BROADWATER HUNDRED 



Ludwick in 1184.*' In 1294 John de Ludwick 

 conveyed 'the manor of Ludewyk' to William de 

 Melksop, 83 who held the manor of Digswell. After 

 the death of William de Melksop, however, the 

 manor apparently returned to the Ludwicks, as the 

 family seems to have been settled at Hatfield through- 

 out the 1 4th century. In 1316 William de Ludwick 

 went ' beyond seas ' on the king's service with Aylmer 

 de Valence, 9 ' and in 133a accompanied his neighbour 

 Hugh Fitz Simon on a pilgrimage to Santiago. 85 In 

 1342 there is an order for the arrest of William de 

 Ludwick and his brother John, M upon what charge is 

 not stated. He seems, however, to have been a some- 

 what turbulent neighbour, for in 1348 Stephen de 

 rn of Woodhall complained that William 

 ins John and Thomas ' broke his close and 

 Bishop's Hatfield, entered his free v 



and his 



carried away his goods 

 and partridges from the 

 servant.' !J John de Ludv 

 some date before 1377, : 

 many years up to 1+06, 





rabbits, pheasants 

 varren, and assaulted his 

 ick succeeded his father at 

 nd in that year, and for 

 as justice of the peace for 

 Hertfordshire.* 8 In 1413 John Ludwick and Alice 

 his wife held Ludwick with John Deram, Philip 

 Thornbury and Nicholas Rys, s ' and in 141 3-14 it was 

 released to John Peryan or Perient of Digswell.** 

 In 142I— 2 John Bassingburn and Alice Countess of 

 Oxford and John Mortimer her husband released to 

 him some interest which they had in the estate. 31 

 Ludwick descended in the Perient family in the same 

 manner as Digswell " until it came to Thomas Perient, 

 who died in 1 545.** His heirs were four daughters, 

 but his brother John, being the nearest male heir, held 

 Ludwick w until his death without male issue, when 

 this manor was apportioned to Anne the third 

 daughter of Thomas Perient and the wife of Anthony 

 Carleton,' 6 who held it in is66,' 5 and sold it before 

 1569 to Edward Denton." Edward and Joyce 

 Denton conveyed it in 1575 to John Lacy. 38 The 

 latter sold Ludwick in 1588 to Humphrey Weld, 55 

 who died possessed of it in 1610 and was succeeded 

 by his son John. 1011 In 1622 it came to his son 

 Humphrey, a minor, 1 who held the reversion of the 

 manor after the death of his mother Frances, who 

 survived until after 1642.' Some time before 1716 

 Ludwick came into the possession of Thomas 

 Shallcross, 3 who held it then, and in 1720 sold it to 

 Jeremy Hale of King's Walden,* who held it in 172 8, s 

 and in whose family Ludwick descended 5 until 1 8 19, 



HATFIELD or 

 BISHOP'S HATFIELD 



when William Hale gave it to the Earl of Salisbury in 

 exchange for Quickswood in the same county, 7 and it 

 thus became united to the main manor. 



William de Melksop obtained a grant of free 

 warren in this manor in 1301-2.* 



PONSBOURNE (Pomelesborne, Ponnysbourne, 

 xvi cent.) was held of the manor of Hatfield.' There 

 is no early mention of it by name, but as members of 

 the family called Ponsbourne held lands in Hatfield 

 in the 13th and 14th centuries it seems likely that 

 they were the early possessors. The first of these to 

 be mentioned is William de Ponsbourne in I 281. 10 

 The name of John de Ponsbourne occurs in 1293," 

 and of Robert the son of William de Ponsbourne in 

 1 308." In I 346 the heir of Robert de Ponsbourne 

 is mentioned, 11 after which there is no further record 

 ofthefamily, but in 1441 John Kirkeby died seised 

 of lands formerly of Robert Ponsbourne." It 

 probably was acquired with Gacelyns by Sir John 

 Fortescue, the chief justice. He forfeited in 1462, 

 when Lord Wenlock was granted his lands." John 

 Fortescue, who ultimately succeeded, was sheriff in 

 1481 and 1485; he died in 1499-1500 and was 

 succeeded by his son John. 16 This John Fortescue 

 died seised of the manor of Ponsbourne in ijl?-" 

 His son and heir Henry Fortescue next held it. 

 He leased Ponsbourne to Sir William Cavendish 

 for eighty years and sold the reversion in 1538 to 

 Sir Thomas Seymour, Lord Admiral of England, who 

 conveyed it to the Crown in exchange for other 

 lands. 18 In 1553 Ponsbourne was granted by 

 Edward VI to Sir John Cock, 1 ' who died in 1558 

 and was succeeded by his son Henry. 10 In 1622 the 

 manor was held by Sir Edmund Lucy, the husband 

 of Elizabeth daughter of Henry Cock.' 1 He conveyed 

 it in that year to Edward Sheldon, who in 1630 sold 

 Ponsbourne to Sir John Ferrers, 33 who died seised of 

 the manor and disparked park called Ponsbourne Park 

 in 1640." Sir John's eldest son Knighton Ferrers 

 predeceased him, leaving 3 widow Katharine and an 

 infant daughter of the same name." In 1649 

 Ponsbourne was in the possession of Thomas 

 Viscount Fanshawe of Dromore and Katharine his 

 wife, the daughter and heir of Knighton Ferrers, *° 

 who in 1655 conveyed the manor to Stephen Ewer." 

 In 1 660 Stephen Ewer repaired the chapel at 

 Ponsbourne," and in 1672 obtained a licence as a 

 Presbyterian, presumably to hold services in his house." 

 In 1674 he sold the manor to John Woollaston," 



