A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



V\'atcr Andrews and the Rectory Manor to Mr. 

 F. W. Woodhouse, but who still holds the manorial 

 rights.'* 



In 1287 Robert Burnell chimed gallows, amend- 

 ment of assize of bread and ale and view of frank- 

 pledge at Newsells.l' Free warren in Barkway was 

 granted to Robert first Lord Scales in 1270,'* and in 

 1 299 he complained that Walter de Barley and certain 

 others, chiefly from the neighbourhood of Barley, had 

 broken his warren at Xewsells and hunted and carried 

 away his deer.^' It is not clear whether the warren 

 made by the first Lord Scales was Newsells Park or 

 the wood called Scales Park which lies at some distance 

 from Newsells on the borders of Langley, co. Essex.^" 

 Scales Park or Wood was alienated from the manor 

 of Newsells by John sixteenth Earl of Oxford. He 

 sold it early in 1548 to Robert Chester,-' who had 

 already acquired Nuthampstead and Cockenach. The 

 earl reserved to himself an annual rent of £ I o.^^ 



A small holding in Barkway was in 1086 in the 

 hands of two men who held of Harduin ' de Scalers.' 

 Two sokemen, the one of Earl Algar, the other of 

 Eldred, had held this land before the Conquet.^ 

 Possibly these were the same sokemen who had held 

 a part of Newsells.-^ 



NUTHJMPSTEJD BVRT or EWRLSBURr 

 (Nothamstede, xii-xiv cent. ; Northamstede, xiii-xiv 

 cent. ; Northampstede, xiv-xv cent. ; Nothampsted, 

 XV cent. ; Northamsted a/ias Erlesbury," xvi-xvii 

 cent. ; Nuthampstead Bury (j/ia/Earlsburya/t'd/Nusted 

 or Nutsted, xviii cent.) lies to the east of Barkway 

 village. It is identical with the 3 hides in Barkway 

 held of GeoiFrey de Mandevijle as a ' manor ' by a 

 certain Hugh in 1086. It had previously been held 

 by two men of Asgar the Staller.^* The tenant in 

 the fifth decade of the 12 th century was a certain 

 Ralph Nuers ('de Noeriis '), whose son Roger built 

 a chapel ' in his court ' at Nuthampstead between 

 1 141 and 1151.^ At this time Ralph was still 

 living,-* and he apparently survived his son, as in 

 a grant of pasture-land to the abbey of St. John, 

 Colchester, he makes mention of his daughters as his 

 heirs." Ralph had also given to the abbey a carucate 

 of land in the east of the parish abutting on Clavering 

 Park.*" Ernulph son of Geoffrey first Earl of Essex 

 deprived the abbey of this land, which was restored 

 by order of his brother the second earl." Nuthamp- 

 stead had probably reverted to the overlords before 

 this time. It was certainly held by Humphrey de 

 Bohun Earl of Hereford and Essex, son of Maud 

 sister and heir of William de MandeviUe Earl of 



Essex. He gave it with other lands to his younger 

 son Henry." Humphrey Earl of Hereford and 



Mandeville. Quar- 

 ttrly or and gules. 



Bohun. A^urt a bend 

 argent cothed or bettveen 

 fix lions or. 



Essex, grandson of the last-named earl, warranted 

 the manor for life to his uncle Henry in 1278.'^ 

 In 1 3 1 5 his grand-nephew Humphrey Earl of 

 Hereford and Essex gave the manor to Henry the 

 Chamberlain as a pledge for the surrender of his 

 manor of Denny, co. Cambs.^'' Nuthampstead was 

 evidently recovered by Earl Humphrey, who was 

 killed at Boroughbridge in 1322,^* or by his son 

 John, who succeeded his father. He let the manor 

 in 1335 for nine years to the Abbot and convent of 

 Walden, co. Essex,'" who were lords of Cockenach 

 Manor (q.v.). 



