A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



been opened, some in connexion with the houses of the various religious 

 orders which have been founded up and down the county. 



From the very nature of the case a description of ecclesiastical events, 

 of religious tendencies, must of necessity be unsatisfying and incomplete ; 

 so much has been left unrecorded, so much but partially set down. What 

 has come to us is more often the story of failure than of achievement and it 

 is easy to forget how exceptional such cases are and how much is covered 

 by the churchwardens' ' all well.' Behind the struggle of party with party 

 lay ideals and hope ; we cannot but be grateful to men who century by 

 century handed on the tale of such spiritual strife and attainment. 



APPENDIX 



ECCLESUSTICJL DinSIONS OF THE COUNTT 



Mediaeval Hertfordshire was divided between the two dioceses of London and Lincoln, by 

 far the greater proportion of parishes being under the latter see.' 



The whole of the eastern portion of the county from Royston southwards to Cheshunt lay in 

 the diocese of London and its archdeaconry of Middlesex, which last came into being before 1 138.' 

 With the exception of Albury, Brent Pelham and Furneux Pelham, peculiars of the Dean and 

 Chapter of St. Paul's, all these parishes were included in the rural deanery of Braughing. The 

 deanery far exceeded the hundred in extent,' and was fully organized in 1291, when it contained 

 the parishes of Amwell, Anstey, Barkway, Braughing, Broxbourne, Buckland, Cheshunt, Eastwick, 

 Gilston, Much Hadham, with its chapelry of Little Hadham, Great and Little Hormead, Hunsdon, 

 Layston, Meesden, Brent Pelham, Furneux Pelham, Sawbridgeworth, Stanstead Abbots, Bishop's 

 Stortford, Thorley, Ware, Widford and Wyddial.' To these must be added Stocking Pelham, 

 Reed, Royston,* Standon, Thundridge and W'ormley. These parishes remained in the arch- 

 deaconry of Middlesex until 1 845.' 



The western half of the county lay within the diocese of Lincoln, and was divided between 

 the two archdeaconries of Huntingdon and St. Albans, this last being a pecuHar. The diocese 

 was divided into seven archdeaconries by Remigius (1067-92), who placed the three counties of 

 Cambridge, Huntingdon and Hertfordshire under the care of one Nicholas, the first archdeacon.' 

 On the formauon of the see of Ely in 1 109 Cambridgeshire became part of that diocese,' but the 

 greater part of Hertfordshire remained in the archdeaconry of Huntingdon until 1845.' The 

 p.irishes in this archdeaconry were organized under the rural deaneries of Baldock, Berkhamp- 

 stead, Hertford and Hitchin, all of which were formed before 1291.'" In no case did these 

 deaneries correspond with a hundred. 



The deanery of Baldock comprised the twenty-three parishes of Ardeley, Aspenden, Aston, 

 Baldock, Benington, Bygrave, C.nldecote, Clothall, Cottered, Hinxworth, Kelshall, Great Munden, 

 Little Munden, Radwetl, Rushden, Therfield, Throcking, WaUington, Walkern, Westmill, Weston, 

 Welwyn and Willian. 



The deanery of Berkhampstead included the fourteen parishes of Aldbury, Aldenham, Berk- 

 hampstead St. Mary (Northchurch), Berkhampstead St. Peter, Great and Little Gaddesden 

 Hemel Hempstead, King's Langley, Kensworth, North Mimms, Puttenham, Shenley, Tring and 

 Wheathampstead ; of these Aldenham and Shenley were outUers.^ 



The deanery of Hertford contained the seventeen parishes of Ayot St. Peter and Ayot 

 St. LauTence, Bengeo, Little Berkhampstead, Bramfield, Digswell, Datch worth, Essendon, Bishop's 

 Hatfield, St. Andrew Hertford, St. Nicholas Hertford, Hertingfordbury, Sacombe, Stapleford 

 Tewin, \\ atton at Stone and \\ elwyn. 



1 For the historical significance of this division see H. M. Chadwick, The Origin of the English \a/ion 2 1 



» Ralph de Diceto,^i//. ^or>t/ (Rolls Ser.), i, 251. ' 



' The hundred contains the parishes of Braughing, Eastwick, Gilston, Hunsdon, Sawbridgeworth, 

 Standon, Stanstead Abbots, Thorley, Thundridge, Ware, Westmill and Widford. Of these Westmill was in 

 the diocese of Lincoln. * Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 18, 20. 



' Constituted a separate parish in 1540 (Stat. 32 Hen. VIII, cap. 44). « See below. 



' Henry of Huntingdon, Hist. Angl. (Rolls Ser.), 302. 



* William of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontif. (Rolls Ser.), 325. » See below. 



*° P(fe Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 36, 37. " Owing to the intrusion of the archdeaconry of St. Albans. 



362 



