EDWINSTREE HUNDRED 



Caltert. Paly or and 

 sable a bend counter- 

 coloured. 



son Nicolson Calvert of Hunsdon, Sheriff of Hert- 

 fordshire in 1749 *°<i member for Tewkesbury in 

 1754, 1761 and 1768. 'In 

 his political career he was an 

 ardent friend to public liberty 

 . . . affable in his manner he 

 naturally conciliated esteem ; 

 lively in his conversation and 

 well acquainted with general 

 history he could not fail to 

 render himself an agreeable 

 companion, ... he has left 

 behind him a character which 

 is highly worthy of imitation 

 and which must ever be re- 

 spected.' He died childless 

 in 1793 and had for heir his 



brother Felix of Portland Place and Thames Street, 

 an eminent brewer, who shot himself in Don Salteno's 

 coffee-house in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, on the even- 

 ing of 23 March I 802. His landed estate passed to 

 his eldest son Nicolson, who was member for Hert- 

 ford borough in 1802, 1806, 1807, 1812, 181 8 and 

 1820, and for the county from 1826 to 1834. He 

 married Frances youngest daughter of Edmond 

 Sexten Lord Pery and died in 1841. His eldest 

 son, Lieutenant-General Felix Calvert of Hunsdon, 

 of the 72nd Regiment, served in the Peninsula and 

 at Waterloo and died without issue in 1856. Edmond 

 Sexten Pery, second surviving son of Nicolson Calvert, 

 succeeded to Furneux Pelham and was a justice of 

 the peace and a deputy-lieutenant for Hertfordshire. 

 He died in 1 866 and Furneux Pelham Hall passed 

 to his eldest son, Felix Calvert, J. P.," who died in 

 1 910. It has been recently purchased by Mr. C. 

 WoodalL 



In 1086 a hide of land in Pelham, previously in 

 the tenure of Alured, a man of Asgar the Staller, was 

 held of the bishop by Payn." It is possible that 

 this holding constituted the alleged manor of Pj4TN- 

 STON," which was held with Furneux Pelham Manor 

 in 1434** and which was probably identical with the 

 messuage and land called Payston Ende which were 

 held with it in 1557.^ The latter presumably now 

 bears the name of Patient End. 



HIXHJM HALL (Tedricesham, xi cent. ; Hideris- 

 ham, Thiderisham, xiv cent. ; Tedresham, Thethirs- 

 ham, XV cent. ; Hedsham, Teddersham, Tettersham, 

 xvii and xviii cent.) was before the Conquest in the 

 tenure of Wlwi, a man of Asgar the Staller, who had 

 the right to sell. It was held of the bishop in 1086 

 by William and Ranulf, and was then assessed at a 

 hide and a half and had arable land for three ploughs, 

 woodland to feed 60 swine and pasture for the live 

 stock.™ The manor was discovered at the death in 

 1 366 of Alice widow of Hugh le Gros to have been 

 settled on her and her husband on the same terms as 

 Furneux Pelham," with which manor it subsequently 



FURNEUX PELHAM 

 passed." It was surveyed in 1434 as containing a 

 messuage and other buildings, 100 acres of arable 

 land, 6 acres of meadow and lo acres of pasture." 

 In 1766 it was separated from Furneux Pelham 

 Manor, being sold by William Newport and his 

 wife Mary to Lee Steer," who in 1785 and 1794 

 settled It on his grandson Lee Steer Witts, with 

 remainder to the latter's son Lee Steer in tail-male, 

 subject to an annual rent-charge for the benefit of 

 the devisor's daughter Martha wife of Richard Witts 

 and mother of the elder Lee Steer Witts. The 

 latter, in compliance with his grandfather's will, 

 assumed the surname of Steer in place of Witts' 

 In 1813 he with his mother broke the entail of 

 Hixham Manor and sold it, with the exception of 

 3 2 acres of wood called the Home Wood and one or 

 two fields, to George Dyer. The property conveyed 

 had an area of more than 168 acres and was almost 

 entirely arable land." 



Hixham Hall is now a farm held by the executors 

 of the late Mr. Bowman. 



