BROADWATER HUNDRED letchworth 



subsequently to his sister Maud, the wife of John 

 Handlo. as Nicholas son of Maud and John assumed 

 the surname of Burnell ; he was holding Letchworth 

 in 1346™ and died in 1382, when he was succeeded 

 by his son Hugh. 27 Hugh Burnell died in 1420 

 seised of the Montfitchet lands on the Essex border, 28 

 which may have included Letchworth, though it is 

 not mentioned by name. His heirs were his three 

 granddaughters Joyce Erdington (who died childless), 

 Katherine Ratcliffe and Margaret Hungerford. 29 

 Edmund Hungerford, husband of Margaret, was 

 seised of the Montiitchet lands in Essex, but the over- 

 lordship of Letchworth cannot be definitely traced 

 any further. 



Very little is known of the early sub-tenants of 

 Letchworth. In 1086 William of Letchworth, a 

 Norman and one of the Domesday jurors for Broad- 

 water Hundred, 30 held the manor of Robert Gs 



holding it as late as I 3 1 4 3r ; ii 

 another Richard Montiitchet. 38 

 was assessed for it in 1428, 39 

 but it is not clear whether he 

 acquired it from the Mont- 

 fitchets. About the middle 

 of the 15 th century it came 

 into the possession of Thomas 

 Hanchet of Bedford, who was 

 holding it in 1474. 10 He 

 was succeeded by William 

 Hanchet, who died seised of 

 it in 1515, leaving a son 

 Andrew. 41 Andrew, however, Sn. 



died in the following year w °« b 

 and his lands passed to his * ""'' 

 brother John, an infant of 

 two. 42 Letchworth had been settled 



1346 it was held by 

 Edmund Barrington 





1 8 



W'V'^' 



Letchworth Hall : West Frc 





Later the sub-tenancy seems to have been acquired 

 by a younger branch of the Montfitchet family. In 

 1274, when Margery and Nicholas Corbett acquired 

 the manor, the sub-tenant was a John Muschet, 33 

 whose name is probably a corrupt form of Mont- 

 iitchet. 33 In 1295 Letchworth is said to have been 

 held of Maud Burnell by 'the heirs of Richard de 

 Montfitchet,' u and a Richard de Montiitchet claimed 

 the advowson in 1302. 35 In 1303 Custancia Mont- 

 fitchet was assessed for the fee, 36 and seems to have been 



John's mother Margery for her life. 43 John attained 

 his majority in 153s, 44 and together with Bridget 

 his wife sold Letchworth in 1547 to Thomas 

 Snagge. 45 Thomas was succeeded at Letchworth by 

 his second son Robert Snagge, 46 who was lord of the 

 manor in i574- 4? His brother and successor William 

 Snagge 46 died before 1596, leaving a widow 

 Margaret, who by that time had married William 

 Walford, and a son William. 4y William Snagge, jun., 

 soon after conveyed the manor to Sir Rowland Lytton 



< 5 G.E.C. Complete Peerage ; Feud. 



Aids, i 



» Find,' Aids, 



Burnell is here ascribed to 



as Nicholas. 



17 G.E.C. Complete Peerag 

 88 Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Hen 

 ra G.E.C. Complete Peerag 

 30 V.C.H. Herts, i, 26;. 

 3 ' Ibid. 323*. 

 *> Cal. Close, 1271-9, p. i 



