HITCHIN HUNDRED 



Ecclesiastical Char 



t included in the United 



Char 



In 1696 Ralph Skynner by his will bequeathed 

 £200 in augmentation of the benefice, which sum 

 was invested in a rent-charge of £9 payable out of 

 land in Ickleford. 



Oliver Clement by his will (date unknown) gave a 

 rent-charge of £6 13/. 4^. yearly out of houses in 

 the parish of St. Nicholas, London, in augmentation 

 of the vicarage. The annuity is received from the 

 Clothworkcrs' Company. 



William Joyce gave a rent-charge of £2 lot. 

 charged on a house in Cock Street, Hitchin, to the 

 vicar for preaching six sermons annually in the church 

 on the six Sunday mornings next before the feast of 

 St. Michael. (See also under the United Charities.) 



In 1901 George Brown Collison by will left £50, 

 the interest to be applied in repair of the churchyard 

 of Hitchin, and the testator expressed a hope that his 

 grave would be maintained in good order. The 

 legacy was invested in £57 14/. 4^. consols with the 

 official trustees, producing £1 8j. 8d. yearly. 



Nonconformist Charities : The almshouses in 

 Biggin Lane, founded in 1773 by Elizabeth Simpson 

 for five poor persons being Protestant Dissenters 

 attending the Independent Meeting House in Back 

 Street, and endowed by the founder's will proved 

 in the P.C.C. 3 January 1795, are endowed as 

 follows :— 



£448 12/. id. consols, Elizabeth Simpson's gift. 

 £300 consols, bequeathed in 1 8 1 5 by will of 

 Nathaniel Field. £400 17/. 6d. India 3 per cent, 

 stock, derived under the will of Mrs. Elizabeth 

 Harley, proved at London 7 January 1864. £450 

 stock of the Hitchin and District Gas Company, 

 derived in 1876 under the will of Mary Carter. 

 The trustees also hold a sum of £79 gj. 41/. Bombay, 

 Baroda and Central India Railway stock, producing 

 in the aggregate about £55 a year. In 190S each 

 of the five inmates received £8 10/. and 1 ton of 

 coal. 



The above-mentioned Elizabeth Simpson likewise 

 bequeathed a sum for the minister of the Meeting 

 House in Back Street and £3°° for poor members 



ICKLEFORD 



of the congregation. William Crawley likewise by 

 his will dated in 1788 bequeathed £200 for the 

 minister. The three legacies are now represented by 

 £1,115 T- &d. consols in the name of the trustees, 

 the annual dividends of which, amounting to 

 £27 -js. 8d., are applied proportionately between the 

 minister and the poor of the congregation. 



The trustees of the Meeting House also hold a 

 sum of £407 I is. id. India 3 per cent, stock and 

 £80 15;. \od. stock of the Bombay, Baroda and 

 Central India Railway Company, derived under the 

 will of Mrs. Elizabeth Harley, proved at London 

 7 January 1864, the annual income of which, 

 amounting to about £15, is applicable for the 

 minister. The same testatrix bequeathed £150 for 

 the Meeting House and school at Walsworth. The 

 legacy is now represented by £173 14/. $d. India 

 3 per cent, stock and £34 8/. %d. stock of the same 

 Indian railway, producing £6 10s. a year or there- 

 abouts. Any part of the income which in any year 

 is not required towards the expenses of a Meeting 

 House at Walsworth is to be applied for the benefit 

 of the school at Walsworth. The same testatrix 

 further bequeathed £350 for pensions for the poor. 

 The legacy was invested in £307 Great Western 

 Railway 4^ per cent, stock, producing £13 16/. ±d. 

 yearly, which is applied in the payment of £1 141. a 

 quarter to two pensioners. 



Hitchin St. Saviour's : The Almshouses and 

 Orphanage was founded by the Rev. George Gains- 

 ford, by deed 14 August 1869, whereby 3 roods of 

 land were conveyed to trustees for the purpose of 

 building thereon almshouses and an orphan home 

 for girls. In 1879 the founder transferred to the 

 official trustees a sum of £1,000 consols for the 

 support and maintenance of the institution, which was 

 subsequently augmented by gifts of Francis A. D. 

 Radcliffe, Mrs. A. E. Moreton and Mrs. Burbidge 

 and others. The endowment fund now consists of 

 £1,307 161. Id. consols, producing £ 3 z 13/. 8d. 



The Orphanage is supported by voluntary con- 

 tributions, which, with the dividends on the stock, 

 amount to about £300 a year. 



ICKLEFORD 



Hikleford (xiii cent.) ; Ikelingford, Ikeleford 

 (xiv cent.) ; Icklesford (xvi cent.). 



Ickleford is a long and narrow parish of 1,036 acres, 

 running northwards from Hitchin, from which parish 

 it is divided by the River Oughton. The average 

 level of the land is only about 180 ft. above the 

 ordnance datum. The parish lies in the valley of the 

 River Hiz, which forms its boundary on the east, 

 parting it from Bedfordshire. The parish is entirely 

 agricultural. In 1905 the arable land was estimated 

 at about 800 acres, permanent grass at about 200 acres, 

 while woodland was only 10 acres. 1 The soil is 

 chalk. 



In the middle of the village is a triangular green 

 called the Upper Green, to distinguish it from the 

 Lower Green, which lies at the north end. Around 

 the Upper Green stand, on the south-west the parish 



1 Statistics from Bd. of Agric. 



church, to the north some cottages and the school, 

 and on the east Pound Farm with a moat supplied 

 with water from the River Hiz. The village extends 

 to the south-west along the Icknield Way and a road 

 leading south to Bearton Green. At the junction of 

 these roads is Ickleford House, the residence of 

 Mr. David Simson. On the road to Bearton Green, 

 about a quarter of a mile from the church, is an old 

 two-storied timber-framed house, on a brick founda- 

 tion, covered with rough-cast and with a tiled roof. 

 At each end are gabled wings only slightly projecting 

 beyond the central part ; one wing has an oriel 

 window, over which is the date 1599. The upper 

 story is overhanging. The village continues northward 

 along the west side of the road, the east side being on 

 low land adjoining the Hiz. The Icknield Way runs 

 through the south of the parish. 



Old Ramerick, a moated manor-house, lies 2 miles 

 to the north of the church, and is a two-storied house 



