A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



marriages from i 555 to 1750 ; (ii) baptisms from 1749 

 to 1 S 1 1, burial s from 1751 to 181 z and marriages 

 from 1751 to 1753 ; (iii) and (iv) marriages from 

 1754 to 181 2 and from 1792 to 1812 respectively. 



The ruined church of ST. ETHELDREDA $1 at 

 Chesfield stands on rising ground about a mile to the 

 east of the village. It consists of a chancel, nave and 

 south-east chapel, and is built of flint roughly plas- 

 tered, with stone dressings. The whole building 

 dates from the middle of the 14th century. The 

 side walls are about 14 ft. high, and the west walls 

 of the nave and chapel are gabled. There are no 

 roofs, and the east end of the south wall has entirely 

 disappeared, while the east wall can only be traced 

 by the foundations. The condition of the remains 

 is very bad, the walls being heavily covered with ivy, 

 the buttresses defaced, and the floor overgrown with 

 grass and weeds. 



The chancel and nave form a continuous rect- 

 angular building. At the west end of the north wall 

 is a doorway with chamfered jambs and a two-centred 

 head. A scroll moulded label with return ends is 

 partly broken away, and the rear arch is missing. 

 To the east of the doorway is a two-light window 

 opening, of which only the sill and the west jamb 

 remain. Near the east end a large break in the wall 

 probably indicates the position of a third window. 

 In the south wall is a doorway with a two-centred 

 chamfered arch of two orders, with only one piece of 

 label remaining ; and to the east of it, at the angle 

 formed by the south wall and the west wall of the 

 chapel, is a two-light window, of which only the 

 west jamb and the sill, much thrust out of position, 



In the west wall is a traceried window of two 

 trefoiled lights, of which only the jambs and head 

 remain at all complete ; the sill is partly broken 

 away, and the mullion and most of the tracery are 



Only the west wall and part of the south wall of 

 the chapel remain. In the former is a doorway of 

 the same detail as those in the nave, with its north 

 jamb broken away. In the south wall is a single 

 cinquefoiled light of the 14th century very much 

 defaced. In the chancel is a holt containing a stone 

 coffin. There are traces of colour on the internal 

 plaster of the walls. 



In 1225 the advowson of Graveley 



ADfOff'SON was the subject of a dispute between 



John, Ralph and Adam, the sons of 



William Fitz Simon," formerly patron. Adam Fitz 



Simon appears to have obtained it. 63 This family 



were lords of the manor of Symondshyde in Hatfield 

 (q.v.), with which the advowson of Graveley de- 

 scended M until 1818, when Sir Thomas Saluibury 

 sold it to John Green of Great Amwell.** From 

 John Green it descended to his grandson the Rev. 

 George Dewe Green, after whose death in 1871 M it 

 passed to the Rev. G. Dunn,* 7 who held it until 

 i88o. fl8 From this date until 1899 it was in the 

 hands of the trustees of the Rev. J. Pardoe.*' In 

 that year it came into the possession of the Rev. 

 George Clennell Rivett-Carnac, from whom it passed 

 in 1900 to Mrs. M. F. Chess hy re- Walker/ and in 

 1902 to the Rev. Roland E. Chesshyre-Walker, 71 who 

 is the present patron and incumbent. 



The church or chapel of Chesfield is first men- 

 tioned in 1232, when the advowson belonged to the 

 patron of the church of Graveley. 73 It seems to 

 have usually had a separate incumbent from Graveley 

 though occasionally the same parson served both. 71 

 Early in the 13th century a certain Thomas, who 

 held both livings, seems to have alienated the advow- 

 son collusively to the lord of the manor of Chesfield, 74 

 and in consequence of this the lords claimed half of 

 it throughout that century. This first occurred in 

 1232, when Robert de la Haye claimed it against 

 Adam Fitz William. 75 In 1248 he again claimed 

 it against Simon Fitz Adam, and was worsted. 71 

 John de Blomvile did the same in 1255," but finally 

 in 1 3 3 1 Parnel widow of John de Benstede, lady 

 of the manor of Benington, of which Chesfield was 

 held, confirmed the advowson to Hugh Fitz Simon. 78 

 From this time it continued to be held with the 

 manors of Symondshyde in Hatfield and Almshoe 

 in Ippollitts in the same manner as Graveley- 

 advowson. There was evidently considerable rivalry 

 between the two incumbents, and on one occasion it 

 attained such proportions that John Smyth, the parson 

 of Graveley, killed Robert Schorthale, the parson of 

 Chesfield, for which offence he obtained a pardon in 

 138 4. 70 The two churches were united in the ijth 

 century ; Salmon gives the date as 1445. w That of 

 Chesfield was dismantled in 1750, under a licence 

 from the Bishop of Lincoln. The two churchyards 

 were still in use in 1686. The glebe lands then 

 consisted of about 68 acres. 81 



A dwelling-house in Graveley was registered in 

 1 799 as a meeting-place for Protestant Dissenters." 

 There is a Wesleyan chapel in the parish. 



In 1626 Edmund Jordane by hi* 



CHARITIES will charged an acre of land in 



Graveley Bottom with 4*. a year for 



the poor, payable at the feast of St. John the Baptist. 



. Bread-water Hund. 



5 Feet of F. Her 



V- 



"I Ibid. Hil. 39 Hen. Ill, 00.46' 

 '1 Ibid. Div. Co. 5 Edw. Ill, no. 

 "■> Cai. Pat. 1381.;, p. +44. 

 a Salmon, op. eit 186. 

 11 Hern. Gen. and Antij. iii, $7- 

 " Urwiek, Ncnccnf. w Hira. (8i 



