EDWINSTREE HUNDRED 



LAYSTON 



Buntingford market-place for the repair of the high- 

 ways and of Corney Bridge ^i and in 1738 the tolls 

 of Buntingford market are again mentioned as 

 attached to the manor of Corneybury,^^ but this 

 seems to be the last reference to a market being held 

 in Buntingford. One fair is still held there every 

 year on St. Peter's Day, 29 June.^' 



The justices of the peace for Hertfordshire were 

 holding sessions at Buntingford in 1631,^'* and there 

 was a house of correction there as early as 1638,^' 

 which remained in use until the beginning of the 

 19th century .^^ A small brick lock-up probably of 

 18th-century date stands on the road to Layston 

 Church. Buntingford is now the head of a petty 

 sessional district consisting of parts of the hundreds 

 of Edwlnstree, Odsey and Braughing. In 1835 it 

 became the union town for the district, the work- 

 house being built in 1836. 



The town of Buntingford begins north of the bridge 

 across the Rib and extends for about half a mile up 

 the ascent of Ermine ^_^___________^^ 



Street. At the south ' '' 



end of the town 

 Ermine Street 

 broadens out into 

 Market Hill. There 

 are a number of old 

 houses in High 

 Street, Buntingford. 

 Beginning at the 

 south end, on the 

 west side, adjoining 

 the chapel of St. 

 Peter, is Ward's 

 Hospital, founded 

 and built by Seth 

 Ward, Bishop of 

 Salisbury, in 1684. 

 The buildings form 

 three sides of a quad- 

 rangle, being open 

 on the east side next 

 the street. They are 

 of two stories and 

 are built of brick 

 with rusticated 

 quoins and dressings 

 of Portland stone. A 

 wooden cornice with modillions and carved moulding 

 is carried round the building. The roofs are tiled 

 and the wing gables are hipped. The central part 

 of the east face of the main block projects slightly 

 and has a pediment with the modillion cornice 

 carried round. Underneath is the principal door- 

 way, of stone with moulded architrave and cornice 

 with carved brackets, over which is a broken pedi- 

 ment with a shield containing the arms of the 

 founder. Over the door is an inscription commemo- 

 rating the foundation of the hospital. The buildings 

 consist of eight separate dwellings, each having two 

 rooms on the ground floor and two on the upper 

 floor. The doorways to these dwellings have shouldered 

 stone architraves with small moulded cornices above. 

 Further up the street, beyond the Market Hill, are 



two dwellings, formerly the Angel Inn, with late 

 17th-century plastered fronts, tiled roofs and plain 

 brick chimneys. The ground story has rusticated 

 quoins and an entrance door with moulded and 

 rusticated jambs and moulded pediipent above. The 

 upper story projects on a pl.iin coved cornice with 

 foliated brackets at intervals ; the upper story is 

 ornamented with flush plaster panels filled with 

 combed work, much worn. At the north end of the 

 house is a large gateway to the yard. 



Another house, now partly a butcher's shop, has a 

 plain plastered front, part of which has an overhang- 

 ing upper story ; the roofs are tiled. Adjoining it is 

 a large gateway of late 16th-century date, with low 

 three-centred wooden arches with carved spandrels. 

 A rain-water head bears the date 1 741, but the house 

 itself is older. A house nearly opposite the George 

 and Dragon Hotel has a plain plastered front with 

 overhanging upper story ; the roofs are tiled. The 

 adjoining gateway has a gable over ; it is probably 



Ward's Hospital, Buntingford, from the East 



of early 1 7th-century date. The fronts of the adjoin- 

 ing houses have their original gables, but the facings 

 have been modernized. 



The Clock Turret, which is built over a yard 

 entrance next a stationer's shop, has modern facing of 

 wood and plaster, but the main timbers are old and 

 are said to date from the i6th century. A house 

 next the Globe Inn probably belongs to the latter 

 part of the 17th century ; it has a plastered front 

 with shallow bay window. Beside it is a low gate- 

 way, over which is a small oriel window. Over the 

 doorway is a wooden pediment on brackets. The 

 White Hart Inn ^' has been much modernized, but 

 the north gable is of early 1 7th-century date. It is 

 of timber and plaster and the upper story over- 

 hangs. The Cock Inn has a timber and plastered 



'1 P.C.C. 22 Stafford. 



"Ibid. 354TrenIejr. 



" East Herts. Arch. Soc. Trans, ii, .. 



" Cal. S. P. Dom. 1631-3, p. 18 ; see 



ibid. 1633-4, pp. 232, 305 ; 1637, 

 p. 272 ; 1625-49, P- 583 ; Sess. R. (Herts. 

 Co. Rec), ii, 180, 289, 300, 347, 352. 

 « Cal. S. P. Dom. 1625-49, p. 583. 



79 



^^ Sess. R. (Herts. Co. Rec), ii, 82, 90, 

 133, 165, 214, 233, 290, 344, 413,418. 



^ It was held by John Bownest in 161 5 

 (Chan, Inq. p.m. [Ser. 2], cccxlvii, 77). 



