stone bearing some lines written by John Scott, the Quaker. The grotto constructed by the poet may still be seen near the railway station at Ware. The church is an architectural conglomeration, with several stained windows, one of which was contributed by the children of the parish as an Easter offering nearly seventy years ago. The structure was restored in 1866. There is a piscina in the chancel, and one in the S. wall of the nave; there are also two hagioscopes. “The chancel arch,” writes Canon Benham, “seems to me Anglo-Saxon, and the chancel is a most curious apse.” Thomas Warner, a friend of Shakespeare, and Isaac Reed, a Shakespearian commentator, were both buried here.
Amwell End, once at the N.W. extremity of the parish of Great Amwell, is now a part of Ware (q.v.).
Amwell, Little (about 1½ mile S.W. from Great Amwell), was formerly a liberty in the parish of All Saints, Hertford; it has formed a separate civil and ecclesiastical parish since 1864. The Church of Holy Trinity is E.E. in style; it was erected in 1863. The district is now usually called Hertford Heath. An interesting, pleasant ramble may be enjoyed by walking from Hertford to Little Amwell, Great Amwell, and thence to Ware, or vice versa.
Anstey (about 4½ miles N.E. from Buntingford Station, G.E.R.) has a cruciform church of mixed styles: the nave is Dec., the transepts E.E., the S. porch Perp. The tower rests upon four Norman arches; the font also is Norman. The church was restored in 1871; many features of architectural interest being wisely retained. The recumbent effigy in the recess in S. transept is thought to be that of Richard de Anestie, who founded the church in the fourteenth century. We learn from Domesday Book that at the time of the Great Survey there was “pannage” (i.e. acorn woods) at Anestie sufficient to feed fifty hogs, and that the manor was worth fourteen pounds a year. There was once a castle here, built soon after the Conquest, the site of which is supposed to be marked by the remains of a moat still to be traced in the grounds of Anstey Hall. The churchyard is entered by a covered lich-gate.
Appleby Street is a hamlet 3 miles N.W. from Cheshunt Station, S.E.R., and about 2 miles N.W. from the village.
Apsley End (about 1½ mile S. from Hemel Hempstead Station, M.R., and 1¼ mile S.E. from Boxmoor Station, L.&N.W.R.) is an ecclesiastical parish near the river Gade. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, was built in E. Dec. style in 1871, and is well furnished and decorated. One of the prettiest prospects in the neighbourhood is that from Abbot’s Hill, a fine private residence, flanked by woods. The Gade and Bulbourne Rivers unite, a little N.W. from the village, at a place called Two Waters (q.v.).
Archer’s Green is on the river Maran, about ½ a mile S.E. from Tewin Church and 1¾ mile N.W. from Cole Green Station, G.N.R. It adjoins Panshanger Park (q.v.).
Ardeley, otherwise Yardley (6 miles S.W. from Buntingford Station, G.E.R.), is a village and parish in a purely agricultural district. It is famous through its connection with the Chauncy family, who resided at Ardeley Bury for many generations; one of them, Sir Henry Chauncy, was the author of a well-known history of Hertfordshire. The family monument is outside of the church of St. Lawrence, some existing portions of which date from the thirteenth century. The roofs of nave and aisles are noticeable for the angels which they bear, of Tudor character; visitors should observe, too, the early window in the restored chancel. Ardeley Bury, in the days of Sir Henry Chauncy, was an Elizabethan manor-house dating from about the year 1580, surrounded by a moat; it was almost entirely rebuilt of brick in 1815-20, when it became a castellated, imposing mansion. The manor of Erdeley was owned by a succession of Saxon kings until Athelstan bestowed it upon the church of St. Paul, London, as recorded in Dugdale’s Monasticon Anglicanum; it was of the Dean and Chapter that the Chauncys rented their estate. The river Beane rises near here. A stroll around Ardeley and Ardeley Bury leads the visitor into some of the quietest spots to be found in the county. The windmill on the hill above Cromer, near by, is useful as a landmark when threading the many winding lanes in the neighbourhood.
Arkley (1 mile W. from High Barnet) consists chiefly of a few small houses at a spot once called Barnet Common. The view is extensive in every direction, the village (strictly speaking the chapelry) lying on high ground. The chapel of St. Peter was erected in 1840, the style being a variety of Low Gothic; a chancel (E.E.) was added in 1898, and has a good groined roof.
Ash, river; see Introduction, Section VI.
Ashbrook consists of a few cottages and a beer-shop, 1 mile N.E. from St. Ippollit’s village, and midway between Hitchin and Stevenage Stations, G.N.R.
Ashridge is in a beautifully undulating district, immediately N. of Berkhampstead Common, 1 mile E. from Aldbury Church and about 2 miles E. from Tring Station, L.&N.W.R. The present house, the seat of Earl Brownlow, stands in a park of about 1,000 acres, well known for the deer which are kept there; it was built by the first Earl of Bridgewater, or rather by his architect, Wyatt, in 1808-14. It is a huge structure, its greatest width being 1,000 feet; conspicuous portions are the turreted centre, some good arched doorways and the large Gothic porch. The site was formerly occupied by the palace of Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Cornwall, and by the monastery which he built, adjoining the palace, for the monks of the Order of Bonhommes, an Order which he himself brought to this country from France. The earl died here, but his bones were subsequently removed to Hailes Abbey in Gloucestershire. The house contains some fine pictures, including, in addition to works by modern masters, Rubens’ “Death of Hippolytus,” Luini’s “Holy Family” and Titian’s “Three Cæsars”. In the chapel is a fine brass to John Swynstede, Prebendary of Lincoln, 1395. It was brought here from Edlesborough Church.
Ashwell is a village of considerable size on the Cambridgeshire border. The village is 2½ miles N.W. from Ashwell Station, G.N.R. The parish is very ancient, and is believed to have been the site of a British settlement and of a Roman station. The former theory is considered proved by the existing entrenchments, S.W. from the village, called Arbury Banks; the latter theory is supported by the fact that very many Roman relics, especially coins, have been discovered in the neighbourhood. That it was formerly a place of importance has been mentioned in the Introduction (Section V.); it was a town in Norman times, and held four fairs each year. The Rhee, a tributary of the Cam, rises in this village, at a spot surrounded by ash trees, and to this fact the parish is thought to owe its name. When Sir H. Rider Haggard was at Ashwell recently he was unable to say much for its agricultural prosperity and outlook; but in Chauncy’s day the district produced “all sorts of excellent Grain, especially Barley, which has greatly encouraged the trade of Malting in this Borrough”. The same writer mentions the stone quarry, from which he tells as that several neighbouring churches had been built or repaired. The Church of St. Mary the Virgin is mostly E.E. and is conspicuous for its spire-topped western tower, 176 feet high, being equal to the length of the church. Note (1) the large ambry in the S. aisle, once the lady-chapel, where is also a fragmentary reredos; (2) the curious inscriptions on the inner side of the tower walls, mostly undecipherable, one of which refers to the plague that attacked the town in the fourteenth century; (3) the really fine oaken pulpit, dating from the year 1627. There was formerly a small monastic house in the town, a cell to Westminster Abbey. From the village it is an open, breezy walk N. to Ashwell Common or S.E. to Ashwell Field, between the village and the station.
Aspenden (1 mile S.W. from Buntingford Station, G.E.R.) may be reached from the Old North Road by turning to the left before entering Buntingford. It is a small, quiet, unimportant village; but much of it is picturesque and interesting. Readers will remember that Macaulay was at school here, and that it was the birthplace of Seth Ward, mathematician and bishop, a contemporary and antagonist of Thomas Hobbes. The church is a flint structure,—a conglomeration of many styles. Notable features are the Easter sepulchre in the N. wall of chancel, the Norman window close to it, the piscina, ambry and credence table, discovered during the restoration of the church by Sir A. W. Blomfield in 1873. There are also memorial windows to members of the Lushington family, and an altar tomb, under a canopy of marble, to “Sir Robert Clyfford” (d. 1508), who built the church porch in 1500, and to his wife Elizabeth. The tomb bears brass effigies of these worthies, which were once in the Church of St. Michael, Cornhill, but were brought to Aspenden at the time of the fire of London. The aisle (S.) was built by Sir Ralph Jocelyn in 1478. This Sir Ralph was lord of the manor; he is remembered in history for his sally against Thomas Nevill, when that adventurer attempted to rescue Henry VI. from the Tower. He was twice Lord Mayor of London (1464 and 1476). He died in 1478 and was buried at Sawbridgeworth.
Aston (2¼ miles N.E. from Knebworth Station, G.N.R.) has an ancient church restored in 1883. There is E.E. work in parts of nave and chancel, but other portions are largely Perp., especially the tower, which is embattled. The alabaster reredos and several memorial windows are worth notice; nor should visitors overlook the brass at the foot of the chancel steps to one John Kent, his wife and ten children. This worthy died in 1592; he was a servant of Edward VI., Mary and Elizabeth. The village is scattered upon a hill a little W. from the river Beane, and dates from Saxon times. The manor was once owned by three men under the protection of Archbishop Stigand; afterwards by the Abbot of Reading. It fell to the Crown at the Dissolution, like so many other properties.
Aston Bury is a fine manor house of red brick, about ¾ mile S. from the village, formerly the property of the Boteler family. The prospect from the N. windows is a noble one, the district being varied and undulating.
Aston End, a hamlet 1 mile N.W. from Aston, may be reached from Stevenage Station, G.N.R., about 2½ miles. There is little here of interest, but the neighbourhood is very pleasant and largely agricultural.
Astrope Hamlet (½ mile E. from Puttenham) is midway between the village of Long Marston and the Aylesbury Canal. It is close to the Bucks border.
Astwick Farm is 2 miles N.W. from Hatfield Station, G.N.R.
Attimore Hall is 1½ mile S.W. from Welwyn Station, G.N.R.
Aubrey Camp (¾ mile S.W. from Redbourn) is conjectured to be the site of an early British encampment.
Austage End lies in the parish of King’s Walden, in a purely agricultural district.
Ayot Green is about ½ mile S.E. from and in the parish of Ayot St. Peter’s (q.v.).
Ayot St. Lawrence (2½ miles N.E. from Wheathampstead Station and about the same distance N.W. from Ayot Station, G.N.R.) has a new and an old church. The former is in Ayot Park, and was designed by Revett in a classical style. Note (1) the Eastern portico, with colonnade on either side; (2) the memorial to Sir Lionel Lyde, Bart. (d. 1791), and to the architect of the church (d. 1804). The earlier structure, still in ruins near the middle of the village, was Dec. of an early period, with several singular features; the tower, however, was Perp. “The Windows... have been adorn’d with curious Pictures, in stained and painted Glass, beyond many other Churches.” The village has at different times been styled Eye, Aiot, Great Aiot, and Ayot St. Lawrence, and was a parcel of the property of Harold Godwin. Ayot House, standing in a beautiful park of 200 acres, was once the property and residence of Sir William Parr, brother to Catherine Parr, Queen of Henry VIII. A room in an older building in the rear of the present mansion was once, according to local tradition, the prison of Catherine Parr. There are shoes at Ayot House which belonged to Anne Boleyn and a hat of Henry VIII.
Ayot St. Peter’s (¼ mile N. from Ayot Station, G.N.R.) lies in a pretty district watered by the rivers Maran and Lea. The village is small, but has a commodious Parish Room, containing a small library. There was a mill here in the time of the Great Survey, the rent of which was three shillings and 200 eels from the mill-pool per annum. A church, bearing “a short spire erected upon the tower,” stood on the hill-top in Chauncy’s day; in 1751 an octagonal structure of red brick was built by the rector (Dr. Freeman) some distance from the village. This church was demolished in 1862 and a new one built upon its site; in 1874 this was in turn destroyed by lightning, and in 1875 the present church of St. Peter, E.E. in style, was erected much nearer to the village. It contains a very fine pulpit, carved by Miss Bonham, of Norwood, upon which the figures of SS. Alban and Helen are conspicuous among others. There are several memorial windows, tastefully designed, one of which, to the memory of Mrs. I. A. Robinson, was designed by the architect (J. P. Seddon). A delightful stroll may be taken from the village, westwards to Wheathampstead or Lamer Park, or northwards to Codicote or Kimpton. Nightingales are plentiful in the neighbourhood; the numerous thickets, dense and secluded, affording excellent shelter to this shy songster.
Baas Hill is ¾ mile W. from Broxbourne Station, G.E.R.
Babb’s Green (nearly midway between Mardock and Widford Station, G.E.R.) is a small hamlet.
Baker’s Grove is 1½ miles S.W. from Stevenage Station, G.N.R.
BALDOCK, a small town in the northern extremity of the county, lies between the chalk hills at the junction of the Great North Road and the Roman Icknield Way. The malting industry is still busily pursued, although the town is not so exclusively devoted to it as formerly. Very fine barley was grown in the district before the reign of Elizabeth, and the horse fairs, of which there are several annually, are well attended. The township was founded by the Knights Templars, in whose time there stood a Lazar-house a little eastwards from the town. The church, dating from the fourteenth century, is large, and of considerable architectural interest. The chancel and adjoining chapels are Perp. and contain sedilia and piscinæ; the nave has eight bays and a lofty clerestory. The rood-screen is co-extensive with the width of the entire church; the octagonal font is of great antiquity (probably not less than 700 years); there are several brasses, two of which are of the early part of the fifteenth century. Note also (1) the defaced slab, with Lombardic inscription to Reynaud de Argenthem, (2) the piscina-like recess in the N. chapel, (3) the Dec. pillars and arches of nave, (4) the fine old chest near rood-screen (N. chapel). Baldock has been the recipient of many bequests; existing charities are in the name of Roe, Wynne, Pryor, Cooch, Clarkson, Smith, Parker, and a few others, the whole aggregating a considerable annual sum. The Wynne Almshouses are in the spacious High Street, where are also the fine town hall and fire station, erected in 1896-7. Some side streets between the church and station are noticeable for the variety of cottage architecture which they display.
Barkway (4 miles S.E. from Royston station, G.N.R.) was a village of some importance in the old coaching days, for it is on the main road from Ware to Cambridge. It was partly burnt in 1592. There are many quaint houses in the neighbourhood, and one or two inns seem to still retain something of the atmosphere of the old régime. Near the village, at a spot called Rokey Wood, a small bronze statue of Mars was discovered some years ago. It is of Roman workmanship and is now in the British Museum. Cyclists riding northwards or eastwards from Barkway will find many hills to test their powers; but the air is exceptionally good and the district decidedly worth visiting. The church (flint, with stone quoins) is Perp. with embattled and pinnacled western tower; it was restored in 1861. Several memorials are worth noticing: (1) marble sarcophagus, with bust by Rysbrach, to Admiral Sir John Jennings (d. 1743); (2) brass on N. wall, found in the flooring during restoration, to Robert Poynard (d. 1561), his wives Bridget and Joan, and his four daughters; (3) monuments to Chester and Clinton families in chancel. The once annual Pedlars’ Fair has been discontinued; as has also the Tuesday market, which dated from the days of Henry III. In Saxon times the village was called Bergwant, i.e., the way over the hill.
Barley, a village on the Essex border, is 2 miles N.E. from Barkway, and lies on the same high road. The Church of St. Margaret was restored in 1872, in fourteenth century Gothic, but the tower, which is Norman, still stands. During the restoration some curious jars, of ancient make, were found in the chancel walls, but were broken in the efforts to dislodge them. There is a brass to Andrew Willet, D.D., rector of the parish and author of Synopsis Papismi (d. 1621).
Some interesting data for a book on the antiquities of Barley are preserved in the pre-Reformation “Parish Hutch”. I may mention the “towne house... tyme out of mynde used and employed for the keeping of maides’ marriages,” and the “Playstoe” or “common playinge place for the younge people and other inhabitants of the said towne”. This “towne house” may still be seen near the church.
Barleycroft End is S.E. from Furneaux Pelham (q.v.). It almost adjoins that village.
BARNET, EAST (½ mile from Oakleigh Park Station, G.N.R.) is surrounded by Middlesex except to the N.W. where it adjoins New Barnet. The old village is situated at the meeting of the roads from High Barnet, Southgate and Enfield. The Church of St. Mary the Virgin is very interesting; it stands on the hill-top, at a sharp bend in the road, about ½ mile S. from the village. It is said to have been founded about the year 1100 by an abbot of St. Albans; if this date is approximately correct this abbot must have been Richard d’Aubeny or de Albini, who ruled the great monastery from 1097 to 1119, and in whose day the whole manor (including Chipping or High Barnet) belonged to the Abbey of St. Albans. The structure is Early Norman, with a western tower of brick, through the lower portion of which the church is entered. The N. wall is probably the most ancient church wall in this part of the county. There is a lich-gate at the N. entrance to the churchyard. A son of Bishop Burnet, the historian, was once rector here, and is buried in the church. Tradition states that Thomson the poet was tutor to the son of Lord Binning when that nobleman lived at the old Manor House, the site of which is now a part of the rectory garden. Near the church, too, stood once a house in which Lady Arabella Stuart was confined. Belmont House (C. A. Hanbury, Esq., D.L., J.P.) marks the site where stood Mount Pleasant, once the property of the Belted Will Howard, Warden of the Western Marches, referred to in the “Lay of the Last Minstrel”. Little Grove, a house on Cat Hill (Mrs. Stern), stands where stood formerly the house of the widow of Sir Richard Fanshawe, Bart., Ambassador to Spain in the reign of Charles I. The whole neighbourhood is varied and undulating; the eastern extremity of the parish touched the confines of Enfield Chace until late in the eighteenth century.
BARNET, HIGH (formerly “Chipping Barnet” from the market granted by Henry II. to the Abbots of St. Albans, which was held every Monday), stands on the hill-top about 11 miles N.W. from London, and 9 miles S.E. from St. Albans. As stated above, the manor belonged to the Abbots of St. Albans, and Chauncy tells a story in this connection which is worth repeating: “Anno 18, Edw. I., the Abbot of St. Albans (Roger de Norton, 24th Abbot) impleaded several Persons for prostrating his Ditch and burning his Hedges and Fences in the Night at Bernet; Richard Tykering, one of the Defendants, said, that because the Abbot enclosed his Pasture with Hedge and Ditch, so that he and the Tenants there, could not have their common, as their Ancestors were wont to have, they did lay open the same. The Abbot answered that they ought not to have Common there; but ’twas found by the Jury that the Tenants ought to have Common; and Judgment was given against the said Richard Tickering only for that he burnt the Hedge.” Other squabbles between abbot and peasant are referred to in this book, in the section on St. Albans. The Parish Church of St. John the Baptist stands at the junction of the roads from London, Enfield and St. Albans. It has known many changes. A church stood upon the spot so long ago as circa 1250, to which a detached tower was added about a century later. The body of this structure was almost wholly replaced by a new building, reaching to and including the tower, near the end of the abbacy of John de la Moote (1396-1401). The present church is the result of the restoration and enlargement under the direction of Mr. W. Butterfield, in 1875; it is of flint and worked stone, partly Dec. and partly Perp. The old tower was lowered sufficiently to form a portion of the nave and a new embattled tower was built, now a conspicuous landmark for many miles round. The present N. aisle is entirely new. The nave is clerestoried, with eight bays; most of the windows are of stained glass. The Ravenscroft mortuary chapel, adjoining the S. transept, contains many monuments, the most conspicuous being the altar-tomb and recumbent effigy in marble to Thomas Ravenscroft (d. 1630), which was formerly in the chancel. Other memorials are to James Ravenscroft (d. 1680) who founded and endowed the almshouses in Wood Street near by, called Jesus’ Hospital, and to John Ravenscroft (d. 1681). Note (1) the beautifully carved font screen, pinnacled and crocketted; (2) the pulpit, adorned with carved figures of men famous in English Church history; (3) the four ancient ledgers of stone, two in the chapel and two in the tower-basement, all inscribed to members of the Ravenscroft family. The church was formerly a chapel-of-ease to that at East Barnet. A Roman Catholic church, dedicated to SS. Mary the Immaculate and Gregory the Great, stands in Union Street: it was built in 1850.
On Barnet Common there was formerly a medicinal spring known widely as “Barnet Wells”; its chalybeate waters are referred to in Pepys’ Diary, and more fully praised in The Perfect Diurnall (1652) and The Barnet Well Water (1800). These waters were in such repute that one John Owen, an alderman of London, provided £1 to be spent yearly in keeping the well in fit condition. Barnet Fair, which is held annually early in September, is attended by cattle dealers from all parts of England and Scotland, and by showmen and adventurers of all kinds. It is certainly one of the most famous horse fairs in the country. The ordinary cattle market is held each Wednesday.
Battle of Barnet.—Of this engagement, so familiar by name, very little is known accurately. Early in the spring of 1471, Edward IV., assisted in his schemes by the Duke of Burgundy, quitted Flanders, whither he had fled when the Earl of Warwick landed in the S. of England with reinforcements from Louis XI.; touched, after a difficult passage, at Cromer, where he heard of the resistance organised by Warwick, and finally landed at Ravenspurgh on the Humber. Having been joined by further followers at Nottingham he entered London on Holy Thursday, the Lancastrians offering little resistance. Warwick collected his forces, and the two armies met on Easter Sunday on Gladmore Common or Gledsmuir Heath, to the N.W. of what is now Hadley Wood. The engagement was desperately contested for five or six hours, with such varying success that some accounts relate how messengers rode to London during the day with the news that Edward was losing the battle. This, as it proved, was not the case. Chauncy repeats the old tradition that a fog gathered over the battle-field, that the Lancastrians slew one another in the mist and confusion, and that this led to the death of Warwick. It is supposed that the “King Maker” fell close to the spot now marked by Hadley High Stone. This obelisk was erected a little distance off in 1740; but was removed nearer to what is now thought the right position. Montacute, brother to Warwick, was slain at the same spot.
BARNET, NEW, is a residential extension of High and East Barnet, being situated between the two. Indeed, the whole of “Barnet” is now almost merged into one; there being houses or shops almost from Hadley High Stone to a little S. from Cat Hill. The Station Road is a wide pleasant thoroughfare stretching from New Barnet Station, G.N.R., to the main road from London to High Barnet. The whole district is excellent ground for the student of modern domestic architecture, the examples of diverse schools and styles being endless. The stretch of valley between the railway and High Barnet, now largely built upon, is a new civil parish called Barnet Vale. On a gentle slope in the centre, off Potter’s Road, stands the new Church of St. Mark, in which services have been held for twenty-four years, but which is still incomplete. Lyonsdown, an ecclesiastical district founded in 1869, is scattered over high ground S.W. from the station; it is almost wholly comprised of detached residences and is considered exceedingly healthy. There is here a good view, overlooking the stretch of hill and dale towards Cockfosters, New Southgate, and the Alexandra Palace. The Church of the Holy Trinity, erected in 1864, is Dec. and contains fine lancet windows to W. C. M. Plowden, killed in Abyssinia. There are N. and S. porches, good of their kind, and the apsidal chancel is well designed.
Barwick Ford is on the river Rib, about 2½ miles N.W. from Hadham and 3 miles S.W. from Standon Stations, G.E.R.
Bassett’s Green (1 mile S.E. from Walkern Church) is a small hamlet between Walkern Hall and Walkern Bury. There is no railway station nearer than 5 miles, Buntingford, G.E.R., and Stevenage, G.N.R., being each about that distance.
Batchworth is a hamlet close to Rickmansworth Station, L.&N.W.R., at the N.W. extremity of Moor Park (q.v.).
Batchworth Heath, 1½ mile S.E. from Rickmansworth, is on the Middlesex border.
Batlers Green (¾ mile from Radlett Church, and 1 mile S.W. from the station, M.R.) is in a pretty district, but contains little more than a few scattered cottages and farms.
Bayford (3 miles S.W. from Hertford) is a parish and village on rising ground, near the river Lea. It has a cruciform church, E.E. in design, with facings of Kentish rag-stone, erected by W. R. Baker, Esq., in 1870-1. In the chancel are seven fine lancet windows of stained glass. Note also (1) altar tomb and marble effigy to Sir George Knighton (d. 1612); (2) two palimpsest brasses, one bearing a figure in half-armour and the other a figure in plate-armour and ring-mail skirt, of which the age is conjectural; (3) the fine lich-gate. In the churchyard lies William Yarrell, the great ornithologist (d. at Yarmouth, 1856).
Bayfordbury stands in a beautiful park, famous for its fine cedars and pines, a little N. from the village. It is the seat of the lord of the manor, H. W. Clinton-Baker, Esq., J.P. The house was originally erected by an ancestor of the present owner, about 1760. Here are the portraits of most of the members of the Kit Cat Club, painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller; the MS. of the first book of Paradise Lost, and a collection of letters of great literary interest, were recently sold to America.
Bedmond, or Bedmont, together with Sheppeys, forms a large hamlet 1 mile N. from the village of Abbots Langley, and nearly 2 miles N.E. from King’s Langley Station, L.&N.W.R.
Bedwell Plash is a hamlet 1 mile S.E. from Stevenage.
Beeson’s End is pleasantly situated near the S. extremity of Harpenden Common, and about 1¾ mile nearly due E. from Redbourn Station, M.R.
Bell Bar, a hamlet in the parish of North Mimms, is near Brookman’s Park, and about 2½ miles N. from Potter’s Bar Station, G.N.R. (Middlesex).
Bendish lies on high ground, 2½ miles S.W. from St. Paul’s Walden (q.v.). The nearest station is at Luton Hoo (Beds) about 4 miles S.W.
Bengeo (¾ mile N. from Hertford) is a village between the rivers Beane and Rib; Ware Park is close by (N.E.). It is now in the borough of Hertford. The old church dedicated to St. Leonard, is Early Norman; there are very few churches of older foundation in Hertfordshire. It was restored at several times between 1884 and 1893. The bell in the wooden cote bears date 1636; a small Norman arch divides the nave from the chancel; there are lancets and a Perp. window in the apse. The monuments are mostly to local gentry. Eric, seventh Baron Reay, is buried in the tiny churchyard. The new church, erected on the hillside in 1855, is of Kentish rag. There are terra-cotta panels by Tinworth in the reredos. The walk from Bengeo to Hertford, past the sandy warren-hills, so beautifully clad with fir, larch, etc., with the Lea winding through the low meadows on the left, is one of the finest in the county.
Bengeo (Rural) was formerly a part of the same parish as the above. Near by, at Chapmore End, is the Hertford County Reformatory for boys.
Bennett’s End is the name of two small hamlets, one near Leverstock Green (q.v.) and the other near Hemel Hempstead (q.v.).
Bennington (4½ miles N.E. from Knebworth Station, G.N.R.) was once the residence of Mercian kings. The village and neighbourhood are picturesque; the roads from Walkern, Hertford and Knebworth meet where a tiny triangular green is shaded by fine elms. The river Beane is 1 mile to the W. The church is at the S. end of the village; it dates from the fourteenth century. The nave is wide, with clerestory; the narrow chancel has a chapel on the N. side. The tower is embattled, and contains a ring of eight bells. There are triple sedilia, and stalls of carved oak in the chancel; what was once a holy water basin is in the porch. Note also (1) the oaken rood-screen, surmounted by a large cross; (2) the memorial to the Cæsar family (1622-61); (3) the (supposed) tomb of Sir John de Benstede (1432), a baron who sat in Parliament in the time of Edward II., as we learn from Dugdale’s Monasticon; (4) Carved oak reredos. Near the churchyard a large house of red brick stands on the site of the castle of the Benstedes, in ruins when Chauncy wrote two centuries back. Bertulf, King of the Mercians, held a council here in 850. Bennington Park (1¼ mile E.) is one of three deer parks in Hertfordshire which figured in Domesday Book.
BERKHAMPSTEAD (Great) an interesting town in the W. of the county, is situated on the little river Bulbourne, and is chiefly famous as the birthplace of William Cowper, who was born in the rectory on 26th November, 1731. The Grammar School was founded by Dr. John Incent in 1541. The castle, of which there are still ruins close to the L.&N.W.R., dates from before the Domesday Survey. Visitors must not expect to find a castle here such as those at Carisbroke or Lewes. The ruins, although of considerable extent, are fragmentary, and little more than the plan of this stronghold can now be traced. The moats are double to the N.W., but triple elsewhere. Henry II. held a court here; and the castle was at times the residence of many monarchs, particularly Edward III. The Black Prince was a visitor here during his father’s reign. The Church of St. Peter, on the N. side of the High Street, is by local authorities claimed to be larger than any parish church in the county, saving only St. Albans Abbey; but this distinction is also claimed for St. Mary’s, Hitchin. The original structure was of great antiquity, dating from pre-Norman times; but it was wholly rebuilt early in the reign of Henry III. There are chantry chapels on either side of each transept; that called “St. John’s Chantry” dates from about 1350. Among many other features of interest note (1) fine groined roof of northern chantries; (2) lancet windows in the chancel, containing fourteenth century glass; (3) the E. window, a memorial to the poet Cowper; (4) tablet to Ann Cowper, the poet’s mother; (5) brass to John Raven, Esquire to the Black Prince; (6) altar tomb to John Sayer, head cook to Charles II.; (7) mosaic reredos; (8) altar tomb and effigies of Richard Torrington (d. 1356) and Margaret his wife, in N. transept. During the restoration of this transept in 1881 a portion of an ancient arch was discovered.
