BROADWATER HUNDRED 



In 1856 Kitty Cooch by her will, proved in the 

 '.C C, left £47 js. \d. consols, the annual dividends, 

 imounting to £l y. %4,, to be distributed on 

 k. Thomas's Day in flannel, warm clothing, or fuel 

 .0 four poor widows who (if able) habitually attend 

 livine service. 



In 1870 the Rev. John Smith by his will, proved 

 it London, bequeathed /100 consols, the annual 

 lividends of £2 10/. to be paid to the rector for a 

 iermon to be preached on 26 March each year, or 

 :he Sunday following, on certain texts, and a certain 

 Psalm or hymn to be sung, as prescribed in the 



The several sums of stock are held by the official 



BENINGTON 



who also hold a sum of £193 9;. $d. consols, 

 arising under the will of Thomas Vcascy, the annual 

 dividends, amounting to £4 i6j. 8^., to be applied 

 for the benefit of all almshouses existing in the parish. 

 The National school, comprised in deed 1834, was 

 in 1909 possessed of the following endowments, 

 namely :— £103 js. %d. consols, by will of Mrs. 

 Elizabeth Pryor ; £100 consols, being a gift by 

 Mrs. Hindley ; £zz p. yd. consols, under will of 

 Mrs. Emma Pryor ; and £60 consols, arising from 

 accumulations of income. Also £200 consols, from 

 a gift of Henricus Octavus Roe, above mentioned. 

 Most of the consols have now been sold out to meet 

 the cost of the recent enlargement of the school. 



BENINGTON 



Belintone (xi cent.) ; Beninton (xii cent.) ; Beniton 

 (xiv cent.). 



The parish of Benington has an area of 3,060 

 ic res, of which 1,769 acres are arable land, 838 J acres 

 permanent grass, and 1 29^ acres wood. 1 The greater 

 part of the parish is over 300 ft. above the ordnance 

 datum, and rises at two points in the north at the upper 

 end of the village, and in the east where Benington 

 Lodge is situated, to over 400 ft. The River Beane 

 forms the western boundary of the parish and the 

 road from Walkern to Watton runs parallel to it. The 

 road from Aston to Benington crosses this, and in 

 the centre of the latter village divides, turning north 

 to meet another branch from the Walkern road, and 

 south towards Hebing End and Whempstead. No 

 railway passes through the parish, the nearest station 

 being Knebworth, \\ miles south-west. The subsoil 

 is chalk and clay. 



There are many chalk-pits in the parish, six of 

 which are still in use, and two gravel-pits in the south- 

 west. The village stands upon a hill, with St. Peter's 

 Church, the manor-house called the Lordship, and 

 the remains of the castle surrounded by a moat stand- 

 ing in a park on the western side of the road. On 

 the south side of the village green is a row of 16th- 

 century timber and plaster and tiled cottages. One 

 of them, known as the Priest's House, has the timber 

 work exposed. The rectory, which stands to the north 

 of the church, is an interesting brick house of two 

 stories with attics. Over the main entrance is the 

 date 1637, which probably indicates the date of 

 building. Towards the end of the 17th century a 

 wing was added at the back and further additions have 

 been made in more recent years. It contains original 

 staircases with square newels and turned balusters and 

 tome good 18th-century panelling. Attached to the 

 rooms on the first floor are ' powder closets.' 



Beyond the village to the north the road rises to 

 Box Hall, with Cabbage Green a short distance to the 

 :ast. Along the road turning south-east from the 

 centre of the village is Benington Place, surrounded 

 yy a large park, the residence of Mr. Richard Har- 

 jreaves, J.P,, and south of it the hamlet of Hebing 

 End, b which is Benington House, the residence of 



1 Statistics from Bd. of Agric (1905). 



Mrs. Parker, widow of the late Rev. James Dunne 

 Parker, LL.D., D.C.L. To the west of Hebing 

 End is Burn's Green, and to the south Cutting 

 Hill. Great Brookfield Common, Lamsden Com- 

 mon, and Leatherfield Common lie in the south of 

 the parish, with Small Hopes Wood and Stocking 

 Spring to the north of the last. Moon Leys Spring 

 is on the south-eastern border. SI i pes Farm is 

 situated a little to the west of the Lordship Park. 



The inclosure award made in 1858 is in the 

 custody of the rector. 2 



Field-names mentioned in 1638 are Dane Field 

 Peate Croft, Puckellshedge Field, Great and Little 

 Brooke Field, Lether Field, Popp-hill Field, Badd- 

 meads, Paddocks Penn, Ox Shott Hill, Stocking Corner 

 Shott, Chisill Hill, Beaddales Bush, Langdale Shott, 

 Stowdale and Rowdale Shott. 3 



Nothing is known of the history of 

 CJSTLE BENINGTON CJSTLE. The earth- 

 works may have been thrown up by Peter 

 de Valognes, when Benington became the head of 

 the Valognes barony. 4 They ivcre in al] probability 

 defended in the usual way by a timber tower on 

 top of the mound or 'motte,' which was surrounded 

 by a moat. There was a bailey to the east and 

 within an outer ward on the south the church 

 may have been included. 5 Roger de Valognes, son 

 of Peter, was a partisan of Geoffrey de Mandeville 

 during the period of anarchy in Stephen's reign. He 

 was present with Mandeville at Stephen's celebrated 

 Easter court in 1 136, and died in 1 141 or 1 14.2. It 

 was this Roger who probably built the masonry works 

 of the castle, upon the earthworks possibly thrown up 

 by his father, for had the earthworks been made in 

 his time they would not have settled sufficiently 

 to carry the masonry walls in Stephen's reign. The 

 keep (turris) of the castle was destroyed by Henry II 

 as an adulterine or unlicensed castle in 1177, the 

 charge for the 100 picks used in its demolition being 

 rendered in the Exchequer accounts. 6 The castle, 

 which as a masonry building can only have had an 

 existence for some forty years, was never rebuilt. 7 The 

 ruins, which yet remain above the ground, consist of 

 the bottom courses of the 1 2th-century keep, destroyed 



