A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



Savile, Earl of Mcx- 

 borough. Urgent a bend 

 sabU ivith three ozuls 

 argent thereon. 



died without issue soon after his father, and ^^'akelcy 

 came to a younger son William Morlcy.*^ In 1574 

 William sold the manor to Edward Halfhide," who 

 with his wife Amy conveyed it to Edward Baesh in 

 1574-5.*' In 1577 Edward Baesh and Jane his 

 wife re-conveyed the manor to Halfhide,*^ who in 

 1577—8 sold it to Edward Hyde.'' In 16 10 John 

 Hyde sold it to William Dodi.*^ By 1623 it had 

 come into the possession of Samuel Bridger and his 

 wife Mary,*' who held in Mary's right, and they in 

 1625 sold it to Ralph Freeman, lord of the manor 

 of Aspenden.^" 



From this time the manor of Wakeley descended 

 with the manor of Aspenden (q.v.) until 1785, when 

 Philip Vorke sold the manor 

 of Aspenden, but retained 

 Wakeley in his own hands.'^ 

 In 1790 Philip Yorke suc- 

 ceeded his uncle as third Earl 

 of Hardwicke.'^ He died in 

 1 8 3 4 and the manor of Wake- 

 ley descended to his eldest 

 daughter Anne the wife of 

 John Savile third Earl Mex- 

 borough of LifFord.^' She died 

 in 1870, and Wakeley de- 

 scended to her grandson the 

 Hon. John Horace Savile, 

 who succeeded his father as 

 fifth Earl of Mexborough in 



1899 '■* and is the present lord of the manor. All 

 manorial rights, however, have long since lapsed, and 

 the estate consists merely of a farm-house and a few 

 cottages. 



The manor of TANNIS (Tanneys, xv cent. ; 

 Tawnys, xvi cent. ; Tawney, Townis, xvii cent.) was 

 held in 1424 with the manor of Wakeley by the 

 four daughters and co-heirs of Joan Waleys."' The 

 name of the manor suggests some connexion with 

 the family of Tany, and it seems probable that it 

 was either composed of lands which they held besides 

 the manor of Aspenden or that it was the part of 

 Wakeley which for a short time was held by Joan 

 and Luke Tany, and that during that time it acquired 

 a separate name. From 1424 it descended with 

 the manor of Wakeley (q.v.) until Hilary 1577-8, 

 when Edward Halfhide, lord of the manors of 

 Tannis and Wakeley, sold Wakeley '* but retained 

 Tannis. Edward Halfhide also acquired the manor 

 of Berkesden, and in 1 58 1 he sold the manors of 

 Berkesden and Tannis to Andrew Grey.^' From 

 this date Tannis has descended with Berkesden (q.v.). 

 No manorial rights now exist. There is a farm-house 

 called Tannis Court to the north-east of Berkesden 

 Green, but the older house stands a quarter of a mile 

 away from it and has the remains of a homestead 

 moat surrounding it. There was a house here in 



1569 when a detailed inventory was taken of all itJ 

 contents.'' This inventory »as signed by Edward 

 Halfhide,^' who appears to have lived in the house, 

 although he did not acquire the manor of Tannis 

 from the Morleys until i';74-™ Evidently Sir 

 Edward Capell, Edw.ird Halfhide's father-in-law, 

 resided here, for in his will he refers to ' the hang- 

 ings in my chamber at Tannes commonly called my 

 lady Katherine's chamber.' ^^ The lady who gave 

 her name to the room was possibly Katherine Morley, 

 mother of Thomas and grandmother of William 

 Morley.*- In 1609 Sir Gilbert Kniveton, son-in- 

 law of Andrew Grey, who afterwards held the 

 manor in right of his wife, was living at Tannis. 



In the 15 th century there was a manor called 

 HACONS in Aspenden, which seems to have taken 

 its name from a family called Hacon, who were 

 holding land in Aspenden in the 13th century. 

