A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



south are plain. The square formed by their piers 

 is much out of the true, which probably caused the 

 inclination of the chancel to the south and of the 

 south transept to the east. In the second stage of 

 the tower are visible small pointed doorways on the 

 north and south which originally led to rooms over 

 the transepts. Over the eastern arch the high pitch 

 of the 12th-century roof can be traced. The ceiling 

 of the ground stage of the tower is of the 1 5 th century, 

 with moulded beams and wall-plates. 



The north transept had originally a north door, 

 which is now blocked up, and a window was inserted 

 over its remains in the late 1 5th century, probably 

 at the time when the south porch was built and the 

 north doors disused. The original window of three 

 lights in the west wall has been partly blocked and 

 the rear arch altered. A 15th-century moulded arch 

 opens into the aisle. An early 17th-century com- 

 munion table stands in this transept, and a modern 

 screen contains remnants of a screen of the 15th 

 century. A small piscina at the south-east is of the 

 14th century. In this transept, as in the south 

 transept, the floor-level of the rooms into which the 

 doors in the first stage of the tower opened is plainly 

 visible. The room over the south transept was also 

 approached by a circular turret stair on the south- 

 west lighted by a cross loop. 



The west window of the south transept, a single 

 pointed light, is the only original window remaining. 

 The triple lancet windows on the east and south are 

 restored, and a modern double lancet has been 

 inserted over the south window. A 15th-century 

 arch corresponding to that in the north transept leads 

 to the south aisle. A small image bracket of the 

 I 5 th century stands at the north-east of the transept. 

 The nave is of four bays, and has moulded drop 

 arches supported on columns of four clustered shafts 

 with plainly moulded capitals and bases. The clear- 

 story lights are quatrefoils, three on each side, pierced 

 through the i zth-century wall at the same time that 

 the arcades were inserted and the aisles built. Above 

 them runs a heavy string-course. The tracery of the 

 14th-century west window was altered in the 15th 

 century to the prevailing style. The west door, 

 which is rather wide, is of the 14th century, original 

 to the westward extension of the nave. It has 

 moulded jambs and head. 



The north aisle had originally a north door, which 

 is now blocked up, though the jambs and mouldings 

 remain. Its two-light windows are of the 1 5th 

 centurj-, two on the north and one at the west end. 

 Fragments of white and gold 15th-century glass 

 from the west window are now kept in the vestry. 

 The roof is of the 15th century, vnth moulded 

 principals. The windows of the south aisle corre- 

 spond to those of the north, but the south doorway 

 is of later date, belonging to the late 1 5th century, 

 when the south porch was built. 



The 12th-century tower is considerably altered in 

 exterior character. The two lower stages are of the 

 original date, but the bell-chamber has I5th-centnry 



two-light windows with tracery, and the third staj 

 with its battlements, was added in the same pcrit 

 The small slated needle spire is late. On all fo 

 sides the high-pitched 14th-century roof can 

 traced. 



The south porch is of the late 1 5 th century, wi 

 two-light windows on the east and west. T 

 interior walls are ornamented with cusped panellin 

 It has an embattled parapet, and the entrance is 

 four-centred arch, moulded and shafted. 



The font dates from the building of the I2t 

 century church, and is of a curious type, square wi 

 rounded corners and decorated with figures of tw 

 tailed mermen holding up cloths."' 



The monuments are few. There is the indent 

 a large cross with a marginal inscription in the norl 

 transept, probably of the i 5th century. In the soul 

 transept, on the south side, stands a tomb with 

 traceried canopy, now much defaced, and the effigy 1 

 an unknown civilian in a long robe, of the early 1 41 

 century. The north aisle contains a small mur 

 monument to Ralph Jermin, dated 1646, and in tl 

 chancel floor is a slab of Benedict Beaucock c 

 Parlebicns, 1635. 



Two chests are in the church, one — iron-boun 

 and once covered with skin — is probably mediaeval 

 the other, which is plain, is perhaps as old as th 

 13 th century. An embroidered purple velvet altai 

 frontal, dated 1637, is preserved at the rectorj 

 together with an early glass bottle containing traci 

 of human blood, which was dug up near the chanc< 

 and is probably a reliquary. 



Of the six bells in the tower the first is date 

 1700, the second and third are of the i8th centur) 

 1778 and 1764 respectively, the fourth and fifth ar 

 both dated 161 6, and the sixth, which has th 

 inscription ' Sancte Georgie ora pro nobis ' wit 

 Tudor roses, is probably of the 1 6th century. 



There is no communion plate of a date earlie 

 than the 1 8th century. 



The registers before 1812 are as follows : (i 

 baptisms, burials and marriages 1 540 to 1 700 

 (ii) baptisms and burials 1678 to 1 792, marriage 

 1678 to 1753, and also briefs from 1649 ; (iii 

 baptisms and burials 1792 to 18 12; (iv) marriage 

 1754 t° 1792 ; (v) marriages 1793 to 181 2. 



In the Domesday Survey there i 

 ADVOWSOtl mention of a priest in Anstey.26 L 

 1 29 1 Anstey Church was of th 

 annual value of £^\oP In the same year the pop 

 granted dispensation to the rector to hold this benefio 

 together with another.^s The advowson was held b' 

 Denise wife of Hugh de Vere ^9 and by her successors 

 lords of Anstey Manor.^o Further benefices wer- 

 provided to the rectors by the pope in 1330'^ an( 

 1342.'^ and in 136383 at the instance of Lad' 

 Pembroke. At the time of the Dissolution th 

 rectory was of the clear annual value oi £,^\ I 3/. i^? 

 The advowson was sold by Sir Roland Lytton to th( 

 master and fellows of Christ's College, Cambridge 

 who first presented in 1694 35 and are still patrons. 



" A similar font is in St. Peter's 

 Church, Cambridge. The Rev. F. R. 

 Williams states that there is a ledge 

 partly destroyed on the east side of the 

 font, now hidden. 



M V.CJi. Htm. i, 321a. 



" Pofe KUh. Tax. (Rec Com.), ig. 



'^ Cal. Papal Utteri, i, 528. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. II, file 34, 

 no. 7. 



™ Ibid. 3 Hen. V, no. 45 ; (Ser. 2), 

 Ml, 82 ; cccxix, 200 ; ccccxcv, 85 ; Cal. 

 Pat. 1413-16, p. 350; Recov. R. Mich. 

 1 5 Jas. I, rot. Ill; Feet of F. Div. Co. 



16 



Mich. 1651 ; Herts. East. 1666 ; Inst 

 Bks. (P.R.O.). 



" Cal. Papal Letter,, ii, 328. 



»'' Ibid, iii, 56. ss Cal. Papal Pet. 410 



" Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 453. 



^ Cussans, op. cit. Ed-wimtree Huna 

 62 ; Inst. Bks. (P.R,0.). 



