A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



front and overhanging upper storj' ; it is of 17th- 

 century date. 



There are several cottages at the north end of 

 High Street, on the west side, of late i6th and early 

 17th-century date ; they are chiefly of timber 

 framing plastered, with portions weather-boarded. 



On the east side of High Street, at the south end, 

 in a yard behind a china shop, is a two-storied 

 building of timber and plaster with tiled roof; it is 

 probably of late 16th-century date and is in a poor 

 state of repair. The wooden doorway has a moulded 

 four-centred arch under a square head. There are 

 some good plain roof trusses. The oak muUioned 

 window frames with diamond quarries are original. 



The Court, originally the Buntingford Grammar 

 School, founded about 1625, is now a private house. 

 The building is L-shaped and is probably of early 

 1 7th-century date. The wing running north and 

 south is the old school building and originally con- 

 sisted of one room of one story ; a modern floor has 

 been inserted and attic windows added and the front 

 considerably modernized. The front is plastered and 

 the entrance doorway has a semicircular arch with 

 shallow pediment over ; the jambs are rusticated. 

 On the north gable is a chimney stack with two 

 octagonal shafts. Some of the windows have the 

 original plastered brick mullions and transoms ; some 

 plain old queen-post roof trusses still remain. The 

 north wing is a plain plastered building of 18th- 

 century date. The property was sold in 1902, after 

 the failure of the school, and the endowments were 

 used to found a technical school opened in 1903 in 

 Baldock Lane. 



A house next the George and Dragon Hotel is a 

 plain timber and plaster building with overhanging 

 upper story and tiled roof The George and Dragon 

 Hotel •■' has a modern front, but the interior is prob- 

 ably of 1 7th-century date. On the front is an 

 elaborate wrought-iron sign-bracket of early 1 8th- 

 century date. 



Tij.vardi the northern end of High Street, on the 

 cast side, is a cottage, now divided into two dwell- 

 ings, which may be of early 16th-century date. It 

 is a rectangular building of two stories with a plain 

 central chimney ; the walls are of timber fr.iming 

 with plaster between the timbers. In the centre of 

 the front is a blocked doorway of oak with three- 

 centred arch ; the upper story projects on the ends 

 of the floor joist;. The windows with diamond 

 quarries are original. 



The boys' elementary school at Newtown was 

 built in 1845 and the Adams Memorial School for 

 girls and infants in 1879. Buntingford Congrega- 

 tional Chapel was founded in 1 776.^ Hope's Chapel 

 in Farrington Yard, High Street, belongs to the 

 Particular Baptists. 



The railway station of Buntingford is on the west 

 side of Ermine Street, about half a mile south of the 

 bridge across the Rib. It is a terminal station on 

 the Ware and Buntingford branch of the Great 

 Eastern railway. 



The house called Littlecourf which stands on the 

 east bank of the Rib, on the north side of the Cause- 

 way, is on the site of a house built at the end of the 

 1 6th century by John Gyll.^ By will proved in 1 600 

 John Gyll left this house to his wife Joan, with the 

 provision that his younger son John Gyll was to have 

 the use of it during her life as her farmer and that 

 after her death he was to occupy it for seven years." 

 John's elder son Sir George Gyll died seised of it in 

 1619.^' His son John '^ died without issue in 1651,*^ 

 when Littlecourt was probably sold. It was after- 

 wards acquired by Bernard Turner, who died in 

 1696, and it descended through his son Thomas to 

 Anne Turner, who took it in marriage to Thomas 

 Crouch of Layston.^' Littlecourt passed from the 

 Crouches about 1726 and finally came to Viscount 

 Falkland, who sold it in 1 760 to Butler Chauncy, son 

 of the historian.'' After his death in 1 766 the 

 estate passed through many hands until it finally 

 became the property of Captain Henry Harman 

 Young in 1 8 19. Captain Young pulled the old 

 house down. On his death he left the estate to his 

 two daughters, Matilda wife of John Dendy Pilcher 

 and Mary Heathfield, wife of Andrew Walls." Little- 

 court has recently been bought and is now occupied 

 by Mr. Pinckney. 



Sir Frederick Abbott (1805-92), major- 

 general in the Royal (late Bengal) Engineers, was 

 born at Littlecourt in 1805. He had a distinguished 

 Indian career, taking part in the forcing of the 

 Khaibar Pass and in the occupation of Bengal. For 

 some years he was superintending engineer of the 

 North-West Provinces and was in charge of the 

 militar) bridging establishment. He retired in 1 847 

 and was appointed lieutenant-governor of the military 

 college of East India, which was closed in 1861.'^ 



Beauchamps stands on a moated site about i 

 mile north-east of the church ; it is now a farm- 

 house. Three arms of the moat are wet. The house 

 is E-shaped on plan, and was originally built of 

 timber-framing covered with plaster. The wings con- 

 sist of two stories, the central part of one only. The 

 rooft are tiled ; the wings have plain gables, and at 

 each end of the central block is a brick chimney stack 

 of three square shafts, the central shaft being larger 

 than the flanking ones. The front is of modern 

 brickwork, but the house itself dates from the early 

 part of the 17th century. The house contains some 

 1 7th-ccntury oak panelling and a panelled door with 

 carving. 



Alswick Hall, the old manor-house, now a farm, and 

 the site of the chapel of Alswick are situated about i 

 mile east of Buntingford. The hall stands on a 

 moated site, but only a small part of the moat remains 

 on the west side. The house, now divided into two 

 dwellings, is of two stories. It is T-shaped on plan, 

 the south arm of the cross being much shorter than 

 the north ; the east wing forms the vertical portion 

 of the cross. The walls are timber-framed and 

 plastered, with foundations of thin bricks ; the roofs 

 are tiled. The house is of early 1 7th-century date. 



" The ' George ' is mentioned in 1605 

 (Chan. Inq. p.m. [Ser. 2], cotciv, i8). 

 Other names of inns are the ' Bell,' men- 

 tioned in 15+; (i. atJ P. Hen. Vin, 

 II [i", p. 681), the 'Chekerc of the 

 Hoope ' of an earlier date (Early Ch^n. 

 Proc. bdle. 11, no. 533) and the 'Falcon 

 of the Woope,' i.e. the Falcon on the 



hoop or barrel (Ct. of Req. bdle. 77, 

 no. 48). 



* Conventicles were held in the house 

 of a family called Gates in 1675 "■>■' 

 later {Sen. R. [Herts. Co. Rec], i, 257, 



3'9. 3". 33', 342)- 

 «« P.CC. 60 Wallopp. 

 3' Ibid. 



80 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccccvii, oc. 

 "Ibid. ^ ' ^ " '^5 



" Cussans, Hiit. of Hern. EJuinitret 

 Hund. 82. 

 »* Ibid. 

 « Ibid. 

 " Ibid. 

 " Diet. Nat. Bhg. Supj-lemrrt. 



