A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



of the main block a similar chimney stack projects at 

 the back. Against the south-east side of the wing is 

 a wide projecting sUck from the kitchen fireplace ; it 

 has sloping offsets masked in front by stepped 

 brickwork. The head is plain. The main entrance 

 is near the centre of the south-west front, and the 

 rooms at each end have splayed bay windows on the 

 ground floor only, probably of late 17th-century 

 date. The external plaster work is ornamented with 

 flush-bead panels filled with late i /th-century combed 

 work of different patterns, but patched and in poor 

 condition. The original hall was in the centre of 

 the main block ; the stone fireplace has been removed 

 to Brent Pelham Hall, together with a quantity of oak 

 panelling from two of the bedrooms and a room, now 

 the parlour, at the south-east end of the main front. 

 This room retains a mid-l yth-century plaster ceiling, 



Traces 



dormer windoiv) 



•10 5 



Scale of Feet 



£3172! Century 

 EDLateu and modern 



Plan of thb Beeches, Brent Pelham 



the moulded ribs of which form a square and hexagonal 

 pattern ; the ceiling goes into the bay window. The 

 wide kitchen fireplace has a three-centred arch, partly 

 blocked ; there is a small cellar under the kitchen. 

 On the first floor is a stone fireplace with four-centred 

 arch and frieze carved with roses and leaves ; it is of 

 mid- 17th-century date. The attic floor over the 

 main block is one long gallery the whole length of 

 the building ; it is 66 ft. long by 10 ft. 6 in. wide, 

 and is now lighted only by a small brick-mullioned 

 window pierced through the chimney stack at each 

 end. Near the centre, in a recess, is a stone fireplace 

 with splayed four-centred arch. The gallery was 

 formerly lighted by dormers on both sides, traces of 

 which still remain. It is ceiled on the sloping rafters 



and under the collars of the roof ; the sloping part 

 was formerly decorated with moulded plaster ribs 

 forming a pattern of large hexagons with plaster roses 

 where the ribs crossed, portions of which remain. 



In 1595 the capital messuage or farm called Shonk 

 in Brent Pelham was held with Beeches Manor.' 

 Chauncy in 1 700 describes ' an old decayed house 

 well moated . . . called O Piers Shonks,'' and in 

 1 743 an old moated barn known at Shonki Bam 

 stood near Beeches Manor House, but was ' in a very 

 tottering condition,' ' and a neighbouring wood was 

 called Shonks Wood,' now apparently Beeches Wood. 

 Shonks Moats can still be seen near Beeches House about 

 a mile to the south-east of Brent Pelham Church and 

 inclose two islands. Popular tradition connects these 

 place-names with a tomb in the church, which an 

 18th-century inscription ascribes to O Piers Shonks 

 who died in 1086. But the tomb dates only 

 from the late 1 3th century.* The name Shonks 

 has been more plausibly derived from the early 

 tenancy of Gilbert Sanke (see below under 

 manor of Beeches) or others of his family, of 

 whom may have been Matthew Shanke' and 

 William Shanke of Pelham,!" yyjjg Q^cur in 

 1324 and 1353 respectively, and Peter Shank, 

 who later in the century was lessee of the manor 

 of Barwick in Barkway ^^ (q-v.). 



The second road into which the Furneux 

 Pelham road divides leads north and north- 

 west through Brent Pelham village, at a point 

 beyond which it also divides, one road going 

 to Meesden parish, with Chamberlain's Moat 

 (probably marking the site of the old manor- 

 house of Chamberleyns) on its west side, and 

 the other by a winding route to Anstey. The 

 buildings which form the village lie somewhat 

 scattered ; several new dwellings have been 

 erected by the present owner. In the village 

 are the kennels of the Puckeridge Foxhounds. 

 The church is in the middle of the village 

 and the stocks and whipping-post are by the 

 south gate : the iron wrist holders of the latter, 

 fastened with padlocks, still remain. 



To the east of the church is Brent Pelham 

 Hall, the manor-house, the residence of Mr. 

 E. E. Barclay, lord of the manor. It is of two 

 stories with attics and has tiled roofs. A lintel 

 dated 1608 is over one of the doors in the wall 

 of the garden, and the house was probably 

 erected at that date. It was originally a timber- 

 framed building, but was encased in brick towards 

 the end of the 17th century. The plan was roughly 

 L-shaped ; the main block, about 80 ft. in length, 

 faces west, and at its south end is a wing projecting 

 eastwards ; there is a modern north wing. At each 

 end of the west front is a slightly projecting wing 

 with hipped roof, and in the centre is a bay of still 

 less projection with pediment over ; in the centre is 

 a porch. The view of the house (1698) given by 

 Chauncy is practically identical with the present view 

 of the front. Moulded modillion cornices of wood are 

 carried round the eaves and pediment. The level of 

 the first floor is marked by a plain brick string-course. 

 In the centre of the pediment is an oval sunk panel. 



^ Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccxliii, 71. 

 * Chauncy, Hiit. Ann^. of Hera. 143. 

 « Add. MS. 5806, foL 18. 

 ' Ibid. fol. 19. 



' Hist. Monum. Com. Ref>. Herts. 70. 



» Cat. Pat. 1324-7, p. 38. 



" Co/. Close, 1349-54, p. 523. 



92 



" Cal. Put. 1396-9, p. 578. Thfre 

 was alio a family of Kaighuhaok in Baric- 

 way. See p. 27. 



