KDWINSTREE HUNDRED 



barkwaY 



chimney-pieces of marble or wood, and all the wood- 

 work of shutters and panelling has carved and enriched 

 mouldings. In the library on the east side the 

 chimney-piece and ceiling are enriched after the 

 Adam style. A rain-water head at the back bears 

 the date 1739. Newsells Bury adjoins Newsells 

 Park ; it is a very plain brick building, probably of 

 late I yth-century date. 



Nuthampstead is a separate civil parish, but is 

 included in the ecclesiastical parish of Barkway. At 

 Nuthampstead in the house of Roger Nuers, son of 

 Ralph Nuers, lord of the manor, a private chapel was 

 founded in 1141-51." The chaplain presented by 

 Roger was to take an oath to the incumbent of 

 Barkway not to encroach upon the rights of the 

 mother church of Barkway.^* Before 1154 Ralph 

 Nuers gave to Colchester Abbey all right in Nut- 

 hampstead chapel.^' It was still existing in 1539 

 when the farmer of the Rectory Manor paid a yearly 

 stipend to the chaplain celebrating 'in the church 

 of Nuthampstead.'^' It was excepted from the grant 

 of the Rectory Manor to William Gery ^^ and seems 

 to have fallen into decay. At Nuthampstead in 

 l6l7wasa capital messuage called ' Cayles.' ^^ At 

 Parsonage Farm is a homestead moat now almost 

 levelled. 



Arable fields slope away northwards and west- 

 wards towards the Icknield Way and the town of 

 Royston, part of which lay in Barkway parish until 

 1540.2^ The common lands were inclosed about 

 1808.^^ East of the village in and beyond the valley 

 of the Quin lie the woods and pastures of Great 

 Cockenach and Nuthampstead. Beyond these on the 

 Essex border are Scales Park and Little Cockenach. 

 There was a chantry chapel of St. Gunwal at Little 

 Cockenach in the 12th century.^' Near Little 

 Cockenach are brickworks, and chalk has been dug at 

 Nuthampstead and in the west of the parish near the 

 border of Reed. 



At Periwinkle Hill, opposite Rokey Wood, is a 

 moated mound with two small baileys, rapidly 

 becoming level through constant ploughing.^* Near 

 Rokey was a windmill, now turned into a cottage. 

 This was probably Rokey Mill, which was standing, 

 though much dilapidated, in 1595.^' Another mill 

 (now also turned into a cottage) stood on the other 

 side of the road. No mill is mentioned in the Survey 

 of 1086, but a mill at Cockenach was in the custody 

 of the lord of Newsells about 1 27 1 .^* 



The ' hermitage ' in Barkway, held by Sir Robert 

 Chester at his death,^' may be Royston Hermitage, 

 which lay within this parish. ^^ Rushingwell Farm, 

 in the valley of the Quin, is evidently on the site of 

 the house called ' Rushcenwell ' owned by Sir Henry 

 Prannell, lord of Newsells.^" The tenement called 

 ' Knyghtshankines ' about 1330 presumably took its 

 name from Peter Knightshank, a former occupier.'" 



N Ell SELLS MJNOR (Neusela or 

 MANORS Nieweseles, xi-xii cent.'^ ; Newesel or 

 Neweselcs, xiii cent.) lies to the north 

 of the village on the main road. It was held before 

 the Conquest by a thegn of King Edward's named 

 Aldred and by two sokemen, one of whom was 

 Aldred's man and the other Earl Algar's man. In 

 1086 Eudo Dapifer held it in demesne.'^ Newsells 

 evidently reverted to the Crown after his death in 

 1 1 20 and was granted by Henry I to Eustace Count 

 of Boulogne.'^ The overlordship remained in the 

 honour of Boulogne,^* the service due being that of 

 three halves of a knight's fee.'^ 



Members of the Merk family were the immediate 

 tenants of the manor in the 12 th century.^^ A 

 Eustace de Merk was witness to the charter of Count 

 Eustace confirming Barkway Church to Colchester 

 Abbey,'' and as others of the same family were else- 

 where tenants of the Counts of Boulogne '* it appears 

 possible that he was already tenant of Newsells under 

 the count. A Sir Eustace de Merk, kt., who was living 

 in the reign of Richard I,'' was styled ' lord of New- 

 sells ' and founded a chapel at Royston within this 

 lordship.^" He is probably identical with the ' Eustace 

 de Oye, son of Henry de Merk,' living in April 1 1 90." 