The Grand Junction Canal is close to the river Bulbourne, and partly for this reason many small industries are pursued in the town, such as the making of straw plait, scoops and shovels of various sorts, army tent-pegs, etc. The present rectory is on a small hill near the church, to the S. of the High Street; it stands on the site of the former house, in which Cowper was born, and the old well-house, called “Cowper’s Well,” may still be seen. There is a good library in the Mechanics’ Institute. The almshouses, for six widows, were founded in 1681, by the John Sayer mentioned above. The Kings of Mercia are known to have resided and held courts here; King Whithred summoned a council to meet at Berghamstedt in 697.
Berkhampstead, Little (3 miles S. from Cole Green Station, G.N.R.), has a stone church erected early in the seventeenth century. It has a wooden belfry and spire. The building was restored in 1856-7, but contains little of architectural or historical interest. There are, however, several memorials, notably the altar table in memory of Bishop Ken, born in the parish in 1637. On a hill N.E. from the church stands the tall red-brick observatory erected by John Stratton in 1789, in order, as it is said, that from its summit he might watch his ships in the Thames. The tower has been called “Stratton’s Folly”.
Bernard’s Heath. (See St. Albans.)
Betlow is a lordship of Long Marston (q.v.)
BISHOP’S STORTFORD is in the extreme E. of the county and on the Essex border. It is an ancient town, deriving its name from the ford over the river Stort, and from the fact that William I. gave the town to Maurice, Bishop of London. It is famous for its Grammar School, at which the late Cecil Rhodes, a native of the town, was educated. The site of Waytemore Castle, built by William I., is on a mound near the road to Hockeril, where a low, wide flint wall is partly surrounded by a moat. The church of St. Michael on Windhill is Perp.; it was restored in 1859. There was a former church on the same site; the present structure dates from say 1420-40. The nave has six bays; the tower is pinnacled and has a ring of ten fine bells. Chauncy’s book has an interesting paragraph about this church. “Three Gylds and a Chantry were founded in this church; the Gyld of St. Mary; the Gyld of St. Michael; and the Gyld of St. John Baptist; to which, An. 1476, Elizabeth Spycere gave Legacies, viz., to the two former 13s. 4d. a piece, to the last 40s. These Saints had their altars, and St. Michael his Tabernacle, on which much Cost had been bestowed; but the Chantry was founded in the time of Richard III. and the Settlement thereof cost much Money.” Chancel and nave are separated by a screen of carved oak; the font (Norman) was discovered during the restoration of the church; there is a piscina in the S. aisle. The clerestory was added and the chancel restored in 1884; on the chancel floor is a brass to Lady Margaret Denny (d. 1648), “a maid of honour in ordinary for five years to Queen Elizabeth of blessed memory”. There is also a memorial to Sir George Duckett, Bart. (d. 1822), who increased the facilities for the navigation of the Stort, which is now navigable by barges to the town. A cattle sale is held every Thursday, which is market-day. The trade in malt is still very large. We read that in old times a cross was erected on each of the four roads leading from the town. The main thoroughfares are still in the form of a cross; going down Windhill the visitor will find a bridge over the Stort before him, and a main street on either side. The town can boast several of the finest old inns in Herts.
Boreham Wood (1¼ mile N.E. from Elstree) is a large and rather prettily situated hamlet.
Bourne End, 1 mile W. from Boxmoor Station, L.&N.W.R., contains little more than an inn, a coffee-room, and a few cottages standing beside the Grand Junction Canal.
Bovingdon (2½ miles S.W. from Boxmoor Station) is a large village, built on the slopes of two hills, the centre of the village being in the depression between them. The church dates from the end of the eleventh century, but was rebuilt in 1846 in a Gothic style, with pinnacled W. tower. Note (1) the effigy of an armoured knight under the tower, dating from perhaps the middle of the fourteenth century; (2) brasses to the Mayne family (1621-42). Some traces of a Roman encampment and villa are shown on inquiry at a spot near the village.
Bowman’s Green (¼ mile N.E. from London Colney and 2 miles S. from Smallford Station, G.N.R.) is a tiny hamlet near the river Colne and the high road from Barnet to St. Albans.
Boxmoor is a village about 1½ mile S.W. from Hemel Hempstead. The Grand Junction Canal flows between the village and the town. From the station, L.&N.W.R., a motor car plies to and from Hemel Hempstead. Many Roman remains have been found in the neighbourhood, particularly some remains of two Roman villas, and many coins of the period of Diocletian. The church, erected in 1874, is E.E. in design, and was planned by Mr. Norman Shaw. It has N. and S. aisles and porches. There was an earlier structure on the same site. Private residences are increasing so rapidly that the place is now almost a suburb of Hemel Hempstead.
Boydon’s Hill adjoins the village of Aldenham.
Bragbury End (1¼ mile E. from Knebworth Station, G.N.R.) is a hamlet on the Great North Road.
Bramfield or Braintfield (3½ miles N.W. from Hertford Station, G.N.R.) is a parish and village. The church is E.E., standing on the site of an earlier edifice; the present tower and spire were built in 1840, and the church itself restored in 1870. We learn from Matthew of Westminster that Thomas Becket held the living here as his first charge; a pond near the church is called “Becket’s Pond”. Queen Hoo Hall, N.W. from the village, is now a farmhouse, but was formerly an Elizabethan residence, and gave the title to a romance partly written by Sir Walter Scott. The neighbourhood is pleasant, and a pretty stroll may be taken either N.E. to Woodhall Park or S. to Panshanger Park.
Brandley Hill is 1 mile N.W. from Aston.
Braughing has a station ¾ mile S.W. from the town, on the Buntingford Branch of G.E.R. It is an ancient parish, the “Brachinges” of Domesday Book, and was a Roman station. The church and few streets of which the village consists are very picturesquely scattered on the S.W. slope of a hill overlooking the river Quin, at the intersection of the Roman Ermine Street and the road from Bishop’s Stortford to Baldock. There was formerly a market each week, dating from the reign of Stephen; also an annual fair, abolished many years ago. The church, close to the hand-bridge over the river, is largely Perp., and contains a few brasses, none of which are important. It has been partially restored on several occasions during the last eighty years, and some of the modern workmanship is very good. Note (1) open tracery in carved oak screen; (2) oak pulpit; (3) finely carved font of Caen stone; (4) old font outside, near the tower. At Cockhampstead (1½ mile E. from the church) was once an Augustinian priory.
Breachwood Green (about 3½ miles N.E. from Luton Hoo Station, G.N.R., and 1 mile S. from King’s Walden Church) is a village on high ground rather more than a mile from the Bedfordshire border. Pretty walks may be taken S.E. to Bendish or S.W. to Chiltern Green.
Brent Pelham (1 mile from Essex border and 5 miles E. from Buntingford) is an interesting village, formerly called Burnt Pelham because, as tradition states, both village and church were destroyed by fire during the reign of Henry I. Traces of the fire existed in the days of Norden (circa 1548-1626). The church—near which the old stocks may still be seen—is E.E., with the embattled western tower so frequent in Herts. It is locally famous for a tomb in the N. wall, said to mark the resting-place of one Piers Shonkes, a serpent slayer who lived in the time of William I. The tomb bears some allegorical figures, which have been the subject of diverse interpretations. Pelham Hall (E. E. Barclay, Esq.), “a slight but well contrived House in this Mannor, near the Church,” was built in 1620 by one Edward Newport. It was once owned by the Floyers or Flyers, a family to whose memory there are several memorials in the church.
Brickendon is now partly included in the borough of Hertford. There are some imposing residences in the neighbourhood.
Bricket Wood is almost exactly midway between St. Albans and Watford; it consists of some cottages scattered around an extensive wood and common, crossed by L.&N.W.R. The station is ½ mile from the “wood,” which is much frequented by picnic parties, school treats, etc. The district is good ground for the field botanist and entomologist.
Broadfield (2¼ miles N.W. from Buntingford) is a hamlet near Cottered, on the hill N. from that village. The hall was once a much larger structure (engraved in Chauncy, vol. i.); it was in part rebuilt in 1882, but still retains a portion believed to date from the fifteenth century.
Broadwater is a hamlet at the meeting of the roads from Stevenage, Hatfield and Hertford. The nearest station is Knebworth (1¼ mile S.).
Broadway (1½ mile S.E. from Berkhampstead) has a Dec. chapel-of-ease to the parish church. It was erected in 1854. A short walk takes one to the ruined chapel of St. Mary Magdalen on the Bucks border.
Bromley (1½ mile S.E. from Standon Station, G.E.R.) is a small hamlet.
Broomin Green (¾ mile S.W. from Stevenage Station, G.N.R.) is a hamlet near the railway and ½ mile from the Six Hills. (See Stevenage.)
Broxbourne, a large village near the river Lea and New River, is a favourite fishing resort. The church stands on high ground overlooking the mill-leat; it is a fine Perp. structure, dating from early in the fifteenth century. The N. chancel-chapel was built by Sir William Say, “in honor a ye Trenete the yere of our Lord God 1522”; his tomb is in the chancel. The church was restored in 1857; the roof is of fine oak panelling; the font, on eight pillars, is probably Early Norman. There are brasses to a priest holding a chalice (circa 1470); to another priest in robes (circa 1510); to Sir John Borrell, mace bearer to Henry VIII. (d. 1521); to Sir John Say (d. 1478), and his wife (d. 1473). Note also (1) holy water basin near door; (2) marble effigies of Sir Henry Cock (d. 1609), and his wife and family; (3) shield of arms in centre of nave, with verses in English, bearing date 1630. From the church a very picturesque walk may be taken through the village, to Hoddesdon, by way of “Admiral’s Walk,” or beside the Lea past the grounds of the Crown Hotel. Broxbournebury (Major G. R. B. Smith-Bosanquet, J.P.) is in the beautiful park, 1 mile W., and is a large imposing mansion in Jacobean style. In Church Fields and on the London Road are large rose-nurseries, producing an immense number of roses yearly. The neighbourhood is one of the most pleasant in the county.
Buckland (3 miles N. from Buntingford, on the Royston Road) has an E.E. church, built by Nicholas de Bokeland in 1348. The piscina at the E. end of the S. aisle marks the site of what was formerly the lady-chapel. The font is very possibly anterior to the Conquest; it is a roughly hewn mass of Barnack stone. The low window in the S. wall of the chancel was opened out during some renovations, and is thought to have been connected with a confessional, as a coloured figure of the Virgin was discovered on the wall. The theory, however, may be dismissed as purely mythical. There is a brass to William Langley, a rector of the church (d. 1478); a low-relief medallion by Chantrey to William Anthony (d. 1819), and a brass to one of the Boteler family (1451). The interior was restored in 1875; the new W. door, of oak, was added in 1881.
Buck’s Hill (2 miles S.W. from King’s Langley Station, L.&N.W.R.) is a pretty hamlet. The nearest parish church is about 1¼ mile N.E. at Chipperfield (q.v.).
Bulbourne, river. (See Introduction.)
Bull’s Green is 2¼ miles N.E. from Welwyn Station, G.N.R.
Bull’s Mill is 2½ miles N. from Hertford.
BUNTINGFORD, a small town on the river Rib, on the Royston-Cambridge Road, consists chiefly of the long High Street and of a few small by-ways, E. by the river side, and W. on the roads to Aspenden and Cottered. Standing across the High Street is the cruciform church of St. Peter, built in 1614-26 as a chapel-of-ease to Layston (q.v.). An old brass tablet still preserved represents the holding of a Divine service in the church before completion. There is also a portrait of Seth Ward (see Aspenden); the almshouses a few yards W. were founded by him in 1684. “This town,” wrote Chauncy, “is of small antiquity, for there is no mention of it in Domesdei Book, neither can I find anything of it before Anno. 21. Edwd. III., when that King did grant one Market every Week, and one Fair every Year in Buntingford, to Elizabeth de Burgo and her Heirs, reserving the Yearly Rent of 6d.” At the N. end of High Street is the old pound. Corney Bury (½ mile N.) is a fine old manor house. Little of historic importance is to be gleaned in the town, but a ramble from end to end is interesting by reason of the many quaint inns and cottages, of all ages and styles, which meet the eye at every turn.
Burnham Green is a hamlet 1¼ mile N.E. from Welwyn Station, G.N.R.
Bury Green (1½ mile W. from Cheshunt Station, G.E.R.) is a small hamlet near Theobald’s Park; also
Bury Green, a hamlet 2½ miles W. from Bishop’s Stortford.
Bury Hill and Bury Mill. (See Hemel Hempstead.)
Bury Stede. (See Hexton.)
Bush Barrow is 1¼ mile N. from Wallington, on Metley Hill, midway between the village and the Icknield Way.
Bushey is a large village, now practically the S.E. suburb of Watford. The station (L.&N.W.R.) is in the hollow between the village itself and High Street, Watford; cyclists must be careful of the descent towards that town. Near the centre of the village is a small green and pond, and here stands the partly Dec. church of St. James, rebuilt in 1871 by Sir Gilbert Scott. The E.E. window, triple lancet, is to the memory of Edwards Marjoribanks of the Hall (d. 1879) and his wife. Silas Titus, whose name is remembered for his supposed authorship of the notorious pamphlet Killing noe Murder, was born at Bushey and buried in this church; there is a headstone to his daughter in the graveyard.
Bushey Heath (1 mile S.E. from the above) is on the Middlesex border. It is now an ecclesiastical district, formed in 1889; the church, an E.E. brick structure, dates from 1838; the porches were added in 1882. The district is very healthy.
Bushey, Little, is E. from Bushey Heath, which it almost joins.
Bushey Mill is on the river Colne, ¾ mile N.E. from Watford Junction.
Butchery Green. (See Hertford.)
Bygrave (1¾ mile N.E. from Baldock Station, G.N.R.) has a small church built of clunch from the Ashwell pits near by. It dates from perhaps 1320. Note (1) octagonal font (about 1420-40), (2) slab on floor to a former rector, a Huguenot (d. 1725), and (3) the piscina in chancel. Close by, at the Manor House, are the remains of some moats constructed five centuries ago by the resident knight, Sir John Thornbury, because of the many marauders that infested the neighbourhood. The place was once a market-town; the market, granted by Henry III., was held each Monday. The village lies on high ground, a few minutes’ walk N. from the Icknield Way.
Caldecote (about 3 miles N.N.E. from Baldock Station, G.N.R.) has a Perp. church of rubble, containing a few memorials, a very finely canopied holy water basin, and a font dating from, say, 1480.
Caldicot Hill is 1 mile E. from Bushey Heath, on the Middlesex border.
Cassiobury Park. (See Watford.)
Catlip is a hamlet near Chorley Wood Station, Met.R.
Chandler’s Cross (2½ miles S.W. from King’s Langley Station, L.&N.W.R.) is a small hamlet.
Chapmore End is 2½ miles N. from Hertford.
Chelsing is near the river Rib, 3 miles N. from Ware.
Cherry Green (1 mile S.W. from West Mill Station, G.E.R.) is a small hamlet.
Cheshunt, according to Grose’s Antiquities, the Durolitum of Antoninus, is a large parish which contains much of interest. Its ancient names, Cestre, Ceaster, Cestrehunt, leave little doubt that it was a Roman station.3 At Roman Urn Inn, near the station, G.E.R., is an urn imbedded in the wall; it was discovered close by some years ago, and is probably of Roman manufacture. Cheston, yet another old name of this spot, has been thought to be derived from the chestnut trees once plentiful in the neighbourhood, of which many of the houses were built. William I. gave the manor to Alan the Red, Earl of Brittany, and it remained an appendage to that earldom for a long time. Edward III. granted a weekly market to be held in the town every Monday. The Church of St. Mary the Virgin was built in 1420 by Nicholas Dixon, who held the living of Cheshunt for thirty years. It is Perp., entirely embattled; the W. tower has an octagonal cupola. Restoration was carefully effected during 1872-4, under Mr. G. F. Bodley. The rood-screen, lectern and pulpit are of carved oak, all comparatively new. The memorials are very numerous; amongst them may be noted (1) brass on chancel floor to the above-mentioned Nicholas Dixon (d. 1448); (2) brass to William Pyke (d. 1449); (3) two female effigies, 1500-20; (4) altar tomb in chancel to Robert Dacres, Privy Councillor to Henry VIII. There are windows of stained glass to a former vicar (d. 1858); to General Miles (d. 1860), and, in the tower, to one Robert Archer, for thirty-six years parish clerk. N. from the main street, near the river Lea, stood a small Benedictine nunnery. It originally belonged to the Canons of Cathele, but Henry III. turned them out and gave the property and rights to the “Prioress and Nuns of Cesthont”. The college, a famous institution, stands near the church; it was founded in 1768 by Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, at Trevecca, near Talgarth, S. Wales, and removed to Cheshunt after her death. A few years ago it was bought by the Church of England, for use as a theological college. Close by, too, is the site of Pengelly House, once the home of Richard Cromwell. Cheshunt Park (1 mile N.) is full of memories of the Cromwells and the Russells. The Great House, near Church Gate, was one of the many residences of Cardinal Wolsey. Both the house and the moat are still preserved.
Chess, river. (See Introduction.)
Cheverell’s Green (1½ mile N.W. from Flamstead, and about 4 miles N.W. from Redbourn Station, M.R.) is a small hamlet and green adjoining Beechwood Park.
Childwick Green is 1 mile S. from Harpenden Common, and 2½ miles N. from St. Albans.
Chipperfield (2½ miles W. from King’s Langley Station, L.&N.W.R.) was made an ecclesiastical parish in 1863. The small church on the common, E.E. in style, built in 1837, is of little interest. There is a good lich-gate at the N. entrance to the churchyard. The neighbourhood is pleasant and varied.
Chipping (2 miles N. from Buntingford) is a small village on the Royston Road.
Chivesfield (or Chesfield) is 2 miles N.E. from Stevenage Station, G.N.R. It is locally famous for its ruined church. One John Wykins was rector here as early as 1323. The windows were partly destroyed in 1642. Some interesting memorials were extant in Chauncy’s day, and are mentioned in the second volume of his Antiquities.
Chorley Wood, a village 2½ miles N.W. from Rickmansworth, has a station on the Met.R. near the Amersham Road. The church, E.E. in style, dates from 1845, but was largely rebuilt in 1870. William Penn, the Quaker, was married here. There are many pretty walks through the Valley of the Chess, which flows between the village and Sarratt (q.v.).
Church End is a small hamlet in the parish of Albury, 3 miles E. from Braughing Station, G.E.R.
Clapgate, a hamlet on the river Ash, is close to Church End.
Clay End (1½ mile S.E. from Walkern) is about equidistant—5 miles—from Stevenage or Westmill Stations.
Clay Hill is on the high road between Bushey and Bushey Heath (q.v.).
Clothall (2¼ miles S.E. from Baldock) has an interesting church, chiefly Perp., on a gentle hill. There is a good brass in the chancel to John Vynter, first rector of the church (d. 1404), and one to John Wright, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, also rector here (d. 1519). On the S. of the church is a small Dec. chantry chapel. Note also a sixteenth century brass to the wife and sixteen children of William Bramfield of Clothall. The Saxons are said to have called the spot Cley Hall, because it stood on a hill of clay. Clothall Bury is a little to the E.
Cockernhoe Green is 2½ miles S.W. from Offley, and 2½ miles N.E. from Luton Station (Beds).
Cockhampstead (2 miles N.E. from Braughing Station, G.E.R.) is near Albury Hall.
Codicote (3 miles N.W. from Welwyn Station, G.N.R.) is a large village on the Welwyn-Hitchin Road, with a pleasant heath a little W. The Church of St. Giles is an ancient structure, E.E., restored in 1853; it stands in a field ½ mile N. from the village. The S. chapel dates from 1312. The embattled W. tower is a fine structure. There are several memorial windows, comparatively modern.
Cole Green has a station on the G.N.R. branch line from Hatfield to Hertford. From the station little is to be seen except the Cowper’s Arms and a few cottages.
Coleman’s Green (1½ mile S.E. from Wheathampstead Station, G.N.R.) is prettily situated near the “Devil’s Dyke” and Brocket Hall. John Bunyan sometimes preached in a cottage here; a large chimney-stack, bearing an inscription, still marks the spot, unless quite recently removed.
Collier’s End is on high ground, on the Old North Road, 2 miles S.W. from Standon Station, G.E.R. It is a very typical English hamlet.
Colne, river. (See Introduction.)
Colney Heath (1 mile S. from Smallford Station, G.N.R.) is an ecclesiastical parish. The brick church (1844) is in Byzantine style; it has an apsidal chancel, and small N. porch and tower. The new West Herts County Asylum is close by.
Colney Street, on the main road from Radlett to St. Albans, forms an almost equilateral triangle with Park Street and Bricket Wood Stations, L.&N.W.R. It is only a few minutes’ walk from the pretty church at Frogmore (q.v.).
Common Moor may be visited from Croxley Green (¾ mile N.E. from Rickmansworth) for an inspection of its large paper mill.
Cooter’s End is a tiny hamlet close to the M.R. on the Bedfordshire border.
Corey’s Mill, a hamlet 1 mile N. from Stevenage Station, G.N.R., is named from an old mill, burnt in 1878.
Cottered (3 miles W. from Buntingford) has a fine old church (Perp.). There is a chapel on the N. side of the chancel erected by Edward Pulter; the W. tower is embattled and carries a lofty spire. Several memorials to the Pulter and Forester families are of the seventeenth century. The church was restored in 1886. In the days of William I. the vill of Chodrei belonged to Walchelin, Bishop of Winchester. Cottered Lordship, a farmhouse near the village, is one of the very oldest dwellings in the county. The writer is assured by an expert that the front door dates from 1450-80!
Cromer, a hamlet 5 miles S.W. from Buntingford, is prettily situated in a valley, in a purely agricultural district.
Cromer Hyde (1½ mile S. from Ayot Station, G.N.R.) consists of a farmhouse, the Chequer’s Inn, and a few old and picturesque cottages. The nearest church is ½ mile S.E. at the corner of Brocket Hall Park.
Croxley Green (¾ mile N.E. from Rickmansworth) is an ecclesiastical parish near the river Chess. The church, built fifty years ago, is late E.E. in style and has some good memorial windows.
Cuffley is a small hamlet about midway between Cheshunt and Potter’s Bar (Middlesex) Stations, but a little N. from the straight line. The Church of St. James at Goff’s Oak (q.v.) is 1 mile E.
Cumberlow Green is 4 miles N.W. from Buntingford.
Currants Bottom, on the Bucks border, is close to Chorley Wood Station, Met.R.
Dane End, or Munden Street, is 4 miles S.W. from Standon Station, G.E.R. The nearest church (½ mile N.) is at Little Munden.
Dane End, 4 miles S. from Royston, is close to the Old North Road. There are a few cottages and two farms.
Dassells is a hamlet on the Old North Road, 1 mile E. from Westmill Station, G.E.R. The little river Quin flows close by.
Datchworth (1½ mile S.E. from Knebworth Station, G.N.R.) has a church with some Norman portions. Its spire is conspicuous for miles round. The larger portion is, however, Dec. Note (1) some good stained glass windows in chancel; (2) chalice dated 1630. The church was restored in 1869-70. The place is very ancient; we read that four hides of land at Decewyrth were granted by an early Saxon king to the Monastery of St. Peter at Westminster, and that in the reign of Edward III. Thomas de la Mere, Abbot of St. Albans, transferred the patronage of this church to the king.
Dean End (¾ mile S. from Redbourn Station, M.R.) is a small hamlet.
Delamore End is ½ mile E. from Flamstead, and near the high road to Dunstable. The nearest railway station is Redbourn, 2½ miles S.E.
Digswell, a village on the river Maran, is ½ mile S.W. from Welwyn Station, G.N.R. Looking E. the visitor will notice the Great Northern Viaduct over the Maran Valley—a truly magnificent structure of forty arches. The church, beautifully situated on the hill, is E.E. It contains a large but much mutilated brass to John Perient, Master of the Horse to Joan of Navarre and Esquire to Richard II., Henry IV. and Henry V. This interesting inscription being much defaced I will transcribe from Chauncy: “Hic jacet Johannes Perient, Armiger pro corpore Regis Richardi Secundi, et Penerarius ejusdem Regis, et Armiger. Regis Henrici Quarti, et Armiger etiam Regis Henrici Quinti et Magister Equitum Johannæ, filiæ Regis Navarr, et Regiæ Angliæ qui obiit—et Johanna uxor ejus quondam capitalis Domicilla—quæ obiit 24 Aprilis Anno Dom. 1415.” Note also brasses (1) to John Perient, son of the above (d. 1442); (2) William Robert, auditor of the diocese of Winchester (d. 1484); (3) to a civilian, his wife, and ten children (circa 1530); (4) to Thomas Hoore, a mercer of London, his wife, and twelve children. The church was restored in 1872.
Digswell Water is a hamlet ½ mile E. from Digswell Church, and close to Welwyn Station.
Down Green is ½ mile W. from Wheathampstead Station, G.N.R.
Driver’s End, a hamlet 2 miles W. from Knebworth Station, G.N.R., is on the S.W. confines of Knebworth Park. One mile S. is the village of Codicote. The neighbourhood is very pleasant.
Dudswell, a few cottages on the Grand Junction Canal, is ½ mile N.W. from Northchurch village, and 2 miles N.W. from Berkhampstead Station, L.&N.W.R.
East End (1 mile S.E. from Cole Green Station, G.N.R.) is between Panshanger Park and the River Lea. There is also a hamlet of the same name on the Essex border, about 5 miles N.E. from Braughing Station, G.E.R.
Eastwick (1 mile N.W. from Burnt Mill Station, G.E.R.) is a parish near the Essex border, on the river Stort. The church, rebuilt in 1873, is in E.E. style. It is locally famous for its recumbent statue of a knight in chain armour, resting on a raised slab; the legs are crossed. There is neither date nor name; but it has been surmised (1) that the crossing of the legs shows that he was probably a crusader, (2) that the effigy dates from early in the thirteenth century and represents a member of the De Toni or De Ros family. The former conjecture is undoubtedly erroneous. There is a piscina in the chancel.
Elstree, formerly Idlestree, is a large village beautifully situated on the Middlesex border; the station (M.R.) is to the N.E. at Boreham Wood. At the N. end of the street a fine view stretches in the direction of Radlett and St. Albans. The Church of St. Nicholas was founded by the Benedictine monks of St. Albans in the fourteenth century; the present structure is Dec. and dates from 1853. The monuments are unimportant; but the wrought-iron chancel screen, designed by Sir A. W. Blomfield, is worthy of careful scrutiny, as is also the vestry screen of carved oak. The five-light E. window was presented by the pupil of a former rector, John Morris, D.D. (d. 1848), to whom it is a memorial. In the old churchyard, closed some years ago, was buried the notorious robber and reputed murderer William Weare, who was murdered by Thurtell on Gill’s Hill, 2½ miles N.W., in 1823. Here, too, was buried Martha Reay, whose life was a chronicle of crime; she was mistress to the Earl of Sandwich, and was killed on leaving Covent Garden Theatre, in 1779. There is excellent fishing to be had at Elstree Reservoir, a little W., in Aldenham parish. Some archæologists have thought that the Roman city Sulloniacæ occupied (approximately) the site on which Elstree stands, and Norden lent his authority to this hypothesis; but there is little doubt that Brockley Hill near Edgware more closely corresponds in position with the city mentioned in the Itinerary of Antoninus.
Epping Green, a hamlet 1 mile S.E. from Little Berkhampstead, is at the N. end of Punsborne Park. The nearest station is Cole Green (G.N.R.), nearly 4 miles N.W.
Essendon is a pretty village on rising ground overlooking the Valley of the Lea, 2 miles S. from Cole Green Station. The church, standing in the park, was rebuilt in 1883; it was probably founded as early as the twelfth century. It is now of flint, dressed with ancaster stone. Note (1) alabaster monument to William Priestly (d. 1664); (2) brass and effigy of William Tooke, auditor of the Court of Wards and Liveries (d. 1588); (3) shields from the tomb of Henry Courtenay, son of Henry, Marquess of Exeter; (4) chalice bearing date 1570, given to the church by Elizabeth Reynes; (5) Baskerville Bible presented by the First Marquess of Salisbury. During restoration several slabs to the Tooke family (1635-55) were discovered. Essendon Place (David Citroen, Esq.) is a fine house in a park of 100 acres; and Bedwell Park (C. G. Arbuthnot, Esq.) should be visited, by special permission, to view the Belvedere Collection, including one of Murillo’s many “Assumptions”.
Exnells, near the river Ash, is a small hamlet 2 miles N.E. from Hadham Station, G.E.R.
Fanham Hall is 1 mile N.E. from Ware.
Fisher’s Green (½ mile N.W. from Stevenage) is a small hamlet.
Flamstead (2½ miles N.W. from Redbourn Station, M.R.) lies on high ground near the river Ver. The name is a corruption of Verlamstead, the river having formerly been called the “Verlam”. The church is in the centre of the village; it is a large Dec. structure dating from the fourteenth century; the nave is of six bays, with fine octagonal pillars. The tower is very large and massive. Note (1) piscina in W. wall of vestry, once a chapel; (2) piscina in chancel; (3) finely carved oak chancel screen, dating from fifteenth century but restored in 1893; (4) mutilated altar-tomb in nave, carved and crocketted, but bearing no inscription, it is probably not later than 1400-20; (5) marble monument, with Ionic columns, to Thomas Saunders of Beechwood; (6) brass to John Oudeby, rector of the church (d. 1414); (7) effigy in armour to Sir Bartholomew Fouke, Kt., for many years Master of the Household to Queen Elizabeth (d. 1604). At Beechwood Park, so called because of the many fine beeches in the neighbourhood, was once a Benedictine Nunnery. The walk from Flamstead to Great Gaddesden, by way of Beechwood Park (about 6 miles), is very picturesque.