ST. JOHNS PELHAM (Jonys of Pelham, 

 XV cent. ; Jonnespelham, xvi cent.). Walter Fitz 

 William de Pelham, who died in 1292, held in 

 Furneux Pelham of the Bishop of London 66J acres 

 of arable land, on which was a dovecote, and 

 3 acres of wood by military service and suit of 

 court every three weeks and by rendering a yearly 

 rent of 40a'. and homage, scutage and reliefs. He 

 also held of Simon de Furneus 88 acres of arable 

 land, 4^ acres of wood, 4 of meadow and 6 of 

 pasture, as well as rents of assize to the annual value 

 of 25J'. 5<^. and customary works worth izs. 5^0'. in 

 Furneux Pelham Manor, all by military senice and 

 suit of court every three weeks and by rendering 

 j^\d. a year to Simon and homage, scutage and reliefs 

 and 9^2'. yearly to the ward of Stortford Castle. His 

 heir was his son William."''' In 1303 his heirs were 

 said to hold a fourth part of a knight's fee in Furneux 

 Pelham of the Bishop of London.™ It is possible 

 that the lands of Walter Fitz William constituted the 

 alleged manor of Johns Pelham, all right in which 

 was released in 1408-9 by Robert Newport, who 

 had lately acquired Furneux Pelham Manor, to 

 Thomas son and heir of Walter Kilee, late citizen 

 and fishmonger of London and holder of Johns and 

 its appurtenant lands in this and neighbouring 

 parishes." In 1428 the fourth part of a fee once 

 in the tenure of Walter Fitz William was held by 

 William Rook.'° Johns Pelham was afterwards held 

 by Ralph Grey, tenant of Brent Pelham Manor, who 

 died in 1492, and was inherited by his infant 

 daughter Elizabeth.*' It probably passed afterwards 

 with Brent Pelham and with that manor came to 

 the owners of the manor of Furneux Pelham," for 

 at some date before 1577 it was in the tenure of a 

 lessee of Lord Morley " and the latter at his death 

 was holder of the capital messuage called Johns-a 



** F.C.H. Herts. Families, ii-6i. 



« ^.C.H. Herts, i, 307a. 



^ Otherwise Paynottis. 



'* Chan. Inq. p.m. 12 Hen. VI, no. 36. 



^ Com. Pleas D. Enr. Mich. 4 & 5 

 Phil, and Mary. 



™ r.CH. Herts, i, 307*. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. 40 Edw. Ill, no. 16. 



'^ Ibid. 42 Edw. Ill, no. 25 ; Close, 

 1 1 Ric II, m. ig, 20 d. ; 8 Hen. IV, 

 m. 36 i Feet of F. Herts. 8 Hen. IV, 

 no. 49 ; 2 Hen. V, no. 9 ; 9 Hen. VI, 



no. 47 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), xxiii, 

 61 i xxxiv, 96 ; xlii, 96 ; ccccxxxv, 125 ; 

 Feet of F. Herts. East. 30 Hen. VIII ; 

 East. 17 Jas. I; Recov. R. East. 33 

 Geo. II, rot. 41. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. 12 Hen. VI, 

 no. 36. 



" Feet of F. Herts. Trin. 6 Geo. III. 



" Com. Pleas D. Enr. East. 5 3 

 Geo. Ill, m. 28. 



'^■' Chan. Inq. p.m. 21 Edw. I, no. 39 ; 

 cf. Cal. Fine R. 1272-1307, p. 326, where 



103 



Walter is erroneously called a tenant in 

 chief. ™ Feud. Aids, u, 431. 



™ Close, 10 Hen. IV, m. 10, 22, 25. 



* Feud. Aids, ii, 446. 



*' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), xii, 108. 



8' See account of Brent Pelham. 



«i Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), bdle. 138, 

 no. 59. A fine of the manor was levied 

 by Andrew Grey and Anne his wife in 

 1583 (Feet of F. Herts. East. 25 Eliz.). 

 By this Andrew may have relinquished an 

 hereditary right to the manor. 



