BROADWATER HUNDRED W atton-at-stone 



days in Scotland, or 13/. 4^. rent and zi. a year 



Che parish. The hamlet of Whempstead lies in the 

 north-east, about half-way between Watton and Little 

 Munden. Watkins Hall, in the south of the parish, 

 has been rebuilt, but an old beam over the entrance 

 bears the inscription ' Watton Hall aliai Watkins Hall 

 I.M. 1636.' 



The parish lies on a subsoil of chalk. There is a 

 chalk-pit south of Watkins Hall, and two now disused 

 north of the village. No railway passes through the 

 parish, the nearest station being Knebworth, 3 J miles 

 to the west. 



Watton was anciently Crown land, 

 MANORS and was of the extent of about 10 hides. 

 Of these, 4 J hides were granted to the 

 abbey of Westminster by King Edgar,' 8 and confirmed 

 to that monastery by Edward the Confessor' {vide 

 infra). During the reign of the latter the remaining 

 5 hides, which apparently formed the manor of 



payable at the two sheriffs' tourns in the hundred 



of Broadwater. 6 In the 15th 



century it was held for a 



quarter of a knight's fee ' ; it 



continued to be held of the 



king in chief by fealty and 



Of the two sub-tenants of 

 Watton in 1086, Alward 

 apparently died without heirs, 

 for the whole manor was held 

 by the descendants of Derman. 

 Derman's heir was his brother 

 Leofstan,* whose son Ailwin 

 or Elwyn was the father of 

 Henry, first Mayor of London l0 1 

 of Watton." Henry is first mentioned in 1164-5,' 



id lord of the manor 



i 



3fc ffliil - 



WATTON, were held by Alwin Home, one of the 

 king's thegns." In 10S6 it was held of the king by 

 two thegns named Derman and Alward. 4 The service 

 by which the manor was subsequently held was thepetty 

 serj canty of sending one foot-soldier equipped with bow 

 and arrows to the army of the king in Wales for forty 

 days.* In 1394 the service is said to be for fifteen 



and died in i2iz. ,J His nearest heir was a grand- 

 daughter, the daughter of his eldest son, who was 

 first married to Ralph le Parmenter and afterwards 

 (5 October iziz) to William Aguillon," whose son 1 * 

 Robert became lord of the manor before 124s.' 6 

 Robert Aguillon died about 1286, leaving as his 

 heir his daughter Isabel, who was betrothed to 



159 