Flamstead Bury is 1 mile W. from Redbourn Station, M.R., and midway between the N. end of the village and a spot called Heaven’s Gate.
Flamstead End (1½ mile N.W. from Cheshunt Station, G.E.R.) is a considerable hamlet.
Flaunden (4 miles S.W. from Boxmoor Station, L.&N.W.R.) is a village and parish on the Bucks border, with the river Chess 1¼ mile S. The present church is modern, and local folk claim that it is the first built by the late Sir Gilbert Scott. The font, and a few tiles, etc., were brought here from the old church at Flaunden Bottom near Chenies, some ruins of which still remain. Chauncy tells us that Flaunden belonged to the manor of Hemel Hempstead, that it was granted to one Thomas Flaunden, who built a small church in the valley near the river (Chess) with a small tower of timber at the W. end. Spiritual offices were performed by a curate supplied from Hemel Hempstead, who served Bovingdon and Flaunden by turns as duty required.
Folly, The (a small hamlet 1 mile N.W. from Wheathampstead Station, G.N.R.), is passed on the way to Harpenden or Mackery End. A little farther W. is Batford Mill on the river Lea.
Frithsden (or Friesden), a hamlet 2 miles N.E. from Great Berkhampstead, stands in a beautiful district, with Ashridge Park to the N.W. The nearest church is at the pretty village of Nettleden (q.v.) ½ mile N.E. High Park Road, Evesden Wood, Marigold Wood, Holly Bush Wood and Frithsden copses are all adjacent and may be visited during an hour’s ramble.
Frogmore (¾ mile S.E. from Park Street Station, L.&N.W.R.) is a hamlet between the villages of Park Street and Colney Street. The church is modern, in late Norman style; it stands close to the high road from Radlett to St. Albans. There are several memorial windows to local persons. The village flower show has been held for many years in July, and is well patronised and widely known. The river Colne flows between this hamlet and Park Street Station.
Furneaux Pelham (4 miles N.E. from Braughing Station, G.E.R.) has an interesting E.E. and Perp. church. One of the six bells in the embattled W. tower dates from before the Reformation; it bears, in black-letter, the words “Sancta Katarina ora pro nobis”; upon the clock in the tower are the words: “Time flies. Mind your business.” Note (1) piscina and sedilia in chancel; (2) piscina in each aisle; (3) Newport Chapel adjoining S. aisle, built by the Robert Newport whose brass and effigy is in the nave (d. 1518); (4) brass (mutilated) in chapel, representing two figures, temp. Richard II.; (5) ambry (lancet headed) in chancel; (6) three ancient stone coffins, discovered during restoration, one bearing the words: “Simonis de Furneaux Filius”. The De Furneaux were a Norman family, to whom the village owes its name: Simon de Furneaux was lord of the manor in the reign of Edward I. Close to the church is Furneaux Pelham Hall (recently unoccupied), a fine Elizabethan mansion whose owners suffered several misfortunes during the civil wars.
Gaddesden, Great (3 miles N.W. from Hemel Hempstead), is a village on the river Gade at the foot of the hill that leads to Nettleden. The church is close to the river side, and immediately behind the Cock and Bottle Inn. It is an ancient structure of “Roman bricks” and flint (E.E.), believed to date from, say, 1290; the tower was rebuilt in 1862. There are many memorials to the Halsey family, but few others of any interest. Gaddesden Place, in a park ½ mile E., is the seat of Rt. Hon. T. F. Halsey, Esq., D.L., J.P. It was built from designs by Wyatt, in 1774, in an Italian style.
Gaddesden, Little (4 miles N. from Berkhampstead Station, L.&N.W.R.), is a straggling village on the confines of Ashridge Park. Pretty cottages and tastefully planned gardens meet the eye everywhere. The church is Perp. and contains many monuments to the Egerton family, Earls of Bridgewater: (1) Sir John Egerton, Kt. (d. 1649); (2) Lady Frances, Countess of Bridgewater (d. 1635); (3) John, Viscount Brackley, Lord of the Privy Council (d. 1686); (4) Elizabeth, Countess of Bridgewater, a “transcendently virtuous lady” of “beauty so unparallel’d that ’tis as much beyond the art of the most elegant pen, as it surpasseth the skill of several of the most exquisite pencils... to describe and not disparage it” (d. 1663); (5) Ann, Lady Egerton (d. 1625); (6) Francis, third Duke of Bridgewater (d. 1803). The latter was styled the Father of British Inland Navigation; and the tall column near Ashridge Park, 1¾ mile W. from the church, was erected to his memory in 1832.
Gaddesden Green is practically one with the above, the marble cross and fountain to the memory of Lady Marian Alford (d. 1888) being between the village and the Green. Gaddesden Hoe is 2 miles E. from the S. end of the Green.
Gaddesden Row (3 miles N. from Hemel Hempstead Station, M.R.) is a straggling hamlet equidistant (about 2 miles) from Flamstead and Great Gaddesden.
Gade, river. (See Introduction.)
Gallows Hill (½ mile S. from King’s Langley Station, L.&N.W.R.) is a hamlet. The Booksellers’ Provident Retreat is here. It is also the name of a hill between Hertford and Ware, on which stands the Joint Isolation Hospital for the two towns.
Gannock Green is 2½ miles S. from Ashwell Station, G.N.R. The nearest church is at Sandon. Gannock Farm is ½ mile E.
Gardener’s End (3½ miles W. from Buntingford) is a hamlet in the parish of Ardeley.
Garston is 1¼ mile S.W. from Bricket Wood Station, L.&N.W.R.
Gibraltar, on the road from Harpenden to Luton, is on the Bedfordshire border, close to Luton Hoo Park and Station, G.N.R.
Gilston (2 miles N. from Burnt Hill Station (Essex) and about 2 miles S.E. from Widford village) is a scattered parish. Chauncy says it was probably waste ground at the time of the Conquest, as there is no mention of it in Domesday Book. The church was very probably erected by Geoffrey de Magnaville, who was Earl of Essex and Lord of the Manor of Sabriesword (Sawbridgeworth) during the reign of Stephen. It is E.E. and stands on the hill about ¼ mile N. from the Park. There is a fine double piscina in the chancel, and some heraldic glass in the windows, showing the coats of Astley, Bassett, Eastfield and Engayne. The monuments to the Gore family are numerous; amongst those buried in the church are (1) Sir John Gore, Kt. (d. 1659); he was twice sheriff of the county, and a member of Cromwell’s second Protectorate Parliament; (2) Dame Dorothy Gore (Kempe), second wife to the foregoing (d. 1645); (3) Dame Persis, wife to Sir Humphrey Gore, Kt. (d. 1665); (4) in churchyard, John, eldest son of the said Sir Humphrey (d. 1691). The Feathers, a fine old inn (circa 1680), still stands in this village; an excellent photograph of it was reproduced in the Home Counties Magazine (Oct. 1901). Gilston Park, beautiful but not very extensive, should be visited; for the mansion (A. S. Bowlby, Esq., M.A., J.P., etc.) stands near the site of New Place, successively the home of the Chauncys, Gores and Plumers. The house was enlarged and beautified by Sir Humphrey Gore, who was knighted at Whitehall in 1660. In 1701 it passed into the hands of Col. John Plumer, whose family is so well known to readers of the Essays of Elia. It was his grandson William (d. 1822) whom Lamb calls “a fine old Whig”. This William left no family, so the house at Gilston Park and his other house, the famous “Blakesmoor in H——shire” of Lamb’s essay, passed to his widow (and cousin) Jane Hamilton, a daughter of Hon. George Hamilton, Canon of Windsor.
Goff’s Oak (2½ miles W. from Cheshunt Station, G.E.R.) is a hamlet which owes its name to the fine oak, a part of which still stands near the Goff’s Oak Inn at the S. extremity of Cheshunt Common.
Gorhambury. (See St. Albans.)
Gosmore (2 miles S.W. from Hitchin Station, G.N.R.) is a small village. The nearest church is at Ippollitts (q.v.).
Gossoms End is on the road from Berkhampstead to Tring, ¼ mile S.E. from Northchurch.
Graveley (1½ mile N.E. from Stevenage Station, G.N.R.) is a village off the Great North Road. By walking from Stevenage towards Little Wymondley a pretty view over Graveley may be obtained from a gateway near some cottages on the right. The ancient church of brick and flint is late Norman with embattled tower; it was restored in 1886-7. The carved oak chancel-screen is ancient; there are windows of stained glass to the memory of local rectors. The present N. aisle was added during restoration. The manor of Graveley is of great antiquity; it was given by William I. to William, Earl of Ewe. Graveley is perhaps Saxon for “the Reeve’s land,” and Norden thinks the place took its name from a Reeve of the county in pre-Norman times. Near the village a beacon was employed “once upon a time” to give warning of the approach of enemies. One mile N. from the church is Jack’s Hill, once the haunt of a robber, “Jack o’ legs,” the hero of many a legend known in the district. His grave is shown in Weston churchyard, 2 miles E. from Jack’s Hill.
Gravesend (3½ miles N.E. from Braughing Station, G.E.R.) is a hamlet on the road from Little Hadham to Furneaux Pelham. Albury church is 1 mile S.
Green End is the name of three hamlets, (1) in the parish of Little Munden, about 4 miles W. from Standon Station; (2) in the parish of Sandon, about 4 miles N.W. from Buntingford Station (both stations G.E.R.); (3) ½ mile N. from Boxmoor Station, L.&N.W.R.
Green Street.—There are two hamlets of this name in Herts, (1) 2½ miles N.W. from Bishop’s Stortford; (2) 1½ mile N.E. from Boreham Wood Station (M.R.).
Green Tye is 1½ mile N.E. from Hadham Station, G.E.R.
Grub’s Barn (2 miles S.E. from Welwyn Station, G.N.R.) consists of a farmhouse and several cottages on open breezy ground between Hatfield and Tewin.
Grub’s Lane is near the outskirts of Hatfield Park, 3 miles S.E. from the town.
Gubblecot (3 miles N.W. from Tring) is near the Aylesbury Canal. The Tring reservoirs, famous for the rare waterfowl shot on those waters on many occasions, are a little to the S.
Gustard Wood (1 mile N. from Wheathampstead Station G.N.R.) may be visited for its golf links, of which there are few in the county.
Hadham (Great or Much) is an ancient village and parish near the river Ash. The station, G.E.R., is 1¼ mile S.W. We read that the Manor was given by King Edgar to the Bishops of London, several of whom have resided at the old manor house. Katherine, mother of Henry VI. and wife of Owen Tudor, gave birth to a son here, known as Edmund of Hadham. The church of St. Andrew, near the river, is E.E., dating from about 1300. It has been much altered and restored. The very fine S. porch is thought to be the work of Bishop Kemp (1459-89); the massive, embattled W. tower is probably by Bishop Braybroke (circa 1400). Note (1) floriated cross and inscription to Simon Flambard, Rector of Hadham Magna in 1331, and chaplain to Edward III.; (2) brass to one Alban, also rector here (d. 1372); (3) monument in chancel to Judith Aylmer, widow of John Aylmer, Bishop of London (d. 1618); (4) fourteenth-century glass in E. window, a memorial to Thomas Randolph, a recent rector; (5) three brasses in nave to members of the Newce family (1579-1610); (6) fine oak chancel screen; (7) two piscinæ in chancel. The old House, or Palace, dated from about 1400. Close to the village (S.W.) lies Moor Park, which readers or tourists must not confound with Moor Park, Rickmansworth (q.v.). The present mansion dates from about 1780; its predecessor was an Elizabethan structure, once the property of Sir John Gore, Kt. (see Gilston), and previously of Sir Garratt Harvey, in whose day Archbishop Usher was a guest at “Moore Place”. At Perry Green, 1 mile E. from Hadham Station, is a chapel-of-ease, in E.E. style, erected in 1853. Hadham Cross is beautifully situated in the valley, S. from the village and partly hidden among trees.
Hadham Ford (3 miles E. from Standon Station, G.E.R.) is on the river Ash, 1 mile S.W. from Hadham (Little) formerly Hadham Parva. The parish enjoys considerable historic importance through its connection with the Capel family, Earls of Essex. The present earl owns large properties in the neighbourhood, and has the title of Baron of Hadham. The church stands between the village and the river, and is widely known for its fine S. porch of timber, which it possibly owes to the proximity of Essex, in which county such porches are comparatively common. The building is mostly E.E., probably late twelfth century, but the tower, embattled and pinnacled, is Perp. (circa 1380). Note (1) brass to Rd. Waren, a rector of Great Hadham (circa 1470); (2) brass to a knight, his wife and daughters (circa 1485); (3) Perp. chancel screen of oak; (4) on S. side of chancel, memorial stone to “Arthur Lord Capel, Baron of Hadham, who was murder’d for his loyalty to King Charles the First, March the 9th, 1648”. This was the Lord Capel whose heart was preserved in a silver box and given to Charles II. at the Restoration, the earl having wished his heart to be “buried with his master”. The chancel was restored by Sir A. W. Blomfield in 1885. Hadham Hall (½ mile E. from the church) is late Elizabethan, and has a magnificent corridor extending the entire length of the house (135 feet) with finely mullioned windows. Little Hadham Place (½ mile W. from the church) is prettily situated. The manor of Hadham Parva formed part of the revenue of Saxon Kings until King Edgar gave it to the monks of Ely.
Haileybury College (2 miles S.E. from Hertford) was founded at Hertford in 1805 as the training college of the East India Company. It is now one of our most famous public schools. The house, conspicuous from the S.E., stands on high ground, and commands beautiful views over the valley of the Lea, and, looking S.E., the neighbourhood of Epping Forest. Note (1) the noble chestnut avenue towards the W. entrance; (2) the great size of the quadrangle; (3) the beautifully decorated chapel (by A. W. Blomfield), surmounted by a lofty dome; (4) the library, containing some good portraits of former masters, one of which, Canon Bradby, was painted by Herkomer.
Hall’s Green (4 miles N.E. from Stevenage) is on the hillside, 1 mile S.E. from Weston church. A little farther S. note the fine view over Cromer and Cottered, with windmill to the left.
Hammond Street is between Cheshunt Common and Flamstead End. The nearest Station is Cheshunt, G.E.R., 2½ miles S.E.
Hammond’s End, on the outskirts of Rothamstead Park, is in the centre of the pleasant varied scenery between the M.R. and the St. Albans-Dunstable road. The nearest station is Redbourn, 1¼ mile S.W.
Handside (Upper and Lower) is the name of two hamlets in Lemsford parish, both near Brocket Hall Park. Hatfield (about 3 miles S.) is the nearest station, G.N.R.
Hare Street.—There are two places in the county bearing this name: (1) a small hamlet partly in Ardeley and partly in Cottered parish; (2) a large village on the Cambridge Road, 2 miles E. from Buntingford. The village has several quaint old cottages, and is by no means unpicturesque; but it contains little of historic importance. It affords, however, a good centre from which to visit several old and interesting churches (described elsewhere in these pages); Layston, Wyddial, Anstey, and Great and Little Hormead being all within a short walk.
Harmer Green (½ mile N.E. from Welwyn Station) is a small hamlet N. from the Maran Valley.
Harpenden is well worth a visit and may be easily reached from St. Pancras (24 miles), or from King’s Cross by changing at Hatfield. Visitors wishing to inspect the church, or to ramble through the large village, beautifully situated at the N. end of Harpenden Common, should be careful not to choose the day of the annual races, the Friday before Epsom week. The church was rebuilt (except the tower) in 1862, in E. Dec. style; prior to 1859 the old structure had been a chapel-of-ease to Wheathampstead (3 miles E.). It probably dated from say 1140 (temp. Stephen) and was originally cruciform and late Norman. The first tower is believed to have been destroyed by fire about 1470, after which the present W. tower was built. Many alterations were made during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; the original Norman clerestory, in particular, being superseded by one of Low Perp. Note (1) Norman font; (2) brass to William Cressye Esq. (d. 1558) and Grace (Johnson) his wife (d. 1571); (3) brass to William Annabull (d. 1456), and Isabella his wife. Chauncy quotes an inscription to one William Seabrooke (d. 1462) and Joanna his wife, which is of some interest from the fact that the name of Seabrooke is common to-day in this part of Herts; (4) E. window of stained Munich glass; (5) window in N. transept to the family of the late Sir J. B. Lawes of Rothamstead. Rothamstead (1 mile S.W.), formerly the seat of the above, is in a finely wooded park. Erected about 1470, it has been almost rebuilt at different times. From the grand entrance, under the clock tower, there is a fine view looking S. There is an annual Flower Show in the park. Harpenden Bury is 1 mile N.W. from Rothamstead, on the river Ver.
Hatching Green is a hamlet on Harpenden Common, 1 mile S.W. from the station, M.R.
HATFIELD may be visited by fast train from King’s Cross, G.N.R. (17 miles), the station being opposite the W. gates of the park. The older parts of the town lie on the western slope of a hill close to the railway; at the top stand the church and portions of the old palace, beyond which, in the park, stands the fine mansion of the Cecils. The town is of great antiquity; the Saxon Kings, who called it Heathfield (the Hetfelle of Domesday Book), owned the manor until it was given by Edgar to the monks of Ely. After Ely had been converted into a bishopric by Henry I., the bishops made Hatfield one of their several residences, which gave rise to its former name of Bishop’s Hatfield. Their palace became a royal home during the reign of Henry VIII., and was at one time occupied by his children Edward, Mary and Elizabeth. It was to this old palace that Elizabeth was brought from the Tower soon after her removal from Ashridge; whilst here she was in the custody of Sir Thomas Pope, who treated her with kindness not always shown even to royal prisoners. The story of her reception of the news that she was Queen, of her first Council, held here in the palace, and of her subsequent journey to London, has been too often narrated to need repetition. Immediately after her death James I. paid a visit to Theobalds Park, and had an interview with Sir Robert Cecil, a younger son of Lord Burleigh, whom he presently created first Earl of Salisbury. The exchange by the King of his manor of Hatfield for that of Theobalds has been mentioned in the Introduction (Section X). The King promised to build for Sir Robert a new house at Hatfield; the work was carried out on a magnificent scale, and was completed sometime in 1611. The new house stood a little E. from the old palace. To this house James paid an early visit; one of its most stately apartments is called “King James’s Room”.
Hatfield House is still a fine example of early Jacobean architecture. To be appreciated it must certainly be seen: any adequate account of its architecture, its history and its treasures would fill such a volume as this. In shape it is a parallelogram, about 280 feet long by 70 feet wide, with two wings on the S. front. The centre between the two wings is Italian Renaissance in style; the central tower, pierced by the great gate, being of rich Elizabethan design. On the face of the third storey of the tower are the armorial bearings of the Earl of Salisbury. This S. front and the two wings enclose on three sides a quadrangle about 130 feet wide by 100 feet deep, beautifully laid out with flower beds and lawns. The extremities of each wing take the shape of square, three storeyed towers, surmounted by cupolas 20 feet high. Between the wings runs a basement arcade, of eight arches on Doric pilasters, four on each side of the gateway below the armorial bearings. The entire floor above the arcade is occupied by the long gallery, 160 feet by 20 feet, and 16 feet high. At the W. end of this gallery is the library, at the E. end is King James’s Room. The aspect of the house from the N. is not so imposing; but there is a noble view over the grounds from the N. terrace, and the central clock tower is a conspicuous object from the most distant spots in the park. The library, graced by Zucchero’s portrait of Robert, Earl of Salisbury, contains one of the most valuable collections of MSS. in the country, but the State Papers have recently been lodged in a room of greater security. A few of the treasures of these two rooms may be mentioned: (1) more than 12,000 autograph letters of the early Cecils; (2) the Diary of the “great Lord Burleigh”; (3) the forty-two articles of Edward VI. with his autograph attached; (4) a vellum MS. with miniature of Henry VII.; (5) the Norfolk correspondence; (6) the Council Book of Mary Tudor; (7) early MS. of the Chronicle of William of Malmesbury; (8) autograph MS. by Ascham.
King James’s Room has three fine oriel windows and is profusely decorated. The great chimney-piece of marble mosaic, 12 feet wide, is supported on black Doric columns, and surmounted by a statue in bronze of James. Note the costly candelabra and gilt-framed furniture.
The Grand Staircase is hung with portraits of many Cecils, by Lely, Vandyck, Kneller, Reynolds and other masters. Note the huge dimensions of the carved balustrade; the strange rustic figures portrayed thereon; and the lions grasping shields bearing heraldic devices. There are five landings.
Among other apartments the following should be visited: (1) The Chapel, with its fine Flemish windows representing scriptural stories, marble altar-piece, and open stalls; (2) the Winter Dining Room, looking out upon the N. terrace, about 30 feet square; this room contains many valuable pictures, including Wilkie’s Duke of Wellington, Van Somer’s James I. and Charles I., and Kneller’s Peter the Great; (3) Great Banqueting Hall; (4) Summer Dining Room, near the foot of the great staircase; the bust of Burleigh, in white marble, is above the door; (5) the Armoury, full of treasures “rich and rare,” suits of armour, relics of the Spanish Armada, various arms, etc. Other pictures in various parts of the house include (1) William III., and Lady Ranelagh, by Kneller; (2) half-length of Elizabeth with jewelled head-dress and grotesquely embroidered gown; Mildred Coke, mother of the first earl; Thomas Cecil, Earl of Exeter: all by Zucchero; (3) fine whole-length of Mary, first Marchioness of Salisbury, by Reynolds.
The Park is the largest in the county, being about 9 miles in circumference; it is undulating and beautifully wooded. There are some superb avenues. Of Queen Elizabeth’s oak, N.E. from the N. terrace, little is left saving a portion of trunk, railed round; but the Lion Oak, between the house and the great W. gates, still puts forth leaves in its season. The maze close to the house is only less famous than that at Hampton Court.
The Church of St. Ethelreda is cruciform, largely Dec. and one of the largest in the county. A Norman arch in the S. transept is thought to be a portion of the original structure. It was completely restored, indeed almost rebuilt, in 1872. The nave is 102 feet by 20 feet; the chancel about 40 feet by 20 feet. There are N. and S. porches; the former looks almost directly upon the great gate-house of the old palace. The most important among many features of interest is the—
Salisbury Chapel, N. side of chancel, from which it is divided by an arcade of three arches on Ionic granite columns. The whole is enclosed by beautifully designed iron gates, the work, probably, of an unknown Italian. Note the marble wainscotting, and the finely conceived and executed allegorical paintings and mosaics on walls and roof. At the E. side, on a slab of black marble supported by four kneeling figures in white marble (representing the cardinal virtues) lies the recumbent effigy of Sir Robert Cecil, first Earl of Salisbury, Lord High Treasurer of England (d. 1612). The effigy is in robes, with official staff in hand. Beneath the slab is a skeleton in white marble. Note also in this chapel mezzo-relievo effigy to William Curll, Esq. (d. 1617), with inscription, almost illegible, to the effect that he was a most Christian knight who died in hope of a joyful resurrection.
On the opposite (S.) side of the chancel is the Brockett Chapel, containing monuments to the Reades and Brocketts of Brocket Hall (see below). Among them note (1) two recumbent female figures, above them the arms of the Brockett family and beneath an inscription to Dame Elizabeth Brockett (d. 1612) and an epitaph to Dame Agnes Saunders (d. 1588); (2) medallion of a female by Rysbrack (1760); (3) bust of Sir James Reade, Bart. (d. 1701), and of Sir John Reade, Bart. (d. 1711); (4) helmet of Sir John Brockett on wall. There are piscinæ in the chancel and N. transept, both discovered during restoration. The reredos, alabaster and mosaic, has a fine crucifixion group, with SS. Alban and Etheldreda on either side, carved by Earp, who also carved the pulpit of Caen stone. Note the beautiful clustered shafts of marble on the font of Tisbury stone, the gift of the late Marchioness of Salisbury.
Three miles N.N.W. is Brocket Hall. The Great North Road skirts the park on the E. and the river Lea flows past the house from N.W. to S.E. The present edifice was designed by Paine for Sir Matthew Lamb, Bart., whose son, Sir Peniston Lamb, Bart., became Viscount Melbourne in 1780. By this nobleman the Prince Regent was sometimes entertained here, and here, as stated in the Introduction, Lord Palmerston died in 1865. The drawing-room and grand staircase have always been admired, but, as a whole, the house is large and stately rather than beautiful. Elizabeth is said to have visited here before she became Queen, and in the park, as at Hatfield, an oak is shown as the one under which she loved to sit. From the Hall the most charming walks may be taken in any direction; e.g., through the park S.E. to Lemsford Mill, or S.W. to Cromer Hyde, N.W. to Water End, or N.E. to Ayot Green. More charming still is the ramble—permission should be requested—beside the winding Lea towards Old Marford and Wheathampstead.
Hatfield Hyde (1¾ mile N.E. from Hatfield) is a hamlet in a pretty district, with the river Lea and Hatfield Park a little S.
Haultwick lies 3 miles W. from the Old North Road; it is a hamlet 1 mile N. from Little Munden. The nearest station is Braughing, G.E.R. (about 3½ miles E.), passing the S. side of Hamel’s Park.
Heavensgate (2 miles W. from Redbourn Station, M.R.) consists of a few cottages in the centre of a district of small hamlets. The walk (2 miles N.) to Flamstead through Trowley Bottom is pleasant.
HEMEL HEMPSTEAD.—Visitors from London should book to Boxmoor (L.&N.W.R.) and walk N.E. over the little common or take the motor-bus through Marlowes to the town (1½ mile). From St. Albans it is a pleasant walk by way of Gorhambury and the village of Leverstock Green; from Redbourn it is but a few minutes’ journey (M.R.). The town, until recently an old “Bailiwick,” is on a hill, with central market place, town hall and corn exchange. The church is very ancient; it is cruciform, of flint and clunch stone. The oldest portions can hardly be less than 750 years old; the nave, arcade and W. doorway are fine examples of the period. Note (1) groined roof and Dec. windows S. side of chancel; (2) transept roof, fourteenth century, restored in 1880; (3) nave roof, fifteenth century, restored 1885; (4) great height of octagonal, leaded spire, conspicuous for miles round (see illustration). Among monuments note (1) figured brass, representing an armed man, to Robert Albyn and Margaret his wife (1480); the inscription I transcribe from Chauncy:—
“Robert Albyn gist icy
Et Margareta sa femme oubike luy
Dieu de lez almes eyt mercy”;
(2) monument to Sir Astley Paston Cooper (d. 1841).
Hemel Hempstead, according to Norden, owed its name (Heanhamsted) to the high hemp-land on the E. side of the town. Offa, King of the Mercians, gave six houses at Hemelhamstede to the Abbey of St. Albans; but the remainder of the vill remained in the hands of Saxon Kings until it was given to Earl Moreton by William I. The entry in Domesday Book is in this case unusually interesting; the property held by Earl Moreton is thus described: “Earl Moreton held Hamelhamstede in Treung hundred, it was rated for 10 hides... there are two Frenchmen born, with thirteen Bordars,... there are eight Servants, and four Mills of seven and thirty Shillings and four Pence Rent by the Year, and three hundred Eels wanting five and twenty, Meadow four Carucates, Common of Pasture for the Cattle, and two Shillings Rent by the Year, Wood to feed one thousand and two hundred Hogs; in the whole value it is worth two and twenty Pounds, when he received it five and twenty Pounds, and Rent in the time of King Edward (the Confessor). Two were Brethren, Men of Earl Lewin, they held this mannor.” From Priory Hill, W. from the church, a fine view may be obtained of the town below and the cornfields beyond. Bury Mill is on the river Gade, at the foot of the hill. Gadesbridge Park is on the left as you pass from High Street to Piccott’s End; the House is on a beautifully wooded slope, W. from the Gade; it is the residence of Sir Astley Paston Paston Cooper, Bart., J.P., etc. A good deal of straw plait is still made by the women of this neighbourhood.
Heronsgate (3 miles W. from Rickmansworth) is a hamlet on the Bucks border, with a small chapel-of-ease to St. Peter’s, Mill End, 1¼ mile E. The building is modern, with one window of stained glass.
HERTFORD, the county town, is of immemorial antiquity. The origin of the name has elicited much learned conjecture, and Hertford is one of several places held to be the Durocobrivis mentioned by Antonine. It is the Herudsford (i.e. red ford) of the Venerable Bede. That it was a town of some importance on the river Lea even in the days of the Trinobantes seems indisputable. Norden conjectured that the true name of the town was Hartford, so called because in Saxon times, when the surrounding country was densely wooded, the harts crossed the river by a natural ford at this spot. However this may be, the old borough seal, three or four centuries ago, bore as a device a hart in shallow water. The rivers Rib, Beane, and Maran all unite with the Lea in the immediate neighbourhood. Some reference may be here made to the doings of Alfred the Great in this neighbourhood. By putting together what is recorded by William of Malmesbury, Henry of Huntingdon, Asser and others we learn that in the twenty-third year of Alfred’s reign the Danes infested the Thames with their ships, sailed up the Lea in the lighter of their crafts, and built a fort about 20 miles from London, at or near what is now the town of Ware. Presently, in the course of their many foraging excursions, they sailed farther up the river towards Hertford, stripped the people in the town and burnt down many houses. They afterwards established a garrison near the town. Alfred brought his army down to the river side the following year and made a careful survey of the Danish fort and of the character and position of their ships. He is said to have passed from place to place in a boat, drawn by a horse, and to have carefully ascertained the depth of the water at different points. The precise nature of his subsequent operations is not well known, but he is said to have diverted the course of the river, to have erected a dam (Shass) at Blackwall, and by these means to have grounded the Danish fleet. The Danes held a treaty, and eventually withdrew into Cambridgeshire and Gloucestershire; the Londoners came down to the scene of Alfred’s ingenuity and destroyed or appropriated the Danish ships.
