BROADWATER HUNDRED 



lord of the manor." The church is now generally 

 known as the church of St. Catherine, but the earlier 

 invocation seems to have been St. Mary." In 1638 

 the rectory possessed two barns, a yard, orchard and 

 garden adjoining the house, and about 1; acres of 

 glebe." 



In 1 819 a dwelling-house was registered for 

 Protestant Dissenters under the Toleration Act." 



The charity of Rev. John Meriton, 



CHARITIES a former vicar, for apprenticing, now 



consists of £260 61. j4. consols, and 



_£z;i 15J. -jd. Natal %\ per cent, stock with the 



official trustees, arising respectively from the sale in 



STEVENAGE 



1906 of land purchased in 1699 with £100 given by 

 the donor and from accumulations of income, and pro- 

 ducing £1 ; 61. tfd. in annual dividends. The charity 

 is regulated by schemes of the Charity Commissioners, 

 1881 and 1 9 10. 



By an order of 9 March 1 905 made under the Board 

 of Education Act the stock arising from accumulations 

 of income and all net income not applied within the 

 year for apprenticing under clause 23 of the principal 

 scheme constitute the Mcrlton educational founda- 



The Parish Clerk's land consists of 3 r. 2 6 p. of the 

 annual letting value of ;/. 



STEVENAGE 



Stithenaece, Stigenace (xi cent.) ; Stitenache, 

 Styvenach, Stiveneth (xiii cent.) ; Stivenhatch, 

 Stevenach (xiv to xvi cent.). 



The parish of Stevenage has an area of 4,545 acres, 

 of which 3,200^ acres are arable land, 916 acres 

 permanent grass and 325^ acres wood. 1 



The parish is for the most part a little over 

 300 ft. above the ordnance datum, a slight depression 

 in the south being the only part below this 

 level. In the north-east the ground rises to 

 470 ft., and reaches an altitude of just over 400 ft. in 

 two isolated points on the western border of the 

 parish. The Great North Road runs through the 

 centre of the parish. About three-quarters of a mile 

 south of Stevenage, lying beside the road, are six 

 tumuli, known as the Six Hills, which point to the 

 antiquity of this road. The Great North Road 

 forms the main street of the town. At the northern 

 end of the town it forks, one branch going slightly 

 westwards to Hitchin and the other northwards to 

 Graveley and Baldock. At the same point Julian's 

 Road turns west to Fisher's Green. The church of 

 the Holy Trinity is situated at the south end of the 

 High Street ; a road running behind it in a north- 

 easterly direction leads to the older church of 

 St. Nicholas and passes on to Chesfield Park, a branch 

 road from it turning east up Almond's Hill to the 

 hamlet of Pin Green. From the church of St. Nicholas 

 a road runs west into the Baldock Road, passing the 

 Bury, the Rectory and Woodfield, the residence of 

 Rear- Admiral Sir Thomas Butler Fellowes, K.C.B., 

 J-P- 



Stevenage Bury adjoins the north side of the 

 churchyard. For a long time it was used as a farm- 

 house, but is now occupied as a private residence by 

 Mr. Algernon Gipps. It has undergone considerable 

 alterations at different times, and a porch and ground- 

 floor extension has been added to the front. The old 

 part of the building is timber framed, covered with 

 plaster externally, the pi aster work still showing traces 

 of flush panels filled with curved basketwork pattern. 

 There are two short wings flanking the back and a 

 small projecting staircase between them. So far as 

 can be traced now, the old entrance faced the super- 

 structure of the chimney, a small lobby being formed 

 as at other old early 17th-century houses in the 

 county, the hall, now the dining-room, being in the 

 centre of the building to the left of the entrance and 



the drawing-room or parlour in the wing to the 

 right. The kitchen offices occupy the other wing. 

 There is a built-up window, with oak mullions, in a 

 room over the drawing room, but all the other 

 windows are modern. In a cellar under the kitchen 

 parts of the walls are of flint and parts of thin bricks. 

 Adjoining the house is a square timber-framed build- 

 ing of two stories, with a tiled pyramidal roof, which 

 may at one time have been a dove-house. 



Part of Chesfield Park, the residence of Mr. Poyntz- 

 Stewart, is included in the north of the parish. The 

 hamlet of Fisher's Green lies in the north-west, with 

 Symond's Green about three-quarters of a mile south. 

 Broomin Green is a short distance west of the 

 south end of the town, with Norton Green still 

 further south. Almost opposite Broomin Green, 

 on the other side of the Great North Road, is 

 Bedwell Plash. In the extreme east of the parish 

 is Chells, with Chells Green on the borders of 

 Walkern parish. The old manor-house is now used 

 as a farm-house and has been much restored, 

 but the fabric of the building dates from the 

 early 17th century. It is a timber-framed house 

 resting on brick foundations, and in plan resembles 

 the letter H- The principal front, which extends to 

 about 62 ft., faces the south-west and is flanked by 

 steep gables overhanging at the level of the first floor 

 and again at the eaves. The wings extend out at the 

 back of the house. The roof is tiled and the walls 

 are now plastered externally, and all the chimneys, 

 doors and windows are comparatively modern. The 

 entrance doorway on the south-west side now opens 

 into the drawing room, which has lately been extended, 

 but it formerly opened into the hall, which occupied 

 the whole of the central part of the building and 

 which had a large fireplace at the end. This fire- 

 place has recently been transformed into an inglenook 

 and the old arch removed. The hall, now the 

 dining room, has been further reduced by forming a 

 passage-way at the back of the house. The old back- 

 doorway to the courtyard still remains with its old 

 plank door, but both are quite plain. As this doorway 

 faces the wide mass of brickwork inclosing the hall fire- 

 place, it would not enter the hall direct, but would 

 have the usual small lobby. At the back of the hall 

 fireplace is a very narrow stair, evidently original, 

 leading to the upper floor. This is lighted by a 

 very small window in the front. Access is gained to 



71 See references given under manor. 

 iso Rat. Hug. Wells (Cant, and York 

 ■C), i, 66; Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.); 

 icon, Liber Regit ; Clergy Lin (1907). 



73 See East Hern. Ar(h. Sac. Trans. 

 i, 86. It is so colled in the early 13th 

 century (J!w. Hug. rVtih, i, 66). 



139 



