Chapter X: Celebrated Men (1)

Comparatively few really famous men have been born in Hertfordshire, but very many have resided in the county, or have at least been associated with it sufficiently to justify the mention of their names here.

1. _Men of Letters._--Chaucer was clerk of the works at Berkhampstead Castle in the time of Richard II.; Matthew Paris, the chronicler, lived and wrote in the great Benedictine monastery at St. Albans; Sir John Maundeville, once called the "father of English prose," was, according to his own narrative, born at St. Albans and, if we may trust an old inscription, was buried in the abbey;[2] Dr. Cotton, the poet, lived and died in the same town, where the poet Cowper lodged with him at the "Collegium Insanorum". Bacon lived at Gorhambury and was buried in the neighbouring church of St. Michael. Bulwer Lytton lived and wrote at Knebworth, where he was visited by Forster, Dickens and others. George Chapman translated much of Homer at Hitchin, and is believed to have been born in that town. Young, the author of the _Night Thoughts_, was for many years Rector of Welwyn; his son was visited there by Boswell and Dr. Johnson. Macaulay was at school at Aspenden. John Scott, the Quaker poet, lived at Amwell; Lee, the dramatist, was born at Hatfield. Skelton probably stayed at Ashridge just before the Dissolution of the Monasteries; Sir Thomas More lived awhile at Gobions, North Mimms. Cowper was born at Berkhampstead. The county has been immortalised by Walton and Lamb in writings known to all.

[Footnote 2: As most readers are aware, it is now, to say the least, gravely questioned whether "Sir John Maundeville" was ever more than a name.]

2. _Divines._--Bunyan laboured and preached much in Hitchin and its neighbourhood; Baxter preached at Sarratt and elsewhere, and lived awhile at Totteridge; Isaac Watts lived for many years at Theobalds near Cheshunt; Philip Doddridge was at school at St. Albans. Fox, in his _Journal_, mentions visiting Hitchin, Baldock and other places. Tillotson was a curate at Cheshunt; Ken was born at Little Berkhampstead; Nathaniel Field, a man of prodigious learning, chaplain to James I., was born at Hemel Hempstead. William Penn, whom many considered a divine indeed, lived with his beautiful wife at Basing House, Rickmansworth; Godwin was an Independent minister at Ware. Ridley and Bonner were much in the county. Fleetwood, afterwards Bishop of Worcester, was Rector of Anstey; Cudworth was Vicar of Ashwell; Warham was Rector of Barley; Horsley was Rector of Thorley. The two Sherlocks, respectively Master of the Temple and Bishop of London, were Rectors of Therfield. Lightfoot, the Great Hebraist, was Rector of Great Munden.

To classify other celebrities connected with the county would require almost as many headings as names. Henry Bessemer was born at Charlton near Hitchin; Cardinal Wolsey lived at Delamere House, Great Wymondley; the munificent Somers lived at North Mimms; Nicholas Breakspeare, who became Pope Adrian IV., was born at Abbots Langley; Piers Gaveston was much at Berkhampstead and was buried in the priory church at King's Langley; Sir Robert Cecil, first Earl of Salisbury, lived at Theobalds and is buried at Hatfield; Lords Melbourne and Palmerston lived much at Brocket Hall, where the latter died; Sir Ralph Sadleir, statesman and ambassador to Scotland, who is said to have rallied the English at Pinkie, lived at Standon and is buried in the church.

Many noble or illustrious families have resided in Hertfordshire. Some of the owners of old manors are mentioned in the Gazetteer; but a few prominent families may be here named. The Cecils have been Lords of Hatfield since James I. gave the manor to the first Earl of Salisbury in exchange for that at Theobalds. The Cowpers have resided at Panshanger since the erection of their castellated mansion in the Park a century ago by the fifth earl. The Egertons, Dukes and Earls of Bridgewater, lived at Ashridge; one of them, Francis, third duke, is known in history as "the father of British inland navigation," and another was the projector of the famous _Bridgewater Treatises_. The Capells, Earls of Essex, have owned the beautiful estate at Cassiobury Park since the father of the first earl obtained it by marriage during the reign of Charles I. The Rothschild family have an estate at Tring; Lord Ebury is the owner of Moor Park; Lord Lytton still owns the grand old house of the great novelist at Knebworth, founded nearly 350 years ago. The Earl of Cavan has a house at Wheathampstead; Viscount Hampden at Kimpton Hoo; Earl Strathmore at St. Paul's Walden Bury; the Earl of Clarenden (Lord Lieut. of Herts) at the Grove, Leavesden; Lord Grimthorpe lived at St. Albans. Gorhambury, near St. Albans, is the home of the Earl of Verulam. Mgr. Robert Hugh Benson lived and wrote many novels at Hare Street House, near Buntingford.

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[f] 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_[g] 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.