A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



rings of six for Barkway and North Mimms, 

 and rings of five for Codicote, Rushden, and 

 Wallington. Other famous specimens of his 

 work are the rings of eight at Waltham Abbey 

 and Saffron Walden ; at St. Alkmund, Shrews- 

 bury, and Condover (Salop); Adderbury (Oxon.), 

 and St. Ebbe's, Oxford ; and others at Barn- 

 staple (Devon) ; Soham (Cambs.) ; St. Giles, 

 Cripplegate, London, &c. His latest bell in 

 Hertfordshire is at Hinxworth, dated 1825. 

 His foundry vsras near Castle Lane, subsequently 

 occupied by Mr. Simpson, printer. 



His bells are usually inscribed in a small neat 

 type : 



JOHN BRIANT HERTFORD FECIT 



with the date, the name of the town being 

 sometimes spelled ' Hartford.' He seldom 

 breaks out into poetry hke some of his contem- 

 poraries, but examples may be seen at Little- 

 bury (Essex), Shrewsbury, St. Alkmund, and 

 High Ercall (Salop), the effusions in the two 

 latter cases being the work of a well-known 

 local poet. He is fond of introducing small 

 ornaments in his inscriptions, such as a calvary 

 cross, a cross paty, and a double triangle. That 

 he was also a successful clockmaker the present 

 clock at Hertford Town Hall bears witness. 

 His skill as a founder and his conscienriousness 

 in business are well evidenced by a correspon- 

 dence with the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln, 

 who appUed to him about the bells of their 



Cathedral, and in particular about ' Great 

 Tom,' then (1827) being cracked. The corre- 

 spondence is preserved among the cathedral 

 documents, and is given in exienso by Stahl- 

 schmidt.^* His advice was unfortunately not 

 followed for some time, and, after several abor- 

 tive attempts to mend ' Great Tom,' it was 

 finally recast in London in 1834. At the time 

 of this occurrence Briant was neariy eighty 

 years of age, and he states that he has ' declined 

 bell-founding,' but is ready and willing to give 

 disinterested advice. It appears that in spite 

 of his reputation for mechanical skill and 

 integrity in business his trade had for some 

 years been declining, partly, perhaps, on account 

 of advancing years, partly from the competition 

 of the great firm of Mears, of Whitechapel. 

 However this may be, he fell into pecuniary 

 difficulties, and was compelled to end his days 

 in an almshouse at St. Albans, where he died 

 27 February 1829, aged eighty. His business 

 had been sold not long before to his successful 

 rival Mears. A contemporary writer, Lewis 

 Turnor,^' attributes his misfortunes to his gene- 

 rosity and liberality of disposition, and to the 

 fact that he had a great aversion to pressing for 

 the discharge of money owing to him. He was 

 buried in All Saints' churchyard at Hertford, 

 and a muffled peal was rung at that church 

 by the Hertford College Youths. He was 

 twice married, and left two daughters, but no 

 son. 



WATER-CRESS GROWING 



The culture of water-cress for table use, 

 although practised extensively for many years 

 previously in Germany and elsewhere on the 

 Continent, does not appear to have been intro- 

 duced to this country prior to the first quarter 

 of the 19th century.^ 



Hertfordshire, on account of the abundance 

 and purity of its water supply, was one of the 

 first counties in which the industry was at 

 first largely prosecuted, and the crops produced 

 in certain areas, notably around Welwyn, were 

 considered to be of very high quaHty. 



One has to consider the fact of a decreasing 

 water supply in the county to reaUze that at 

 the present day the industry is no longer 

 in the prosperous condition of former years. 

 Many of the beds, or ' ditches ' as they are 

 locally called, which originally were fed by small 

 rivulets and streams, are now unworkable during 

 the summer months, and it may almost be 

 stated that only those areas of cultivation ad- 

 jacent to the larger watercourses of the county 

 yield regular and profitable crops. Moreover, a 

 diminution of water during the summer months, 



1 See Encycl. Brit. (ed. 10). 



when the best season for production is at its 

 height, causes a greater amount of impurity in 

 the beds, chiefly due to the decomposition of 

 diatomaceous and other protophytan matter ; 

 and, whereas suitable precautions are taken to 

 exclude impure matter of a larger description, 

 this may be cited as a further deterrent factor 

 in the full development of the industry. 



Although water-cress is grown throughout the 

 county wherever suitable conditions exist, the 

 most extensive areas of production are those 

 which occur naturally below the level of an 

 adjacent waterway. A large acreage of what 

 would otherwise be damp pasture is thus 

 utilized along the margin of the Grand Junction 

 Canal and the Rivers Lea and Colne with their 

 tributaries. At Rickmansworth and Boxmoor 

 Mr. Chas. Sansom owns beds of consider- 

 able extent. Two other members of the 

 family, Mr. A. Sansom of Welwyn and Mr. T. 

 Sansom of Redboum are also large growers. 



" Ch. Bells of Herts. 57 fF. 



" Hist, of the Borough of Hertford, 407. He gi»ti 

 a biography of Briant as one of the town's nouble 

 men. 



272 



