A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



A house belonging to the brotherhood of the 

 Blessed \'irgin Mary in Buntingford was granted in 

 1 561 to Thomas Paynell." 



The parochial charities are adminis- 



CHJRITIES tered together by a body of trustees 



appointed by an order of the Charity 



Commissioners of 8 June 1877. They include the 



charities of: — 



Henry Skynner, founded by will 1558, endowed 

 with houses (including the Angel Inn) and land of 

 the annual value of j^ 1 40 or thereabouts. 



Sir John Watts, deed 1603, consisting of a rent- 

 charge of j^4 issuing out of land in Buntingford. 



Joan Sandbach, will 1605, trust fond, j^8o 

 2^ per cent, annuities arising from the redemption 

 in 1899 of a rent-charge of j^2. 



Bishop Seth Ward for apprenticing poor boys, will 

 1687, trust fond, £106 p. "jd. z\ per cent, an- 

 nuities, being part of a sum of ^£480 stock arising 

 from the redemption in 1899 of a rent-charge 

 of ;^I2, the balance having been expended in 

 1907 in the rebuilding of a house belonging to the 

 charities. 



William Bigg, will proved in the P.C.C. 2 July 

 1847, trust fund, j^l79 5/. \d. consols. 



The several sums of stock are held by the official 

 trustees, producing together £<) zs. \d. in yearly 

 dividends. 



John Crouch, deed 12 September 1631, being an 

 annuity of £^ now charged upon land at Alswick 

 Hall and applied in the distribution of bread. 



The net income of the parochial charities ii 

 applied mainly in the distribution of bread, coal and 

 other articles in kind. 



Charities connected with Buntingford Chapel. — 

 In 1642 the Rev. Alexander Strange, a former vicar, 

 by deed granted to trustees land in Great Hormead 

 and Layston, the rents and profits to be employed in 

 the repairs of the chapel. In 191 i the sum of ^f 3 16/., 

 being the net rents of 6 a. 2 r., was so applied ; and the 

 Rev. Charles Heaton, by will proved in the P.C.C. 

 13 March 1754, devised an annuity of £z charged 

 upon land in Snayles Mead for a similar purpose. 



The hospital founded and endowed by Seth Ward, 

 Bishop of Salisbury, for four poor men and four poor 

 women is regulated by orders and constitutions made 

 and ordained by the founder by deed, 4 December 

 1 684, as modified by a scheme of the Charity Com- 

 missioners of 2 1 June 1 9 10. 



The endowments consist of certain fee-farm rents 

 payable out of lands and hereditaments in the counties 

 of Leicester and Lincoln, in respect of which 

 j^Sg 11/. lid. was received in 191 1 ; also 

 £274 9/. lid. India 3 per cent, stock with the 

 official trustees, producing ^^8 \j. Sd. yearly, and 

 £1,000 consols, derived under the will of the late 

 Miss Mary Leader, proved at London 5 February 

 1909, producing £zs ^ year. Each of the inmates 

 receives 5/. a week and is. at Christmas and an 

 allowance for coals. 



The Buntingford Grammar School has already 

 been dealt with." 



MEESDEN 



Mesdone (xi cent.) ; Mesdun, MIsedon, Miesdun 

 (xiii cent.) ; Mysendon, Meseden (xvi cent.) ; Messen- 

 don, Meesden (xvii cent.). 



Meesden is a small parish in the north-east comer 

 of Edwinatree Hundred, separated from the county 

 of Essex by the River Stort. On the east of the 

 parish near the river the ground is about 350 ft. above 

 the ordnance datum, rising to 400 ft. near St. Mary's 

 Church and to about 450 ft. further west at Meesden 

 Green. The area of the parish is 1,008 acres, of 

 which about four-fifths are arable land.' In the I ith 

 century the parish was thickly wooded, yielding 

 woodland, according to the Domesday Survey, for 400 

 swine.' Court rolls for the 15 th century show that 

 quantities of oaks and ashes were then being cut 

 down on the manor.^ Meesdenhall Wood to the 

 south of the church and White Hill and Smaley 

 Wood in the north-west of the parish are now the 

 only woods remaining. 



No main road runs through the parish. The 

 church of St. Mary is situated a little to the east of 

 a road running north from Brent Pelham to Langley. 

 Meesden Bury, the manor-house, now a farm, lies 

 nearly a quarter of a mile to the north of the church, 

 with which it is connected by a footpath. At Mees- 

 den Bury is a homestead moat. The moated manor- 

 house is mentioned in 141 8, when it was presented 



at the court that a chamber within the moat was 

 ruinous and had fallen to the ground and that the 

 timber of the chamber and of the bridge over the 

 moat had disappeared.* In the same year it was 

 presented that the dairy-house, the wheel-barn, 

 the hay-barn and the stable were out of repair.' 

 The present house is modern. To the south of the 

 church is the rectory and a little to the west the 

 Rectory Farm. The glebe is a large estate of 100 

 acres. Baron C. R. S. Dimsdale lives at Meesden 

 Manor, formerly called Smaley Lodge. 



The village of Meesden, which is very small, is 

 situated round Meesden Green, about half a mile west 

 of the church. The school was built about 1874. 

 From the village Willoughby Lane and the footpath 

 its continuation run south to the old windmill near 

 Cole Green in Brent Pelham parish. This perhaps 

 replaced the manorial mill mentioned in the 14th 

 century and later. A road running west from the 

 village towards Anstey passes Lower Green, where are 

 one or two houses. 



An inclosure award was made for Meesden in 

 1841.' Millfield, Westfield, Southfield, Longland, 

 Chittoksleye and Romstedefield were among the field- 

 names.' Other place-names occurring are Pourtes- 

 heigh, Cryspyscroft, Balardscroft, Gallowcroft, Rem- 

 sakyr, Warewykis, Fykeysiswick, Chalcroftmede, 



" Pat. 3 Eliz. pt. X. 

 ^ V.C.H. Herts, ii, 94 ; and see above. 

 1 Statistics from Bd. of Agric. (1905). 

 3 y.C.H. Hern, i, 307A. 

 s Ct. R. (Gen. Ser.), portf. 178, no. 2. 

 In 141 8 it was presented that an oak 



which lay in the waste was needed for 

 the * groundsel! * of the church porch, 

 but could not be taken until licence for 

 its removal was given by the lord (ibid.). 

 Another presentment made in 1424 shows 

 that bees were taken out of an oak 



88 



belonging to the lord I'n Bury Wood and 

 the oak was buraed for the honey and 

 the wax (ibid.). 



< Ibid. 6 Ibid. 



*» Blue Bk. IncL Aivardi^ 6v 



^ Mins. Accts. bdle. 867, no. 6, 7. 



