EDWINSTREE HUNDRED 



Crouch of Cornejr- 

 bury. Argent three crosses 

 formy bet-ween tzuo pales 

 tvithin a border engrailed 

 sable. 



£e,o from various manors of her inheritance including 

 Corneybury." Margaret married first Lord Henry 



Dudley, son of the Duke of Northumberland/" who 



was killed at St. Quintins in 1557," and secondly 



Thomas Duke of Norfolk.*' She died seised of 



Corneybury in January 1563-4." Her husband 



survived her and held the manor until January 



1 571-2, when he was attainted for high treason, and 



it then passed to her son Thomas Lord Howard.'" 



In 1583 he sold it to John 



Crouch." John Crouch died 



in February 1605-6 and left 



Corneybury to his second son 



Thomas Crouch," who held 



it until his death in 16 1 6." 



The manor then passed to his 



son John " and at his death 



in 1649 to his third son 



Charles." Thomas Crouch, 



second son and heir of 



Charles," raised a company of 



soldiers at his own expense in 



1688 to support the king in 



Ireland. After an unsuccess- 



fill campaign, in which he lost 



most of his men," he returned to England and in 

 1690 sold the manor of Corneybury to Ralph 



Hawkins, brewer, of London.** Ralph died in 1 696 



and the manor descended to his son John Hawkins." 



Thomas Hawkins, son of John,™ died in 1742 and 

 by his will left Corneybury to his niece Catherine, 

 the wife of William Woolball of Walthamstow, co. 

 Essex, with remainder to their issue.' Their daughter 

 and heir Catherine married Sir Hanson Berney of 

 Kirby Bedon, co. Norfolk, bart.,' and in 1790, after 

 her husband's death,' joined with her son Sir John 

 Berney in selling the manor of Corneybury to William 

 Butt.' He held it until his death in 1806, when it 

 descended to his son William Butt,' who in 1 841 

 was succeeded by a son of the same name." The 

 estate has lately been sold, after the death of the 

 latter, by his sons. 



The church of ST. GILES stands on 

 CHURCH high ground about i ^ miles north-east 

 of Buntingford and consists of chancel 

 23 ft. by 15 ft., north chapel 18 ft. by 12 ft., nave 

 39 ft. by 19 ft., north aisle 10 ft. 6 in. wide, west 

 tower 10 ft. by 9 ft. 6 in. and south porch ; all the 

 dimensions are internal. The walls generally are of 

 flint rubble ; those of the north chapel and aisle are 

 of brick ; the roofs are tiled. 



Owing to the extensive restoration of the church 

 it is difficult to assign a date for its erection, but it is 

 probable that the chancel, nave and west tower 

 were all built during the 15 th century. The north 

 chapel and aisle were built by George Canon in 

 1532, as appears firom a brass inscription from his 



WYDDIAL 



tomb now preserved in the rectory. In 1865 the 

 chancel, nave and aisle were practically rebuilt and 

 a south porch was added. 



The three-light window in the east wall of the 

 chancel and the two windows in the south wall are 

 modern. In the north wall is the brick archway to 

 the north chapel. The arch is pointed and has two 

 hollow-chamfered orders ; the responds are semi- 

 octagonal with roughly moulded brick capitals. The 

 chancel arch is of 15th-century date and is of two 

 moulded orders, the outer order continuous, the 

 inner resting on engaged circular shafts with moulded 

 capitals and bases ; it has been repaired. The east 

 window of the north chapel is of three cinquefoiled 

 lights with tracery under a four-centred arch ; it is 

 all of brick with moulded arch and label. The two 

 windows in the north wall are each of three lights, 

 with moulded brick jambs and arches. A screen 

 marks the division between the chapel and the north 

 aisle. The chapel was dedicated to St. George ' ; it 

 is built of thin bricks. 



On the north side of the nave is an arcade of three 

 bays of I 5 3 2 ; all the work is of brick, which has been 

 artificially coloured red and tuck-pointed with black 

 lines. The pointed arches are of three chamfered 

 orders, the centre one hollow-chamfered. The piers 

 are formed of four semi-octagonal shafts separated by 

 hollow chamfers ; the moulded capitals are crude in 

 execution, the bases are of cement. The three windows 

 and the doorway in the south wall are all modern ; the 

 south porch is also modern. In this north-east angle 

 of the nave is the turret containing the rood stair, the 

 doorways to which are blocked. The north aisle has 

 two windows in the north wall, each of three lights 

 with moulded jambs and arch. Another window 

 near the west end is of 1 5th-century date, reset ; it is 

 of stone with two cinquefoiled lights with a square 

 head and moulded brick label. The west window of 

 the aisle is also of l 5th-century date, reset ; it is of 

 stone with two cinquefoiled lights under a traceried 

 head. This window is not central with the aisle, 

 and externally, between the window and the west 

 tower, is an apparently solid mass of brickwork about 

 9 ft. wide and projecting about 20 in. ; it has splayed 

 sides and is carried up to the wall-head and finished 

 with a tiled roof. It has no connexion with the 

 tower and is too wide for a turret stair ; as it is 

 directly behind the west impost of the nave arcade, it 

 acts as a buttress and may have been intended as 

 such. All the roofs are modern. 



The west tower is of three stages with short leaded 

 spire and embattled parapet. The tower arch is of 

 two chamfered orders, the outer one continuous, the 

 inner resting on semi-octagonal shafts with moulded 

 capitals and bases ; it is of 15th-century date. The 

 west window is of two cinquefoiled lights with quatre- 

 foil in the head ; it has been repaired with cement. 



8* L. and P. Hen. Fill, Kx (l), g. 465 

 (88). 

 8« G.E.C. loc. cit. 



8? Ibid. 

 88 Ibid. 



8^ Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), clxii, 167, 



'" Ibid, and also clxi, 79. 



" Feet of F. Herts. East. 25 Eliz. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cciciv, 86. 



'8 Ibid, ccclxi, 147. 



9« Ibid. 



•" Chauncy, Hist. Antij. of Herts. 127. 



88 Close, 2 Will, and Mary, pt. vii, 

 no. 10. 



" Chauncy, Hist. Antiq. of Herts. 130. 



«8 Close, 2 Will, and Mary, pt. vii, 

 no. 10. 8' Chauncy, loc. cit. 



'»» Clutterbuck, Hist, and Antiq. of 

 Herts, iii, 427. 



' P.C.C. Will, 354 Trenley. Mary 

 wife of Charles Walmsley made a claim 

 on the manor as the executrix of Japhet 

 Crook, late of the parish of St. Margaret's, 

 CO. Herts., but the Court of Delegates 



I 1.7 



gave judgement against her, and in 1740 

 she quitclaimed all right in the manor. 

 See Feet of F. Herts. Hil. 14 Geo. II. 



2 Clutterbuck, loc. cit. ; G.E.C. Com- 

 plete Baronetage, i, 143. 



8 G.E.C. loc. cit. 



< Clutterbuck, loc cit. 



6 Ibid. ; Feet of F. Herts. East. 51 

 Geo. III. 



8 Cussans, loc. cit. 



' Will of George Canon, 20 Oct. 1534 

 (P.C.C. Wills, F 18 Hogan). 