Of the castle, built by Edward the Elder in 905, there still remain several large fragments of an embattled wall, partly Norman, and a postern gate. Of its history only a few leading facts can be mentioned here. William I. entrusted it to the keeping of Peter de Valoignes; it was besieged by Louis the Dauphin, and capitulated on the Feast of St. Nicholas in 1216; it was granted, together with the town, to John of Gaunt, Earl of Richmond, in whose time Kings John of France and David of Scotland were prisoners within its walls, and after the Earl had been created Duke of Lancaster he held a court in the castle for three weeks. It was the last prison house of Isabella, widow of Edward II. Henry IV. gave the castle to his wife Joan; Henry V. to his wife Katherine of France; and Henry VI. to his wife Margaret of Anjou. Elizabeth and James I. are both said to have visited this castle. Charles I., on 3rd May, in the sixth year of his reign, transferred it to William Earl of Salisbury. It was seized by the Parliament during the Great Rebellion.
The Roman Catholic Church in St. John Street stands on or near the site of the old Priory, founded during the reign of William I. by Ralph Limesy and by him conveyed to the Abbot of St. Albans, who placed here six Benedictine monks under Ralph, who became their first prior. The Priory was dissolved in the twenty-sixth year of Henry VIII.; but the church was rebuilt by Thomas Willis in 1629. It was “demolisht by order of the Bishop of Lincoln” towards the end of the seventeenth century. The church of All Saints, on high ground E. from the town, was destroyed by fire in 1891, when almost everything perished. It was immediately rebuilt as a Perp. structure of Runcorn stone, and consecrated in 1895. In the main, the plan of the old church has been followed, but the aisles are longer than formerly; note the fine clerestoried nave of five bays, and hexagonal N. porch. The old building contained monuments to Sir John Harrison, Kt., Farmer of Customs to Charles I. (d. 1669);4 to Isabel Newmarch, maid of honour to Isabella, daughter of Charles VI. of France and second wife to Richard II.; and to Johannes Prest, “porter” (janitor) to Katherine, wife of Henry V. The two latter monuments were removed more than 200 years ago. Note the beautiful chestnut trees in the avenue near the church, and the many quaint epitaphs on the tombstones in the extensive graveyard. The Church of St. Andrew is modern; it occupies the site of an older Perp. edifice, originally founded before the Conquest. Close by in the market place is the Shire Hall, a large brick building of “questionable shape” erected towards the close of the eighteenth century. Malting, brewing and general trade in corn and its products form the larger part of the industries of Hertford. Between this town and Ware is the spot where Cromwell put a summary period to the insurrection of the “Levellers” by shooting a ringleader named Arnald.
Hertford Heath. (See Amwell, Little.)
Hertingfordbury may be visited from Hertford, the station (G.N.R.) being 1½ mile S.W. The village is pleasantly situated on the river Maran, on the S. confines of Panshanger Park. The church, partly rebuilt by Earl Cowper in 1890-3, was founded during the fifteenth century. It contains little of architectural interest, but the monuments are numerous: (1) marble mosaic altar tomb to Sir W. Harrington, with alabaster effigies of himself and wife and inscription in rhyme; (2) slab to Thomas Ellis (d. 1608) and Grace his wife (d. 1612); (3) recumbent effigy in marble to Lady Calvert, wife of Sir George Calvert, Kt., who died in 1622; (4) to Dr. Jonathan Browne, Dean of Hertford (d. 1643); (5) very ancient brass inscription beneath chancel arch to two daughters of Robert de Louthe, and one of similar age to Robert de Louthe and his wife. The Cowper Chapel, N. side of chancel, contains many monuments to that family, particularly a fine alto-relievo by Roubeliac to Spencer Cowper (d. 1727), chief Justice of Chester in 1717.
Hexton (about 6 miles N.W. from Hitchin Station, G.N.R.) lies on a tongue of the county surrounded W., N. and E. by Bedfordshire. The Church of St. Faith, W. from the village, was rebuilt, with the exception of the embattled tower, in 1824, as a Perp. edifice. The St. Nicholas Chapel, N. side of chancel, takes the place of the chapel bearing the same name in the former church. There is a memorial to Peter Taverner (d. 1601), who was, I suppose, father to that Francis Taverner, Esq., who compiled a record of the antiquities of Hexton and set it in the chapel. Little space can be spared for excerpts in this volume, but the details which Taverner brought together are so interesting that I transcribe a part of them from a copy in my possession:—
“Near unto the Roman military Way called Icknild or Ikenild-Street, which passeth by this Parish upon a very high Hill is to be seen a warlike Fort of great Strength, and ancient Works, which seemeth to have been a Summer standing Camp of the Romans: And near it on the Top of another Hill called Wayting-Hill, a Hillock was raised up, such as the Romans were wont to rear for Souldiers slain, wherein many Bones have been found. The Saxons call’d this Fort Ravensburgh, from a City in Germany, whereof the Duke of Saxony beareth the Title of Lord at this Day. And this Town, which the Britains perhaps call’d Hesk of Reed, which doth abound much in this Place; the Sazons call’d Heckstanes-Tune, that is the Town of Reed and Stones, if not rather Hockstanes-Tune, that is, the Town of Mire and Stones, for old Englishmen, call deep Mire, Hocks: Or may be from Grates set in Rivers or Waters before Floodgates, which are call’d Hecks; neither is it unlikely but that the Danes made some Use of this Fort, for a Parcel of Ground near thereunto is called Dane-Furlong to this Day. Some of these Conjectures may be true, but this is certain, that Offa, a Saxon King, of the Mertians about 795, founded the Monastery of St. Albans, in Memory of St. Alban, and that Sexi an honourable and devout Dane (as it is in the Chartulary of the Abby) about Anno Dom. 1030, gave to the said Monastery the Town of Heckstane-Tune and the Abbot of St. Albans held this Mannor in the time of King William the Conqueror.
“This Vill at that time did lie in the Half-hundred of Hiz, and from that time during the Space of 510 Years, the Abbots of St. Albans were Lords of the Mannors now call’d Hexton. They were also Patrons of this Church (dedicated to St. Faith, which Saint had her Statue erected over a Fountain near this Church Yard, call’d St. Faith’s Well) for John de Hertford, the 23d Abbot, did appropriate this Church of Hexstoneston to the said Monastery. The Cellarers of which Monastery kept the Court Leet and the Court Baron, and received the Rents of the Demeasnes and Customary Tenants of this Mannor; and the Sacrists had the disposing of the Profits of the Rectory.
“The said Fort, which the common People call Ravensborough Castle, is cast up in the Form of an Oval, and containeth sixteen Acres, one Rood, and fifteen Poles of Ground, and is naturally strengthened with mighty deep and very steep Combs, which the inhabitants call Lyn.
“The Town of Hexton is seated at the Foot of the Mountains, whence issue many Springs of Water; the Mountains are a continued Rock of Stone.”
High Cross (3 miles N. from Ware) is a village and parish on the Old North Road. It has a modern Dec. church of grey stone, containing several good stained-glass windows, but little of architectural interest. Youngsbury, a beautiful but small park, S. from the village, has a fine Georgian residence (C. B. Giles-Puller, Esq.). The little river Rib skirts the park on the S. side. There is a small hamlet of the same name 1¼ mile S.W. from Radlett Station (M.R.).
High Street is a small hamlet on the Cambridge Road, near the river Quin. Braughing Station (G.E.R.) is 1¼ mile S.
High Wych (2 miles N. from Harlow Station, Essex) has an E.E. church, built in 1861; the marble reredos, finely worked, was added in 1871. The trade in malt is large for so small a place.
Highley Hill (1 mile S.W. from Ashwell Station, G.N.R.) is on the Cambridgeshire border.
Hinxworth, formerly Hamsteworde and Henxworth (4 miles N. from Baldock), is close to the Bedfordshire border. The parish is very ancient. The church of St. Nicholas was erected about 1400 on the site of an earlier structure. It is a mixture of several styles, partly restored in 1881. Note (1) two canopied Perp. niches in S.E. angle of nave, where was formerly the lady-chapel; (2) brass to John Lambard, a master of the Mercers’ Company (d. 1487), and Anne his wife; (3) oak roof in chancel, added in 1892; (4) rood-stairs. William I. divided the vill between three Normans, Peter de Valoignes, Hardwin de Scalers, and William Earl of Ewe, who owned much other property in Hertfordshire. The vill was subsequently divided into two manors, one of which belonged to William de Cantilupe, a Steward and Councillor to King John, and the other, during the reign of Henry VII., to John Lambard mentioned above. This manor was called Pulter; and the old house (now Hinxworth Place, ½ mile S. from the village) was once inhabited by some Cistercian monks of the Monastery of Pipewell (Northants). Note the clunch walls and mullioned windows, in one of which, designed in stained glass, are the armorial bearings of three former owners. Two hundred years ago the village consisted of thirty-five dwellings, three of which were almshouses.
HITCHIN is an ancient town, full of interest, 32 miles N. from King’s Cross, G.N.R. It was formerly called Hitche, very probably from the little river Hiz, which rises at Well Head, about 1½ mile S.W. from the centre of the town. Roman coins and pottery, and even prehistoric implements have been found in great quantities in the neighbourhood, and there are traces of a prehistoric lake bed, to the S.E. The Priory, immediately S. (R. H. J. Delmé-Radcliffe, Esq., J.P.), occupies the site of a Carmelite monastery and Conventual church founded in the reign of Edward II.; and the Biggin Almshouses, close to the church, still preserve some of the old fabric of the Gilbertine Nunnery, founded in the reign of Edward III. The Church of St. Mary (formerly St. Andrew), just off the N.E. corner of the market-place, is thought to be the largest parish church in the county, the other claimant for that honour being St. Peters, Great Berkhampstead. The whole structure is embattled. The square W. tower is of unusual size, but low in proportion. Entering by the fine old S. porch we notice the niches for statues, none of which remain, and the vaulted roof, badly battered and marred by—as is supposed—the zealous iconoclasts of Cromwell’s army. Opposite, over the N. porch, hangs a painting of the Adoration of the Magi, believed to be by Rubens; it was formerly over the communion table. The church has been restored at intervals since 1858; but the fine Perp. aisle-roofs still remain. The font, of Ketton stone, is ancient, and formerly had statues of the twelve Apostles in niches; these, however, have been mutilated almost beyond recognition; the beautiful oak canopy is new. Note the effigy in stone lying in the recess of the first window of the N. aisle, believed to be that of Bernard de Baliol, founder of the Preceptory of Knights Templars at Temple Dinsley (3 miles S.), and the mosaics of the reredos, representing the Last Supper, Christ and the woman of Samaria, Moses striking the rock, and other subjects from Scripture. The screens of carved oak, between the aisles and chancel aisles, are among the finest in the county. Memorials are numerous; some ancient brasses having been brought to light during restoration. Among the brasses are one (1) to John Beel, Margary his wife, and their eight children (1477); this is near the pulpit; (2) to James Hert, B.D. (d. 1498); (3) to John Pulter, a draper (d. 1421), and his wife Alice, the effigies almost obliterated; (4) to Nicholas Mattok, and his wife Elizabeth (d. 1485); this Nicholas was a fishmonger of London, and a merchant of the staple of Calais; (5) portion of a brass, near the chancel steps, to John Sperehawke, D.D., Canon of Wells (d. 1474).
Adjoining the W. end of the churchyard is Golden Square, once the residence of Eugene Aram, from which we may pass into Bancroft, one of the widest thoroughfares in the county. Close by is Tilehouse Street; the Baptist Chapel, on the left, some way up the street, was restored in 1894: it stands on the site of the building in which Bunyan preached; a chair which he gave is still shown in the vestry. It may here be mentioned that George Whitefield and George Fox are both known to have visited Hitchin during their missionary wanderings. A little farther W. is Mount Pleasant, thought to be the birthplace of George Chapman, the translator of Homer. That he finished his translation in this neighbourhood is matter of knowledge; but what is told of his family connections with Hitchin is little more than conjecture.
Between the town and the station, G.N.R., stands a modern church of red brick, dressed with Bath stone, E. Dec. in style. There are good oak stalls and a sedile in the chancel.
Hitchin was noted during the sixteenth century for its trade in wood and malt. There were at one time tan-yards beside the Hiz, and the buckle-makers of Bucklersbury gave that street its name. The malting-yards occupied much of the ground on both sides of Bancroft. The making of lavender water in the town is referred to in the Introduction.
Hockeril is now the E. suburb of Bishop’s Stortford, the bridge over the Stort, near the Old Black Lion, connecting it with the town. It has a modern Gothic church. The E. extremity of Hockeril is almost on the border line between Hertfordshire and Essex.
HODDESDON (1½ mile N. from Broxbourne Station, G.E.R.) is an ancient market town, lying on high ground among beautifully diversified surroundings. It is known, at least by name, to all readers of The Complete Angler; but the old Thatched House, to which Izaak Walton often resorted, has long been a thing of the past. The Bull Inn still remains where it stood in the time of Prior, whose allusion to it in his Down Hall is invariably quoted in local handbooks:
“Into an old inn did this equipage roll,
At a town they call Hod’sdon, the sign of the Bull,
Near a nymph with an urn that divides the highway,
And into a puddle throws mother of tea”.
The stone figure to which Prior refers is no longer to be seen. At the S. end of the High Street, on the right when entering the town from Broxbourne, stands Rawdon House, an embattled Jacobean mansion of red brick, built by Sir Marmaduke Rawdon in 1622. It was restored in 1877, and the stucco with which it was formerly coated was removed. A tower, with cupola roof, is at the rear of the house, which is now a convent for Augustinian nuns.
The Church of St. Catherine, close to the site of the old Thatched House, but W. from the opposite side of the High Street, dates from 1732; the tower was added in 1888. It is a large building of red-brick, in mixed styles, with small windows of stained glass in the chancel. It is not interesting.
Hollesmore End (2 miles W. from Redbourn Station, M.R.) is a small hamlet.
Holwell is a village and parish transferred from Bedfordshire to Hertfordshire in 1897. It is about 1½ mile N.E. from Pirton (q.v.); the nearest station is Henlow, M.R., 2 miles N. The Church of St. Peter, very much restored, was originally Perp. There is a xii century holy water basin, and a very curious old brass to Robert Wodehouse, a priest (1515), with figures of two wodehowses (wild forest men) and of a chalice and paten.
Hook’s Cross (2 miles E. from Knebworth Station, G.N.R.) is a hamlet on the main road from Hertford to Stevenage. Frogmore Hall stands in a small park ½ mile E.; it is a large modern mansion of red brick and stone facings. The grounds are very picturesque, and are divided by the river Beane.
Hormead, Great (2½ miles E. from Buntingford), has a restored fifteenth century church, perhaps 1400-20, containing a brass to a benefactor, one William Delawood (1694) and a mural monument to Lieut.-Col. Stables, killed at Waterloo. The village is close to the river Quin, which flows between the church and Hare Street on the Cambridge Road.
Hormead, Little (½ mile S. from the above), has a quaint little Norman and E.E. church on the hill crest overlooking Hare Street. Leaving the Cambridge Road at the S. end of that village, and crossing the river Quin, the rounded arch of the Norman doorway on the N. side of the nave catches the eye as we approach the village. The door itself is partly of wrought iron work, seventeenth century; an engraving of it is in Cussans’ History of Hertfordshire. There is excellently preserved work in the Norman nave. It has been surmised that “Hormede” was formerly one vill, that it was divided soon after 1100, and the two churches built on the hill less than ½ mile apart. Ralph Baugiard and Eustace, Earl of Boulogne, together held the manor of “Hormede” at the time of the Great Survey, and the names Hormead Magna and Hormead Parva are of later origin.
Horse Shoes (½ a mile N. from Smallford Station, G.N.R.) is a hamlet in the parish of Colney Heath.
Howe Green, a small hamlet, is 1¼ mile S. from Cole Green Station, G.N.R. Pretty walks may be taken S. to Bedwell Park, or N.W. to the mill on the Lea, Rye Croft, and Mill Green.
Hunsdon (2 miles N.E. from Roydon Station, Essex) is a very ancient village. The E. Perp. church of flint is thought to date from 1400, and the N. porch of oak is probably coeval with the main structure. Note the finely carved Jacobean screen which divides the Cary Chapel in the S. transept from the nave, and, in the chapel, the imposing monument and alabaster effigies to Sir John Cary (d. 1617) and his wife. The monument is built into the wall; behind it is a rather long, but historically important inscription:—“Here resteth in Peace Sir John Cary, Knight, Baron of Hunsdon (being the fourth Son to the Right Honorable Henry Baron of Hunsdon) and the Lady Mary Hunsdon his Wife, Daughter to Leonard Hide of Throcking in the county of Hertford, Esq.; The Said Sir John Cary was sent to Barwick by the late Queen Elizabeth of Famous Memory, in the Year of our Lord, 1593, to be Marshall of the Town of Barwick, and Captain of Norham; afterwards he was made Governor of the said Town and Garrison of Barwick, and Lord Warden of the East Marches of England,... Scotland, and so he remained until he returned into England with the most famous King James, where he entered into the Possession of the Crown of England; and so having two Sons and two Daughters ended this transitory Life, in an assured Hope to rise again in Christ.” In the chancel windows are some white roses, and a badge of the House of York; note also the canopies in these windows, and the figures of Apostles in the W. window. On the N. wall of nave is a fine brass to James Gray, showing a man shooting at deer with a crossbow; this Gray was gamekeeper for thirty-five years at Hunsdon House. Bishop Ridley preached from the pulpit on several occasions.
Hunsdon House stands between the church and Gilston Park. During the reign of Edward IV., Sir John Oldhall “built here a fair House after the mode of a Castle... which building, ’tis said, cost £7,222”. This would be an enormous sum of money in those days. The original structure had a high tower and large courtyard. Henry VIII. made the house a palace, and in so doing appears to have almost rebuilt it; it is known that his children were often here, as the King had a high opinion of Hertfordshire air. Queen Elizabeth gave the estate to Sir Henry Cary, Kt., her cousin, and created him Baron Hunsdon. The “palace” was surrounded by a moat, crossed by two bridges; the grand entrance and lofty clock tower, the outhouses and grounds are elaborately depicted in a print in Chauncy’s History. The present house was erected at the beginning of this century, partly on a fresh site, but some portions of what was the W. extremity of the old palace are built into the E. wing. Two fine Jacobean chimney-pieces still remain; but little else is left of the old Tudor home, and the moat has been levelled. The present house, however, is an imposing, even noble structure of red brick, and its position, backed by the grand old elms in the park, is very picturesque. N.E. stood Hunsdon Lodge, the hunting lodge of Queen Elizabeth.
Hunton Bridge is a pleasant little village at the meeting of the roads from Watford, King’s Langley, and St. Albans, on the Grand Junction Canal. The nearest station is King’s Langley (L.&N.W.R.), 1¼ mile N. There is a good modern inn and many pretty cottages, and folk in search of rest and quiet might journey farther and find less suitable retirement. The nearest church is at Langleybury (q.v.).
Ickleford, formerly Ickleton, is a village on the Roman Icknield Way, which at this spot fords the little river Hiz; hence its name. It is 2 miles N. from Hitchin. The church was restored in 1860; but portions of the ancient fabric have been carefully retained, and a small chapel added to the chancel. The tower is Norman, as are also part of the nave arcade and the S. doorway. The chancel arch, pointed, is finely carved; the stairs to the rood-loft still remain; there is a piscina in the chancel. Note brass to Thomas Somer and his wife (circa 1400). S. from the church is Ickleford Manor, in a small park, for some years the residence of Commander H. C. Dudley Ryder, R.N. It is not of historic interest.
Ippollitts or St. Ippolitts (2 miles S.E. from Hitchin) was formerly called Hippolits, Eppalets or Pallets, according to the taste of the speaker. It was thought by Norden to owe its name to Hippolits, a supposed Saint, who was very skilful in the treatment of horses. After the Saint’s death a shrine was placed to his honour in the parish church, and to this shrine near the high altar divers persons brought their ailing steeds to be healed by the attendant priest with the help of relics of the Saint. The relics were of efficacy commensurate with the gifts of those who desired the Saint’s blessing! “The horses,” says one writer, “were brought out of the North Street, through the North Gate, and the North Door of the Church, which was boarded on purpose to bring up the horses to the Altar.” The church was restored in 1878; it is of flint and rubble, and is now chiefly Perp. and Dec. with a few older portions. Note (1) ambry and double piscina in the chancel; (2) brass in N. transept to Robert Poydres (d. 1401); (3) brasses in chancel, with effigies, to the Hughes family, one of whom, Alice, was daughter of Thomas Bybsworth, “an ancient dweller in this parish”; she died 1594. There is a tumulus about 1 mile S.
Kelshall (2½ miles S.E. from Ashwell Station, G.N.R.) has a restored, but interesting church, dedicated to St. Faith, partly Perp. and partly Dec. Over the S. porch is a small chamber, and in the N. aisle is a recess, the nature of which is not quite understood, but it was probably used for the safe-keeping of banner-staves, crosses and other pre-Reformation ornaments. There is a brass with two effigies to “Rychard Adane and Maryon his Wyff” (d. 1400 and 1435 respectively). In the churchyard is an old sundial on the shaft of a stone cross. John Janeway, a young divine of astonishing spirituality, whose Life, by his brother James, was subsequently prefaced by Robert Hall, was buried here in 1657: Richard Baxter was one of his admirers. The Manor of Chelesell was the property of the Abbot of Ely at the time of the Conquest, having been given to that ancient foundation by the father of Edward the Confessor.
Kensworth was transferred to Bedfordshire in 1897.
Kimpton (about 2¾ miles N. from Wheathampstead Station) lies between the hills that lead N. to Whitwell and S.E. to Ayot St. Lawrence. The village is very ancient, and was called Kimeton in Saxon days. The church, a little N. from the centre of the village, has been much restored: the N. aisle was added in 1861; the tower and the N. porch (over which is a parvise, as at Kelshall) were restored in 1887-8; the chancel in 1890, when the reredos was added. The building is E.E. Note the finely carved oak screen separating the S. aisle from the Dacre Chapel, formerly the rood screen, the piscina in the chapel itself, and the stained glass in the E. window to Thomas, twenty-second Baron Dacre (d. 1890), to whom the reredos is also a memorial. Kimpton Hoo, in a beautiful park of about 250 acres, is 1 mile N.E. from the village. It is the seat of Viscount Hampden. Pretty walks may be taken E. viâ Kimpton Mill to Codicote, N. to Bendish and Whitwell, W. to Peter’s Green, or S. to Lamer Park.
King’s Langley is a large and interesting village. The river Gade flows between the main street and the station, L.&N.W.R. Paper and straw plait are both made largely. The village owes its name to the fact that Henry III. built a palace on a spot still marked by a few fragments of ruin a little W. from the church, and the royal manor became known as Langley Regis, whereas the Langley on the E. side of the river belonged to the Abbey of St. Albans, and was called Abbot’s Langley (q.v.). Edmund de Langley, fifth son of Edward III., was born in this palace in 1344. He became Duke of York, Earl of Cambridge and Lord Tivedale, and married Isabel, a younger daughter of Don Pedro of Castile. In 1392 Richard II., with his first Queen, Anne of Bohemia, and many bishops, earls, lords and ladies, kept Christmas at King’s Langley Palace.
Near the palace was founded, by one Roger Helle, a priory of Dominican monks, which was enriched by Edward II. and several successive monarchs. The body of Piers Gaveston was brought from Oxford and buried in the church of this priory in 1315—he was beheaded on Blacklow Hill in 1312—and what was then believed to be the body of Richard II. was brought to the same spot in 1400 for temporary sepulture. The priory was dissolved, like most priories, in the days of Henry VIII.; but it was restored by Mary. It was finally suppressed soon after the accession of Elizabeth. The church, at the S.E. extremity of the village street, is a Perp. structure of flint and Totternhoe stone; the W. tower is embattled and has an angle turret. It has been partially restored. On the N. side of the chancel stood formerly the tomb of Edmund de Langley and Isabel of Castile (both mentioned above) which was brought from the priory church at the Dissolution; it is now in the chapel at the end of the N. aisle. There is, I believe, no absolute proof that this is the tomb of Edmund and Isabel, but the evidence that it is so is very strong. Chauncy, two centuries back, wrote: “On the north side of the chancel there is a Monument raised about five foot, with the Arms of France and England, with three Labels upon it, also the Arms of Peter, King of Castile and Leons, by which Coats it seems to be the Tomb where Edmond de Langley, the Fifth Son of Edward III. and Isabel his Wife, one of the Daughters of Don Pedro, King of Castile, was [were] interr’d”. During the removal of the tomb to its present position the bones of a male and two females were discovered; they are presumably those of Edmund and Isabel, and of Anne Mortimer, the wife of Edmund’s second son, Richard, Earl of Cambridge. The tomb is covered by a slab 7 feet 3 inches long; the sides are embossed with Plantagenet shields within cusps. Note the beautifully carved open screen between chapel and chancel, and the reredos, partly of marble, erected in 1877. The oaken pulpit is Perp. There are several other monuments: (1) to Hon. Sir W. Glascocke of Aldamhowe, Kt., Admiralty Judge in Ireland under Charles II. (d. 1688); (2) brass to John Carter, “late of Gifres” (d. 1588); the inscription states that he had two wives, that the first bore him four sons and five daughters and the second five sons and four daughters; (3) brass to William Carter and Alice his wife, 1528.
Sir John Evans, in 1862, found an almond-shaped river-drift flint implement on a heap of stones in this neighbourhood.
King’s Walden (about 5 miles S.W. from Hitchin) has an ancient church, carefully restored in 1868. It stands in the park of The Bury, a large mansion, Elizabethan in style. The embattled tower has masonry probably older than fourteenth century, and much of the nave arcade is Norman. Note the sculptured capitals of pillars, curiously similar to those at Old Shoreham. The chancel arch is E. Perp.; probably substituting its E.E. predecessor on very close lines; the corbels bear busts thought to resemble Henry VI. and Margaret of Anjou. In the chancel are a double piscina, and two E.E. lancet windows. The chancel screen is a really wonderful piece of work, in excellent preservation. In the N. aisle is an ambry, and in the S. aisle a sedile and two piscinæ, and on the N. side another ambry. The font stands at the E. end of S. aisle, formerly the Chapel of the Virgin Mary.
Kinsbourne Green is on the Bedfordshire border, 2 miles N.E. from Harpenden. The Kennels of the Hertfordshire Hunt are here. The hamlet is close to Luton Hoo Park.
Kitter’s Green is a hamlet 1 mile S.E. from King’s Langley Station (L.&N.W.R.). Abbot’s Langley old church (q.v.) is ½ mile N.
KNEBWORTH, famous as the home of Bulwer Lytton, lies on high ground 1 mile W. from the station (G.N.R.). The village is small, and in itself of little interest; it was formerly called Chenepeworde, and Knebbeworth. It is, however, ancient, and was valued in Domesday Book.
Sir Thomas Bouchier, K.G., who fought for the Earl of Richmond at Bosworth Field, sold the manor of Knebbeworth to Robert Lytton, Esq., Keeper of the Wardrobe to Henry VII., whose son William was buried in this parish. This Sir Robert began to erect a huge Tudor mansion on the site of a fortress which had stood since the days of the Conquest; it took several generations to complete it. The present house is the result of the work of demolition and reconstruction in the days of the novelist’s mother, and of the enlarging of 1883, when the S. wing and entrance were added; it is pseudo-Gothic. The castellated parapet, cupola-topped turrets, griffins upon pinnacles and many mullioned windows are noticeable features from the grounds. Within, the finest sight is the grand old banqueting hall, with its gallery for minstrels, its Elizabethan oak-screen, and wainscots by Inigo Jones. Around, on all sides, are suits of armour, some dating from the days of Henry VII. The room is associated with memories of Elizabeth, who was sometimes entertained at Knebworth by Sir Rowland Lytton, whom she knighted; he was buried in the chancel of the little church in the park (see below) in 1582. The room in which Elizabeth slept on these occasions is still shown as “Queen Elizabeth’s Chamber,” and contains a finely carved over-mantel (oak) and an oaken bedstead of colossal proportions. Among the distinguished guests so often entertained here by Bulwer Lytton were Dickens, Forster and Jerrold.
The grounds are nearly perfect, art and nature seaming to strive to out-do one another. Well-kept lawns are figured by flower-beds of all shapes and sizes; the rosery is very large; the great variety of evergreens imparts every hue and shade to the extensive walks stretching W. from the house. The lawns are divided here and there by stone balustrades and overlooked by statues of classical and modern figures. There are many nooks, pleasure houses and alcoves. A long avenue of limes leads to the lake.
