HITCHIN HUNDRED 



OFFLEY 



Offanleah, Offanlege (x cent.) ; Offelei (xi cent.) ; 

 Iffellei, Offelegh (xiii cent.) ; Offeleg, Doffeleye 

 rav cent.) ; Offeley (xvi cent.). 



Offley parish covers 5,569 acres. It lies on the 

 'hilterns, and has an average height of 400 ft. above 

 lie ordnance datum, but drops in the east to 224. ft. 

 ^he Icknield Way separates it on the north from the 

 arish of Pirton. There are two distinct villages, 

 ailed Great and Little Offley. The latter is about 

 \ miles to the north-west of Great Offley, which is 

 n the centre of the parish. It is on the main road 

 a Hitchin, the nearest town, which lies 3 miles to 

 lie east. Wellbury is about 1$ miles to the north 

 f the village. 



The church of St. Mary Magdalene and Offley 

 'lace lie together off the high road, and they with 

 he houses to the south probably formed the site of 

 he original settlement. The part of the village 

 ,'hich has sprung up along the road from Luton to 

 iitchin is, we may suppose, of a later date. In the 

 illage are several timber and plaster cottages with 

 iled roofs of the 16th and 17th centuries, and also 

 ime of brick of the latter date. The Green Man 

 dd is a 16th-century house of timber covered with 

 Dugh-cast. It was originally an L-shaped type of 

 ouse, but has been much altered. Offley Place with 

 s park is the property of Mr. H. G. Salusbury 

 lughes, J.P. It is a three-storied building of brick, 

 'he north wing is of the 17th century, but the 

 imainder of the house was rebuilt about 1770. 

 ireat Offley Hall lies to the south and Offley Hoo a 

 ttle further on. 



Westbury Farm, a quarter of a mile from the 

 hurch, is a plastered timber house, originally of the 

 ^ type, which seems to have been built in the 16th 

 entury. It underwent considerable alteration in the 

 8th and a wing was added in the 19th century. 

 !"he hall, with a chamber above, fills the main block ; 

 he two wings were occupied by the kitchen and 

 he solar respectively. A 17th-century dove-cote, 

 imber framed with brick nogging, stands near the 



The house called Little Offley, lying 2 miles to the 

 orth-west of the church, is a two-storied brick house 

 f the H type, the main block built early in the 

 7th century, the wings apparently almost a century 

 iter. The date 1695 appears on a rain-water head 

 u the north side. There is a fine carved wooden 

 vermantel in a room on the ground floor. Offley 

 rrange is a mile to the north-east. 



The soil is chalk.' There are 3,388 acres of plough- 

 ed, 1,126 acres of permanent grass, and woods and 

 lantations cover 600 acres.' The parish was inclosed 



by an award under an Act of 1807. 1 The nearest 

 station is at Hitchin, on the Great Northern railway. 

 The manor of Offley, afterwards 

 MANORS known as DELAMERS, was at the time 

 of the Survey of considerable extent, 

 being estimated at 8 hides 8 acres. It had been held 

 before the Conquest by Alestan of Boscumbe ; in 

 1086 it was part of the possessions of William de 

 Ow, and was held under him by William Delamare 

 (de Mara). 1 William de Ow forfeited under Henry I, 

 and the overlordship then seems to have become 

 attached to the manor of Hitchin (<j.v.). 



The first record of a tenant after 1086 is in 1198, 

 when Geoffrey Delamare was indicted for making a 

 ditch to the injury of the free 

 tenement of Thomas Dela- 

 mare. 5 Robert son of Osbert 

 Delamare, who held early in 

 the 1 3th century, forfeited as 

 an ally of Falkes de Breaute 

 in 1224, 7 but the king ordered 

 the sheriff to restore Offley to 

 Alice his wife for the main- 

 tenance of herself and his 

 heirs. 8 This Robert may be 

 the Robert Delamare who Delamare. Gula 



was murdered about 1230. 8 ""^ ' ec, P srtii argent. 

 He was apparently succeeded 



by his son John, 10 who died seised of Offley about 

 1276, his grandson John, aged sixteen, being his heir." 

 Peter Delamare, son of John (probably the elder John), 

 seems to have been in possession shortly afterwards.'* 

 He died seised of the manor in 1292, leaving a son 

 and heir Robert." Robert died in 1308. The 

 extent of the manor then included a capital messuage, 



620 acres of arable land, 30 

 meadow or pasture." Peter soi 

 a grant of free warren in 13 

 manor until his death in 13+9,' 

 to his son Robert, who died in 

 Peter, then agei 

 before his moth' 

 the property, th 



of wood, but 1 



of Robert received 



8. ,s He held the 



when it descended 



38.-3.'' His .on 



thirteen years, presumably died 



Matilda, as he never inherited 



,g held after Matilda's 



death by her daughter Wilhelmina wife of Sir John 

 Roches. 13 She left two heirs, her daughter Elizabeth, 

 wife of Walter de Bcauchamp, and John Benton, son 

 of another daughter Joan." 



In 14.12 Walter Beauchamp and Elizabeth his 

 wife made a conveyance of the manor of Delamers to 

 John Ludewyk, chaplain, and others 80 either for a 

 settlement or alienation. After this date there is no 

 trace of this manor under the name of Delamers 

 until 1740, but it is perhaps the same as the manor 



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