HITCHIN HUNDRED 



grant of free warren in i 3 1 8 '» and died in 1329, 

 leaving as heir his daughter Agnes, 50 who married 

 Thomas Fytlyng. 51 They apparently had no issue. 

 The reversion of the third of the manor held by 

 Katherine widow of Walter de Nevill was granted 

 by them in 1 356 to Reginald de Cobham, 61 on whom 

 evidently a settlement of the other two parts was also 

 made, for the manor subsequently descended with 

 Duxworth, and the two manors became amalgamated. 

 In 161 J a messuage called WANDE MEADE, 

 probably situated in the hamlet of Wandon End, was 

 held by Thomas Rudd, who died in that year." His 

 son Thomas, who succeeded him, held it till his death 

 in 1636, when he left a son Thomas, aged four 

 years." This last Thomas was holding in 1657." 

 - Among the possessions of the Crown enumerated 

 in Domesday Book is ' Leglega.' w The extent was 

 1 virgate, and it was held by three sokemen." This 

 estate may possibly be the lands called LYE, which 

 in the 15th century were held by the family of 

 Brograve," and the name may survive in Ley 

 Green. 



In 1540 there was a RECTORY MANOR in this 

 parish attached to the church which had formed part 

 of the possessions of the priory of Old Malton, 

 Yorkshire." There is no previous record of this 

 manor, which had probably been granted to this 

 priory by Walter de Nevill with the advowson of 

 the church. 60 After the Dissolution it was granted 

 in 1550 by the king to Ralph Sadleir, 61 and from that 

 date was held with the advowson of the vicarage (q.v.). 

 The parish church of ST. MARY, 

 CHURCH lying to the west of King's Waldenbury, 

 13 faced with flint ; the dressings are of 

 stone. The chancel and north vestry are tiled, and 

 the rest of the church is roofed with lead. The nave 

 and tower have embattled parapets. The church 

 consists of a chancel, nave and aisles, south porch, 

 north vestry and west tower. 



The original church, dating from the late 1 ith or 

 early 12th century, probably consisted of a nave and 

 chancel only, now represented by the present walls of 

 the nave, in which the nave arcades were inserted 

 and the aisles added about 1 190. The chancel as it 

 now stands probably preserves the plan of that which 

 was built in the 13th century, but has been very 

 much altered. About 1380 the west tower was 

 added, and in the 15th century the clearstory was 

 made and the aisles were partially or wholly rebuilt. 

 The north vestry, of brick, was built early in the 

 17th century, and the south porch is of the 19th 

 century, when the walls of the whole church were 

 refaced externally and the chancel and aisles were 

 partly rebuilt. 



All the windows in the chancel have been renewed. 

 There are a few 15th-century stones in the east 

 window and in the west window of the south wall. 

 Both these windows are of three lights with tracery. 

 There are possibly also a few original stones in the 

 east window of the south wall, which is a lancet. In 

 the chancel is a double piscina of the 1 3th century. 

 The screen is 1 5th-century work, with two two-light 



"Chart, R. 12 Edw. II, m. 17,11 



M Chan. Inq. p.m. 3 Edw. Ill 

 «.),no,SJ. 



al Fiud. Aids, ii, 437. 



"Feet of F. Hern. 2$ Edw, 

 ■. 392 ; .10 Edw. Ill, no. 4.52. 



KING'S WALDEN 



upper panels with tracery on each side of the central 

 opening. It has a cornice and 'Tudor-flower' 

 cresting. The whole screen is much patched and 

 thickly painted. 



The chancel arch is of the early 14th century, and 

 has two chamfered orders and half-octagonal responds, 

 moulded capitals and half-octagonal jambs. The 

 nave arcades are of three bays, of late izth-century 

 date, with two-centred arches of two chamfered 

 orders. The columns are circular and have capitals 

 of scalloped, trefoil and water-leaf designs. The 

 clearstory has three three-light windows with low two- 

 centred heads on cither side, of which the tracery is 

 restored. At the level of the responds of the chancel 

 arch the door to the former rood-loft opens in the 

 east end of the north wall, and is now partly 

 blocked. Two large carved corbels which support 

 the eastern truss of the roof are of the 1 5th century. 



The north aisle has three windows — one at each 

 end and one in the north wall. The last is of three 

 lights and has a four-centred head. The west window 

 is a single trefoiled light. Almost the whole of the 

 exterior stonework and the windows themselves have 

 been renewed. The north door, to the west of the 

 north window, is of the 14th century much restored. 



The difference between the height of the bases of 

 the north and south arcades, and the position of the 

 steps from the doorway, indicate that the floor of this 

 aisle has been lowered. 



On the east wall, to the north of the east window, 

 is an image bracket, much defaced. On the north 

 wall, at the north-east, is a piscina with a square 

 head. A few 1 5th-century timbers remain in the 



The south aisle extends eastwards beyond the line 

 of the chancel arch and formerly communicated with 

 the chancel by a doorway at the north, which is now 

 blocked. The east window and the south-east 

 window are of three lights, of the 1 5th century, 

 much restored, and the south-west window, of the 

 same date, and also much restored, has two lights. 

 The south door is also of the 15th century, and has a 

 four-centred arch in a square head with tracery in 

 the spandrels. It is of two moulded orders. At the 

 east end of the aisle, in the north spur wall, is a 

 locker, with a rebate for a door. There is also a late 

 14th-century piscina, with a cinquefoiled head, in 

 the south wall at the east end. The roof of the 

 aisle is of the 15th century. 



The north vestry, of early 17th-century date, 

 has Gothic wooden window frames. It contains a 

 17th-century oak chest. 



The west tower is of three stages, with an em- 

 battled parapet and a projecting stair-turret at the 

 south-east corner. It has buttresses, very badly 

 weathered, at the angles, in pairs at the north-west 

 and south-west, and single at the north-east, at the 

 junction with the nave. The tower arch is of the 

 end of the 14th century, and has two chamfered 

 orders. It is two-centred and the jambs are shafted. 

 In the west doorway is an old door. The west 

 window and the four bell-chamber windows are all of 



,. (In 2), cccc. 



■5 Add. Chart. 35508. 

 * F.CM. Hern, i, 304*. 

 ' Ibid. 