Upon Earl John's death in January 1335-6 his 

 right in Nuthampstead Manor descended to his 

 brother Humphrey.^' He obtained from the Prioress 

 of Campsey release of a rent of 1 00s. yearly,^' which 

 had been charged on the manor since the time of 

 Earl Humphrey, his great-great-grandfather.'^ He 

 died 15 October 1361, and was succeeded by his 

 nephew Humphrey,*" who died 16 January 1372-3, 

 leaving as heirs two daughters, Eleanor, aged fourteen, 

 who was already married to the king's uncle, Thomas 

 of Woodstock, and Mary,*' who afterwards married 

 Henry Earl of Derby, son of John of Gaunt, but 

 died in 1394 before his accession to the throne as 

 Henry IV.''^ Earl Humphrey's widow held one- 

 third of Nuthampstead in dower.*' Thomas of 

 Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, held one- third in 

 right of his wife" and the other third from 1396 

 onwards by grant of Henry then Earl of Derby, who 

 became Duke of Hereford in right of his wife.** The 

 Duke of Gloucester died in September 1397,*" and 

 his widow retained her third until her death in 1 400.*' 

 In 1407, after Henry's accession to the throne, he 

 agreed with Anne formerly wife of Edmund Earl of 



'* Inform, from Messrs. Grossman and 

 Prichard. 



" Assize R. 323, m. 45, 325. 



" Cal. Chart. R. 1257-13 00, p, 146. 



" Cal. Pat. 129Z-1301, p. 462. 



''^ There was woodland for lOo swine 

 •t Newsells in 1086 [r.CJJ. Hens, i, 

 329*). 



" Feet of F. Herts. HiL i Edw. VI ; 

 Pat. I Edw. VI, pL V, m. 2 1 . 



" Feet of F. Herts. Hil. 24 Eliz. 



» r.CH. Herts, i, 339i. 



" Ibid. 329*. 



*^ The name * Erlesbury ' was applied 

 to the manor-house in 1422 (Duchy of 

 Lane. Mins. Accts. bdle. 42, no. 820). 



» r.CH. Hero, i, 331. 



*^ Cart. Mon. S. Johannis de Colecestria 

 (Roiburghe Club), 382 ; cf. Red Bk. of 

 Exch. (Rolls Ser.), 34J. 



"* Cart, Mon. S. Johannis de Colecestria, 

 loc. cit. 



" Ibid. 174. The charter was con- 

 firmed by Fulk Nuers and Rodbert le 

 Muine husband of Clarice (possibly one 

 of Ralph's daughters). Anotiher daughter 

 may have been Margaret wife of Roger 

 Bernard (ibid. 175). 



»» Ibid. 41. 'ijbijj^fi 



" Assize R. 323, m. id.; Hund. R. 

 (Rec. Com.), i, 193. 



^ Assize R. 323, m. 1 d. j Feet of F. 

 Div. Co. 7 Edw. I, no. i. 



"Ca/. Pat, 1313-17, pp. 283-4; 

 Duchy of Lane. Anct. D. box 6. 



** G.E.C. Complete Peerage, iv, 215. 



" Duchy of Lane. AncL D. L 1759. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. 10 Edw. Ill (ist 

 no8.), no. 62 ; Escheators' Enr. AccU. 

 (Eich. L.T.R.), 9 Edw. Ill, no. 2. 



30 



" Duchy of Lane. Deeds in Boxes, 

 box A, no. 57. It was possibly this Earl 

 Humphrey who exchanged Nudiampstead 

 for life with Humphrey de Verdun in 

 return for Depdcn Manor, co. Suffolk 

 (Duchy of Lane. Anct. D. L 1471). 



" Assize R, 323, m. id. 



*> Chan. Inq. p.m. 37 Edw. Ill, no. 10. 



'' Ibid. 3 Ric. II, no. 12. Their 

 father had granted a life interest in the 

 manor to Sir John de Gildeaburgh, kt. 



" G.E.C. Complete Peerage, iv, 215. 



*• Duchy of Lane. Misc. Bks. xri (3), 

 p. 78. 



*< Chan. Inq. p.m. 2 1 Ric. II, no. 29 



" Cal. Pat. 1396-9, p. 13 J Close, 21 

 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 7 ; cf. Duchy of Lane. 

 Anct. D. LS 170. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. 21 Ric. II, no. 29. 



" Ibid, i Hen. IV, no. 49. 



