A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



end of the block has a wide fireplace on the west side 

 •vith external oven. At the south end of the main 



1612 Cent, late 



d Modern 



20 30 40 



Scaj-eofPeet 



Plan of Brick Houie, Griat Horuead 



are two large projecting chimney stacb with brick 

 weathered offsets ; the plain shafts are L-shaped on 

 one stack and rectangular on the other. There is not 

 much of interest inside the building. Part of the 

 inclosure of the modern staircase is made up of 1 7th- 

 century panelling ; all the window sashes are modern. 

 About half a mile west of Brick House, on the 

 same road, are the remains of Parsonage Farm. Most 

 of the building was taken down a few years ago. A 

 large chimney stack of early 17th-century date still 

 stands ; the shafts are square, set diagonally. On the 

 ground floor is a wide fireplace with wood lintel ; 

 some remaining outbuildings are timber-framed and 

 plastered. 



In 1086 the manor of HORMEJD 

 MANORS formed part of the lands of Edgar 

 Atheling and was held by Godwin. 

 The manor had been increased since the Conquest, 

 the Norman sherifFhaving annexed to it in all 3 hides 

 and I virgate which had been held by Ulwin, one of 



The Brick House, Great Hormead 



block is a wing, about I 2 ft. square externally, which 

 projects about 2 ft. west of the main building, and on 

 the east side of the main block is a similar wing pro- 

 jecting about 2 ft. beyond the north face ; the former 

 is entered from the hall, now a dining room, the 

 latter from the kitchen. The main block and all the 

 wings have crow-stepped gables, but the copings have 

 disappeared. The entrance doorway on the east side 

 of the hall has been modernized. The windows are 

 mostly original, with splayed brick jambs and square 

 heads with labels over ; a number of them are 

 blocked. There are a number of curious little window- 

 openings in the walls of the upper stories measuring 

 about 8 in. by 3 in. and having splayed jambs and 

 squ.ire heads ; they appear in the wings as well as in 

 the main block. One or two are glazed, but most of 

 them are built up. On the west side of the house 



Asgar the Staller's men, Alward, a man of Almar of 

 Belintone, and seven sokemen of King Edward.' 

 After the battle of Tenchebrai in 1 1 06 Edgar 

 Atheling spent the remainder of his life in obscurity, 

 ' perhaps,' says Dr. Hunt, ' on his Hertfordshire 

 property.' * As he died without heirs, it is probable 

 that Hormead with the rest of his property reverted 

 to the Crown. 



At the beginning of the 1 3th century the manor 

 was held by the family of Sanford. They held it of 

 the old feoffment, that is from the time of Henry I. 

 Morant says that it was held with some Essex manors 

 by John de Sanford about 1 165.' In 1210— izjohn 

 de Sanford was lord of Great Hormead, which he 

 held by serjeanty as chamberlain to the queen.' 

 Gilbert de Sanford, probably his son,' performed the 

 office of chamberlain to the queen at the coronation 



' y.CJi. Hera, i, 341*. 

 * Diet. Nat. Bug. 



' Morant, Hiit. of Etiex, ii, 56 j see 

 Dagdale, Mon. ti, 552. 

 ^Rai Bt. of Exch. (R0U5 Ser.), ii, 



70 



507 ; Tata de Nnill (Rec Com.), 270, 

 279 ; »ee Round, The Queen' 1 Serjeanti, 132 

 et leq. ' Coll. Topog. et Gen. y, 199. 



