A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



to Robert Hoc knell, The latter complained that two 

 years after this George Clarke of Walkern purchased 

 the tithes and took them by force while Hocknell 

 was away in France, and continued to do so. 1 " Hock- 

 nell's suit appears to have been successful, for he is 

 mentioned as holding them later. 8 * The abbey leased 

 them in 153910 John Rotherham," but Henry VIII 

 granted them in 1544 to Richard Bowie, barber- 

 surgeon, and John Howe, grocer, of London." In 

 the 17th century the tithes seem to have been paid 

 partly to Walkern and partly to Stevenage, presumably 

 according to the parish in which the lands lay. In 

 1 67 1 the tithes of Boxwood, held by John or Thomas 

 Harvey, were paid to Walkern," and in 1728 tithes 

 from part of Boxbury, owned by Thomas Adams, 

 were paid to Stevenage." Mary Adams was holding 

 this land in 1748.''' In 1783 tithes in the manor of 

 Boxbury were conveyed by Rose and Mary Nicolls 

 to Richard Down. 19 



Meeting-places of Protestant Dissenters in Wal- 

 kern were certified from 1699. A Congregational 

 chapel was built in 1810, '°° which still exists, and 

 there is also a Baptist and a Wesleyan chapel in the 

 parish. 



The charities subsisting in this 

 CHARITIES parish have by a scheme of the 



Charity Commissioners, 8 March 

 1 907, been consolidated and placed under the 

 administration of one body of trustees. 



They comprise the charities of: — 



An unknown donor No. i, mentioned in the Par- 

 liamentary returns of I 786, consisting of 3 a. 1 r. 3 I p., 

 known as Cadcroft Field, and 1 a. known as Brockwell 

 Shot, in Walkern, of the annual rental value of £6. 



Unknown donor No. z, consisting of 1 a. 2 r. 20 p. 

 in Yardley, let at £5 a year, known as Leycroft, 

 comprised in deed of z\ January 1707. 



Unknown donor No. 3, being a rent-charge of 6s. 8 d. 

 for the poor, vested in the rector of Walkern ; and the 

 charity of John Izard Pryor, being £108 I \s. consols, 

 with the official trustees, derived from will proved at 

 London 13 July 1861, producing £t 14/. yearly. 



The scheme provides that the yearly income of the 

 charities shall be applied for the benefit of the poor in 

 such way as the trustees may consider most conducive 

 to the formation of provident habits, including donations 

 to any dispensary, infirmary, provident club, provision 

 of nurses, &c, or in distribution of articles in kind. 



WATTON-AT-STONE 



Wodtone, Wattune (xi cent.). 



The parish of Watton has an area of 3,585 acres, 

 of which 1,9 1 *i acres are arable land and 670 acres 

 permanent grass. 1 It attains a height of over 

 300 ft. in the north, slopes downwards towards the 

 south, but rises again to 300 ft. in the south-west. 

 The River Beane flows through the parish from the 

 north-west, and through Woodhall Park, where it is 

 artificially widened. 



The church stands a little to the west of the road 

 from Stevenage to Hertford, but the village lies along 

 the road. There are in this part one or two late 

 16th-century houses, notably a timber and plaster 

 house in the middle of the village on the north side 

 of the road, now much repaired, but still retaining 

 an oak door frame and some original beams. On the 

 south side of the road are some 1 7th-century timber 

 and plaster cottages with overhanging upper stories, 

 one of which is thatched. 



Watton Place, now a farm-house, stands beside the 

 main road at the north end of the village. It consists 

 of a main building of two stories and a low kitchen 

 wing, forming an L-shaped plan. The front part of 

 the main building, above the ground floor, is timber- 

 framed, and overhangs the wall below, the upper part 

 being divided into three equal gables. All the other 

 walls are of brickwork, the old bricks being two 

 inches thick. The building has been much altered 

 both outside and inside, so that not many features of 

 architectural interest remain. It was probably erected 

 towards the close of the 1 6th century. There are 

 some good brick chimneys on the main building 

 consisting of a row of three shafts, a fourth, which was 

 no doubt formerly there, having disappeared. The 

 front shaft is circular with a large moulded twist, the 



capital consisting of triangular projections corbelled 

 out j the second shaft is octagonal with moulded 

 capital ; the third is missing ; the fourth is circular, 

 with a moulded octagonal capital : the upper part 

 of the shaft is covered with raised mouldings forming 

 a honeycomb pattern, the lower part is twisted. The 

 interior of the house has been so much altered that it 

 is not possible to trace the original plan. Most of the 

 work appears to be of the 1 8th century or later. A part 

 of the old cellar still exists under the main building. 

 It is approached from a doorway outside. Immediately 

 opposite the door and only a few feet from it, over 

 the stair, is a small shallow niche with arched head, 

 and in the cellar itself are a number of similar niches 

 in the walls. These are about 14 in. wide by 

 1 ft. 4 in. high, and 7 in. deep, and have four-centred 

 arches of brick plastered. There are thirteen or 

 fourteen of these niches, all about z ft. 8 in. from the 

 floor. There is besides a large square-headed aumbry 

 z ft. wide and 1 ft. 9 in. deep, with an oak frame 

 round the opening and oak lining inside. The door 

 has disappeared. These niches are very similar in 

 shape and size to those in the cellars at Wymondley 

 Bury and Delamcre. 



Broom Hall is a late 16th-century farm-house in 

 the north-west of the parish. It is a rectangular 

 building of brick in two stories, and with a small 

 porch. The windows of the first floor have brick 

 mullions. 



At Watton Green, and a little south of the Green, 

 and at Well Wood, are homestead moats, and in 

 Chapel Wood there are some defensive earthworks. 



Bardolphs, the ancient manor, with Bardolphspark 

 Wood, is situated east of the village, a short distance 

 north of Woodhall Park, which is in the south-east of 



" Ct. of Req. bdle. [2, no. 67. 

 °I. WP. Hen. Fill, i\x (1), 1 



* L. and P. Hm. Fill, lii (1), ] ]5 



)■ 



*£ich. Dep. 23 Ch:... II, East. no. 24. 



,; Salmon, Hut. a/Bens. 19a. 



158 



nov. R. Mich. ziG«o.II,ro 

 tofF. Herts, Hit. 25 Geo 