The church, a little N. from the house, is approached through lodge gates. It is for the most part E.E. The oaken pulpit is octagonal; the finely carved panels represent scenes in the life of Christ, one of them bears the date 1567. At the N. side of the chancel, which has a piscina, is the Lytton Chapel, “a little Chapel or Burying Place, built by the Family of the Lyttons”. Among the members of the family buried in the chapel were (1) Dame Judith Barrington, daughter of Sir Rowland Lytton, and wife to Sir Thomas Barrington of Hatfield Broad Oak (d. 1657); (2) Sir William Lytton, Kt. (d. 1660); (3) Sir Rowland Lytton, Kt. (d. 1674). To the Sir Rowland Lytton who died in 1582 (see above) there is a fine brass with effigy, which also commemorates his wives Margaret and Anne, and his three children. There are other memorials both in the church and Lytton Chapel, among which note (1) brass to Simon Bache, Treasurer of the Household to Henry V. and Canon of St. Paul’s (d. 1414); (2) brass to John Hotoft, who filled the same office in the Household of Henry VI. (d. circa 1430). This brass formerly showed effigies of Hotoft in armour with his wife beside him. Note also, near the S. porch, two headstones with interesting inscriptions to servants of the Lytton family, and close by, in the park, the mausoleum erected by the mother of the novelist, who was buried within its walls. The epitaph to her memory on the exterior was written by her son. Passing out at the lodge gates we may turn left and reach a pretty dip, from whence a walk of 3 miles N. over open country leads to Stevenage.
Knebworth Green skirts the S. side of the park.
Langley, a hamlet on the Hatfield-Hitchin road, is 2 miles S.W. from Stevenage Station (G.N.R.). Langley Bottom is a few minutes’ walk N.
Langleybury (1 mile S. from King’s Langley Station, L.&N.W.R.) is practically part and parcel of Hunton Bridge, the church standing W. and the village E. of the main road from Watford to Hemel Hempstead. The church is modern, a Gothic structure; on the S. is a good lich-gate. Close to the S. porch is the large cross of Sicilian marble, by the Florentine sculptor Romanelli, to the memory of the late W. J. Loyd, at whose expense the church was erected. The walk from Langleybury to Buck’s Hill (W.), by way of West Wood, leads through some lovely bits of scenery, and should on no account be omitted. At the outset the confines of Grove Park are on the left and the road dips up and down as the woods are passed, and is shaded by fine beeches in many spots.
Layston was a village in Saxon times, but nothing now remains save the ruins of the church, still almost intact, at the meeting of two lanes, 1 mile N.E. from Buntingford. It is a flint structure, E.E. and Perp. The S. porch is in part demolished. There are monuments to the Crowch family of seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Lea, river. (See Introduction, Section II.)
Leavesden (about 2½ miles N. from Watford) is a village in the pretty district between Grove Park and Bricket Wood. The ecclesiastical parish was formed seventy years ago from the parishes of Watford and St. Albans. The huge brick building on high ground a little N. is the Metropolitan District Asylum for Idiots; it was erected in 1869. The church dates only from the formation of the parish and is situated at Garston, 1 mile E. It was designed by Sir Gilbert Scott and is E.E. The Grove, a large mansion of red brick, was erected in 1760 by one of the Villiers family, but has been restored and altered. The house contains a part of the pictures collected by Clarendon; comprising portraits by Vandyck, Lely, C. Janssens, Zucchero, Van Somer, Kneller, Hogarth, etc. The park is extensive and beautiful.
Lemsford is another modern ecclesiastical parish, formed sixty years ago. It is nearly 3 miles N. from Hatfield, on the S.E. side of Brocket Hall Park. It is widely known for its large mill on the river Lea. The church, erected in 1859 as a memorial to the sixth Earl Cowper, is E.E. and Dec., with a good E. window, also to the memory of the earl. The tower (W.) is lofty and embattled.
Letchmore Heath (1½ mile S.W. from Radlett Station, M.R.) is a small village.
Letchworth (2 miles N.E. from Hitchin) has a small Perp. church, containing a curious old brass to Thomas Wyrley, an early Rector (d. 1475). The effigy represents him with a heart in his hands. Another brass, much defaced, dates from circa 1400; it is to William Overbury and Isabel his wife. The village, which almost adjoins that of Willian (q.v.), is ancient, and was once the property of Robert Gernon, a Norman warrior who fought at Hastings. There was a church at Leceworth at least as early as temp. Henry I., for during the reign of that monarch it was given “with all its appurtenances and twelve acres of land” to the monastery at St. Albans. Letchworth Hall, now a manor house containing some good carved oak, was built by Sir William Lytton (circa 1620), and still bears on the S. front the arms of that family.
Letty Green is close to Cole Green Station, G.N.R.
Levens Green (1 mile S. from Great Munden) has a tiny chapel-of-ease erected in 1893. The nearest station is Standon, G.E.R., 2½ miles E., between which and the hamlet lies the Old North Road.
Leverstock Green (1½ mile S.E. from Hemel Hempstead Station, M.R.) is in a pleasantly diversified district, at the junction of the roads from St. Albans and Abbot’s Langley. It has a modern church, Gothic in style, erected just before the district was constituted an ecclesiastical parish in 1850.
Ley Green is a hamlet 1 mile N. from King’s Walden Church, and about 4 miles S.W. from Hitchin. It is on high ground.
Lilley, a village on the Bedfordshire border, is 4 miles N.E. from Luton (Beds). It was formerly called Lindley, and Lilly Hoo, and the old manor, like so many others, was given to a Norman (Goisfride de Bech) for services rendered at Hastings. The church is of ancient foundation, but was rebuilt, in E. Dec. style, in 1870-71. Several old memorials are still preserved, notably those to the Docwra family, early seventeenth century. Putteridge Bury (1 mile S.) is in the centre of a park of 450 acres; on or near the site of the house built by Thomas Docwra, J.P. and High Sheriff of Herts, who died there in 1602. The present mansion dates from the beginning of last century.
Little Heath is on the Middlesex border, 1 mile N.E. from Potter’s Bar Station. The Dec. church, just off the Barnet-Hatfield road, is new.
London Colney, a village on the main road from Barnet to St. Albans, is on the river Colne. The nearest station is that of the G.N.R. at St. Albans, 2¼ miles N.W. The church, built by the third Earl of Hardwicke in 1825, is a plain brick structure of Gothic character. Half a mile E. is Tittenhanger Park, a large brick mansion with tiled roof and dormer windows, built by Sir Henry Blount in 1654. The manor had belonged to the Abbots of St. Albans, who had a residence on the same spot, commenced during the abbacy of John de la Moote and completed during that of John Wheathampsted. Henry VIII. and Catherine of Arragon stayed here during the “sweatinge sicknesse” (1528).
Long Lane is a hamlet near the river Chess, 1½ mile S.W. from Rickmansworth.
Long Marston, 1 mile N. from the Aylesbury Canal, is a village and ecclesiastical parish in the extreme W. of the county. The nearest station is Marston Gate, 1 mile N. The old church, a small Dec. structure, was pulled down twenty years ago with the exception of the tower, which stands in the disused graveyard. The new building, adjoining the present burial ground, is Gothic, and contains some portions of the old structure, and its two piscinæ.
Lower Green. (See Tewin.)
Ludwick Hyde is in the parish of Hatfield, 3 miles N.E. from that town.
Luffenhall, a little hamlet, is in the hollow between Weston and Cottered, 5 miles W. from Buntingford Station. The district is one of winding lanes and field footpaths so characteristic of the county.
Lye End, 2 miles S. from Sandon Church, is a hamlet lying W. from the Buntingford-Royston road.
Mackery End, 1½ mile N.W. from Wheathampstead Station, G.N.R., is close to Batford and Pickford mills on the river Lea. Charles and Mary Lamb had talked about the place “all their lives” and the essay by the former entitled “Mackery End in Hertfordshire” need only be named here. The place, as Lamb mentions, was also called Mackarel End. John Wheathampsted, who became thirty-third Abbot of St. Albans in 1420, was the son of Hugh Bostok or Bostock of the village from which he took his name; his mother was the daughter of Thomas Makery, “Lord of Makeyrend”.
Mangrove is a hamlet, partly in Offley and partly in Lilley parishes; Mangrove Green is on the S. outskirts of Putteridge Bury Park, on the Bedfordshire border. The nearest station to the latter is Luton (Beds).
Maple Cross, a hamlet 2½ miles S.W. from Rickmansworth, is near the river Chess. It lies between Mill End and West Hyde, on the road to Uxbridge.
Maran, or Mimram, river. (See Introduction.)
Marford, Old and New, are hamlets on the river Lea. The latter adjoins the E. side of Wheathampstead village; the former lies ¼ mile farther E.; the cress-beds, the hand-bridge over the river, and some dilapidated cottages render it a picturesque spot. On the opposite side of the road from Hatfield to Wheathampstead lies The Devil’s Dyke, a long, narrow gorge most beautifully wooded. It is a favourite haunt of the nightingale, as the writer can testify.
Market or Markyate Street (3½ miles S.W. from Luton, Beds) is a village on the high road from St. Albans to Dunstable. The church, a little N. from the village, in Cell Park, is small and uninteresting, with a chancel added in 1892. The mansion called Markyate Cell, a little farther N., is old, and occupies the site of the old Benedictine nunnery built by Geoffrey de Gorham, sixteenth Abbot of St. Albans, at the instigation of Roger the Monk, the church of which was consecrated in 1145. Cowper the poet was at school in the village, at the house of Dr. Pitman.
Marlowes is a suburb of Hemel Hempstead (q.v.).
Marsh Moor lies between Hatfield Park and Mimms Park. It is a hamlet in the parish of North Mimms, 2 miles S. from Hatfield.
Marston Gate is little more than the station (L.&N.W.R.) for Long Marston, 1 mile S. It is nearly the extreme W. point of the county.
Mayden Croft, or Maiden Croft, is near the source of the river Hiz, with the hamlet of Gosmore adjoining (S.E.). Some remains of a moat may be traced, which are supposed to mark the site of a nunnery. The manor is ancient; in the time of Edward III. it belonged to Sir Robert Nevill, Kt.
Meesdon (6½ miles N.E. from Buntingford) has a very ancient flint church, probably erected in the thirteenth century, but restored in 1877. The S. porch is Jacobean. The pavement of the Sacrarium is a mosaic of many coloured, vitrified tiles; it is almost unique in the county and is undoubtedly of great age. There is also in the chancel a curious monument and inscription to Robert Young, gent. (d. 1626). Most of the population are to be found at Meesdon Green, ½ mile W. from the church.
On Metley Hill, between the Icknield Way and the village of Wallington, may be seen Bush Barrow, one of the many ancient mounds in the county concerning which so little is known.
Micklefield Green (½ mile E. from Sarratt Church) is near the river Chess and the Bucks border. The nearest station is Chorley Wood (Met. R.) 2 miles S.W. The district is varied and undulating.
Mill End (1 mile S.W. from Rickmansworth) is on the Middlesex border, close to the river Colne. The church (modern) is late Dec. in style, and has several good stained windows. The village and parish were only formed in 1875. There is also a hamlet of this name 1½ mile S.W. from Buckland, on the Royston road.
Mill Green, at the N. end of Hatfield Park, is a pretty hamlet on the Lea, near the old paper mill.
Mimms, North (3 miles N.W. from Potter’s Bar Station, G.N.R.), is in one of the prettiest districts in the county, although so close to Middlesex. The church and parsonage are in the park, ½ mile from the village. Dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin, the church is Dec., unusually pure in style. It is said to have been built by Sir Hugh de Magneville (temp. Stephen); I should think it more probable that Geoffrey de Magneville, then Lord of the Manor, was the real founder, as stated by Chauncy. However this may be, the structure is now almost wholly of later date. The monuments and brasses are numerous and very interesting; several of the latter, now in the chancel, were moved from their original positions on the floor during the restoration sixty years ago. Among them we may note (1) large black marble monument in chancel surmounted by a figure of justice, to John Lord Somers, Baron of Evesham (d. 1716); (2) altar tomb in N. aisle, with Elizabethan effigy, to a Derbyshire family named Beresford; the inscription is only in part decipherable; (3) mutilated brass to Sir Robert Knolles (d. 14—), and to Elizabeth his wife (d. 1458); (4) brass to Sir Henry Covert (d. 1488); (5) fine old brass to Richard Boteler and Martha (Olyff) his wife (circa 1560); (6) brass, probably of Flemish workmanship, thought to be a memorial to William Kesteven, vicar (d. 1361). This effigy is closely described in Murray. “It is apparently Flemish, and resembles in style that of Abbot de la Mare at St. Albans. He is vested in a chasuble and stole, has a chalice on his breast, and over him is a rich canopy, with, on the dexter side, St. Peter, and underneath SS. John the Evangelist and Bartholomew, and in corresponding places on the sinister SS. Paul, James the Great, and Andrew, with their respective emblems. Above is the Almighty holding the soul of the deceased; at the sides are two angels swinging censers.” Separated from the chancel by an oaken screen is the chantry-chapel of St. Catherine, dating from early fourteenth century.
North Mimms Park surrounds the fine Jacobean manor house of red brick, recently in part restored, but originally built about 1600 by Sir Ralph Coningsby; it is very extensive and can show some good carving, and a chimney-piece dating from sixteenth century. E. from this park is Potterels, a modern house standing in another but smaller park, and E. again from Potterels is the more famous Brookman’s Park, where, in 1682, Andrew Fountaine erected the mansion soon afterwards purchased by the great Lord Somers who died here in 1716. The house was completely burnt down thirty years ago and has only in part been rebuilt. The further stretch of park adjoining Brookman’s on the S. is Gubbins, or more correctly Gobions, where formerly stood the old manor house in which Sir Thomas More lived awhile with his family. The walks in each of these parks are very fine, and most beautifully wooded; they command distant views in many directions, and, in the autumn, are a perfect study in colour. No London cyclist should fail to visit this picturesque and interesting neighbourhood.
Mimms, South, recently included in the administrative county of Herts, has a restored, E. Perp. church, with fine massive W. tower. The Frowyk chantry, at E. end of N. aisle, contains a very ancient tomb with recumbent effigy of a knight in armour, under a richly designed canopy. The knight was a Frowyk, and there are also some mutilated brasses to this family. The village is prettily situated on rising ground, 1½ mile W. from Potter’s Bar Station, G.N.R. (Middlesex).
Moneybury Hill is on the Bucks border, close to the Bridgewater Column, 2 miles S.W. from Tring Station.
Moor Green (3 miles W. from Buntingford Station, G.E.R.) is a hamlet in Ardeley parish.
Morrell Green is a hamlet 2 miles E. from Barkway on the Essex border. The nearest station is Buntingford, nearly 6 miles S.E.
Mortgrove, on the Beds border, is little more than a modern house, 1½ mile S. from Hexton.
Munches Green lies in the centre of that quiet district of villages and hamlets which stretches between the G.N.R. and G.E.R. It is a hamlet a little S.E. from Ardeley Bury and nearly 4 miles W. from Westmill Station, G.E.R.
Munden, Great, formerly Mundon Furnival, from Gerrard de Furnival, who was Lord of the Manor in the time of Richard I., is a village 2 miles W. from Braughing Station, G.E.R. There is a Norman doorway on the N. side of the church, and a small Perp. reredos which was discovered during restoration in 1865. There is a brass in the chancel to John Lightfoot, Canon of Ely (d. 1675). The hamlet of Nasty, a little N.E. from the church, now takes Munden Furnival as its alternative name, but the older historians give that title to the district around the parish church.
Munden, Little, or Munden Frewell, is 2¼ miles S.W. from the above, and 4 miles W. from Standon Station, G.E.R. The church, conspicuously placed on the hill, dates from the thirteenth century; it was restored in 1866-68. It is a structure of many parts, consisting of nave of three bays, chancel, N. chapel, N. aisle, N. and S. porches, and W. tower. Note the two altar tombs beneath the chancel arcade, at the S. side of the chapel, each supporting the stone effigies of a male and female, presumably man and wife. They bear no inscriptions, but from the arms and shields figured on one of them it is conjectured to be the tomb of Sir John Thornbury, Kt., and his lady; whilst the other is probably that of his son Philip Thornbury and his wife: the former dates from about 1340-50. Early in the fourteenth century the manor belonged to a Knight named Frewell or de Freville, hence the old adjunct of the village. Rowney Abbey, now a modern mansion, takes its name from Rowenea Priory, founded by Conan, Duke of Brittany, about 1164, and occupied for several generations by a Benedictine prioress and nuns. At Munden Street, or Dane End, ¼ mile S. from Little Munden, were formerly two or three large tumuli, long since levelled.
Nash Mills, on the river Gade, is a hamlet in the parish of Apsley End, 2 miles S. from Hemel Hempstead. The House was the seat of Sir John Evans, K.C.B., F.R.S., etc., the great archæologist, who had a rich collection of coins, prehistoric flints, implements, etc., some of which were discovered in the neighbourhood.
Nettleden was formerly in Bucks, but was transferred to Herts a few years ago. The village is beautifully situated at the foot of a wooded hill, at the meeting of the roads from Great Gaddesden and Little Gaddesden. The small parish church is a Perp. structure of stone, with a N. porch; it was partly rebuilt by the last Duke of Bridgewater, and was restored in 1887. Note the carved oak pulpit, which, like that in Little Gaddesden Church, was the gift of Lady Marian Alford (d. 1888). Sir John Cotton, Vice-Chamberlain to Edward VI., was buried here. The nearest station is Berkhampstead, L.&N.W.R., 2½ miles S.W.
New Mill is 1 mile N. from Tring, between the hamlets of Little Tring and Tring Grove. The famous reservoirs, often the resting-place of rare water-fowl, are within a short walk.
Newgate Street, a small hamlet in Hatfield parish, is, however, 6 miles S.E. from that town. It is in a prettily wooded district, close to Ponsbourne Park.
Newnham (2½ miles N. from Baldock) is a village lying on high ground, with an E.E. battlemented church on a little knoll above a brook. It consists of chancel, nave of four bays with clerestory, S. aisle and porch, and W. tower. The interior can show little of interest, but there are brasses, (1) on chancel floor, to Sir William Dyer, Bart. (d. 1680); (2) to a family, the man in civic costume (circa 1490); (3) to Joan, wife of James Dowman (d. 1607), and her eight children.
Newsell, a hamlet 1 mile N. from Barkway, lies a little W. from the Cambridge Road. The nearest station is Royston, G.N.R., 3½ miles N.W. Newsell Park is a modern mansion S. from the hamlet.
No Man’s Land is a large tract of common, partly covered by furze, stretching left from the road between Sandridge and Wheathampstead. Some years ago a farmer close by collected quite a museum of stuffed birds, etc., shot in the neighbourhood, which many persons visited, but I understand the collection is now dispersed.
In 1884 Sir John Evans showed to Mr. W. G. Smith “a good white ovate palæolithic implement,” one of two found on No Man’s Land Common. In December, 1886, Mr. Smith visited the gravel pits there and found a somewhat similar implement in situ; this latter is engraved in his Man the Primæval Savage. At the same time Mr. Smith found two neolithic celts on the common.
Nobland Green (1¼ mile N.W. from Widford Station, G.E.R.) is little more than a farm and a few cottages.
Northaw (2 miles E. from Potter’s Bar Station, G.N.R.) is a village on the Middlesex border, near the source of the river Colne, and a place of considerable interest. In the wood N. from the village there lived a hermit named Sigar, the subject of some monkish legends. He lived about the time of Henry I., and was buried beside Roger the Monk (see Markyate Street) in the S. aisle of the Baptistery of St. Alban’s Abbey. There was originally a small church close to the village, E.E. or perhaps late Norman; this was replaced by the cruciform church of St. Thomas Becket, a pseudo-Perp. structure, destroyed by fire in 1881; the present cruciform building of Ancaster stone is Dec. with a conspicuous W. tower carrying four pinnacles. Note the piscina, three sedilia and credence table in chancel; also the finely carved font of Ancaster stone, on marble pillars, presented by the children of the parish. There are several memorial windows, of only local interest; but the pulpit and reredos are both good, the former showing the four Evangelists in canopied recesses. Unfortunately, only a portion of the old registers were saved from the fire of 1881.
Northchurch, or Berkhampstead St. Mary, forms one long street with Great Berkhampstead, but is a separate village, 1 mile W. from Berkhampstead Station, L.&N.W.R. The cruciform church is Dec.; it stands in a small graveyard close to the high road to Tring. The most curious memorial is the brass near the porch to Peter the Wild Boy, who was found wild in a forest in Hanover in 1725 and brought to England at the desire of Queen Caroline. He lived at a farm at Broadway (q.v.) and died in 1785. There is also a curious sentence about this church in Chauncy: “Henry Axtil, a rich Man starved himself, and was buried here April 12, 1625, 1 Car. I.” The church was entirely restored in 1883, when the present N. aisle was added.
Northfield, a small hamlet, is a little S. from Ivinghoe (Bucks).
Norton, near the tiny river Ivel and the Roman Icknield Way, is 1 mile W. from Baldock. The large building on the hill-top close by is the Three Counties Asylum. The manor belonged to the Abbot of St. Albans at the time of the Conquest; and in the year 1260 Roger de Norton, who took his name from this village, became the twenty-fourth abbot of that monastery. The church, E.E., is of great antiquity, some parts of it having been little altered; it is of flint, and stands at the N.E. end of the village. It contains two or three old memorials, but none of historic interest. A pretty walk from the church leads through Norton Bury and beside the Ivel to Radwell Mill.
Norton Green, between Knebworth Park and Stevenage, is ½ mile W. from the Great North Road. It is a small hamlet.
Nup End (1½ mile W. from Knebworth Station, G.N.R.) is almost one with Knebworth Green. Codicote church is 1 mile S.W.
Nuthampstead (about 5 miles N.E. from Buntingford Station, G.E.R.) is a large hamlet on the Essex border. The parish churches of Barkway (W.), Anstey (S.W.), and Meesdon (S.E.) may all be reached within a short walk.
Offley or Offley St. Leger (3 miles S.W. from Hitchin) is a village at the meeting of the ways from Hitchin, Temple Dinsley, and Lilley. It owes its name to Offa, King of the Mercians, who had a palace here, as we learn from his life by Matthew Paris, and its adjunct to the St. Legiers, who became Lords of the Manor soon after the Conquest. Miss Hester Salusbury, who became Mrs. Thrale, and afterwards Mrs. Piozzi, used as a child to visit at Offley Place, in the park close to the church. The old mansion was built by Sir Richard Spencer in 1600, and in part rebuilt early last century, when its style was changed from Jacobean to a form of Gothic.
The church (restored Perp.) stands in the park, close to the road. Note (1) monument in chancel to Sir H. Penrice, Kt. (d. 1752); a figure of Truth standing on a sarcophagus of black marble, the whole finely executed; (2) monument in white marble, by Nollekens, to Sir Thomas Salusbury, Kt. (d. 1773), and Sarah his wife (d. 1804); (3) brass with effigy, to John Samwell (d. 1529), and his wives Elizabeth and Joan; (4) brass to a civilian and his family (circa 1530); (5) well carved Perp. font.
Offley, Little, is a hamlet 1¼ mile N.W. from the above.
Offley Green is 4 miles N.W. from Buntingford Station, G.E.R. The walk beside Julians Park to Rushden, 1 mile S.W., is very pleasant.
Offley Holes (2½ miles S.W. from Hitchin) is a small hamlet. Offley Grange, Offley Hoo, Offley Cross and Offley Bottom are all in the immediate neighbourhood, W. and N.W.
Old Hall Green (1½ mile W. from Standon Station, G.E.R.) lies W. from the Old North Road. It is a small hamlet.
Oxhey (2 miles S. from Watford) is a hamlet on the Middlesex border. It has a good modern church, E.E. in style. N. lies Oxhey Place, on the site of the old home of the Heydon family, rebuilt by Sir William Bucknall in 1668, and again by Hon. William Bucknall in 1799. The chapel, close to the old mansions, was spared by both those renovators, but has since been repeatedly restored. It contains many interesting monuments, conspicuous among which is that on the S. wall to Sir James Altham (d. 1617) who had built the chapel on the site of an earlier structure in 1612. The old judge is represented kneeling in his robes between two pillars, beneath a canopy of alabaster; behind him is the effigy of his third wife Helen (Saunderson). Note the carved oak seventeenth century reredos, occupying the whole of the E. end of the chapel. It is divided into three compartments by two columns, massive and twisted, with Corinthian capitals; these support a frieze, with cornice and pediment. Note also the oak ceiling, and the five Tudor windows (replaced). Oxhey Hall, N.W. from the chapel, is now a farm; but can still show the wonderful ceiling of carved oak, in sixteen panels, which must be very ancient.
PANSHANGER PARK, Lord Desborough, K.C.V.O, should be visited by all who love an historic home surrounded by beautiful scenery. It lies almost midway between Hatfield and Ware Parks; the house itself is 1½ mile N. from Cole Green Station, G.N.R. The park is very extensive (about 900 acres); the river Maran flows through it from W. to S.E., opening into a lake S. from the house. It is famous for its splendid timber; the wonderful “Panshanger Oak,” one of the very largest in England, stands W. from the house.
Panshanger is not a “correct” structure from an architectural standpoint; the writer of Murray’s Handbook describes it well as “a stucco-fronted, semi-castellated Gothic mansion of the Walpole-Wyatt type”. Most ramblers, however, are not architects, and the grey stone mansion and its surroundings are, as a whole, as picturesque as they can well be. The greater part of it was built by Peter, fifth Earl Cowper, in 1801; but the picture gallery, overlooking the terrace and gardens, was a later addition. The house was partially burnt in 1855. The older home of the family stood at Cole Green—then called Colne Green.
The famous Cowper Collection is largely the result of the taste and perseverance of the third earl, who resided for some years at Florence. Only a few of the pictures can be named here: Madonna, by Raphael (1508); Holy Family, by Fra Bartolommeo; Mountainous Coast (fishermen in foreground), by Salvator Rosa; Nativity, by Carlo Dolce; Virgin Enthroned, by Paul Veronese; Third Earl Cowper and His Family; First Earl Cowper, by Sir Godfrey Kneller; Francis Bacon, by Van Somer; Turenne, by Rembrandt; Charles Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, by Janssens. The whole collection is worth careful study. Permission to view may be obtained when the family are away.
Park Street, a large hamlet with station 1/3 mile W. (L.&N.W.R.), is on the river Colne, 2 miles S. from St. Albans. The parish church is at Frogmore (q.v.).
Parker’s Green (4 miles S.W. from Westmill Station, G.E.R.) is a hamlet adjoining Wood End.
Patient End may be reached from Braughing Station, G.E.R., 4 miles S.E., the road being more direct than that from Westmill Station, about the same distance as the crow flies. The hamlet lies between Albury and Furneaux Pelham.
Patmore Heath is 1 mile S.E. from the above.
Pepperstock, a hamlet on the Beds border, is a little W. from the Harpenden-Luton road, and close to Luton Hoo Park.
Perry Green (1¼ mile S.E. from Hadham Station, G.E.R.) is a small scattered hamlet.
Peter’s Green, on the Beds border, lies at the meeting of several roads; the Half Moon and Rising Star with a few cottages comprise the hamlet. The descent W. towards Chiltern Green Station, M.R., commands a fine view, looking towards Luton Hoo Park. The several ways (one is hardly more than a lane) lead S.E. to Kimpton, S. to Harpenden, N. to Lawrence End Park, and N.E. to Breachwood Green and Bendish.
Piccotts End is passed when going from Hemel Hempstead to Great Gaddesden. It is on the river Gade, at the N.E. extremity of Gadesbridge Park.
Pin Green (1½ mile E. from Stevenage Station, G.N.R.) lies between the Great North Road and the river Beane.
Pirton (3½ miles N.W. from Hitchin) is an ancient village on the Beds border, said to owe its name to one Peri, who possessed it in Saxon times. William I. gave it to Ralph de Limesie, or Limesy, who founded the church and gave the tithes of it to the Abbey of St. Albans. The site of the castle built by Ralph is thought to be at Toot Hill, W. from the church, where a moat may be traced. The church was originally cruciform, but the transepts have long disappeared; the tower, massive and embattled, still standing between nave and chancel. Restoration has been carefully carried on recently; the tower was rebuilt in 1877, but some Norman work may still be traced in its arches. Note (1) monument and curious inscription to Jane, wife of Thomas Docwra (d. 1645); (2) double piscina, fourteenth century, in S. wall of chancel.
Pirton should be visited for the fine old houses in its neighbourhood. High Down, S. from the church, is Elizabethan, with gables, twisted chimneys and mullioned windows; it was formerly the home of the Docwras. Pirton Hall, on a hill N.W. from the village, is also Elizabethan, and the Rectory Manor House and Hammond’s Farm are both ancient. In the latter is some fine old carved oak.
Plummers is 1½ mile S.W. from Knebworth Station, G.N.R. It consists of a few cottages.
Ponfield lies between Bedwell and Bayfordbury Parks. It is a small hamlet nearly 2 miles S.E. from Cole Green Station, G.N.R.
Poplar’s Green is on the river Maran, on the W. edge of Panshanger Park. The old church at Tewin is less than 1 mile N.W. The station is Cole Green.
Potten End (2 miles N.E. from Berkhampstead Station, L.&N.W.R.) has a modern chapel-of-ease to Nettleden (1 mile N.). The hamlet is prettily situated between the rivers Gade and Bulbourne.
