BROADWATER HUNDRED 



property during the reign of Edward 111. It is then 

 described as being at ' Srewentenwode.' The same 

 Richard also held a third of a fee in ' Kechenbrech ' 

 which had formerly belonged to Laurence de Brok, 

 and for which he paid 241." Nothing more is heard 

 of the estate until about 1509, when William 

 Canwyke paid a relief of 40/. for certain land in 

 Stevenage called ' Broxborne' which he had received 

 from Petronilla his mother." In i;io Samuel and 

 Clemence Canwyke sold the 'manor' to William 

 Lytton of Knebworth, who died seised of it in 151 7- ls 

 At the death of his son Robert Lytton in 1550 it 

 was divided among his three daughters, Ellen the 

 wife of John Brockett, Elizabeth wife of Thomas 

 Lyttel, and Anne, who married John Burlace. 16 It 

 seems to have been divided later among the five 

 daughters of Ellen and John Brockett, for a fifth of 

 Cannix was held in 1599 and 1623 by Sir Richard 

 Spencer and Helen daughter of Ellen and John 

 Brockett," and in 1604 another fifth appears in the 

 possession of Alexander Cave and Anne, another 

 daughter. 18 Eventually, however, the whole returned 

 to the male line of the Lyttons and descended in the 

 same manner as Knebworth ,s (q.v.). It is men- 

 tioned in 18 11,™ after which its identity was 

 probably lost among the other lands held by the 

 Lyttons in Stevenage. Cannocks Wood in the south- 

 west of the parish perhaps preserves its name. 



In 1308 John de Broxbourn obtained a licence 

 for an oratory in his "manor of Stevenage,'" probably 

 at Cannix. 



The parish church of ST. NICHO- 

 CHURCH LAS consists of a chancel, nave, north 

 and south aisles, and north and south 

 chapels in line with the aisles, west tower, north 

 vestry, south transept and south porch. 83 It is 

 probably built of flint, but the walls are covered with 

 cement. The flat roofs are covered with lead, and 

 the tower has a tall octagonal leaded spire. The 

 tower, nave and chancel and aisles have embattled 

 parapets. 



The earliest portion of the existing church is the 

 tower, which was built in the first half of the 12th 

 century, and appears to have formed the tower and 

 west porch combined of the original church, which 

 probably consisted of a chancel, nave and tower. 

 Early in the 13th century it is probable that the 

 whole church except the tower was rebuilt and aisles 

 added. The present nave is of this date. The 

 chancel now standing was built about 1330, and the 

 aisles were widened to their present dimensions at 

 the same time. A doorway in the east wall of the 

 tower above the low-pitched roof seems to indicate 

 that the roof of the 14th century was of a pitch high 

 enough to inclose it. The present roof with the 

 clearstory is of the 15th century, when the nave 

 arcades were rebuilt from the capitals upwards, the 

 pillars with their bases being of the earlier date. 

 The bell chamber of the tower was also added or 

 rebuilt in the 15th century. The south porch, if 



STEVENAGE 



not actually modern, has been wholly restored, and 

 the south transept is modern. 



The chancel has a modern east window of four 

 lights with tracery in 15th-century style. In the 

 north wall is a window of the 14th century, now 

 blocked up, with three lights under a square head. 

 The inner jambs have an edge-roll and the low rear 

 arch is two-centred with an internal hood mou'd. 

 The south window is like it, but is open and has 

 been repaired externally with cement. 



The arcades between the chancel and the north 

 and south chapels are of two bays and are of the 

 14th century. The middle pillar on each side is 

 octagonal, but, while the responds of the north arcade 

 are semi-octagonal, those of the south arcade are 

 semicircular. The bases and capitals of both pillars 

 and all the responds are moulded. The two-centred 

 arches are of two chamfered orders. 



In the chancel is a piscina now cemented over 

 which may be old ; against the east wall behind the 

 altar is the upper part of a 15th-century traceried 

 screen, painted over, of which the lower part stands 

 at the entrance to the chancel. The three sedilia on 

 the south side, of cement, are modern. There is no 

 chancel arch. 



The north chapel has an east window of four lights 

 with tracery of the 14th century. It has an inner 

 edge-roll like those in the chancel, and has been 

 much repaired with cement. The north wall has 

 two 14th-century windows of two lights with pointed 

 heads and labels, and a third window which is 

 modern but a copy of the other two. The first 

 window is blocked externally, but the tracery is 

 visible inside. The second is altogether blocked, only 

 the outline being visible externally. The south 

 chapel has an east window and two south windows 

 like those in the north chapel and of the same date, 

 Those in the south wall differ from the rest in having 

 their inner jambs and arches moulded with an 

 undercut edge-roll and In having moulded labels ; 

 they are repaired with cement externally. Between 

 the two windows is a pointed doorway also of the 

 1 4th century. There is a piscina in this chapel, 

 probably contemporary, which has a cinquefoiled 

 head and a trefoiled basin. 



The nave has north and south arcades of four bays, 

 with octagonal pillars and moulded bases of the 13th 

 century, but the capitals and pointed arches of two 

 hollow-chamfered orders were inserted early in the 

 15 th century. The bases, and the labels of the 

 western bays, are mutilated, the latter for the fitting of 

 a gallery. The clearstory of the 15th century has 

 square-headed windows from which the tracery 

 is gone. 



The north aisle has three windows in the north 

 wall, the easternmost being of four lights in a square 

 head. It is probably a I 5th-century insertion, but the 

 tracery is modern ; the second is a two-light window, 

 with tracery in a pointed head, and is probably of the 

 1 4th century, but here again the tracery is modern. 



31 Line. Epis. Reg. Mem. Bp. Dalderby, 



s * Dimensions : chancel, 39 ft. by 17 ft.; 

 north chapel, 25 ft. by 13 ft.; south 

 chapel, 25 ft. by 12 ft.; nave, 43 ft. by 



