A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



SACOMBE 



pe, Sevechampe, Stuochampe (xi 



■>.); 



Savecampe, Sawecampe, Sevechaumpe (xi 

 Savecampc (xiv cent.) ; Savecome, Sawcompe {xv 

 cent.). 



The parish of Sacombe has an area of 1,53+ acres, 

 of which 405$ acres are arable land, 685 j acres 

 permanent grass, and I z 3jt acres wood.' The 

 general elevation of the parish is a little over 200 ft., 

 sinking to below 200 ft. along the banks of a small 

 stream which runs through the centre of the parish 

 into the River Beane. In the north-west Sacombe 

 Hill rises to over 300 ft., and in the north-east at 

 Sacombe Green the land reaches a height of 362 ft. 

 In the west the parish takes in a large portion of 

 Woodhall Park, and the River Beane flowing out of 

 this passes through the south of Sacombe parish for a 

 short distance. The road from Benington to Ware 

 runs through the parish from north-west to south- 

 cast, having Woodhall Park on its western side. 

 About the centre of the parish a branch road turns 

 off from it and runs north-east to Little Munden, 

 passing through Sacombe Pound. A road turns 

 east from Sacombe Pound, leading up the hill to the 

 hamlet of Sacombe Green and branching off to 



Sacombe Churc 

 pose all the vili 

 mnded by 





froi 



I there 

 park of 150 

 . It 



>chool, which cc 

 Sacombe Hoi 



, lie 



mth-e 



-ebuili 



'all early i 



by Mr. George 

 and was recently 





19th ce 

 1 destructive fii 



outh of the parish. The subsoil of 

 the parish is chalk in the west and north and 

 Woolwich and Reading Beds in the east. There is 

 a chalk-pit beside the road to Sacombe Green, a 

 disused one north of Woodhall Park, and another 

 disused one, with an old kiln, on the west side of 

 Sacombe Park. The nearest stations are Hertford, 

 4 miles south, and Ware, the same distance south- 

 ea;t, both on a branch line of the Great Eastern 



ay. 



The inclosure award was made in 1852, and is 

 in the custody of the clerk of the peace.* 



Place-names which occur in the parish are 

 Reddingcs, Blindman's Hill, Crossefield, Great tCmdell 

 Field, Emden Spring, Charden, and Mobsden. 



In the time of Edward the Confessor 

 . MANOR there were two manors in Sacombe. The 

 larger, held by ./Elmer of Benington, was 

 tissessed at 4 hides. Besides the manor there were 

 B hide and I virgate held by four of Elmer's sokemen, 

 an"Q 5 virgates held by a certain woman under Anschil 

 of Ware, one of which was mortgaged to ^Imer. The 

 otht.* manor, consisting of I hide 3 virgates, was held 

 by Lewin, a thegn of King Harold. Both these 



manors were granted by William the Conqueror to 

 Peter de Valognes, who held them as one manor 

 assessed at 8J hides,' the assessment having seeminglv 

 increased half a hide. Half a virgate held by Aluri'c 

 Blac of Stigand, and in 1086 by Anschil of Stigand's 

 successor,' and another half-virgate held in 1086 and 

 before by a sokeman of the king s were probably 

 absorbed in the manor of Sacombe. 



The manor, held of the king in chief by knight 

 service, passed to the descendants of Peter de Valognes 

 in the same way as his chief manor of Benington 

 (q.v.) until the death of Christiane dc Valognes and 

 her husband William dc Mandeville. The Valognes' 

 estates were then divided between the three heirs : 

 Lora, the wife of Henry de Balliol, Christiane, wife 

 of Peter de Mamie, and Isabel, who was married 

 to David Comyn. Sacombe was apportioned to 

 Isabel, the youngest, and passed upon her death, 

 about 1253, to her son William Comyn." William 

 died about 1 283,' and his son John being a minor, 

 custody of two thirds of the manor was granted to 

 Matthew de Columbars, and shortly after, at the 

 request of the latter, to John de Gisorz, citizen of 

 London, for four years." In 1 284 ihe remaining 

 third was confirmed to William Comyn's widow 

 Eufemia in dower, on her taking an oath not to 

 marry again without the king's licence. 8 She broke 

 her oath, however, and the king took the third part 

 of the manor back into his hands before her death, 

 which occurred about 1289.'° Her son John Comvn 

 came of age in 1286-7," and probably held the 

 manor, but he died soon after and Sacombe passed 

 to Edmund Comyn, said to have been his brother," 

 who died seised of it about I 3 14." The latter left 

 two infant daughters and a widow Mary, who held a 

 third of the manor in dower." She afterwards 

 forfeited it. 11 Sacombe was eventually divided between 

 the two daughters, the elder of whom, Eufemia, was 

 holding it in 1320 (then aged fourteen years), at 

 which time she was the wife of William de la Bcche. 16 

 The moiety was settled in 1330 on William and 

 Eufemia for their lives and the heirs of Eufemia." 

 William died in 1333, leaving a son John." 

 Eufemia continued to hold the moiety, and in 1334 

 received licence to have an oratory in her house at 

 Sacombe. 18 She married secondly John de Walkefare, 

 who died abroad in 1 34;, leaving a son John. 5 " 

 Apparently, however, both these sons died young, for 

 upon Eufemia's death in I 361 her lands passed to her 

 daughter Eli7abcth, the wife of Roger de Elmerueee 

 (Elmbridgc)." 



Eufemia's sister Mary Comyn, who received the 

 other moiety of Sacombe Manor, was married by 

 licence of the king to Edmund de Pakenham while 



136 



/. Pal. .330 4, p. )3 j F«[„f F. Dlir. 



.. Trirt. 5 Edw. Ill, no. 8;. 



*" Chan. Inq. p.m. 7 Edw. Ill (,,1 



