A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



1, 600 acres of arable land in Ippollitts, 661 of grass 

 and 1 9 of woodland.* The chief wood is Wain Wood, 

 in the south-west of the parish. The main crop grown 

 here is corn, the soil and subsoil being chalk. 5 

 Ippollitts Common was inclosed under an Act of 

 1 8 1 1 -* Field-names occurring in the 1 6th century 

 which may be noted are Hermitage and Lampland.' 

 The main line of the Great Northern railway runs 

 through the extreme north-east of the parish, but the 

 station is at Hitchin, 1 miles away. 



William Lax, a mathematician and astronomer ot 

 some note, held the living of Ippollitts and built a 

 small observatory there. He died in 1S36. 



At the time of the Survey the Bishop 

 MANOR of Bayeux held 1 hide of land in 

 JLMSHOE* (Almeshou, xi cent. ; Aim- 

 shoe, Almesby, Almeshobury, xiv cent. ; Almyssho, 

 xv cent. ; Almeshoebury alias Ansibury, xvii cent. ; 

 Anstyebury, xix cent.), which before the Conquest 

 had been held by Edmund, a man of Earl Harold. 

 Under the bishop this land was held by Adam Fitz 

 Hubert, brother of Eudo Dapifer." After the bishop's 

 forfeiture it was held of the king in chief, and pro- 

 bably passed from Adam to his brother Eudo Dapifer, 

 and after the latter'* death in lizo to his sister 

 Albreda wife of Peter de Valoines. 10 Through 

 Gunnora, daughter and heir of Robert de Valoines, 

 grandson of Peter de Valoines, the manor came to 

 the Fitz Walter family. 11 They sub-enfeoffed early 

 in the ] 3th century. The overlordship descended to 

 Robert Fitz Walter, who died without male issue in 

 14.31. Elizabeth his daughter and heir married Sir 

 John Radcliffe, and their son John was summoned to 

 Parliament as Lord Fitz Walter. Robert son of John 

 was created Earl of Sussex in 1 5zg. la His great- 



Under the Fitz Wallers the manor was held in 

 1241 by Simon Fitz Adam, who settled it on his 

 wife Fyne on their marriage in that year. H Simon's 

 heir was his son Sir John Fitz Simon, who wai 

 succeeded by his son John. This latter John married 

 Parnel daughter of Henry Graponell ls and had two 

 sons, Edward his heir and Hugh. 18 At John's death 

 in 1 303-4. Parnel retained land in Aim shoe as her 

 dower and afterwards married John de Bcnstede." 

 Edward Fitz Simon apparently died without issue 

 before 1318. ,s Hugh survived his mother and was 

 alive in 1346. I9 Edward son of Hugh succeeded, 

 but died without issue, and the manor passed to his 

 brother Nicholas Fitz Simon, 2 " who with his wife 

 Elizabeth granted it in 1398 to John and Ida Cokayn 

 for life, 21 with remainder to Edward Fitz Simon, 

 their son, and his wife Cecilia, who was daughter of 

 John and Ida Cokayn. 22 Elizabeth survived her 

 husband and married John Sapurton, holding a third 

 of the manor in dower. This, however, she quit- 

 claimed in 14.00 to John and Ida Cokayn and Cecilia, 

 whose husband Edward was dead, 23 having left two 

 daughteis —Elizabeth, who married William Asshe, 24 

 and Christine wife of John Muslee. 35 They seem to 

 have held one moiety each. Elizabeth and William 

 left an only daughter, Elizabeth 26 wife of Thomas 

 Brockett, who inherited her parents' share of the pro- 

 perty, 2 ' and eventually seems to have become possessed 

 also of Christine's moiety. 28 Thomas Brockett died 

 in 1477 s9 an£ l his wife fouc y ears Iater - M T J" 

 manor passed by will to Thomas's brother Edward, 

 who died in 1488, having left a moiety to his wife 

 Elizabeth, with remainder to his eldest son John, 3 ' 

 John died in 1532, when the manor became the 

 property of his grandson John, 32 subject to the life 

 interest of his uncle Edward Brockett. 33 John (knighted 

 in 1547) died seised of the reversion in 1558, 3 * and 

 was succeeded by his son Sir John Brockett, who at 

 his death in 1598 left five daughters —Margaret, 

 Anne, Helen, Mary and Frances— and a grandson 

 John Carleton, son of another daughter Elizabeth, 

 who had died six years previously. 36 The portions 

 of Margaret and Anne were severally conveyed to 

 Helen and her husband, Richard Spencer, 36 who may 

 also have acquired some of the other shares, 37 for 

 their property is called the manor of Almeshoe. 



Sir Richard Spencer at his death in 1624 was suc- 

 ceeded by his son John, 38 on whom the property 

 had been settled in tail-male with remainder to his 

 brother Brockett. John, who was made a baronet in 

 1627, held the manor until his death in 1633, when 

 he left an only child Alice, 38 so that the property 



* V.C.H. Ht 



6 Blue Bk. /«/. A-ward, 

 ' Pat. 19 Elie.pL .. 

 6 r.C.H. Htrn. i, 308*. 

 ' Ibid. ; VX.R. Ntrtkt; 

 '" Dugdale, Baronage i, 

 m, iii, J45- 

 11 Chan 



31 Edw, 



-- 56. 



■ 16 Edw. Ill, , 

 "See Cat. [ nq . p.m. 1-9 grfm 111, 

 9 (Radwell) ; Feet of F. Div. Co. 5 



d Elizabeth's holding I) called the 



1 Men 



1. Inq. p.m. 34 Edw. 



-' G.E.C. CmpltuP, 



13 Ibid. See Chan. I 



liv, s, 19. The overlordship .. . 



rectly given in Chan. Inq. p.m. r 7 Edw. IV 



" " J Chan. I Dq . v . m . (Ser. a), 



(Hi, t . ef H,n 

 -J. 113) quoting from MSS. L r „ 

 n of Sir John Spencer of Offlev. 

 ' W ro .t«lev, P^grnj™, PU* R. ,4. 



', 30. 



'-l.no. 107. 



^(Ser.2), 



Hitchin 