Preston (4 miles W. from Stevenage Station, G.N.R.) is a hamlet beautifully situated on high ground. The Church of St. Martin is a small building a few yards W. from the green, a modern erection; close by is the Bunyan Chapel, and ½ mile N. is Bunyan’s dell, where the author of the Pilgrim’s Progress often preached. Temple Dinsley, a manor house a little E. from the Red Lion, stands on the site of the preceptory of the Knights Templars, founded by Bernard de Baliol in the reign of Stephen.
Primrose Hill is a hamlet in King’s Langley parish, ½ mile N. from the station, L.&N.W.R.
Puckeridge, a village on the Old North Road, nearly 1 mile S.W. from Braughing Station, G.E.R., was visited by Pepys on more than one occasion. Here, at the White Hart Inn, the road divides, going left nearly due N. to Royston and right to Cambridge. The village lies partly in Standon and partly in Braughing parish. The nearest church is at Standon, 1 mile S.E., but divine service is conducted in the church schoolroom.
Puddephats (3 miles N.W. from Redbourn Station, M.R.) is a hamlet in Flamstead parish.
Purwell Mill, on the river Purwell or Pirrel, 1 mile E. from Hitchin, stands near the spot where the tesselated pavement of a Roman villa was discovered many years ago, in excellent preservation.
Puttenham (1½ mile S. from Marston Gate Station, L.&N.W.R.) lies near the Clinton chalk hills, in the extreme W. of the county, on the Bucks border. The church, close to the village, is of several periods, parts of the structure being E.E. and other portions Perp. and Tudor. Several portions should be carefully noted: (1) very large embattled W. tower, built of blocks of Ketton stone with flints laid in squares between each block; (2) roof of nave, thought to date from temp. Edward IV.; with two shields under the ridges, one bearing the arms of Zouch, the church having belonged to the Priory of Ashby; (3) solid oak pews, probably coeval with nave roof. The S. porch was rebuilt in 1889. The vill of Puteham belonged to Leofwin, brother to Harold Godwin; William I. gave it to his half-brother, Odo, Bishop of Bayeux.
Queen Hoo Hall. (See Bramfield.)
Rabley Heath (1 mile S.W. from Knebworth Station, G.N.R.) adjoins Sallow Wood. Knebworth and Codicote churches are about equidistant (1¼ mile), N.W. and S.W. respectively.
Radlett, with station on M.R. (main line), is about 5 miles S. from St. Albans, on the high-road from the Marble Arch to that city. Seen left from the train the neighbourhood is very pretty, the spire of the church showing among the trees some distance before the station is reached. The cruciform church is modern (1864), E. Dec. in style, with several good windows of stained glass. A picturesque ramble may be taken by turning into any lane in the vicinity, especially towards the Valley of the Colne, W. A potter’s kiln of the Roman Age was discovered here.
Radwell, on the Beds border, is in a charming district, threaded by the little river Ivel, 1½ mile N.N.W. from Baldock. The mill is reached by turning left after passing The Compasses, a quaint old inn, where a story is told of the “Maid of the Mill,” a local beauty, who captured many hearts in days long past.5 Between The Compasses and the mill stands the little Perp. church, very ancient, but in part restored on several occasions. It has no tower, the two bells hanging in a small turret at the W. end of nave. Here, as at Norton, there are several memorials to the Pym family; and a few others worth noting: (1) brass, with effigies, to John Bell, Gent. (d. 1516), and his two wives; this was discovered during restoration, about twenty-five years ago, but the inscription was copied by Chauncy, so it must have been hidden by some alterations effected after, say, 1690; (2) marble monument to John Parker, Kt. (d. 1595), and Mary, his wife (d. 1574); the latter was buried at Baldock. There is also a small brass to Elizabeth (Gage or Cage), wife of John Parker (d. 1602). The font is fourteenth century. Radwell, formerly Reedwell, is said to owe its name to the many reeds that grew by the river-side. There are plenty of moor hens, coots and dab-chicks on the lake-like expansion of the Ivel near the mill.
Red Heath is in the parish of Croxley Green, 2 miles N.N.E. from Rickmansworth.
Red Hill, 4 miles E. from Baldock, is a small hamlet in a very quiet neighbourhood. The nearest church is at Wallington, ¾ mile N.W. Julians, a substantial house in the park, ½ mile S., was built early in the seventeenth century.
Redbourn (i.e., the road by the burn) lies on the old Watling Street, 4 miles N.W. from St. Albans. The river Ver, here a small stream, skirts the E. side of the village. The old manor, like that of Abbots Langley, was given to the Abbey of St. Albans by Egelwine the Black and Wincelfled, his wife, in the days of Edward the Confessor. St. Amphibalus was probably buried here after his martyrdom; his barrow was on the Common, and the story of the removal of his bones to St. Albans is narrated in Matthew Paris, and is referred to in the Introduction (Section IX.). The church of St. Mary, at Church End, ¾ mile W. from the station (M.R.), dates from Norman times; the only existing portions of the ancient structure are the three columns of the N. aisle arcade, but much thirteenth and fourteenth centuries work still stands. It was largely rebuilt by Abbot John Wheathampsted (temp. Henry VI.). Note (1) almost unique carved oak rood screen, double canopied; (2) pointed arches of S. side of nave, replacing those defaced during the Commonwealth; (3) Eastern sepulchre and sedilia in chancel; (4) piscinæ in N. aisle and lady-chapel; (5) brass in chancel, with eight kneeling effigies, without date; (6) brass in chancel to Richard Pecock, or Pekok (d. 1512). There are silk and corn mills on the Ver, close by.
Reed lies on the chalk range, midway between Buntingford and Royston, about 3½ miles S. from Royston Station, G.N.R. The village lies right from the Old North Road. One of the best Norman doorways in the county is on the N. of the little church, which also contains good Dec. portions. The tower alone was untouched during the restoration of sixty years ago. Some remains of two moats are a little E. from the village; Reed End, Reed Green and Reed Wood, are in the vicinity. The neighbourhood is less wooded and picturesque than most of the county.
Revel End (1½ mile S.W. from Redbourn Station, M.R.) is a hamlet.
RICKMANSWORTH is in the extreme S.W. of the county; the rivers Colne, Chess, and Gade unite here, close to the Grand Junction Canal; and it is easy to understand why the place was formerly called “Rykemereswearth,” i.e., the rich moor-meadow. It is a compact little town with many quaint houses and quainter by-paths. The residence now called Basing House, in the High Street, was for some time the home of William Penn, the Quaker; a photograph of it was long since reproduced in the Quiver. The manor was given by Offa to the Abbots of St. Albans, who retained it till the Dissolution, after which Edward VI. granted it to Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London. Henry III. granted a market to be held in the town every Wednesday; it was subsequently held on Saturday, but has long been discontinued. Paper-making and brewing are now largely carried on in the neighbourhood.
The church, at the S. end of Church Street, was rebuilt (except the tower) in 1826; and again in 1870, from designs by Sir Arthur Blomfield. It is Perp., almost entirely embattled, and is constructed of flints, with stone dressings. Note (1) sedilia, piscina and modern oak stalls in chancel; (2) restored marble altar tomb carrying shield of arms, and inscription to Sir Henry Cary, Baron of Leppington and Earl of Monmouth (d. 1661); (3) brass with effigy to Thomas Day (d. 1613), and his wives Alice (d. 1585), and Joane (d. 1598); a separate inscription in the “Ashbie Chapple” ran—I am not sure if it is still preserved:—
“Here ly byrid undyr this stone
Thomas Davy and his two Wyfs Alice and Joan”.
The vicarage is thought to be the oldest in Hertfordshire; it still retains portions dating from the middle of the fifteenth century.
One mile S. is Moor Park (Lord Ebury). The house has undergone many changes. George Nevil, Archbishop of York, built a house in the park in the reign of Edward IV., and sometimes entertained that monarch, and we read of a lodge (was it Nevil’s house?) being here when Cardinal Wolsey owned the manor of “More Park”. The estate changed hands several times before we find it in the hands of the unfortunate James Fitzroy, Duke of Monmouth, who is believed to have built a large mansion on the site of the present house. This mansion was almost rebuilt by B. H. Styles, a man who made a fortune over South Sea Shares, and is said to have spent £130,000 in erecting and adorning his house in this beautiful park, with the assistance of the architect Leoni. The house that Styles built still largely survives in the present structure, after several alterations and much embellishment during eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It is a large and stately mansion of Portland stone, with fine Corinthian portico, the columns of which are about 50 feet high. The vast hall was almost covered with classical and mediæval designs by Sir James Thornhill, who had to sue Styles before he could obtain his remuneration; note the huge statues supporting the five marble doorways. The house may be seen to advantage some distance from the terrace; but it must be remembered that it no longer retains its wings, which were removed when Mr. T. B. Rous lived at Moor Park towards the end of the eighteenth century.
Permission must be obtained before the park, grounds or house can be inspected. The park contains about 500 acres and is famous for its splendid timber, some of its oaks being of almost perfect development and proportions.
Ridge (2½ miles S.W. from Potter’s Bar Station, G.N.R.) is on the Middlesex border, close to South Mimms. The village doubtless owes its name to its situation on the hill. The small church is mainly Perp., but the chancel is E. Dec.; it contains several memorials to the Blount family, including one to Charles Blount (1654-93). He was an infidel of more bitterness than ability, as may be seen from his translation of Philostratus’s Apollonius Tyanæus; readers may remember that his Just Vindication of Learning, etc., was stigmatised by Macaulay as “garbled extracts” from Milton’s Areopagitica. On being refused a licence to marry his deceased wife’s sister, he committed suicide—Pope says he “despatch’d himself”. The Blount family resided in the neighbourhood for many generations; Sir Henry Pope Blount, father of the above-mentioned Charles, “built here a fair structure of Brick, made fair Walks and Gardens to it, and died seiz’d thereof”. He was the author of A Voyage into the Levant.
Ringshall is a hamlet on the Bucks border, in the parish of Little Gaddesden.
Roe Green (4 miles S.E. from Ashwell Station, G.N.R.) is in a pleasant and very quiet neighbourhood. The nearest parish church is Sandon, about 1 mile N.E. Roe Wood is a little N. from the hamlet.
Roestock, a hamlet in the parish of North Mimms, is 1 mile N. from the Park. Smallford Station, G.N.R., is 1 mile N.W.
Round Bush consists of a few cottages, 1½ mile S.W. from Radlett Station, M.R.
Row Green (1¼ mile S.W. from Hatfield) lies close to the road from St. Albans to Hatfield. Row Hyde is a little farther S.W.
Rowley Green, on the road from Barnet Gate to Shenley, is nearly 2 miles E. from Elstree Station, M.R.
ROYSTON, an ancient market town on the Icknield Way at its junction with Ermine Street, was until recently partly in Cambs. It is supposed to owe its name to a Dame Roesia who placed a cross here on the highway, near which spot a monastery of Black Canons was founded by Eustace de Mere and others in the reign of Henry II. Early in the reign of Henry IV. the town was almost destroyed by fire. Royston enjoyed several market privileges in the good old days, and it is recorded that early in the fifteenth century wheat was so plentiful that it was sold in Royston market for 12d. a quarter.
The church was erected close to the monastery late in the thirteenth century, and at the Dissolution was constituted the parish church. Thirty years ago it was restored, and more recently enlarged, and is now an imposing structure of flint and rubble, E.E. in style. The tower (W.) is embattled and carries four pinnacles. The fine lancet windows in the chancel were discovered during restoration in 1872, as were also the fragments of the old screen, since pieced together to form the present pulpit and reading desk. The alabaster effigy in the chancel, of a knight in armour, is believed to represent one of the Scales family. There are several old brasses: (1) to William Taberam, Rector of Therfield (d. 1432), this was large, but only the upper part now remains; (2) to a civilian and his wife (circa 1500); (3) to Father William Chamber, who founded an annual sermon to be preached in the church on Rogation Mondays (d. 1546). There are some good modern windows of stained glass.
James I., who had been entertained at Royston by Robert Chester during his progress from Scotland to London, built a lodge near Royston Heath, to which both he and Charles I. occasionally resorted, the latter being brought here as prisoner in 1647. Some cottages still standing on the outskirts of the Heath are said to have been used for stables when James I. used to hunt in the neighbourhood, and by inquiring for the “Old Palace” visitors will be shown what little remains of his Majesty’s hunting lodge. The Heath is now famous for its fine golf links.
Beneath the old boundary between the two counties, and close to the Post Office, is the famous Royston Cave, which visitors should not fail to see. It was accidentally discovered in 1742 by some men who were digging a hole in the market-place, and is now entered by a specially constructed passage under the street. It was visited by Louis XVIII. Hewn out of the solid chalk, its greatest height is about 25 ft., its diameter about 17 ft. It contains curious, and in some cases uncouth figures and coloured reliefs of saints, kings, queens, etc., of all sizes and ages, and some crucifixes. The late Joseph Beldam, F.S.A., was of opinion that the cave dates from pre-Christian times, that it became in turn a Roman sepulchre and an oratory, and that it was closed during the Reformation.
There are still the traces of several tumuli in the neighbourhood, and ancient coins, etc., have been found, but the evidences of any Roman occupation are not very convincing.
Royston is a somewhat quaint town, with some narrow byways and odd-looking houses, amongst which the Old Plough Inn is not the least noticeable.
Rush Green (1 mile S. from Ware) is a small hamlet.
Rushden, formerly Risendene and Risden (5 miles S.E. from Baldock), has a stuccoed brick church, Dec. and Perp. Chauncy saw in it, “no Inscription, Monument, or other Remark,” but in 1754 the monument of Sir Adolphus Meetkerke, Kt., was brought here from St. Botolph’s, Aldersgate. Meetkerke was Ambassador from Flanders to the Court of Queen Elizabeth, and the author of several volumes. Note the canopy in nave, thought to have covered a statue of the Virgin. In the reign of Henry II. the patronage of the church was given by William Basset, Sheriff of Leicestershire, to the Canons and Church of St. Peter’s at Dunstable.
Rustling Green is midway between Knebworth and St. Paul’s Walden Parks. The district is prettily diversified by small woods. By the shortest way through the park Knebworth Station is about 3½ miles E.
The Rye House, on the W. bank of the river Lea, is a famous resort of fishermen, excursionists and folk wishing to see the Great Bed of Ware, brought here from Ware in 1869. The bed is a huge construction of solid oak, quaintly carved, and large enough to hold twelve adults, as is proved by a story which can readily be found by the curious, but which is unfit for repetition in these pages. It is alluded to by Shakespeare, Byron and other writers. The present Rye House is modern, but attached to it are some remains of the old House, some account of which must be given here.
In his description of the “Mannor of the Rye” Chauncy says, “King Henry VI. granted licence to Andrew Ogard and others, that they might impark the scite of the Mannor of Rye, otherwise called the Isle of Rye in Stansted Abbot, fifty Acres of Land, eleven Acres of Meadow, eight Acres of Pasture and Sixteen Acres of Wood, erect a Castle there with Lime and Stone, make Battlements and Loopholes &c.”6 The castle built by Ogard passed into the hands of the Baesh family; it was doubtless in part rebuilt at different times, for what remains of it is of brick. In course of time it became the property of Lieut., afterwards Col., Rumbold, known as “Hannibal” among his associates, who had been a private in Fairfax’s famous regiment of 1648. This man was the originator of the Rye House Plot.
The story of that plot may be recapitulated in few words. In the spring of 1683 Charles II. and James Duke of York were at Newmarket. Rumbold and some of his ultra-Republican friends heard that the Royal party would return to London by way of Rye House. They met together and arranged to secrete some men in the house, to create a disturbance as the King passed and to kill him in the confusion which would follow. The King escaped—probably, as most writers agree, because he left Newmarket earlier than was expected. The plot soon became known, the Rye House was searched and many persons were charged with High Treason. Two illustrious men became implicated, through the allegations of Howard of Escrick and others—Algernon Sidney and Lord Russell. Both were certainly innocent, but both were beheaded, and Russell was buried at Chenies in Bucks (almost on the Herts border). Rumbold fled to Holland, joined the expedition which Argyle headed in Scotland, and was hanged in Edinburgh in 1685. Visitors to the neighbourhood of the Rye House will perhaps be assured that Rumbold suffered on a tree near by, but such was not the case.
Sacombe (4 miles N.W. from Ware) lies scattered over a considerable district. It was long ago called Suevecamp (i.e., Suaviscampus) because of its pleasant situation. The small Dec. church stands on the hill, at the N. end of the Park; it is of ancient foundation, but was entirely restored about fifty years ago. There are two sedilia and a piscina in the chancel, and two brasses, to John Dodyngton and Eleanor his wife (d. 1544 and 1550 respectively). Sacombe Park is beautifully timbered; the present house of red brick dates from about 1800.
ST. ALBANS is one of the most ancient and interesting places in England; it became a city on the foundation of the Bishopric of St. Albans in 1877. It may be approached by road from London, (1) by way of Barnet and London Colney, the G.N.R. Station (branch from Hatfield) being passed on the left nearly a mile from the old clock tower and market-place; (2) by way of Edgware, Elstree and Radlett, by which route, after passing St. Stephens, the L.&N.W.R. Station (branch from Watford) is on the right and the steep Holywell Hill leading to High Street is straight before. The river Ver skirts the entire S. limits of the city itself; the field that slopes upwards from the silk mill, in a N. direction, is called the Abbey Orchard, and on the summit of the slope stands the great Abbey of St. Alban.
As the ancient Roman city—the Verulamium of Antoninus—stood some distance to the W., a brief account of it will be found under the heading Verulam. The history of St. Albans itself commences with the death of Alban, the proto-martyr of Britain, who was flogged with rods and beheaded by the Romans for having sheltered the priest Amphibalus, connived at his escape, and adopted his faith (circa 285-305; the date is very uncertain). During the fifth century the Saxons captured and destroyed Verulam and built a new town on the hill some distance E. This they named Watlingceaster (the town on Watling Street), but when (793) Offa built a monastery to the memory of Alban on Holmhurst Hill, the traditionary site of the martyrdom, the town itself became known as St. Albans. Gildas, Bede and other old authorities agree that an earlier church stood on this spot; they state, indeed, that it was built soon after the death of St. Alban.
The plan of the city is, like the Abbey, cruciform, four old high-roads meeting together near the Clock Tower, N.W. from Dunstable, S.W. from Watford, S.E. from London, N.E. from Wheathampstead. The latter unites with the road from Harpenden and Luton at The Cricketers, ¼ mile N.W. from St. Peter’s Church. The four roads, on entering the city, are respectively called Verulam Road, Holywell Hill, London Road and St. Peter’s Street; one of the oldest thoroughfares, however, is that called Fishpool Street, which runs from near the W. end of the Abbey to the flour mill on the Ver. Quite recently several of the oldest houses in the neighbourhood were in this street; but some have now been pulled down.
We will enter the city from the direction of St. Stephens. Crossing the bridge over the Ver, we turn left by the Duke of Marlborough, pass through the gate near the river side and keeping the cress-beds on the left reach the silk mill. Turning right we ascend the hill W. of the Abbey orchard, obtaining meanwhile a fine view of the stately W. front of the Abbey itself, as reconstructed by Lord Grimthorpe. Our way into the city lies through the old, partially ivy-clad Gate House, a relic of the Benedictine Monastery; note the Perp. pointed arch and vaulted roof. This was originally the entrance to the Abbey court, the “Magna Porta” of the old monastic days. There was a former structure on or near the same spot; this was blown down and the present building dates from the rule of Thomas de la Mere, thirtieth abbot (1349-96). Used as a jail some centuries ago, it has long been known as St. Alban’s Grammar School; the battlemented house S.W. of the archway is the residence of the head master. The claims of this school to be the oldest in England cannot be adequately discussed here. Suffice it to say that documents attesting its existence date from Abbot Richard de Albini (1097-1119); his successor, Geoffrey de Gorham, came from Normandy to become its master. Matthew Paris records that the school was afterwards kept by a nephew of Abbot Warine (or Warren) de Cambridge, and had at that time more scholars than any school in England. Passing through the arch we notice on the left a small, triangular burial ground. The spot is called Romeland. Here George Tankerville was burnt by order of Bishop Bonner, on 26th August, 1556.
Passing straight forward into Spicer Street the Congregational Chapel, founded in 1797, is on the right. A little farther on is College Street; on the left side stands the house in which Cowper was placed under the charge of Dr. Cotton when his insanity was most pronounced. To reach the old Clock Tower we turn right into Verulam Street and left into High Street. The Tower stands at the S. end of the Market Place; note the quaint, narrow thoroughfare at its W. side, called French Row. The Tower is Perp., of flint and dressed stone, battlemented, and surmounted by a small spire; the basement has long been utilised as a saddler’s shop. It dates from the fifteenth century,7 but was restored by Sir Gilbert Scott in 1864. In it hangs the great bell “Gabriel” cast early in the reign of Edward III.; it is now used for striking the hour and formerly tolled the curfew. In the foreground, where the drinking fountain now stands, was “Eleanor’s Cross,” erected, like the cross at Waltham (q.v.), by Edward I. in memory of his Queen. It was destroyed about 1700. The old market-place, so quaint even fifty years ago, is now largely occupied by modern shops; partly by reason of a fire which occurred many years back.
Continuing our way up the market-place we pass the Town Hall or Court House on the right, an Italian structure dating from 1826, and the broad St. Peter’s Street opens before us, leading to the old church dedicated to that saint. The church is one of three built by Abbot Ulsinus in Saxon times; the date of their foundation is very uncertain, but we may bear in mind that the first abbot, Willegod, ruled at the close of the eighth century, that Ulsinus was the sixth abbot, and that six others ruled during Pre-Norman times. St. Peter’s Church, largely restored by Lord Grimthorpe, is therefore of great antiquity as a foundation; the present structure is chiefly late Perp. with a lofty E. tower carrying four pinnacles, the latter an addition by the restorer. The position of the tower (elsewhere almost invariably W.) is explained by the fact that the old church was cruciform, and that when, at the beginning of last century, the extreme E. of the chancel and the transepts were found much dilapidated they were pulled down, the old tower thereby losing its central position. Note the E. Perp. arches separating nave and aisles; the pulpit a good example of Belgian carving, and the old stained glass in windows of N. aisle; the stained glass in other windows is modern. Concerning the brass to Roger Pemberton, Sheriff of Herts (d. 13th November, 1627), a story is told. If the visitor passes out of the churchyard by the N.W. gate he will be vis-à-vis to the almshouses founded in 1627 on the W. side of what was then “St. Peter’s Street, Bowgate”. Pemberton is said to have been shooting in the woods, to have shot a widow by accident, and to have founded these almshouses for widows, and endowed them with £30 per annum for ever as a salve to his conscience. There is an iron arrow over the old brick gateway before the houses, which seems to countenance the story. There were formerly many other brasses in the church, but the inscriptions on some of them must now be sought in the county histories. A few, however, remain, e.g., one with shield of arms to Mrs. Elizabeth Wyndham (d. 1735). In the N. aisle is the tomb of Edward Strong (d. 1723), “Master Mason” of St. Paul’s Cathedral; in the churchyard lies Dr. Nathaniel Cotton, the friend of Cowper (see page 180) (d. 1788). Among those who fell in the battles of St. Albans (of which more will be said presently) and were buried in this church or graveyard were (1) Sir Bertin Entwysel, Kt., Baron of Brybeke in Normandy; (2) Ralph Babthorpe and Ralph his son, of an old Yorkshire family. As a matter of fact a great number of the slain were buried here; Chauncy says “this Church and Churchyard was filled with the Bodies of those that were slain in the two battles fought in this town”.
The two other churches founded by Abbot Ulsinus are those of St. Stephen and St. Michael.
St. Stephen’s Church stands ¾ mile S.W. from the Clock Tower, at the junction of the roads from Edgware and Watford. It was restored by Sir Gilbert Scott in 1861-62; but still retains some ancient features; e.g., the late Norman arch in N. wall, formerly in part separating the nave from the N. aisle (now absent), and two Norman windows, widely splayed, in W. wall. Note (1) brass eagle-lectern, believed to have been formerly in the Abbey at Holyrood; (2) double piscina in S. aisle; (3) fifteenth century font. The oldest brass, much worn, is in the S. chapel; it is to the memory of William Robins, Clerk of the Signet to Edward IV., (d. 1482) and Katherine his wife.
St. Michael’s Church, about ¾ mile W. from the Clock Tower, stands on gently rising ground close to the carriage road to Gorhambury. It is believed to occupy, approximately, the centre of what was the ancient city of Verulam (q.v.) and to mark the site of a Roman temple. It has been restored, and the tower rebuilt, by Lord Grimthorpe; the work was only completed two or three years ago. Flint and tiles taken from the surrounding ruins by the builders still exist in the walls; but repeated restorations have almost obliterated the evidences of its antiquity. There are brasses (1) to Thomas Wolvey, an Esquire to Richard II. (d. 1430); (2) to “John Pecok et Maud sa femme” (circa 1340-50); but the monument of paramount interest is that in the recess N. of the chancel, to Francis Bacon, Baron Verulam and Viscount St. Albans (d. 9th April, 1626). The great philosopher and Lord Chancellor is represented as sitting in a tall chair, leaning his head upon his left hand; a Jacobean ruff is round his neck and a wide hat upon his head; the sculptor (unknown) has succeeded admirably in imparting an air of abstraction to the countenance. Of Bacon’s house at Gorhambury, 1½ mile farther W., little remains except some fragments of wall and tower, with projecting entrance porch. In the yet remaining spandrels of the arches are medallions of Roman Emperors; over the porch are the arms of Elizabeth. The present mansion, a little E. from the ruins, was commenced in 1778 by James third Viscount Grimston; it has been considerably altered, but retains the grand N. portico; the pediment, supported by ten Corinthian columns, reaches to the roof. The hall is very large, and contains portraits of Francis Bacon, George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, and other worthies. There are numerous pictures in other apartments, including portraits of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Stafford, Queen Elizabeth, Robert Devereux, Catherine of Braganza and William Pitt.
There were three monastic institutions on the outskirts of the town:—
(1) The Leper Hospital of St. Julian, founded by Geoffrey de Gorham, sixteenth Abbot of St. Albans, on a spot close to St. Stephen’s Church. Of this no vestige remains.
(2) The Hospital of St. Mary de Pré, for women-lepers, founded about fifty years after the above by Warren de Cambridge, twentieth abbot, on either side of the old Watling Street. Some of the graves in the churchyard attached to the hospital were visible so recently as 1827, and the cottages known as the “Three Chimnies,” originally part of the hospital itself, were pulled down in 1849.8
(3) Sopwell Nunnery, founded by Abbot Geoffrey de Gorham about 1140, at a spot a little S. from the Old London Road, on the river Ver. The masses of ivy-mantled ruins still to be seen, and usually called the “ruins of Sopwell Nunnery,” are, at least for the most part, the remains of the house built by Sir Richard Lee, to whom the manor was granted at the Dissolution.
ST. ALBANS ABBEY.—The Abbey has been so repeatedly altered and restored that it may be said to illustrate every style of ecclesiastical architecture from Norman to the present time. Opinions differ widely as to the merits of that scheme of renovation and innovation completed under the direction and by the munificence of Lord Grimthorpe, and no attempt will be here made to criticise or extol the work of so great an expert. Such a description of the venerable Abbey as an architect might love to write would fill a volume in this series. After careful consideration I have decided to sketch its history in such a way as to show, however imperfectly, how it came to be what it is. I have been careful to compare many authorities and to follow the consensus of testimony wherever I have found discrepancy or contradiction.
It has already been stated that, according to Gildas, Bede and other authorities, a church was erected on Holmhurst Hill after the martyrdom of St. Alban. Concerning that church we know little more than that it was almost destroyed by the Saxons. In 793, or very near that date, Offa II., who had murdered the East Anglian King, Ethelbert, resolved to found a monastery, encouraged, as we learn from William of Malmesbury, by Charlemagne. The monastery was duly founded, for an abbot and 100 Benedictine monks, and the little church, renovated, became the original abbey of the foundation. Having discovered the bones of St. Alban and placed them in a costly reliquary, Offa conveyed them to this church, intending to erect a nobler edifice for their reception; but it is doubtful whether the design was carried out during his lifetime. Indeed, we know little as to that enlarging and adornment of the church which must surely have been effected in the days of the early abbots, and the first hints of the erection of the great abbey occur in the lives of Ealdred and Eadmer, eighth and ninth abbots, who collected immense quantities of red, tile-like Roman bricks from the ruins of Verulam; Matthew Paris tells us that Eadmer made some progress in the actual rebuilding of the church. The twelfth abbot, Leofstan (d. 1066), enriched the building with “certain ornaments”; but it was the fourteenth abbot, Paul de Caen (1077-97), who, using the vast stores of material collected by his predecessors, entirely rebuilt the church on a scale almost commensurate with its present size.
The rebuilding of the Abbey Church by Abbot Paul de Caen occupied eleven years. When completed, it was certainly one of the noblest and largest structures in the kingdom. The length of this cruciform Norman church was 426 feet. (The extreme length is now 550, due to additions presently mentioned.) On the E. side of either transept were two apsidal chapels, the one adjoining the presbytery aisle being in each case the larger of the two; there was also an apse at the E. end of the presbytery. A square, battlemented tower flanked the W. front on either side; but the chief glory of Abbot Paul’s church was undoubtedly the enormous Norman tower of four stages, triforium, clerestory, ringing-floor and belfry, surmounted by parapets and flanked by angle turrets, of which such considerable portions yet remain. Visitors who saw the Abbey thirty years ago saw the E. portion of the nave, the transepts and the tower substantially as built by Abbot Paul de Caen. The new Abbey was dedicated 1115.
