A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



Conquest it formed part of the demesne lands of 

 Odo Bishop of Bayeux, and was assessed at lo hides.' 

 Odo forfeited in 10SS and Aston remained for some 

 time in the possession of the Crown, until Henry I 

 gave it to his queen Adelaide. After his death 

 Adelaide, who married secondly William de Albini 

 Earl of Arundel in 1 138,* gave the manor of Aston 

 to the Abbot and monks of St. Mary of Reading for 

 the good of the soul of King Henry her husband. 5 

 This grant was afterwards confirmed by Henry II,* 

 Richard I, John, and Henry III,' and the abbey of 

 Reading continued to hold it 'by service of praying 

 for the King, his progenitors and successors' 6 until 

 the Dissolution. After the attainder of Hugh Cooke, 

 the last abbot, all the possessions of the monastery 

 were seized by the ting, Nicholas Eristowe being 



possesions of Wolsey." In 1537 he was present 

 at the christening of Prince Edward," afterward) 

 Edward VI, and in 1539-40 

 was among the knighu ap- 

 pointed to meet Anne of 

 Cleves," on which occasion he 

 was one of those who ' stood 

 from the park pales upon the 

 heath (Blackheath) to the 

 meeting-place ' (at Shooter's 

 Hill). 16 In 1544 his name 

 was enrolled as supplying men 

 for the rearguard in the army 

 against France, 17 and later in 

 the same year he was ap- 

 pointed to levy recruits." He 



Burn i-R of Wood- 

 hill. GuUt&ftuitkttkj 

 argatt andiabU btwun 









Aston Bum- from the North-west 



appointed steward in 1540.' In the same year the 

 manor of Aston was granted to Sir Philip Boteler 

 of Warton Woodhall, to be held in chief for the 

 tenth part of a knight's fee and rent of 77/. 1 yd}" 

 This Sir Philip had been one of the Knights of the 

 Body to King Henry VIII in 1516," and was 

 Sheriff of Hertfordshire in 1524-6, 1530, 1532 and 

 1538-40." In 1530 he was one of the commis- 

 sioners for Hertfordshire to inquire concerning the 



* G.E.C. Cmpltt, Pelage. 

 1 DugdaU, Moit. iv, 29 ; Add. Chart. 

 9586; A.niteR. 313, ra . ;! d . 

 ' Add. Chart. 19593. 

 ' AtiittR. 323, m. S ii 

 Col. Chw, 1337-9. P- S! L.**JP. 



died in 1545." From this date Aston descended in 

 the same manner as Watton Woodhall (q.v.) until 

 1778, when John Palmer Boteler sold Aston to 

 Sir Thomas Rumbold.™ The latter died in 1791, 

 and in 1 794 the manor was sold by trustees to Paul 

 Bendfield, 11 who in turn sold it to Edmund Darby 

 in 1801." After the death of Edmund Darby in 

 1 8 3 1 Aston was sold to Ann Walmsley of Hoddesdon, 

 who left it by will to her great-nephew Donat John 



//( 



'544- 



i.B- 379(62). 



" ibid. *ii (2), P . 201. 



" Ibid! r»liF(i), 273, 27S. 



» Ibid. (2), 4S 2. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), b 

 *> Clutterbuck, Hiil. e/Htra. 



11 Ibid. 

 *> Ibid. 



