EDWINSTREE HUNDRED 



GREAT HORMEAD 



of Eleanor wife of Henry III in 1236,* and was 

 holding the manor in 1247.' Gilbert de Sanford 

 apparently died in 1250, for in that year the king 

 granted the wardship and marriage of his heirs to the 

 Bishop of London.^" The manor of Great Hormead 

 formed part of the dower of Lora ^^ wife of Gilbert,'^ 

 who in 1287 claimed gallows, view of frankpledge 

 and amendment of assize of bread and ale in Great 

 Hormead.^' Lora de Sanford was succeeded by Alice 

 daughter of Gilbert de Sanford and wife of Robert de 

 Vere Earl of Oxford." Alice and her husband held 

 the manor jointly of the barony of Sanford in I zg;.^" 

 The extent of the manor at this date included a 

 water-mill.^* 



In 1297, after the death of Robert, Alice made a 

 life grant of the manor to her daughter Hawise, 

 with remainder first to Alfonso, a brother of Hawise, 

 and finally to Alice herself and her heirs. ^^ Alfonso 

 appears to have been holding Great Hormead when 

 he died in 1329, and the manor is described in the 

 inquisition as being held of the king in chief by 

 service of guarding the queen's 

 bedchamber on the night fol- 

 lowing the day of coronation.^' 

 His heir, who was his son 

 John, received a grant of free 

 warren in 1329.^' He suc- 

 ceeded his uncle Robert de 

 Vere as Earl of Oxford in 

 1331. Great Hormead was 

 held by the Earls of Oxford "" 

 until 1 47 1, when John de 

 Vere forfeited by rebellion 

 and the manor was granted to 

 Richard Duke of Gloucester 

 and his male heirs. ^^ Four 

 years later it passed by grant 

 to Sir William Stanley .^^ prob- 

 ably as a reward for his loyalty 

 to Edward IV. In 1485, when 

 the Earl of Richmond became 

 king, John de Vere Earl of 

 Oxford was restored by him 

 to all his honours and estates ^^ 

 and died seised of the manor 

 of Hormead in 1513.24 The 



Earls of Oxford appear to have held the manor until 

 1 5 79,26 when it was the subject of a fine between 

 Edward Earl of Oxford and Anthony Cage.^s From 

 the evidence of a suit in Chancery in 1588 it seems 

 probable that in 1579 the manor was already leased 

 and that it was the reversion that was conveyed to 

 Anthony Cage. In his petition to Chancery in 1588 

 Thomas Hammond of Great Hormead declared that 

 Edward de Vere Earl of Oxford had demised the 



manor to Walter Hayward for twenty-one years and 



that the latter in 1586 granted his interest and term 



of years to the complainant. The reversion of the 



manor, the petition states, then belonged to Daniel 



Cage, * a very covetuous and 



froward fellowe seekinge by 



all means possible to inriche 



himselfe by wranglinge sutes 



agaynst his pore neighbours.' 



The lease being conditional 



upon the payment of the rent 



within a certain period, Daniel 



Cage, it was complained, ' hath 



nowe of late sought by dyvers 



lewd practyces ' to overthrow 



the lease. The result of the 



petition is not stated,^^ but 



amongst the claims for offices 



at the coronation of James I 



in 1603 are those of Edward Earl of Oxford and 



Daniel Cage, each of whom claimed, as seised of the 



Cage of Hormead, 

 Party axure and gules a 

 saltire or 'with the differ- 

 ence of a martlet. 



Great Hormead Bury : Entrance Front 



manor of Hormead, to be chamberlain to the queen. 

 The claim was left unexamined,^^ owing probably to 

 the curtailment of the coronation ceremonies on 

 account of the Plague.^' 



Daniel Cage died in 1634, leaving the manor of 

 Great Hormead to his son Philip.'" The latter 

 married Elizabeth daughter of Robert Thornton, and 

 their eldest son Robert '^ was probably the father of 

 Thornton Cage, who was holding the manor in 1662.'^ 



9 Red Bk. ofExch. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 759 ; 

 Cal.Rot. Pat. (Rec. Com.), 231. 



9 A«size R. Herts. 318, m. 20 ; Teita 

 de Ne-vill (Rec. Com.), 2664. 



»» Abbre-v. Rot. Orig. (Rec. Com.), i, 1 1. 



I' Assize R. 323. 



" Coll. Topog. et Gen. v, 199. 



"Assize R. 325. 



» G.E.C. Complete Peerage; Coll. Topog. 

 ttGen. T, 199. 



1' Cal. Pat. 1292-1301, p. 141. 



'8 Chan. Inq. p.m. 24 Edw. I, no. 62. 



" Cal. Pat. 1292-1301, p. 253 ; Feet 

 of F. Herts. 25 Edw. I, no. 340. 



18 Cal. Inq. p.m. i-io Edw. Ill, 100 j 



Esch. Enr. Accts. (Excli. L.T.R.), 3 

 Edw. ni, no. z. 



19 Cal. Chart. R. 1327-41, p. 123. 



'" See Feet of F. Div. Co. 10 Edw. IH, 

 no. 15 ; 16 Edw. HI, no. 15 ; Chan. Inq. 

 p.m. 34 Edw. Ill, no. 84 ; 40 Edw. Ill, 

 no. 38 ; 45 Edw. Ill, no. 45 ; 20 

 Ric. II, no. 62 ; 14 Hen. IV, no. 17 ; 

 4 Hen. V, no. 53 ; Cal. Pat. 1429-36, 

 p. 632. 



21 Cal. Pat. 1467-77. P- *97 i Chan. 

 Inq. p.m. 1 5 Edw. IV, no. 28. 



23 Cal. Pat. 1467-77, p. 556- 



» G.E.C. Complete Peerage. 



'< Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), xxviii, 68. 



71 



2' Ct. of Wards Misc. Bks. dlxxTiii, fol. 

 378 ; Feet of F. Div. Co. East. 2 Edw. VI ; 

 Recov. R. Mich. 1571, rot. 1265. 



26 Feet of F. Herts. Trin. 21 Eliz. ; 

 Pat. 21 Eliz. pt. V. 



" Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), bdle. 225, no. 94. 



^ Coronation R. Jas. I ; Cal. S. P. 

 Dom. 1603-10, p. 24. 



29 cf. Chauncy, op. cit. 136. 



'» Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccclxxiv, 77. 



'1 P^isii. of Herts. (Harl. Soc), 36. 



" Recov. R. Trin. 14 Chas. II, rot 

 103; cf. Chauncy, op. cit. 136; and 

 pedigree in Cussans, Hist, of Herts, 

 Edivinstree Hand. 66. 