Geoffrey de Gorham, sixteenth abbot (1119-46), placed the relics of St. Alban in a new shrine.
Robert de Gorham, eighteenth abbot (1161-67), erected the Chapter House and Locutory (Abbot’s Cloister); his successor, Symeon (1167-83), completed the erection and embellishment of the Shrine of St. Alban, raising its height so that it could be seen from the High Altar. During his abbacy the relics of St. Amphibalus were brought to St. Albans, and the shrine of that saint was eventually erected in the E. aisle. The Chapel of St. Cuthbert in the Baptistery, built by Abbot Richard de Albini (1097-1119), was also dedicated about this time.
Warren de Cambridge, twentieth abbot (1183-95), placed the relics of St. Amphibalus in a feretry, enriching it with gold and silver ornamentation. He placed it behind the High Altar, near the feretry of St. Alban.
John de Cella, twenty-first abbot (1195-1214), commenced to rebuild the W. front, notably the three fine E.E. porches now replaced by those of Lord Grimthorpe, but the work was completed by his successor William de Trumpyntone (1214-35), who added the two flanking towers. This abbot erected the rood screen between the nave and choir, added the octagon above the tower after removing the Norman turrets and parapets, and probably built those E.E. bays on each side of the nave which are nearest to the W. front. He also restored portions of the S. transept and S. aisle, and rebuilt St. Cuthbert’s Chapel on the spot now partly occupied by the Rood Screen.
The E. end of the Abbey next received the attention of these architect-abbots. Commencing at the second bay E. from the tower, John de Hertford (1235-60) almost entirely replaced the Norman and E.E. work of his predecessors by work which merged into a graceful E. Dec. The work was carried on by his immediate successors, doubtless sadly hindered by the turbulent state of the times. John de Norton (1260-90) built the S. aisle of the Retro-choir, and part of the Lady-chapel, but his work was supplemented by that of John de Berkhampstead (1291-1302). John de Marinis (1302-8) removed the feretry and tomb of St. Alban to the position which it occupied until about the time of the Dissolution and spent 820 marks in the erection of a tomb of Purbeck marble. Hugh de Eversden (1308-26) built the five moulded Dec. bays of the S. aisle, replacing the Norman work, which had given way, and completed the Lady-chapel at the extreme E., thereby greatly increasing the length of the entire building. There was subsequently, however, for a long period, a passage between the Retro-choir and the Lady-chapel.
Abbot Michael de Mentmore (1335-49) completed the restoration of the S. aisle and repaired the Cloister. His successor, Thomas de la Mere, paved the W. floor, and no doubt minor restorations were almost continually in progress during the latter half of the fourteenth century; but a new chapter in the story of the Abbey commenced when John de Wheathampsted became abbot (1420-40 and 1451-64). This celebrated man, during the two periods of his abbacy, hardly rested in his efforts to beautify the Abbey. It is stated in a Cottonian MS. that this abbot constructed a little chapel near the shrine of St. Alban; this was perhaps the Watching Loft (N. of Saint’s Chapel) in which the keeper of the holy shrine and relics (Custos Feretri) spent much of his time. John de Wheathampsted also built the tomb of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (d. 1447), on the side of the chapel opposite the Watching Loft (a few steps lead down to the coffin); prepared his own tomb W. from that of the duke; built the great Perp. window over the W. porches, now replaced by one Dec. in design, and the nine N. windows of Nave and Ante-Choir; and was probably responsible for the paintings discovered on the choir ceiling, and for many of the embellishments of the Lady-chapel. Perhaps, however, his fame chiefly rests on the High Altar Screen, which he designed, but which was erected by the thirty-sixth abbot, William Wallingford (1476-84).
There were apparently few important features added to the Abbey, and but little restoration effected during the rule of the last four abbots (1492-1539). A few brief paragraphs concerning its modern restorations and present appearance must now be added.
Those modern restorations date largely from the middle of last century. Its condition, internally and externally, was at that time certainly discreditable to everybody concerned in its welfare. In 1856 a National Committee placed the matter in the hands of Sir Gilbert Scott, under whose direction the building was in part restored; but public funds presently failed and in 1879 the direction of the workers was undertaken by one who had at once the inclination and the funds necessary to its completion—Lord Grimthorpe.
The Abbey, from the W. porches to the E. end of the Lady-chapel and the Chapel of Transfiguration, measures inside 520 feet, outside 550 feet; the entire transept length from N. to S., on the floor, 177 feet; the nave, the longest Gothic one in the world, 292 feet × 75 feet 4 inches; the Lady-chapel, 57 feet × 24 feet; the great Screens are rather less than 170 feet apart; the height of the tower is 144 feet. Visitors will find some slight discrepancies as to measurements in the several guides which have been compiled; but the foregoing figures will assist them to realise the vast dimensions of the building. Its area is approximately 40,000 square feet. Of special interest are:—
(1) The Tower, which is seen to greater advantage since Sir Gilbert Scott removed the exterior plaster, thus exposing the wonderfully preserved Roman tiles with which it was faced by Abbot Paul de Caen. The four enormous piers upon which it rests were weakened by the ignorance of early restorers, who cut into them freely, and dug graves in such manner as to imperil their foundations. The most arduous work of Sir Gilbert Scott was the strengthening of these piers, effected piecemeal by partial reconstruction of the piers themselves and by laying a durable substratum of cement right down to the chalk. The fine ring of eight bells was rehung. Visitors will find the ascent of the spiral staircase long and arduous, but will be rewarded by the almost unrivalled view from between the merlons on its summit.
(2) St. Alban’s Shrine (in the Saint’s Chapel between the Altar Screen and the Lady-chapel), already referred to (p. 188), disappeared about the time of the suppression of the monastery (1539), and all traces of it were lost except the fragment of Purbeck marble marking its former site on the chapel floor. Yet that shrine, its genuineness unquestioned, stands to-day on the site which it occupied centuries ago! Hundreds of fragments of Purbeck marble were discovered when the central arches of the Lady-chapel were opened by Dr. Nicholson previous to the restorations of Sir Gilbert Scott. Subsequently, other fragments were discovered and the whole collection, the importance of which was suspected, was pieced together with indefatigable ingenuity by the late John Chapple. The feretry itself, mentioned by Matthew Paris, which was supposed to contain the relic of the martyr, has not, and probably never will be, discovered. The vaulted niches are of clunch, but the rest of the shrine is of Purbeck marble. Note the beautiful tracery of these groined niches, the cusps of the arches and crocketted pediments, and the carvings in the tympana, representing scenes from the martyrdom of SS. Alban and Amphibalus.
(3) Shrine of St. Amphibalus (in N. aisle of presbytery). This was discovered in fragments and pieced together in the same manner as that of St. Alban. The whole, however, is of clunch, and, unfortunately, incomplete. Note the fret-like sculpture round the basement, and the name of the saint (imperfect) in carved capitals.
(4) High Altar Screen, or screen of Abbot Wallingford (restored at the expense of Lord Aldenham); is in point of size, as in beauty, perhaps unique in England. Note its resemblance to that at Winchester. It was much dilapidated, its many statues having been entirely destroyed at the time of the Reformation; but its restoration has been admirably executed, the figures of SS. Alban and Amphibalus being especially noticeable: the latter wears a Celtic, not a Roman tonsure. Note also the figures of our Lord and His apostles in alabaster, and those of Adrian IV., Bede, Hugh of Lincoln, St. Edmund and many others.
(5) Chantry Tombs of Abbot Ramryge and Abbot John Wheathampsted, occupying respectively the last arches of N. and S. side of the Sanctuary. Note the fine late Perp. work of the former, and the Wheathampsted arms, three wheat-ears, on the latter.
(6) The Lady-chapel (enter through Retro-choir). This formerly contained much of the finest work in the Abbey and traces of it are still retained, despite its repeated and entire restoration. The present vaulted roof of real stone replaces that of imitation stone built by Abbot Hugh de Eversden. In post-Reformation days it was long used as the Grammar School; but since the removal of the school to the Old Gate House (1869) the chapel has gradually been brought into its present state. Many of its most beautiful features—tracery, mouldings, statuettes, carvings, etc.—had, however, been completely destroyed by the boys. The marble pavement is new; the stained glass in the E. window was presented by the Corporation of London. Note the wonderful variety of carved flowers and fruits with which this chapel is embellished.
From Grose’s Antiquities (vol. viii.) I quote the following:—
“Mr. Robert Shrimpton, grandfather, by the mother’s side, to Mrs. Shrimpton of St. Albans, was four times mayor of that town; he died about sixty years since, being then about 103 years of age. He lived when the Abbey of St. Alban flourished before the Dissolution and remembered most things relating to the buildings of the Abbey, the regimen of the house, the ceremonies of the church... all of which he would often discourse in his life-time. Among other things, that in the Great Hall there was an ascent of fifteen steps to the abbot’s table, to which the monks brought up the service in plate, and staying at every fifth step, which was a resting-place, at every of which they sung a short hymn. The abbot usually sat alone in the middle of the table; and when any nobleman or ambassador or stranger of eminent quality came thither they sat at his table towards the end thereof. When the monks had waited a while on the abbot, they sat down at two other tables, placed on the sides of the hall and had their service brought in by novices, who, when the monks had dined, sat down to their own dinner.”
First Battle of St. Albans.—On May 23rd, 1455, the forces of King Henry VI. assembled in the neighbourhood of St. Peter’s Street, and were attacked by those of the Duke of York and Warwick the Kingmaker. Advancing from the fields E. of the town, Warwick’s men appear to have approached from Key Fields and Sopwell Lane, and, finally, having fought their way into Holywell Hill, to have united with those of the Duke of York, who had forced the town barriers farther N. The battle was desperately contested; the bowmen, as usual in those times, playing a conspicuous part; Henry VI. was wounded in the neck, Humphrey Earl of Stafford in the right hand, Lord Sudley and the Duke of Buckingham in the face—all with arrows. The wounded king took refuge in the cottage of a tanner; here he was made prisoner and conducted by the Duke of York to the Abbey. The town was at the mercy of the Yorkist soldiers during the latter part of the day; many houses were looted and the Abbey was probably spared only because the royal prisoner had been conducted thither. Several illustrious persons slain in this battle were buried in the Lady-chapel: (1) Henry Percy, second Earl of Northumberland; (2) Edmund Beaufort, first Duke of Somerset; (3) John, Lord Clifford. Sir Robert Vere, Sir William Chamberlain, Sir Richard Fortescue, Kts., and many squires and other gentlemen also perished.
Second Battle of St. Albans.—On Shrove Tuesday, 17th February, 1461, Queen Margaret defeated the Earl of Warwick, who retreated with considerable loss, the battle being mostly fought out on Bernard’s Heath, N. from St. Peter’s Church. This engagement also was stubbornly fought out. According to Stow and Hollinshead, the Lancastrians were thwarted in their efforts to pass through the town from S. to N., being repulsed by arrows in the Market Place, and eventually reached Bernard’s Heath by a circuitous route from the W. If this is so, visitors who ramble down the High Street, turn right into Katherine Lane, coming out of Wellclose Street near St. Peter’s Church, will probably tread in the footsteps of the troops of Margaret. After the fight had been decided the victorious Lancastrians poured back into the town, which was again plundered, and the Abbey also partially stripped. This was during the second abbacy of John Wheathampsted, and Stow records that the day after the battle Queen Margaret, and the King (Henry VI.) were led by the abbot and monks to the High Altar of the Abbey, where they returned thanks for the victory.
St. Margaret’s, on the river Lea, has a small church with several unimportant memorials. It was probably formed from one aisle of an older edifice.
St. Margaret’s is also the name of a few cottages a little N.W. from Great Gaddesden, near the site of the Benedictine convent of Muresley, the refectory of which was almost intact early last century.
St. Paul’s Walden (4 miles S.W. from Stevenage Station, G.N.R.) is a large and scattered parish; much of it is very picturesque. The church, which was restored twenty years ago, is of several styles, but contains little worthy of comment. Note the tablet on the W. wall of the chapel to Henry Stapleford and Dorothy his wife. “The said Henry was servant to Queen Elizabeth, King James and King Charles” (d. 1631). The manor was formerly called first Waldene, then Abbot’s Walden, being the property of the abbots of St. Albans. St. Paul’s Walden Bury, ½ mile S.W. from the church, is the seat of Lord Strathmore. Note the fine avenues in the park, commanding good views of the house. The walk S. to Whitwell, through the steep and twisted lane and across the bridge over the Maran, keeping the “bog” and cress beds on the right, is very pretty.
Sandon (3½ miles S.E. from Ashwell Station, G.N.R) has a flint church, probably late fourteenth century. Several features should be noted: (1) Perp. screen (oak) between nave and chancel; (2) old stained glass in windows of both aisles; (3) fine Jacobean oak pulpit; (4) old brass, with inscription which was imperfect 200 years back, to “Johannes Fitz Geoffery, Armiger” (d. 1480); (5) piscina in each aisle; (6) pinnacled and crocketted arches in chancel, over triple sedilia. The church was partially restored in 1875. The manor of Sandone was owned by Saxon kings; Athelstan gave ten houses in the vill to St. Paul’s, London. The Old North Road to Royston is 2 miles E.
Sandridge (2½ miles N.E. from St. Albans) is on the road to Wheathampstead, and is a thoroughly typical English village consisting, for the most part, of one street, with the parish church near its N.E. end. The parish stretches northwards to the Lea, and is very ancient; the vill was given by Egfrith, a son of Offa, to St. Alban’s Abbey. It owes its name to the nature of its soil. The church, one of the most ancient in the county, has known much restoration, but still retains Norman work. It was consecrated as a chapel a few years after the consecration of St. Alban’s Abbey (1115); the chancel was rebuilt by Abbot John Moote (circa 1400). The tower fell towards the end of the seventeenth century and the structure which took its place was pulled down and reconstructed in 1887. Note the old material in the apex, the Perp. windows in the aisles, the clerestoried Norman nave and the Norman font. There are N. and S. porches.
Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, derived his first title, Baron Sandridge, from this parish; the Jennings family, from which his wife Sarah was descended, possessed the manor for several generations. Sandridge Bury, N.W. from the village, is beautifully situated.
Sarratt (1½ mile N. from Chorley Wood Station, Met. Extension) is near the river Chess, on the Bucks border. The church is late Norman and is remarkable for the saddle-back roof of its tower, running N. and S., the only tower roof of its kind in Herts. The building is cruciform, of flint, dressed with Totternhoe and Caen stone, and has a square ambry, a very old piscina, and a double sedilia; the latter is E.E. Richard Baxter is said to have preached from the Jacobean pulpit. There are a few old memorials. The church is prettily situated, and a picturesque walk may be taken N.W. to Sarratt Bottom, thence N.E. to Sarratt Green, which during the last two or three centuries has gradually outgrown Sarratt. Note the many fine old cottages on either side of the village green. Sarratt owes its name to Syret, a Saxon.
SAWBRIDGEWORTH (formerly Sabysford, Sabridgeworth, Saybrichesworth and now often called Sapsworth) lies at the S.E. extremity of the county, 4 miles S. from Bishop’s Stortford. The district is not very diversified, but is open and pleasant. The history of the several old manor houses in the neighbourhood would fill a large volume; those of Hyde Hall (E.) and Pishiobury (S.) are engraved in Chauncy; the present mansion in Pishiobury Park was built by Wyatt, and has a fine adjoining rosery. The church stands between the town and the station (G.E.R.); it has a good Perp. screen between the clerestoried Dec. nave and the chancel, and a large canopied piscina in the N. aisle. The brasses are numerous: note (1) to Sir John Leventhorpe (d. 1433) and Katherine his wife (d. 1431); the former was an executor to King Henry V.; (2) to several other members of the Leventhorpe family, too numerous to mention; (3) to Calpredus Jocelin (d. 147-), and his wives Katherine and Joan; (4) inscription on brass, which was long ago transcribed as follows:—
“Of your Charite
Sey a Pater Nostre and an Ave
For the Sowl of William Chaunce
On whose Sowl Jesu have Mercy”.
Several monuments and brasses are to the memory of persons buried elsewhere. Note the marble altar-tomb in chancel to John Jocelin or Jocelyn (d. 1525) and Philippa his wife.
Shafton End and Shafton-Hoe lie a little E. from the Cambridge Road, on the Essex border, about 4 miles S.E. from Royston.
Shaw Green is 4 miles S.E. from Baldock, near Julians Park.
Sheephall (2 miles N.N.E. from Knebworth Station, G.N.R.) is a little E. from the Great North Road. It is a small village. The church, E.E., is approached through a good lich-gate, and contains many memorials, including two sixteenth-century brasses to members of the Nodes family, one of which was Sergeant of the Buckhounds to Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary and Elizabeth (d. 1564).
Shenley (2 miles E. from Radlett Station, M.R.) is of interest to many for its fine old “lock-up,” or cage, in the centre of the village. We are on high ground here, and the tower of St. Alban’s Abbey is well seen above the trees to the N.W. The village is scattered along several converging roads, and the surrounding country is undulating and beautifully wooded. Turn down the lane opposite the Black Lion to reach the old church of St. Botolph, 1 mile N.N.W. from the cage. Note the venerable yews, and the quaint old grave-boards in the graveyard; also the altar-tomb to Nicholas Hawksmoor, a pupil of Wren, and the architect of St. Mary Woolnoth, Lombard Street (d. at Shenley, 1736). The church was partly rebuilt in the middle of the eighteenth century, when the tower was demolished and a structure of timber, with quadrangular tiled roof, eventually erected in its stead. This has disappeared, and the “old parish church” is now an oblong building of flints, chalk-faced, with tiled roof. Porters, in the park, a little W., was the residence of Admiral Lord Howe. Salisbury Hall, a gabled manor house with massive chimneys, surrounded by a moat, is Jacobean, and stands on the spot occupied successively by the older houses of the Montacutes, and of Sir John Cutts, Treasurer and Privy Councillor to Henry VIII. Eugene Aram visited the neighbourhood.
Sleap’s Hyde (½ mile S.E. from Smallford Station, G.N.R.) is a hamlet in the parish of Colney Heath.
Smug Oak, a few cottages, lies on the E. confines of Bricket Wood, ½ mile N.E. from that station, L.&N.W.R.
Smyth’s End adjoins Barley on the S. (q.v.).
Solesbridge Lane, on the river Chess, is close to Chorley Wood.
Southend and Southend Green are hamlets, (1) adjoining Stevenage on the S., (2) ½ mile E. from Rushden.
Spellbrook is a hamlet nearly midway between Sawbridgeworth and Bishop’s Stortford.
Stanborough, on the Hatfield-Welwyn road, is midway between Hatfield and Brocket Hall Parks. The road which branches N.W. from the hamlet leads to the modern church at Lemsford (q.v.).
Standon has several claims to notice. It is a large village, 1 mile E. from the Old North Road. A little W., and on the other side of the railway, is the mansion which occupies the site of Standon Lordship, a fine old manor house, of which hardly a vestige remains. It was long owned by the Sadleir family, most illustrious of whom was Sir Ralph Sadleir (d. 1587), who fought at Pinkie. (See below.)
The church, largely Dec., still retains some Saxon foundations, and has singular features worthy of comment. The embattled tower is separate from the main structure, standing on the S. side of the chancel; the chancel is raised much higher than the nave, from which it is approached by a flight of steps; note the hagioscope on either side of the chancel arch. Within the chancel, on the S. side, stands the fine monument to Sir Ralph Sadleir, consisting of altar-tomb and marble effigy in armour, recumbent beneath a canopy supported by Corinthian pillars; note the relieved figures of his sons and daughters on the lower part of the tomb, also, suspended above, two helmets and other relics. The standard pole captured at Pinkie rests beside the effigy. There are also several old brasses. Close to the village, at Old Hall Green, are the Roman Catholic College, Chapel and Cemetery; the college was founded at Twyford, Hants, late in the seventeenth century, from whence it was removed, first to Standon Lordship, and then (1769) to Old Hall. The library is large and valuable.
Stanstead Abbots may be easily reached from St. Margaret’s Station, G.E.R., ½ mile W. It was a place of considerable trade at the time of the Conquest. The old flint church is E.E., with a chapel on the N. side, built by Edward Baesh—whose monument it contains—in 1577. He was lord of the manor of Stanstead Abbots and “General Surveyor of the Victuals for the Navy Royal and Marine affairs within the Realms of England and Ireland” (d. 1587). He married Jane, a daughter of Sir Ralph Sadleir. (See Standon.) The six Baesh Almshouses were built and endowed by his son, Sir Edward Baesh. Several brasses, some mutilated, are in the church, notably one near the altar-rails to William Saraye or Saxaye, late of “Grais In” (d. 1581). Stansteadbury, a huge gabled mansion, largely rebuilt, stands in extensive grounds, and was the home of the Baeshs and of their successors, the Feildes.
Stapleford, a village on the river Beane, is 3 miles N.N.W. from Hertford. The church is Perp. with N. porch; it was enlarged nearly fifty years ago, when the present tower was added.
STEVENAGE, a town on the Great North Road, has shifted from its original position. It once stood farther N.E. and close to the church; but after a terrible fire which destroyed a large proportion of its houses the village was gradually rebuilt more directly on the famous old coaching road. The first paper mill in England is said to have been built in this parish. Several of its inns were standing when the regular coaches were on the road.
The old Church of St. Nicholas, ¾ mile N.E., is reached through an avenue of limes and chestnuts, headed by a new lich-gate. It is largely E.E. Note the octagonal pillars and pointed arches of the nave and the two small chapels attached to the chancel. The font at the W. end is under an Early Norman arch. There are several modern windows of stained glass, and a good brass, early sixteenth century, in the chancel. The church at the S. end of the town was designed by Sir A. W. Blomfield about sixty years back, but has since been much enlarged. Half a mile farther S. on the main road are six almost equidistant mounds, thought to be of Danish origin.
At the old Castle Inn, E. side of High Street, great numbers of persons have been shown on the rafters in a barn the coffin of Henry Trigg, whose will was proved in 1724; one of its provisions was that his body should not be buried, but disposed of in that way. Little more than a mile N.W. from the station, at Redcoats Green, stood, until 1893, “Elmwood House,” the home of the Hermit of Hertfordshire. This man, James Lucas, was descended from a good family, but for reasons never satisfactorily explained he lived alone, and in a most filthy condition, from October, 1849, to April, 1874. A concise and reliable account of this peculiar man is issued by Messrs. Paternoster and Hales of Hitchin.
Stocking Pelham, on the Essex border (5½ miles N.E. from Braughing Station, G.E.R.), has an E.E. church dating from early fourteenth century; it has no tower. The chancel was restored in 1864. The manor is very ancient, and was held by Simon de Furneaux in the reign of Edward I., but the village now shows little of interest.
Swangles (2¼ miles N.E. from Ware) is a small hamlet a little S. from the river Rib.
Symonds Green (¾ mile S.W. from Stevenage Station, G.N.R.) is a hamlet between the Great North Road and the ruins of Minsden Chapel.
Symonds Hyde Farm and Wood are in a pleasant district, very diversified, a little S.W. from Brocket Hall Park. Smallford and Hatfield Station (G.N.R.) are from 2 to 3 miles S. and S.W. respectively.
Tea Green, a hamlet near the Beds border, lies between Breachwood Green and Putteridge Bury.
Tednambury and Tednam Mill are on the river Stort and right on the Essex border. Sawbridgeworth Station (G.E.R.) is 1 mile S.
Tewin (about 2 miles S.E. from Welwyn Station, G.N.R.) is most charmingly situated on high ground above the river Maran. The village is divided into the Upper and Lower Green; the church, ¼ mile from the latter, stands on a hill that slopes steeply to the river. Note the altar-tomb in churchyard to Lady Anne Grimston (d. 1710). The tomb is forced asunder by ash and sycamore trees growing together, a circumstance popularly attributed to the sceptical opinions of Lady Anne, who is said to have denied the doctrine of immortality, and to have expressed the wish that such a phenomenon should happen if the doctrine were indeed true. The church, which looks very old, is of flint, brick and rubble, with a large diamond-faced clock on one side of the tower. In the S. porch (entrance blocked up) is the marble monument to Sir Joseph Sabine (d. 1739); who fought under Marlborough. Note the pyramid, 15 feet high, and the recumbent effigy, dressed as a Roman soldier. There is also in the S. aisle a good brass to one Thomas Pygott (d. 1610), and a slab with an imperfect Lombardic inscription to Walter de Louthe. Tewin Water, in the park, N.W., is prettily surrounded by trees. Beautiful walks may be taken in almost any direction, especially in the trend of the river Maran towards Digswell and Welwyn.
Tharbes End is 1½ mile N.W. from Sawbridgeworth.
Theobald’s Park. (See Waltham Cross.)
Therfield (3 miles S.E. from Ashwell Station, G.N.R.) was, according to Dugdale’s Monasticon Anglicanum, given to the church of Ramsey by Etheric, Bishop of Sherbourne, about 980, and Chauncy “guesses” that an abbot of Ramsey built Therfield church. The present church is a modern Dec. structure, a little W. from the centre of the scattered village. The Icknield Way skirts the parish on the N. and many Roman relics have been discovered in the neighbourhood. There are also several tumuli in the parish, which lies on high, chalky soil.
Thorley (2 miles S.W. from Bishop’s Stortford) can show a good Norman doorway on the S. side of the little church; note the dog-tooth moulding and twisted nook-shafts. The remainder of the building is largely E.E.; there is a piscina in the chancel and—at the W. entrance—a niche for a holy water basin. The font, as at Bishop’s Stortford, was a modern discovery. Thorley Wash and Thorley Street are between the church and the G.E.R.
Throcking (2 miles N.W. from Buntingford Station, G.E.R.) stands on a hill. The church is E.E. and Dec., except the upper part of the tower, of brick, added in 1660. The monuments include one by Nollekens and one by Rysbrack, to members of the Elwes family, of whose manor house there are still some traces adjacent to the Hall Farm. The walk N.W. to Baldock, by way of Julians Park (7 to 8 miles), leads across open, breezy country.
Thundridge and Wade’s Mill are on the Old North Road, about 2 miles N. from Ware. The river Rib crosses the road at Wade’s Mill. The present parish church, E.E. in style, was built about seventy years ago, close to the bridge over the Rib; the tower of the old church; “Little St. Mary’s,” with a Norman arch stands in the lower meadows ½ mile E. On the W. side of the Old North Road, close to Wade’s Mill, a low obelisk marks the spot where Thomas Clarkson resolved to give his life to the cause of the abolition of slavery.
Titmore Green is 1½ mile N.W. from Stevenage Station, G.N.R.
Tittenhanger. (See London Colney.)
Todd’s Green adjoins Titmore Green.
Tonwell, on the main road from Ware or Stevenage, is a hamlet near the river Rib. It has a modern chapel-of-ease. Ware is 2½ miles S.E.
Totteridge, on the Middlesex border, is 1 mile W. from the Station (G.N.R.). Richard Baxter lived here for a short time. The neighbourhood is well wooded and very pleasing to the eye. The church, on the hill-top, dates only from 1790; but the site was occupied by an earlier structure. The memorials are of no historic interest; but near the enormous yew tree in the churchyard stands the tomb of the first Lord Cottenham (d. 1851). Near by, too, lies Sir Lucas Pepys, physician to George III. (d. 1830). Totteridge Park, W. from the village, was the residence of Baron Bunsen, and of the above-mentioned Lord Cottenham; the large, plain structure in which they lived, recently in part rebuilt, was erected about a century ago, taking the place of the fine old manor house, for some generations the home of the Lee family. At Copped Hall, near the church, the late Cardinal Manning was born in 1808.
TRING is the most westerly place of any importance in Herts. The station (L.&N.W.R.) is nearly 2 miles E. from the town, which is sheltered on the N.W. by the chalk hills, a fresh spur of which crops out 3 mile N.E. at Aldbury (q.v.). The church (Perp.) stands near the centre of the town and is fortunate in having been restored under the direction of Mr. Bodley in 1882. It is an embattled, flint structure; the tower has a corner turret and is, like that at Hitchin, unusually massive. Note (1) the clustered columns of the nave, (2) the quaint corbels, (3) the large, imposing monument to Sir William Gore and his wife (d. 1707 and 1705 respectively); Sir William was Lord Mayor of London; (4) good Perp. windows in each aisle.
Tring was formerly a considerable centre of the straw-plait industry, which is still pursued to a less extent. The place is of great antiquity, Treung hundred dating from the days of Alfred the Great. William I. gave it to Robert Earl of Ewe, and Stephen kindly bestowed it upon the monks of Faversham, “in perpetual Alms for the Health of the Souls of Maud his Queen and all faithful People”. Edward II. granted to Tring market rights.
Tring Park (property of Hon. N. C. Rothschild) is surrounded by perhaps the most exquisite woods—largely of beech—in the whole county. Much altered in modern times, it is said to have been designed by Wren, and to have been visited by Charles II. The park is well kept, and contains many living curiosities placed here by Lord Rothschild, a lover of natural history. The Museum, at the top of Akeman Street, containing a fine zoological collection, is the outcome of his lordship’s energy and benevolence. The Museum House, to which it is attached, is a prettily designed structure of red brick, with gables.
