EDWINSTREE HUNDRED 



OTcrsailing courses of brickwork ; at the angles are 

 diagonal buttresses, on which are set lofty hexagonal 

 turrets with ogee heads. Over the archway is a brick 

 corbel table of cusped arches, above which is an em- 

 battled parapet, the central part of which is stepped 

 and contains a shallow niche with pointed arch ; in 

 the niche is set a small brick star in a circle and 

 beneath are bricks with cusped circles and other 

 devices. In the face of each buttress is a shallow 

 trefoil-headed niche ; in the east and west walls are 

 two-light windows with square labels over. In the 

 north-east angle is a rough cavity which contained a 

 stoup. 



The stone font is of I yth-century date ; it is 

 octagonal with panelled and moulded bowl and stem. 

 Surrounding the communion table is a very inte- 

 resting pavement of glazed tiles ; it has a width of 

 9 ft. 8 in. and projects 7 ft. from the east wall. The 

 space under the communion table is not tiled. A 

 few of the tiles of each colour used in the design — 

 dark green, brown and yellow — are in a perfect 

 state, but most of the tiling is much worn. A wide 

 outer border, consisting chiefly of circles conjoined, 

 is the principal feature of the design, but within is 

 part of a large circular pattern with tiles radiating to 

 a centre. Many of the tiles forming the border have 

 conventional flowers stamped on them, the sunk out- 

 lines of which are sharp and clean cut ; in the central 

 part the stamped ornaments consist of circles contain- 

 ing two birds fece to face and various geometrical 

 figures. In each of the two spandrels at the angles 

 is a roughly executed shield of arms, apparently one 

 of the little scutcheons — barry vair and gules — from 

 the arms of the Monchensey family, a member of 



BRENT PELHAM 



which held the manor at the end of the i 3th century. 

 The tiles date from about 1300. 



On the north wall of the chancel is a mural monu- 

 ment to Robert Younge, 1626. His bust is in a 

 niche and above are his arms. 



There are two bells : the first is marked 'C. G. 

 1666 ' ; second, blank. 



The communion plate consists of a cup and 

 standing paten, 1621. 



The registers before 1 8 1 2 are as follows : (i) 

 baptisms and burials 1737 to 181 2 ; (ii) marriages 

 1797 to 1812. 



The advowson of Meesden Church 

 ADrOWSON followed the descent of the manor '8 

 until the death of Mrs. Gaussen in 

 1865. It then came by will to her nephew Mr. W. G. 

 Whatman,''' and is now held by Mr. Pembroke S. 

 Stephens, K.C. The living remained a rectory after 

 the acquisition of the manor by St. Mary Graces, no 

 appropriation being made by the abbey. The church 

 was a valuable one for so small a place. In 1535 it 

 was assessed at £12,^" and a return of 100 acres of 

 glebe belonging to it was made in 1 6 1 0.*^ 



In 1663 Edward Younge, D.D., 

 CHARITIES dean of the cathedral church of 

 St. Peter, Exeter, by his will gave 

 20/. a year to the poor of this parish. In the result 

 of certain proceedings in Chancery a close containing 

 I a. I r., known as the Town Close, was purchased 

 and conveyed by deed, 23 May 1693, to trustees for 

 the poor. 



The close is let at £2 I 5/. a year, which, less land 

 tax, is distributed among the poor on or about 

 29 May in each year. 



BRENT PELHAM 



Pelham de Sarneriis (xii cent.) ; Pelham Arsa, 

 Pelham la Arse, Bamdepelham, Brende Pelham (xiii, 

 liv and xv cent.) ; Pelham Combusta, Brent Pelham, 

 Burnt Pelham (xvi, xvii, xviii cent.) ; Pelham 

 Sarners^ (xviii cent.). 



The parish of Brent Pelham has an area of 1,636^ 

 acres, of which rather more than half is arable land.^ 

 The altitude varies from 300 ft. to 450 ft., reaching 

 Its lowest point in the southern part of the parish 

 beside the banks of the River Ash and its highest 

 near the north-western boundary. The soil is heavy 

 and the subsoil clay. 



At a point midway in the southern boundary of 

 this parish the road which connects Furneux Pelham 

 parish with the Hadham road divides into two, one 

 of which leads through Brent Pelham and to the 

 north-east into Essex and has on its north side, not 

 far from the Essex boundary, the house called 

 Beeches, now occupied by the farm bailiff to Mr. 

 E. E. Barclay. It is a timber-framed and plastered 

 house with tiled roofs. The walls are on founda- 

 tions of thin 2-in. bricks ; the chimney stacks are 



also of thin bricks. The house, it is said by Chauncy,' 

 was built by Philip AUington, who died in 1595, but 

 there appear to have been considerable alterations 

 during the latter part of the 17th century and also in 

 the 1 9th century. The plan was originally L-shaped. 

 The main block faces south-west, and the wing at 

 its south-east end, projecting north-east, contains the 

 kitchen offices ; at the re-entering angle is a square 

 newel staircase inclosed with timber-framing and 

 weather-boarded. At the other end of the main 

 block is a short wing which was probably added later 

 in the 17th century ; originally it was much longer, 

 but many years ago some six rooms at the end were 

 demolished, tradition says because they were haunted. 

 It now contains a stair to the first floor and has a 

 cellar beneath ; a modern brick passage, on the ground 

 floor only, connects this wing with the main entrance 

 lobby about the middle of the main block. At each 

 end of the main block is a projecting chimney stack 

 with a row of three plain octagonal shafts with 

 moulded bases ; the capitals have corbelled projections 

 making them star-shaped on plan. About the centre 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. 47 Hen. Ill, no. 14. ; 

 Feet of F. Herts. 49 Hen. Ill, no. 578 ; 

 Diy. Co. I Edw. II, no. 4 ; Chan. Inq. 

 a.q.d. file 365, no. 1 8 (42 Edw. Ill) ; 

 hat of patrons given by Cussans, op. cit. 

 Ednvimtree Huttd. 133 ; Newcourt, Rcpert. 

 i, 847. 



" Cm%3Ti»,oj.c\t.Ed'winstrciHund, 132. 



M Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), 1, 452. 



61 Terrier quoted by Newcourt, Repert. 

 i, 847. 



' The present name of the parish, 

 which occurs as early as 1230 {Cal. Pat. 

 1225-32, p. 368), is traditionally derived 

 from a fire which took place in the reign 

 of Henry I (Home Cos. Mag. [1902], iv. 



289). 'Some fragments do yet appear,' 

 wrote Norden in 1593, ' of the founda- 

 tions of sundry buildings which were con- 

 sumed by that fire, whereof it taketh the 

 adjunct arsa' (Norden, Speculum Brit. 

 21). 



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



' Chauncy, Hist. Atttiq. of Herts. 142. 



