HITCHIN HUNDRED 



him by Henry IV in 1399.'™ The duke died in 

 1402, his widow Joan surviving until 1434, when the 

 manor descended to Richard Duke of York, grandson 

 of Edmund,' ' who was killed at the battle of Wake- 



York. Thi rayal a™, 

 o/ EDWARD 111 -wiih 

 the difitinct tf a lah,t 



HITCHIN 



forty years, renewable on the payment of another 

 quit-rent, but owed no heriots. The wood, on the 

 rkatior had been granted in iCto to trustee, to the 

 use of the copyholders for a sum of 1>66 1 61. 1 he 



field in 1460. His son Edward Duke of York was 

 crowned King of England in 14.61. In the same year 

 he granted Hitchin to his mother Cicely Duchess of 

 York for life. 11 " The reversion was granted by 

 Henry VII to his queen Elizabeth in 1491. 103 In 

 1 509 Henry VIII granted the manor to the Princess 

 Katberine of Arragon on his marriage with her, 1 " 1 and 

 in 1534 it formed part of the dower of Queen Anne 

 Boleyn. !0S Ralph Sadleir, gentleman of the King's 

 Privy Chamber, was appointed steward and bailiff of 

 the lordship in 1539 in place of Wiliiam CotTyn 

 deceased. 106 In 1603 James I granted the manor to 

 his queen Anne, 107 and in 1 6 19 it was conveyed by 

 the king to trustees for the use of the Prince of 

 Wales. m A Parliamentary survey was taken of it in 

 1650, as having lately belonged to Queen Henrietta 

 Maria."" From the survey it appears that quit-rents 

 were payable to the manor from tenants in Hitchin, 

 Offley, Walden, Preston and Kimpton. The free- 

 holders paid for relief one year's quit-rent, but nothing 

 on alienation ; the copyholders paid half a year's quit- 

 rents on alienation and were admitted for a term of 



courts baron and leet were kept in one of the stalls 

 in the market-place belonging to the lord of the 

 manor. The common fines, law-day money, head- 

 silver, and tithing silver paid at the Michaelmas leet 

 amounted to £1 i$i-, the fines, &c, from the courts 

 to £6. In the same year the trustees for the sale 

 of the royal lands conveyed the manor to Samuel 

 Chidley. 110 After the Restoration the queen mother 

 resumed possession. 11 ' It was held by Catherine, 

 queen of Charles II, and after her death was granted 

 on a lease to Francis Lord Holies for seventy-five 

 years. 111 Leases of the manor continued to be 

 made down to 1843, " 3 when the last expired, and 

 Hitchin has since remained in the hands of the 



In the 13th century Devorgilda de Baliol claimed 

 assize of bread and ale, but on what grounds was not 

 known, as this privilege had previously always been 

 in the hands of the king. 11 ' Free warren was granted 

 to Robert de Kendale and his heirs by Edward II in 



1318™ 



In the survey of ]650the boundaries of the manor 

 are given as follows : 'The bounds of Hitchin begin 

 at Altonheade, thence to a place called Burford Ray, 

 thence to a water-mill called Hide Mill, thence to a 

 hill called Welberry Hill, thence to a place called 

 Bosrendell, thence to a water-mill called Purwell Mill, 

 thence to a river called Ippollelts Brook, thence to 

 Maiden Croft Lane, thence to a place called Well- 

 head, thence to Stubborne Rush, thence to Offley 

 Cross, thence to Fiveborrowe Hill, and thence to said 

 Altonheade.' 



In the time of Edward the Confessor the manor 

 of DINSLEr (Deneslai, xi cent.; Dineslea, Dines- 

 lega, xii cent. ; Dunsle, Dynesle, Dinglo, xiii cent. ; 

 Dyonyse, xvii cent.) was in the possession of Earl 

 Harold, and in 1086 it was held by King William. 116 

 It was assessed at the time of the Survey at 7 hides. 

 It had been held of Harold by two sokemen as two 

 separate manors, but when it came into King William's 



