A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



larder, five chambers with a study.' The glebe lands 

 then consisted of about 45 acres." 



The mission church of ST. MICHAEL in Norton 

 Way was built before 1910. 



A Roman Catholic church dedicated in honour of 

 St. Hugh was built in Pixmore Way in 1908 ; the 

 Presbytery adjoins it. There is a meeting of the 

 Society of Friends at Howgills, Sollershott ; the 

 Wesleyan Methodists hold services in the Pixmore 

 Institute, and the Salvation Army in the Co-operative 

 Hall. There is also a Free Church in Norton Way, 

 which was built in 190; and enlarged in 1 907. 



A chipel existed at Burleigh at the beginning of 

 the 13th century, and is mentioned in izi8 as 

 attached to the church of Letch worth, and therefore 

 as belonging to St. Alban's Abbey.' In 13 1 1 licence 

 was given to the Broks, lords of Burleigh, for a 

 chantry in the chapel of Burleigh, 5 and the whole 



seems to have been subsequently known as Brook's 

 Chapel or Burleigh's Chapel. It seems to have soon 

 decayed, for in 1548 it possessed no plate, ornaments, 

 goods or chattels beyond the tithes of the land 

 attached. The incumbent was then William ap Rise.' 

 Upon its dissolution the site and lands pertaining 

 were granted in 1 5 5 3 to John and William Dodington 

 and their heirs/ but seem to have come not long 

 after into the possession of John Godfrey or Cowper, 

 who held the manor of Burleigh (q.v.) and died in 

 1565. He held the 'tithe called Brakes Chappell 

 or Burleyes Chappell ' of the queen as of her manor of 

 East Greenwich in socage, 9 and left it to his younger 

 son Francis, who died in 1 63 1 seised of ' Burley 

 Ground, le Hault, and Brooks Chappell,' which he 

 had settled on his younger sons William and John.* 



There are no endowed charities. The children 

 attend the school at Willian. 



GREAT MUNDEN 



Mundene (xi cent.) ; Mundun, Mundon (xiii cent.). 



The parish of Great Munden has an area of 3,758 

 acres, of which 1,895$ acres are arable land, 927$ 

 permanent grass and 97 wood. 1 The elevation of 

 the parish is for the most part well over 300 ft., and 

 in the north-west and along the eastern border of 

 the parish it is over 400 ft. The village of Great 

 Munden lies on the road which branches off west- 

 wards from Ermine Street at Puckcridge ; the road 

 from Little Munden to Westmill crosses it in the 

 centre of the vill.ige, and passes through the hamlet of 

 Nasty to the north of it. The church of St. Nicholas, 

 with Munden Bury adjoining, is at the west end of 

 the village, and the rectory about three-quarters of a 

 mile further along the road to the south. The old 

 rectory, with the remains of a moat, is about the same 

 distance due west of the village. In 1606 it is described 

 as a house consisting of eleven bays built of timber 

 and covered all (excepting one bay) with tile, ' five 

 bayes being chambred over and boorded, these five 

 bayes being contrived into two heights or stories and 

 the whole building disposed into 17 roomes viz.t. 

 the halle, buttrcy, parlour, three bedchambers below 

 and six chambers above (the dayrie having a cornloft 

 over it boorded), kitchin and three other roomes 

 adioyning.' There was also a dove-house within the 

 moat and a bridge with a gate of timber and boards 

 over the moat. The glebe lands consisted of about 

 53 acres.' 



Near the old rectory is an early 17th-century 

 cottage, with weather-boarded timber framing and 

 thatched roof. Brockholds Farm, with the remains 

 of a moat, is on the eastern boundary of the parish, 

 a short distance north-east of Levens Green. There 

 are remains of homestead moats also at Mill Farm and 

 Rush Green. Rowney Priory, with the site of the small 

 house for Benedictine nuns, founded in I 164. by Conan 

 Duke of Britanny, is in the extreme south. The 

 present house is modern, but there is a wall within it 



'Hen 



Uaq. iii, 185-7. 



Chan. Int). f 



about 3 ft. 6 in. thick, faced with flint, which may have 

 been a part of the priory. In the grounds a stone 

 coffin and a stone mortar with two handles have been 

 found. Potter's Green is a little to the north. 

 About a mile and a half south of the village is High 

 Trees Farm, an early 1 7th-ccntury timber and plaster 

 house of two stories with later additions. It still 

 retains its original brick chimney stacks. Within, the 

 hall is now divided into two rooms, the south end 

 being cut off by an oak panelled screen. Much 



kitchen fireplac 

 The nearest 



ing, , 



1 old 



till T 



ailway. 



the Buntingford branch of the Great 1 



The parish lies on a subsoil of chalk, and ther 

 chalk-pits in use west of the old parsonage and west 

 of Levens Green. 



The inclosure award was made in 185a, with 

 an amendment in 1858. Both are in the custody of 

 the clerk of the peace.' 



In 1888 a detached portion of Little Munden was 

 added to this parish.* 



In the time of King Edmund GREAT 

 MANORS MUNDEN or MUNDEN FURNIVALL 

 belonged to one Ethelgifu, who by her 

 will of 94.4-6 demised it to one Elfwold for his life- 

 time. 5 Immediately before the Norman Conquest it 

 was held by Eddeva the Fair. 6 William the Conqueror 

 gave it to Count Alan of Britanny, in whose time 

 it was assessed at 7 hides and half a virgate. 7 The 

 overlordship of Munden Furnivall remained in the 

 hands of the subsequent holders of the honour and 

 earldom of Richmond. 9 



The earliest sub-tenant recorded is Gerard de 

 Furnivall, who died in Jerusalem at the beginning of 

 the reign of Henry III. The manor came into the 

 king's hands by his death, presumably owing to the 

 minority of the heir, and was granted, saving the 

 dower of Gerard's widow, to Lady Nichola de Haye, 



u(Ser 



, 57- 



s Thorpe, Dipt. Angl. A, v 



