A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



lide of the road further east is a 17th-century timber 

 and plaster cottage with overhanging story. 



Seth Ward, successively Bishop of Exeter and 

 Salisbury, was born at Aspenden in 161 7, and re- 

 sided for some time at Aspenden Hall as tutor to 

 the sons of Ralph Freeman. After he had obtained 

 preferment he showed his attachment to his native 

 place by building almshouses at Buntingford in 1684, 

 three years before his death." 



Henry Pepys, D.D., Bishop of Worcester (1783- 

 1860), was rector of Aspenden from 18 18 to 1827." 

 The manor of ASPENDEN alias 

 MyiNORS ASPENDEN HALL was held in the 

 reign of Edward the Confessor by Aldred, 

 the king's thegn. After the Norman Conquest it 

 became part of the possessions of Eudo Dapifer, son 

 of Hubert de Ryes, and was held of him by Richard 

 de Sackville." Eudo died without issue in 1 1 20, and 

 the overlordship probably passed through his sister 



Tany. 



abU. 



Or tiK edgUi 



Aspenden Hall : Garden Front 



Albreda to the Valognes family and thence to the 

 Fitz Walters." 



Richard de Sackville, who was tenant of this manor 

 in 1086," was succeeded by William de Sackville,'" 

 who was probably his son. On the death of William 

 his lands descended to his nephew Richard de Anstey." 

 By 1224 the Anstey lands in Aspenden had descended 



to Nicholas de Anstey," whose only child and heiress 



Denise took them in marriage to Wanne de Mon- 



chensey." 



By the beginning of the 



13th century a subfeoffment 



of the manor had been made 



to the family of Tany." Peter 



de Tany, who was Sheriff of 



Essex and Herts, in 1236," 



died before 1255, and his 



lands descended to his son 



Richard de Tany," who died 



in 1270,'' then to the latter's 



son Sir Richard de Tany," 



who died about 1295.'^ Roger 



de Tany, son of Sir Richard,'" 



who died in i 301, left a son Lawrence, aged two, as 



his heir.'' Lawrence de Tany died without issue in 

 1 3 17 and Aspenden passed to his sister Margaret." 



After this date there 

 is no further trace of 

 the Tany family 

 holding any rights 

 in Aspenden. Their 

 tenancy was already 

 a mesne one in 1255, 

 when the manor was 

 held as a knight's fee 

 ot Richard de Tany 

 by Ralph Fitz 

 Ralph," whose father 

 Ralph son of Fulk 

 had held land in 

 Aspenden." 



Ralph Fitz Ralph 

 apparently forfeited 

 his lands, for his wife 

 Maud received a 

 grant of certain of 

 them, including 60 

 acres in Aspenden, 

 in 1266." By 1303 

 Aspenden had de- 

 scended to Ralph's 

 son William Fitz 

 Ralph.'' In 1 3 17" 

 and 1 324 " the manor is returned as held by William 

 Fitz Ralph, and in 1340 his son William Fitz Ralph 

 settled it on himself and his wife Sybil.'' This 

 William died before 1356, when his heirs were his 

 daughters Margaret and Sybil, who were minors." 

 The manor of Aspenden, however, descended to a 

 William Fitz Ralph, who in 1383 granted all his 



'° See Diet. Nat. Biog. ; £05/ Herts. 

 Arch, Soc. Trans, iii, 220. A fuller 

 notice of Seth Ward is given under Bun- 

 tingford. 



's Diet. Nat. Bmg. 



" y.C.H. Hem. i, 329a. 



'8 See Testa de Ne-vill (Rec. Com.), 

 270. It is possible that Robert Fitz 

 Walter held this fee during the minority 

 of the heir by grant of the king, as he 

 apparently did Anitey ; but, on the 

 other hand, the overlordship of Little 

 Anstey, which seems to have been origi- 

 nally part of the lordship of Aspenden, is 

 several times returned as vested in the 

 Fiti Walters. 



'» r.C.H. Herts, loc. cit. 



2» V.C.H. Essex, i, 379. 

 "1 Ibid. ; Cart. Mon. S. Johannis de 

 Colecestria (Roxburghe Club), i, 163-5. 



22 Fine R. 8 Hen. Ill, m. 5. 



23 See Abbre-v. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 144. 

 For pedigree of the Anstey family see 

 the manor of Anstey. 



" See Ahbrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 144. 

 The overlordship descended with the 

 manor of Anstey. 



« P.R.O. List ofSheriffi, 43. 



*8 See Abbreij. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 

 144. 



^ Cat. Inq. p.m. Her,. Ill, 248. 



** De Banco R. 44, m. 22 ; Assize 

 R. 325. 



** Chan. Inq. p.m. 2i Edw. I, no. 14. 



18 



This inquisition does not give the date of 

 Richard's death, but he was living as late 

 as 1295. See Inq. a.q.d. file 25, no. 13. 



'" Chan. Inq. p.m. 24 Edw. I, no. 14. 



" Ibid. 29 Edw. I, no. 38. See Feud. 

 Aids, ii, 431. 



3" Cal. Inq. p.m. 10-20 Ediv. II, 69. 



8H Abbrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 144. 



'■• See Anct. D. (P.R.O.), A 7510. 



^ Cal. Pat. 1258-66, p. 526. 



^ Feud. Aids, ii, 431. 



^ Cal. Inq. p.m. io-20 Edw. II, 69. 



^ Ibid. 332. 



'5 Feet of F. Herts. 14 Edw. Ill, 

 no. 210. 



*" Cartae Antiquae of Lord ffiltoughb} 

 dt Broke (cd. J. Harvey Bloom), ii, 7. 



