A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



BisBoPRic or London. 

 Gules two svfords of St. 

 Paul crossed saJtirewise. 



The Bishops of London had a residence at Hadham 

 where the king was apparently entertained in 124.8, 

 when Letters Patent were 

 dated there.^' Bishop Roger 

 Walden, after having been pro- 

 vided to the see of Canter- 

 bury in 1397 shared in the 

 downfall of Richard II, but in 

 1404 he was provided to 

 London by the efforts of his 

 former rival Arundel. He died 

 at Much Hadham in 1406, 

 less than a year after his con- 

 secration.'* At the beginning 

 of the I 5 th century the Bishop 

 of London found that his 

 revenues were insufficient to 



keep up all his manors, and he received licence from 

 the pope to dispose of several of them, but Hadham 

 was one that he retained.'^ Apparently, however, 

 soon after this the palace was leased or lent, for it 

 seems to have been occupied for a short time by 

 Katherine de Valois, widow of Henry V. She 

 married as her second husband Owen Tudor, and 

 her eldest son Edmund Tudor Earl of Richmond, 

 the father of Henry VII, was bom at Hadham about 

 1430 and was styled Edmund of Hadham.^' 



Bishop Ridley is said to have made use of the 

 neighbourhood of the episcopal residence at Hadham 

 to visit the Princess Mary at Hunsdon House in 

 1552, in the hope of persuading her to the Pro- 

 testant religion. She received him graciously, but 

 \va5 indignant at his suggestion that she should hear 

 him preach.'' After she became queen Bishop 

 Bonner made a visitation in Hertfordshire. At his 

 own town of Hadham he received a poor welcome. 

 The bells, it is said, did not ring to greet him, and 

 in the church the ordinances for the decoration of 

 the rood-loft and the hanging of the sacrament had 

 not been obeyed. The rector pleaded that he had 

 not expected the bishop to arrive so early, but he 

 appears to have been of Protestant sympathies, and 

 Bonner left Hadham in disgust and set out for Ware.*^ 

 In 1578 during the episcopate of John Aylmer 

 Queen Elizabeth was at Hadham and held a council 

 there." Bishop Mountain was entertaining his 

 friend James Ussher at the palace in March 1625 

 when the latter heard of his appointment to the 

 archbishopric of Armagh." 



The bishop's possessions were confiscated under 

 the Commonwealth and in 1647 the manor of Much 

 Hadham was granted to William Collins and Robert 

 Staunton,'' who in 1649 received a grant of the 

 warren and game of coneys throughout the manor.'* 

 On the Restoration it reverted to the bishopric, but 

 after this date the bishops granted it out on lease, 

 resen-ing the right of residence," In 1868 the 

 temporalities of the bishopric of London were trans- 



ferred to the Ecclesiastical Commiuioners and they 

 are the present lords of the manor. During the fir»t 

 half of the 1 9th century the palace was used for many 

 years as a lunatic asylum.^ In 1888 the Ecclesiastical 

 Commissioners sold it to Mrs. Berry, who conveyed 

 it in 1893 to Mrs. Wetherall, the present owner. 



Among the customs of the manor were a fine of 

 a year's quit-rent paid for admission by the copy- 

 holders and free bench for the widows of customary 

 tenants.*"' 



The estate now known as C^RLDJNE COURT 

 (Celgdene, xi cent. ; Carle Daines, xvi cent.) was 

 held in the reign of Edward the Confessor by Eldred, 

 one of the king's thegns. After the Norman Con- 

 quest it was acquired by the Bishop of London and 

 was held of him by Roderi in 1086, when it was 

 assessed at half a hide.*^ It remained with the 

 Bishops of London until after 

 the beginning of the 15 th 

 century.*^ By the end of the 

 1 6th century it had come 

 into the possession of the Par- 

 nell family.*' Hugh Parnell 

 left it by will of 1594 to his 

 son William, from whom it 

 descended successively to 

 Hugh son of William and 

 Hugh son of Hugh." The 

 latter settled part of his pro- 

 perty on his son Hyde Parnell 

 and Sarah Finch his wife and 

 by will of 1723 left the rest 



of it to Hyde's son Hugh Parnell. Hugh the younger 

 and Hyde his brother both died without issue and 

 the e tate went to their uncle Charles Parnell. 

 William Parnell son of Charles lived at Lambeth 

 and Southwark *' and his son Hugh James Richards, 

 a solicitor, owned Hadham House, Upper Clapton. 

 By his will of 1 861 he left his Hertfordshire property 

 to his sons Hugh and John Parnell as tenants in 

 common.*' In 1906 Carldane Court passed to their 

 cousin Mr. Franklyn Arden Crallan, the present 

 owner (see Patmore Hall in Albury). 



In 1086 the Bishop of London held in addition to 

 his manor of Much Hadham half a hide of land in 

 Hadham which before the Conquest had been held 

 by Edric, a man of Asgar the Staller, and which was 

 held of the bishop by William.*' This was possibly 

 afterwards parcel of the bishop's manor in Little 

 Hadham which was held by the same tenant in 

 1086. Another hide of land which two sokcmen 

 had formerly had was held of the bishop in 1086 

 by Osbern,*8 but its subsequent descent cannot be 

 traced. 



The estate called MOOR PLACE (Mores, xv 

 cent.) was held of the Bishop of London as of his 

 manor of Hadham.*' It appears to have taken its 

 name from a family called More who held lands in 



Parnell, Gules rtvo 

 che^erons argent •with a 



bendsahU and a border or. 



» See Col. Pat. 1247-58, p. 32. For 

 letters dated there by the bishops see 

 ibid. 1340-3, p. 415 ; Cat. S. P. Dom. 

 1581-90, p. Ill ; 1623-5, P- 592 i Hist. 

 MSS. Ccm. Rep, viii, App. i, 634^ 



^ DicL A'ai. Biog. 



" Cal. Papal L<-::rrs, va, 85. 



" Diet, Nat. Biog, 



^ Yqi^ Acts and Monuments (ed. Towns- 

 end), vi, 354. M Ibid. 562-3. 



" -i... ojP.C, i577-«, p. 3H- 



" Diet, Nat. Biog, i.y. Ut sher. 



^ Close, 23 Chas. I, pt. xxjci, m. 20. 



" Ibid. 1649, pt- ^™. m, 40 ; see 

 Recov. R. East. 1659, rot. 84. 



^ Chaunqr, op. cit. 159; Salmon, 

 Hist, of Herts, 277. 



' Seis. R. (Herts. Co. Rec), ii, 317. 



*"» Cussans, op. cit. Edivinstree Hund. 

 176. *' y.CM. Herts, i, 306a. 



*' Feud, Aiduf ii, 432, 446. 



" In 1473 there is the manumiaiion 



62 



of John Parnell, a tenant of the Bishop 

 of London (Deed penes Mr. F. A. Crallan). 



" Will of William, 1630 ; will of 

 Hugh, 1672. 



" His sisters Honor and Eliiabetb 

 Parnell lived at Castle House, Hadham. 



*^ Descent communicated \n Mr. F. A. 

 Crallan. 



" y.CJl, Herts, i, 3o6i. 



« Ibid. 



" Cat. Inq. f.m. Hen. VIl, i, i!i9. 