 Sir Eustace de Merk, kt., was also styled 'de 

 Rochester ' ^ and was succeeded as tenant (apparently 

 within his own lifetime) by his nephew Ralph de 

 Rochester.^' This Ralph had been preceded by a 

 ' Baldwin de Rochester,' ** presumably the Baldwin 

 de Rochester who witnessed a charter of Henry 

 father of Eustace ' de Oye ' *" and perhaps a son of the 

 same Henry. In this case Ralph would be son of 

 Baldwin de Rochester. Newsells was the ' caput ' 

 of the barony which Ralph de Rochester held of the 

 honour of Boulogne.^^ Ralph's son and heir William 

 de Rochester died shortly before 24 October 1249 

 and was succeeded by his brother Peter de Rochester,^' 

 parson of Rivenhall, co. Essex.^' Shortly before his 

 death Peter took the habit of a Knight Templar.*' 

 On the Saturday before Ascension Day, 1 25 5, as he 



^* Cart, Mott, 5. Johannis de Cohcestria 

 (Roxburghe Club), 382. 

 " Ibid. 

 1' Ibid. 175. 



" Mins. AccU. Hen. VIII, R. 976. 

 " L. and P. Hen. VIII, xix (i), 610 



CS:')- 



*> Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), bdle. 325, 

 no, 29. 



" V.C.H. Herti. Hi, 253. 



" Under Priv. Act, 41 Geo. Ill, cap. 

 98 (not printed). The award is enrolled 

 on Com. Pleas Recov. R. Trin. 10 

 Geo. IV, m. 23. 



"^ See below under Little Cockenach. 

 For the name cf. 'Wynneli Grove' in 

 Barley. 



« r.CH. Herts.u, 118. 



'* Proc. of Ct. of Req. bdle. 33, no. 71. 



'^ Curia Regii R. 204, m. 2. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), clxx, 51, 



»8 r.CH. Herd, iii, 254. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccxliii, 

 168. 



3" De Banco R. 281, m. 32 d. 



" For the spelling ' Senselej ' (Harl. 

 MS. 7041, fol. 7) see V.C.H. Herts, iii, 

 260, n. 75. 



'» V.C.H. Herts, i, 329a, 329*. 



'' Cart. Mon. S. Johannis de Colecestria 

 (Roxburghe Club), 47 ; cf. Round, Peerage 

 and Family Hist. 163. 



'* Testa de Newll (Rec. Com.), 273*, 

 274^ ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 46 Edw. Ill (ist 

 no8.), no. 63. 



'* Red Bk. of Exch. (Rolls Ser.), 502. 



^ See below. 



" Cart. Mon, S. Johannis de Colecestria, 

 loc. cit. 



'* Round, Peerage and Family Hist. 

 156-7. 



" Rot. Cur. Regis (Rec. Com.), ii, 219. 



'0 Harl. MS. 7041, fol. 7 ; cf. KC.H. 

 Herts, iii, 260. 



27 



*^ Cart, Mon. S. Johannis de Colecestria 

 (Roxburghe Club), 37, 513. 



** See Newberry in Weston, Broad- 

 water Hundred. 



" Harl. MS. 7041, fol. 7 ; cf. Red Bk. 

 oj Exch. 502, 576 ; Testa de Nevill (Rec. 

 Com.), 273A, 274*. 



^■* Baldwin MeRouec' [Rochester] gave 

 lands in Newsells to Coggeshall Abbey in 

 or before the time of Henry II {Cal. Pat, 

 1388-92, p. 79). 



*^ Cart. Mon. S. Johannis de Colecestria 

 (Roxburghe Club), 36. 



'^ Hand. R. (Rec. Com.), i, 193. The 

 barony evidently consisted of five and 

 a half fees in Barltway and Newsells, 

 CO. Herts., Rivenhall and Lawford, co. 

 Essex, and Eriswell and ' Cocclcsworth ' 

 (in Eriswell), co. Suffolk. 



« Cal. Inq. p.m. Hen. Ill, 38 ; Harl. 

 MS. 7041, fol. yh, 



*^ Chan. Inq. p.m. file 1 9, no. 2. *' Ibid. 