 Walter Hacon appears as witness to a grant of land 

 in Aspenden in 1 240-1. ^^ His daughter Agnes 

 married William son of John de Hodenho. In 1 304 

 Agnes's daughter and heir Nichola was claiming 

 I ^ acres of land in Aspenden of her mother's in- 

 heritance against William de Foley and his wife 

 Isabel.** In 142 1 the 'manor called Hacons' was 

 released by the feoffees of Robert Chelmsford to other 

 feoffees to the use of Richard Kirkby.** After this 

 date no further record of this manor has been found. 

 The church of ST. MJRT consists of 

 CHURCH chancel 22 ft. by 16 ft., south chapel 

 1 6 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft., nave 40 ft. by 

 19 ft., south aisle 37 ft. by 14 ft. 6 in., west tower 

 I I ft. 6 in. square and south porch 10 ft. by 9 ft., all 

 internal dimensions. The walls are of flint rubble 

 covered with cement ; the south chapel is of brick, 

 cemented ; the roofs are tiled except over the south 

 aisle, which is leaded. 



The nave and chancel were probably erected early 

 in the 12th century, though but little of that date 

 remains ; the chancel was altered and probably 

 enlarged in the early 13th century ; the south aisle 

 belongs to the middle of the 14th century, and the 

 west tower was built about 1390. In the 15th cen- 

 tury the south chapel was added and the nave walls 

 raised and -1 new roof put on, and probably the south 

 aisle widened, and about 1500 the south porch was 

 erected by Sir Robert Clifford. In 1622 the south 

 chapel was altered and the arcade next the chancel 

 inserted ; the chancel arch was probably pulled down 

 at this time to allow the arcade to be built. The 

 church was restored in 1 873, and has again been 

 recently repaired. 



The chancel has an east window of four lights 

 with traceried head, originally of 15th-century work, 

 but most of the stonework is modern. In the north 

 wall is a single lancet of the early 13 th century, 

 widely splayed internally ; the adjoining window is a 



^^ Thomas is not mentioned in any of 

 the pedigrees of this family. William 

 was tile executor of his father's will. See 

 P.C.C. 34 Chaynay. 



^ Recov. R. Trin. 1574, rot. 759. 



65 Feet of F. Herts. Hil. 17 Eliz. 



66 Ibid. East. 19 Eliz. 

 6' Ibid. Hil. 20 Eliz. 

 6s Ibid. Trin. 8 Jas. I. 

 "5 Ibid. East. 21 Jas. I. 



■" Recov. R. Hil. i Chas. I, rot. loi. 

 '1 Close, 25 Geo. Ill, pt. jotii, no. 8, 

 m. 21. 



" G.E.C. Complete Peerage, 8. v. Hard- 

 wricke, iv, 165. 



'^ Ibid. s.v. Mexborough, v, 307, 



" Burke, Peerage (191 1). 



" De Banco R. 651, m. 128. 



'6 Feet of F. Herts. Hil. 20 Eliz. 



" Close, 23 Eliz. pt. vii ; ibid. pt. xxiii ; 

 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccxlvii, no. 75. 



" W. Minet, ' Tannis Court,' Home 

 Co. Mag. (1904), vi, 194. 



'9 Ibid. 



8» Recov. R. Trin. 1574, rot. 759. 



81 Home Co. Mag. loc. cit. 



22 



6' See Berry, Suss. Gen. 176; Coll. 

 Tofiog. et Gen. iii, 2 ; I'isit. oj Sussex 

 (Harl. Soc), 47. 



1^ Anct. D. (P.R.O.), A 108. 



^ De Banco R. 152, m. 49. The 

 Poleys held lands in Aspenden in the 

 14th ccntur}', which in 1363 were divided 

 between tlie daughters and heirs of John 

 Foley (Anct. D. [P.R.O.], A 999, 

 6720). For John and William Poley at 

 jurors see Inj. Non. (Rec. Com.), 433. 

 » Anct. D. (P.R.O.), D 748. 



