A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



Tl.s matrimonial troubles of Thornton Cage form 

 the subject of a pamphlet published in 1685.*' In 

 it he complains of the extravagance of his wife and 

 her mother, who, however, laid out the grounds at 

 Hormead Bury with great taste. As a result, probably, 

 of their extravagance, Thornton Cage in 1680 sold 

 the manor of Great Hormead to Bernard Turner,^ 

 who died in 1696, leaving the manor to his son 

 John."" The latter was succeeded by his son Anthony, 

 who was lord of the manor in 1728.'* Anthony 

 Turner appears to have conveyed the manor in 1733 

 to Thomas Tumer,^' who held it in 1737.'* The 

 descent for some time after this is obscure. In 175 1 

 the manor had passed into the possession of Lyde 

 Browne,^' by whom it was sold in 1770 to James 

 Haughton Langston, together with woods called 

 Anney Wood, The Park, Eden 

 Grove and The Frith.^o The 

 latter in 1792 conveyed it to 

 Thomas Welch,*i by whom 

 it was sold in 1810 to Colonel 

 Edward Stables. He was killed 

 in I 81 5 at Waterloo, and on 

 his death the manor passed to 

 his brother Colonel Henry 

 Stables, who was the possessor 

 in 1827." After the death 

 of the latter the manor was 

 bought by his cousin Robert 

 Trotter of Crawley, by whom 

 it was sold shortly afterwards 

 to James White Higgins of 



Fumivall's Inn. The latter died in 1854, leaving 

 the manor to his daughter Harriet wife of Arch- 

 deacon Allen." John Higgins Allen of 48 Lensfield 

 Road, Cambridge, is the present lord of the manor. 



The manor of REDESIVELL {alias Clarkes or 

 Hormead Hall), which in later documents is de- 

 scribed as held of the manor of 

 Brooks in Stevenage, probably 

 originated in the half knight's 

 fee in Great Hormead held 

 in 1303 by John Marshal of 

 Laurence de Brok," who also 

 had the manor of Brooks in 

 Stevenage.** Its name sug- 

 gests that it was identical with 

 the half knight's fee which 

 William Hilton held in Great 

 Hormead in 1428 and which 

 was formerly held by John 

 Redeswell.** It appears first 

 described as a manor in a fine 

 levied in 1462 by which John 

 Clarke and Alice his wife 

 acknowledged the right of 

 William Pyke in the manor 

 of RedesweU and warranted it 

 to William and his heirs against the heirs of Alice.'*' 



Stable!. Gules a 

 bend engrailed or between 

 a molel in lie chief and 

 a harft head cahoihed in 

 the foot both argent. 



Wtndoct. Party 

 fe%iev)ise gules and or a 

 lion parted Jessetuise 

 argent and azure and 

 sprinkled •with drops 

 countereoloured betvieen 

 tvn scallops or in the 

 chief and a scallop gules 

 in thef'jt. 



By 1 50 1 the manor had passed to Hugh Braban and 

 Margaret his wife, who conveyed it to John Wynger, 

 Bartholomew Rode, John Style and Thomas Baldry, 

 all citizens of London, and the heirs of Bartholo- 

 mew.** In 1 5 2 I Bartholomew Wyndout died seised 

 of the manor of RedesweU, described in the inquisi- 

 tion as held of William Node as of his manor of 

 Brooks in Stevenage by fealty and rent. Richard 

 Wyndout, son of Bartholomew, succeeded his father.*' 

 Subsequently the manor passed by marriage to John 

 Delawood, who held it by knight service in right of 

 Katherine his wife. They were succeeded by their 

 son Francis Delawood,'" who in 1 6 1 4 died seised of 

 the manor of Redeswells afias Clarkes, held of Ralph 

 Radcliffe as of his manor of Brooks. His heir was 

 his grandson Francis Delawood the younger," and the 

 family appears to have held the manor °* until it 

 came by the will of William Delawood (dated 1 694) 

 to Abraham and Isaac Houblon.'' It descended in 

 the Houblon family" until a few years ago. The 

 present lord of the manor is Mr. G. B. Oyler of 

 Cheshunt. 



The church o{ ST. NICHOLjiS con- 

 CHURCH sists of chancel 2 7 ft. 6 in. by 1 6 ft. 6 in., 

 nave 39 ft. 6 in. by 17 ft., north and 

 south aisles each 9 ft. wide, west tower 14 ft. from 

 north to south and 1 1 ft. from east to west, organ 

 chamber and south porch ; all the dimensions are 

 internal. The walls are of flint rubble with stone 

 dressings ; the roofs are partly lead-covered and partly 

 tiled. 



The nave is the oldest part of the church. A 

 north aisle with an arcade of three bays was added 

 towards the end of the 13th century. Not long 

 afterwards, about 1 300, the south aisle was built with 

 an arcade of at least four bays and at the same time 

 the north arcade was lengthened westwards to corre- 

 spond. About the middle of the 14th century the 

 west tower was built and the nave shortened to a 

 little over its original length of three bays. The 

 upper part of the tower and the nave clearstory are 

 of 15th-century date. In the 19th century the 

 chancel was practically rebuilt and an organ chamber 

 and vestry added on the south side, a south porch 

 was built and the whole church thoroughly restored 

 and much of the stonework renewed. 



The chancel, vestry and organ chamber, with the 

 chancel arch, are all modern. 



The nave has a north arcade of three bays with 

 arches of two chamfered orders with a label next the 

 nave ; the piers are octagonal with moulded capitals 

 and bases. At the west end of the arcade are two 

 semi-octagonal responds back to back, with capitals 

 and bases to each, and the springing voussoirs of the 

 western arch added about 1300 and taken down 

 when the tower was built about the middle of the 

 14th century. The sections of the capitals vary 

 slightly in deuil. The details of the south arcade 

 differ but slightly from those on the north. The 



" See Misc. Tracts, B.M. 



" Feet of F. Herti. Trin. 32 Chas. II ; 

 Chauncv, op. dt. 136. 



" Chauncy, loc cit 



** Salmon, Hist, of Herts. 310 ; Feet of 

 F. Herts. Mich. 2 Geo. II. 



" Feet of F. Herts. Trin. 6 & 7 

 Geo. II. 



»» Ibid. Mil. 1 1 Geo. II. 



*■ RecoT. R. East. 24 Geo. II, ret. 8. 



*» Com. Pleas D. Ear. Hil. lo Geo. Ill, 

 m. IZ4. 



*' Feet of F. Herts. Trin. 32 Geo. III. 



■" Clutterbuck, Hist, of Herts, iii, 419. 



*' Cnssans, op. cit. 68. 



** Feud. Aids, ii, 431. 



*^ Cal. In-j. p.m. 1-20 Ed-w. I, 75. 



« F,ud. Aids, ii, 445. 



Feet of F. Herts. 2 Edw. IV, no. 4. 

 ♦* I=id. Trin. 16 Hen. VII, no. 22. 



72 



*» Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), xxxvi, 76. 



« Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), bdle. 264, 

 no, 2. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccdvii, 5 ; 

 Ct. of Wards, Feod. Surv. 17. 



" See Feet of. F. Herts. HiL 20 & 21 

 Chas. II. 13 Inscription in church. 



" Recov. R. East. 3 1 Geo. II, rot. 

 304 ; 10 Geo. Ill, rot 59 ; Hil. 8*9 

 Geo. IV, rot. 289 ; Cuisans, op. cit. 68. 