Tring, Little, is a hamlet 1¼ mile N.W. from the town, and Tring Grove, a hamlet 1¼ mile N.E. The former is near the large reservoirs, upon which several of the rare birds mentioned in the Introduction (Section IV.) were observed.
Trowley Bottom (3 miles N.W. from Redbourn Station, M.R.) is a hamlet a little S. from Flamstead, in one of the most thoroughly rural districts in the county. The Roman Watling Street (St. Albans-Dunstable road) is 1 mile N.E.
Turnford (1¼ mile S.W. from Broxbourne Station, G.E.R.) is a hamlet in Cheshunt parish, on the New River. Broxbourne Bury Park is 1 mile N.
Two Waters owes its name to its position at the junction of two small rivers—the Gade and the Bulbourne. It is in Hemel Hempstead parish, and about 1 mile E. from Boxmoor Station.
Tyttenhanger. (See Tittenhanger.)
Upwick Green (4 miles N.W. from Bishop’s Stortford) is a hamlet on the Essex border. Hadham Hall (see Little Hadham) is 1 mile S.
VERULAM. Of the old Roman municipium (Verulamium) there now remains above ground little more than some large fragments of crumbling wall in the valley of the Ver, immediately S.W. from St. Albans. Passing under the old Gatehouse and crossing the bridge at the Silk Mill the visitor, instead of turning right and following the course of the Ver, should keep straight on and pass the small gate into Verulam Woods. On his right as he follows the broad footpath will be the outer E. wall of the Roman city; on his left what appears a long gorge, overgrown by bushes and trees of many species, was once the fosse. Note the great thickness and solidity of the walls, and the tile-like bricks, similar to those in the Abbey tower, mingled with flints. Presently both wall and fosse turn sharply W. and may be followed in that direction for a considerable distance. The walls may also be traced at other spots farther W., particularly a large mass known as Gorhambury Block, believed to mark the boundary of the municipium in that direction.
It has been mentioned in the Introduction (Section IX.) that the only Roman theatre known to have existed in England stood in this neighbourhood. Its remains were discovered rather more than seventy years ago in a field immediately W. from St. Michael’s Church; nothing is now to be seen, for the excavations have been again covered. The discovery included that of the stage, somewhat narrow, the auditorium, with many rows of seats, and portions of the frescoed walls. Many coins were found among the ruins.
Mention must be made of the fact that the Roman Verulamium was the scene of the awful massacre in the time of Boadicea, when the Queen of the Iceni, with a great number of followers, slew alike the British and Roman inhabitants and partially destroyed the city (A.D. 61). An account of this is in the Annals of Tacitus. The place was subsequently rebuilt and occupied by the Saxons, who called it Watlingceaster, or Werlamceaster.
Wade’s Mill. (See Thundridge.)
Wakely (2 miles W. from Westmill Station, G.E.R.) is a hamlet in Westmill parish, consisting of a farm and a few cottages.
Walkern (4½ miles E. from Stevenage) is a large village, with many picturesque nooks and cottages. The river Beane skirts it on the E. side. The manor is very ancient; Chauncy speaks of “Walkerne” as a town, and mentions a mill which stood in his day (1632-1719) at its S. end, presumably where Walkern Mill now stands. The church, on a knoll sloping to the Beane, is mostly Perp., but retains Norman work in the S. aisle; the chancel is modern, E.E. in style. The effigy in Purbeck marble in a recess of S. wall, of a knight in chain mail, is thought to represent one of the Lanvalei family. If so, it forms an interesting link with a remote past, for in the reign of King John one Alan Basset paid a hundred marks to that monarch, and gave him a palfrey “that his daughter might marry the heir of William de Lanvalley”. There are also effigies on brass to the Humberstone family (sixteenth century). Walkern Hall (1 mile S.E.) stands in a small but pretty park; Walkern Bury (1 mile E.) can still show some remains of a castle.
Wallington (3½ miles E. from Baldock) lies in one of the most quiet districts of the county, a district almost entirely agricultural. The village is small; a few cottages are ancient and picturesque, but there is little to notice. Take the lane opposite the Plough Inn to reach the church, which can show a good Perp. roof and screen, and some mutilated monuments and brasses in the chapel. The main structure is Dec.; but the chancel was rebuilt forty years ago. A walk affording views very characteristic of Herts may be taken from the footpath near the walled pond adjoining the church, by bearing S.S.E. to Red Hill, Rushden and Cottered.
Walsworth, a hamlet, is almost a suburb at the N.E. end of Hitchin, ½ mile from the station.
WALTHAM CROSS, on the London-Cambridge road, owes its name, as is well known, to the Cross which Edward I. erected to the memory of Queen Eleanor about 1¼ mile W. from Waltham Abbey. The cross stands a little W. from Waltham Station (G.E.R.), where the above-mentioned road meets that which leads E. to the Abbey. Although frequently restored it is perhaps even now more complete than any other Eleanor Cross still existing. (That erected at St. Albans, as already stated, was destroyed about 200 years ago.) It is, I believe, disputed as to whether it was designed by Pietro Cavalini or not; it was completed in 1294. It is hexagonal in shape, of three stages, diminishing from basement to summit; the details of its sculpture can be readily seized by examining Mr. New’s drawing. The restoration of 1833 was worked in Bath stone; this was largely replaced by new material, in Ketton stone, only a few years ago, at which time the Old Falcon Inn, which projected almost to the cross, was pulled down, thus affording a view of the monument from all sides.
The Four Swans, close to the cross, dates from 1260, as is testified on the large, quaint sign-board which swings above the road; but only a few portions of the present structure are of any great antiquity. There is a modern church a little N. from the cross; but much of the district commonly called Waltham is in Essex. Of great interest to visitors, however, and about 1 mile W. from the Cross, is Theobald’s Park, a brick mansion erected about 150 years back by Sir G. W. Prescott, Bart. At one of the entrances to the park stands Temple Bar, brought here from Fleet Street and erected in its present position in 1888. The house does not occupy the site of the historic manor house visited by so many sovereigns, which stood on a slight eminence some distance to the N.W. It was William Cecil, afterwards Lord Burghley, who commenced to build that famous mansion in 1560, and enlarged it considerably when he found it pleasant in the eyes of many persons of high degree. Queen Elizabeth was frequently a visitor at Theobalds. It was Burghley’s son, Robert Cecil, who entertained James I. here as that monarch was on his way to London and the English Crown, and James became so pleased with the house and its surroundings that he obtained it from Cecil, giving him the royal manor of Hatfield in its stead. It was from Theobalds that Charles I. set out to raise his standard at Nottingham (1642). The house was partially destroyed during the turmoil that ensued; after the Restoration it was given by Charles II. to George Monk. It was subsequently the property of the Earl of Portland and of several other persons.
WARE was for a long period, and is perhaps now, the centre of the malt trade in Herts, but brickmaking is also extensively carried on. The river Lea skirts the town on the S. side, and is crossed by an iron bridge near the Barge Inn. The High Street displays many new houses and shops, but by turning into the smaller by-ways visitors may find quaint cottages and picturesque nooks and corners. The town is very ancient, but contained only a few persons at the time of the Conquest.
The cruciform church of St. Mary has been much restored; the body of the present structure is Dec.; but the tower and chancel are Perp. Note (1) the carved oak screen separating the S. transept from the Lady-chapel; (2) sedilia, piscina and ambries in the chapel itself; (3) octagonal font (temp. Henry IV.), bearing figures of saints on its panels; (4) mural monument in S. transept to Sir Richard Fanshawe; (5) brass to W. Pyrry or Pyrey (d. 1470) and his wives Agnes and Alice, the inscription was apparently never completed; (6) curious brass figure near pulpit. There is also a modern church in the New Road, E.E. in style, of Kentish Rag and Bath Stone.
There was a Franciscan Priory a little W. from the church, which, although sometimes said to have been founded by Margaret, Countess of Leicester (temp. Henry III.), was probably of much earlier foundation, though doubtless enlarged by that lady. It fell into decay after the Dissolution, but some remains of the old buildings are still to be seen at Ware Priory, a mansion occupying the site. The property formed a separate manor, which was given to the Countess of Richmond by her son, Henry VII.
Ware is not without literary association. The Johnny Gilpin, on the road to Amwell, commemorates the hero of Cowper’s ballad; Pepys mentions his visits to the town on several occasions; Dick Turpin, as the story runs in Ainsworth’s Rookwood, passed through Ware in his famous ride to York; Godwin, who figures so largely in the Lamb literature, was for some years the Independent minister of the town. By a long ascent N. from the town, we reach, by turning right, the hamlet of Ware Side, picturesquely scattered over a slight depression close to Widford (q.v.). W. from the town is Ware Park, a mansion on a beautiful eminence.
Warren’s Green (about 4 miles N.E. from Stevenage Station, G.N.R.) is a small hamlet.
Water End, on the river Gade, is on the S.W. confines of Gaddesden Park. There are also hamlets of the same name (1) close to Ayot Station, G.N.R.; (2) at the E. extremity of Mimms Park, 2 miles N.W. from Potter’s Bar Station (Middlesex).
Waterford and Waterford Marsh are in Bengeo parish, on the river Beane. On the marsh is some grazing common, free to all parishioners.
Waterside is the name of a few cottages (1) on the river Gade, near King’s Langley village; (2) at Mill Green, 1 mile N.E. from Hatfield.
WATFORD, including its quickly rising suburbs, is much the largest town in Hertfordshire. The Colne crosses the high road where it dips before rising towards Bushey, and Chauncy says that the town derives its name from the Wet Ford by which the river is crossed. The building of the Junction Station (L.&N.W.R.), N.E. from the High Street, did much to facilitate the growth of Watford and extend its trade; the railroad diverges S.W. to Rickmansworth only, and N.E. to Bricket Wood, Park Street and St. Albans; the main line from London passes through a long tunnel before reaching King’s Langley Station. The antiquities of the town itself are less interesting and indeed less known than those of other towns in the county, and Chauncy, e.g., finds little to say about it. The manor was long held by the abbots of St. Albans; then it became Crown property, and after several changes of ownership passed to William, fourth Earl of Essex, whose descendants are still lords of the manor.
The parish church, on a small yard adjoining the S. side of the High Street, is Perp., and was well restored about fifty years ago; with its Katherine- and Essex Chapels it forms a large and imposing structure. The latter chapel was built in 1595 by Bridget, Countess of Bedford. Its monuments are very numerous and comprise (1) to Sir Charles Morison, Kt. (d. 1599), and Dorothy his wife; note the fine kneeling effigies; (2) to Sir Charles Morison, K.B., son of the foregoing (d. 1628), and the Hon. Mary (Hicks) his wife, with recumbent effigies one above the other, and attendant figures of a daughter and two sons (note the Corinthian columns which support the canopy overshadowing the whole); both these Morison monuments were the work of Nicholas Stone, mentioned in Walpole’s Anecdotes; (3) altar-tomb to the founder of the chapel (d. 1600); (4) altar-tomb with Tuscan columns and recumbent effigy to Elizabeth, wife of Sir William Russell (d. 1611). Among the brasses are those to (1) Henry Dickson (d. 1610); George Miller (d. 1613) and Anthony Cooper, “servants to Sir Charles Morryson, Kt.”; (2) imperfect, Hugo de Holes, Justice of the King’s Bench (d. 1415), and Margaretta his wife (d. 1416); (3) Henry Baldwyn of Reedheath (d. 1601), Alice, his wife, and three children; (4) James Moss, a messenger to George II. (d. 1758).
There are modern churches: (1) St. John’s, in the Sutton Road, a Gothic edifice completed in 1893; (2) St. Andrew’s, near the Junction, E.E. in design, with a good stained glass window in the S. aisle, and a beautiful Roman Catholic church by Bentley, architect of Westminster cathedral. In Beechen Grove is one of the finest Nonconformist (Baptist) chapels in the county; it dates from 1878 and is Italian in design. Market day is on Tuesday.
CASHIOBURY PARK stretches from the N.W. end of Watford, reaching—together with Grove Park, which it joins—to the parting of the ways at Langleybury Church (4 miles N.W. from Watford Old Church). It is crossed from N. to S. by the river Gade. The present mansion dates from 1800; it was built by Wyatt for the fifth Earl of Essex. Disposed around an open courtyard, its many handsome apartments make a noble appearance; what was formerly part of the N. wing of the old mansion built by Sir Richard Morrison and his son Charles in the sixteenth century is still retained, although that house was largely rebuilt by the first earl, from designs furnished by Hugh May. There is a fine library, and three smaller ones, the collection of books being very valuable; but in the estimation of many the pictures are still more so. Among them may be named: (1) Arthur Lord Capel and his family, C. Janssens; this was the Capel who defended Colchester and was beheaded in 1649; (2) Charles II., by Lely; (3) fifth Earl of Essex as a boy with his sister, by Reynolds, in frame carved by Grinling Gibbons; (4) Countess of Ranelagh, full length, by Kneller; (5) portrait by Rubens, probably of Charlotte de la Tremouille, afterwards Countess of Derby; (6) “Moll Davis” (actress), by Lely. There are many others, especially further portraits of the Capel family. The park and grounds are beautifully laid out. The park is open to the public; but the house is shown only by special request.
Watton or Watton at Stone is a large village on the Hertford-Stevenage road and the river Beane, 3½ miles S.E. from Knebworth Station, G.N.R. Its position is very central, the roads from Ware, Hertford, Great and Little Munden, Walkern, Stevenage, Welwyn and Tewin all converging within the area of the main street. The church, at the S. end of the village, is Perp.; it was entirely restored in 1851. Note (1) piscina and triple sedilia in chancel; (2) doors formerly leading to rood loft; (3) curious tombstone, E.E., in the churchyard; (4) E. window of stained glass, dating from the Restoration; (5) memorial window in the S. aisle to Lady Catherine Barrington. The brasses are unusually old and interesting, e.g., (1) with canopied effigy, to Sir Philip Peletot (d. 1361); (2) to Sir E. Bardolf (d. 1455); the effigy is that of his wife, his own having been long missing; (3) to John Boteler (Butler) and family (1514). The Boteler family, to whom there are many other memorials in the church, lived for many generations in the manor house of Woodhall, burnt in 1771. The house stood on high ground in the beautiful Woodhall Park, E. from Watton Church, on the site occupied by the present fine mansion (Abel Smith, Esq., J.P.). The Beane flows through the park and has been widened to form a large sheet of water S. from the house.
Welham Green is between Hatfield- and Mimms Parks, 2 miles S. from Hatfield Station.
Wellbury is 3 miles W. from Hitchin. Wellbury House (modern) stands in a small park; two small places of few inhabitants, called “Old” and “New” Wellbury, lie on the N.E. outskirts of the Park.
WELWYN, a small town in the Maran Valley, can show little of interest beyond many quaint cottages, and the church, famous as that in which Dr. Edward Young, author of Night Thoughts, officiated from 1730 to 1765. He was buried in the church; the mural memorial to him was erected by his son. The church is Dec., with E.E. portions; the piscina in the chancel is ancient, the sedilia is modern. An inventory of the church furniture, taken in 1541, shows that there were formerly three altars in it. The avenue of limes in the rectory grounds was planted by Young; there is a Latin inscription to the poet on a pedestal at its upper end. His son was visited here by Dr. Johnson and James Boswell.
The walk S.E. to the station (1¼ mile) commands a fine view of the Great Northern viaduct of forty arches over the deeper portion of the Maran Valley. On the opposite (left) side of the road is Locksleys, a good mansion by the river side, surrounded by charming grounds. One mile S. is The Frythe, long the residence of the Wilshere family; at a rather less distance N. is Danesbury, a prettily designed mansion in a small park.
“King Etheldred... willing to relieve his people from the barbarous usuage and the inhuman actions of the insulting Danes... sent instructions to the Governors of all cities, boroughs and towns in his dominions, commanding, that at a certain hour upon the feast of St. Brice, all the Danes should be massacred; and common fame tells us that this massacre began at a little town called Welwine in Hertfordshire, within twenty-four miles of London, in the year 1012, from which Act, ’tis said this Vill received the name of Welwine, because the Weal of this county (as it was then thought) was there first won; but the Saxons long before called this town Welnes, from the many springs which rise in this Vill; for in old time Wells in their language were term’d Welnes.”
One of the springs in the neighbourhood, now disused, was famous in Young’s day for its chalybeate waters.
West End is a hamlet 2 miles S.W. from Cole Green Station, G.N.R. It lies close to the N.W. corner of Bedwell Park, with the river Lea 1 mile N.
West Hyde, in the extreme S.W. of the county, near the river Colne, has a modern cruciform church, Italian in style.
Westmill, a church and picturesque cluster of cottages in a hollow a little W. from the Buntingford Road, is 1½ mile S. from that town. The river Rib runs between the church and the station (G.E.R.). The manor is ancient; it was given by William I. to Robert de Olgi. Nathanial Salmon, author of a History of Hertfordshire published in 1728, was once curate here.
The church very probably dates from the end of the thirteenth century, and is an E.E. flint structure. There are some old slabs in the chancel to the Bellenden family, and one on the nave floor bearing an inscription to one Thomas de Leukenor (?).
Westmill Green is a hamlet 1½ mile S.W. from Westmill Station, G.E.R.
Weston, a large village 3 miles S.E. from Baldock, has an interesting, restored church, dating from about 1200. It has a N. transept, in which are two good Norman windows; a piscina, E.E., is in the nave. The massive embattled tower, which carries an octagonal, N.E. turret, was rebuilt in 1867. In the churchyard may be seen two small stones, about four yards apart, which, according to local tradition, mark the grave of the Weston giant. The church was once a property of the Knights Templars. There is what seems a second village just where a narrow footpath leads from the Lufen Hall Road to the church, which stands ½ mile E. from the long main street. Many folk may still be noticed plaiting in the neighbourhood.
Weston Dane End (1½ mile S. from the above village) is a hamlet on the road to Walkern.
Westwick Row (2 miles S.E. from Hemel Hempstead) is a hamlet near Leverstock Green, in a charming neighbourhood.
Wheathampstead lies in a hollow, in the valley of the Lea. Cyclists approaching the village from St. Albans by way of Sandridge and No Man’s Land must beware of the steep descent from the Old Red Cow to the Swan Inn. The place undoubtedly owes its name to the fine wheat grown in the neighbourhood; it is very picturesque, particularly around the church and vicarage, and by the waterside towards Brocket Hall.
The cruciform church, W. from the centre of the village, is E.E. and Dec. with a few Perp. features. A doorway in the Brocket Chapel is supposed to be Saxon, but I cannot say whether the supposition is correct; the chapel also contains an altar-tomb with effigies of Sir John Brocket and his wife, Margaret, bearing date 1543, and a piscina in the S. wall. A brass of much interest is that to Hugh Bostock and his wife, Margaret (circa 1450), showing their figures in robes. These persons were the parents of John de Wheathampsted. (See St. Albans.) An old marble tablet is to John Heyworth (d. 1558) and his wife Joan. Note also the monumental effigies in N. transept to Sir John Garrard, Bart. (d. 1637), and his wife Elizabeth (d. 1632). The reredos is very fine.
Forty years ago the village was truly rural, but the rebuilding of the old mill between the church and station (G.N.R. branch from Hatfield to Dunstable) and the erection of several modern shops in the main street has altered its appearance. Wheathampstead House, close to the station, is the seat of Earl Cavan; Lamer Park, a little N., slopes pleasantly towards the fine home of A. G. B. Cherry-Garrard, Esq.
Mention must be made of the curious bronze vessel of the Anglo-Saxon period, resembling a teapot, found in the neighbourhood some years ago. It is figured and described in the recently published Victoria History of Hertfordshire.
Wheathampstead Cross (1½ mile S.E. from Harpenden Station, M.R.) is 2 miles S.W. from the above village. It contains nothing but a few cottages.
Whempstead, a hamlet in the centre of the county, is not easily reached, being about 5 miles E. from Knebworth Station, G.N.R., and rather farther N.W. from Ware. The so-called Whempstead Chapel, recently demolished, was a small cottage, but it doubtless stood near the site of an old chapel “founded and endowed about the beginning of the thirteenth century by the family of Aguillon”.
White Barns, near the Essex border, is a hamlet ¾ mile N. from Furneaux Pelham (q.v.).
Whitwell (4½ miles S.W. from Stevenage) is strictly a hamlet, but is a place of some size, scattered along the S. bank of the river Maran. The nearest parish church is at St. Paul’s Walden (q.v.), but there is a modern Baptist chapel near the centre of the main street, and a small church on the Bendish Road, formerly owned by the Countess of Huntingdon’s Connection; it is now partially disused. The mill at the E. end of the village, near the old tan-yard, was burnt down many years ago, but has since been rebuilt.
Widbury is 1 mile E. from Ware.
Widford, so interesting in the eyes of all lovers of Charles Lamb, is a small village on the river Ash, with a station (G.E.R.) a few minutes W. from the church. Visitors, however, must remember that much in the neighbourhood has changed since Lamb’s day. He himself recorded the demolition of the old house “Blakesware” or, as he wrote it, “Blakesmoor,” which he knew so well as a child; the church spire, mentioned in his verses “The Grandame,” was rebuilt many years back; the cottage at Blenheim close by, immortalised in Rosamund Gray, was long ago rebuilt.
The church is Dec. and Perp.; there are sedilia in the chancel, the roof of which was finely painted by Miss Gosselin forty years ago, and there is a piscina in the nave. The circular stone staircase that formerly led to the old rood-loft was built up during restoration. The present E. window is to the memory of John Eliot—the missionary to the Indians—born at Nazing early in the seventeenth century. There are very few memorials; one might almost repeat the words written of the church two centuries ago, “In this church are no gravestones”. The manor is very ancient and was held in the reign of William I. by the Bishop of London.
Wigginton lies on very high ground, commanding splendid views. The village is about 1½ mile S.W. from Tring Station, L.&N.W.R.; the church, near the parting of the roads at its S.E. extremity, is a small flint structure, E.E. in style, with a modern N. aisle. It has no tower. Champneys, near Wigginton Common (1 mile S.), is a prettily situated mansion, rebuilt in 1874. It was formerly the residence of the Valpy family.
Wilbury Hill, between Ickleford and Baldock, is crossed by the Roman Icknield Way. The vallum, through which the Way passes, is thought to mark the site of a Roman camp; Stukeley’s suggestion that it was probably the site of a British oppidum is questioned by Salmon (History of Hertfordshire, 1728). Roman coins have been found in some abundance in the neighbourhood, notably a silver Faustina.
Wild Hill is between Hatfield and Bedwell Parks.
Willian, formerly Wylie (2 miles N.E. from Hitchin Station, G.N.R.), is very ancient, mention of it as a property dating from the times of the Mercian kings. The village lies 1 mile W. from the Great North Road. The church is thought to date from the Conquest, but only an arch in the chancel is Norman. Note (1) the monument to “Edvardus Lacon” (d. 1625), and Joanna his wife (d. 1624); (2) small brass to Richard Goldon, a former vicar (d. 1446—? 1417). A tiny graveyard surrounds the church. Roxley Court (½ mile S.) is the property of Colonel Mortimer Hancock.
Wilstone, near the Aylesbury Canal, lies in a hollow 2 miles S.E. from Marston Gate Station, L.&N.W.R. It has a modern church, E.E. in style, consisting of nave only.
Windridge, a ward of St. Stephen’s parish, is 1½ mile S.W. from the L.&N.W.R. Station at the foot of Holywell Hill, St. Albans.
Winter Green is on the N.W. confines of Knebworth Park, about 1 mile from the church and 2 miles from the station (G.N.R.). The neighbourhood is on high ground.
Woodend (3½ miles S.W. from Westmill Station, G.E.R.) has a numerous population, but is, I believe, a hamlet in Ardeley parish. The modern Chapel of St. Alban the Martyr is built largely of small stones, and has a S. porch. Walkern Park is ¾ mile S.W.
Woodhall (1½ mile N.N.E. from Hatfield) is a scattered hamlet between Stanborough and Hatfield Hyde. Two farms and several cottages bear the name. Woodhall Woods are a little farther N.
Woodhill (about 3½ miles S.E. from Hatfield) is prettily situated, with Brookmans, Hatfield and Bedwell Parks all within a short walk. St. Mark’s Chapel-of-Ease was rebuilt in 1880, although originally erected only in 1852 by the then Marquess of Salisbury.
Woodside is the name of at least three small places, (1) in the neighbourhood of Hatfield, where Upper and Lower Woodside are at the S.E. side of the park; (2) a ward in the parish of Cheshunt; (3) in the parish of Leavesden.
Woollen’s Brook, on the Hoddesdon-Hertford road, has a tiny Mission Church. It is a small hamlet, a little S. from Haileybury College.
Woolmer Green lies on the Great North Road, 1 mile S.E. from Knebworth Station, G.N.R. The roads from Welwyn, Stevenage and Bramfield meet at the S. end of the street. The hamlet is considerable.
Wormley (1 mile S.W. from Broxbourne Station, G.E.R.) is on the New River. The church is at Wormley Bury, ½ mile W. from the village; it is very ancient, but was restored twenty years ago. Note (1) Norman font; (2) small Norman doorway on N. side; (3) “The Last Supper,” by Giacomo Palma, a fine picture over the communion table; (4) rebuilt chancel arch; (5) Perp. windows in nave; (6) tablet on S. wall to Gough the antiquary (d. at Enfield, 1809). Gough completed a translation of a French history of the Bible in his thirteenth year, which was printed for private circulation; he subsequently translated Fleury’s work on Israelitish customs and edited Camden’s Britannia. He bequeathed many MSS. to Oxford University.
The church contains other modern monuments, and there are brasses (1) to John Cleve, Rector (d. 1404); (2) to Edward Howton (d. 1479), his wife and family; (3) to John Cok, his wife and eleven sons; date uncertain, but presumably fifteenth century. Cok or Cock was the name of a very old family in the neighbourhood, especially at Broxbourne.
Wyddial (1½ mile N.E. from Buntingford) was called Widihale in Domesday Book, and was given by William I. to Hardwin de Scalers. The walk from Buntingford up the hill to the ruined church at Layston (q.v.), and thence to this village, leads through some of the quietest spots in the county. The church is E.E., and stands on high ground a few yards N. from the road and about 1 mile W. from the river Quin. It was restored sixty years ago; but still retains two seventeenth-century stained-glass windows in the aisle, and two Jacobean screens. The little N. chapel of brick was built by one George Canon in 1632. The brasses include (1) to George Gyll, Lord of the Manor (d. 1546); (2) to Dame Margaret (Plumbe), a daughter of Sir Thomas Neville, Kt., and wife to Sir Robert Southwell, Master of the Rolls (d. 1575). There are many memorials to the Goulston family, several of whom were Lords of the Manor; that to Sir Richard Goulston (d. 1686) bears a long inscription in Latin. Wyddial Hall, in a small park close to the church, was the property of the Goulstons.
Wymondley, Great or Much, is nearly 2 miles S.E. from Hitchin Station, G.N.R. The church dates from early in the twelfth century, but has been much restored. The font, the chancel arch, and three windows in the chancel are said to be Norman; the tower is Perp. The memorials are unimportant.
The neighbourhood is interesting. The Lords of the Manor of Wymondley Magna were formerly, as the newspapers have recently reminded us, Cup-bearers to the King at his Coronation. Near the church are some traces of an ancient fortification; a little S., and opposite a row of quaint cottages with heavily thatched roofs, stands Delamere House, once the property of Cardinal Wolsey, who is said to have been visited here by Henry VIII. At the Manor Farm, Edward VI.—according to tradition—once slept; the Green Man, close by, on the W. side of the main street, has been kept by successive generations of one family for 300 years. Forty years ago several Roman urns were discovered in the neighbourhood, and the well-preserved pavement of a Roman villa was unearthed, subsequently, at Purwell Mill, between the village and Hitchin. Prehistoric implements have also been found.
Wymondley, Little, formerly Wymondley Parva, is 1 mile S. from the above. The E. end of the street is crossed by the G.N.R. near the tiny churchyard. The church is Perp.; and was largely rebuilt in 1875; two earlier structures are thought to have occupied the site. It contains several inscriptions, and some monuments to the Needham family (seventeenth century). A Priory of Augustinian Canons, dedicated to St. Mary, was founded here by Richard Argenton, in the reign of Henry III.; it was suppressed at the Dissolution. When, in 1891, the Old Priory farm-house was being altered, some portions of two E.E. arches were disclosed, and are thought to show where the cloister of the Priory stood. There is another E.E. arch in the house.
Yardley. (See Ardeley.)
Youngsbury. (See High Cross.)
Notes
3 Chauncy writes: “This Vill in old Records was called Cestrehunt, from Castrum in the Latin, which might, in all Probability, import some castle erected here by the Romans; and the Saxons imitating the name, though corruptly... might from hence call it Cestrehunt”.
4 This Sir John Harrison erected the fine brick mansion in Balls Park, S.E. from Hertford, once the property of Charles Townsend, Secretary of State to George II. His widow built four almshouses at Butchery Green, long ago decayed.
5 The story of the “Maid of the Mill” is, I understand, told in an early number of Temple Bar.
6 Hist. Antiq. of Hertfordshire, etc., vol. i., p. 383, ed. 1826.
7 Clutterbuck says it was erected between 1402 and 1427.
8 Vide Historical Records of St. Albans, by A. E. Gibbs, F.L.S., etc.; a most interesting little volume.