BROADWATER HUNDRED 



Pembroke, one of his successors." The living was 

 appropriated and a vicar appointed, the vicarage to 

 consist of small tithes and offerings from the soil of 

 Weston, with a suitable manse, and the vicar to pay 

 synodals. ss The rectory and advowson follow the 

 descent of the manor of Lannock" (q.v.), except that 

 the rectory and advowson were acquired from James 

 Spurling before 1616 by Richard Hale, ,a father of 

 the William Hale who purchased Lannock from the 

 former in 1621. It was bought from the executors 

 ofCharlesCholmeleyHale in 1885 by Thomas Pry or 

 of Baldock, who in 1889 sold it to Mr. Marlborough 

 Robert Pry or, the present patron. 63 



In 1481 the inhabitants of Weston complained that 

 their vicar John Hawthorn was 'a common player, 

 and daily played le Penyprykke n and Bowles ' ; he 

 was duly warned to amend his ways under penalty 



\2d. n 



Certifies 



Protestant 



1723 the congregation 



A chapel was registered 



ited for meeting- pi aces of 

 Weston from 1696. In 

 A'ere described as Quakers, 

 a 1802." At the present 



WILL I AN 



time there are a Wesleyan chapel and a Catholic 

 Apostolic church in the parish. 



In 1841 Hcnricus Octavos Roe 

 CHARITIES erected an almshouse known as the 

 Church Almshouses for widows or 

 married couples and endowed the same with 

 £519 15/. yd. consols, producing £12 19J. 8./. 

 a year. 



The same donor likewise gave £4. 6 3 15/. 

 the annual dividends, amounting to £11 iu id., to 

 be applied in the distribution of sixteen loaves every 

 Sunday after divine service to sixteen poor married 

 men most constant in attendance at church. 



The same donor also endowed the National school 

 with £200 consols, producing £5 a year. 



In 1839 Robert Pryor by his will, proved in the 

 P.C.C. 16 April, left a legacy for the poor, now 

 represented by £106 1 5^. Sd. consols, producing 

 £z 1 3/. 4J. yearly. 



The several sums of stock are held by the official 

 , the dividends of which are applied in accord- 

 ! with the respective trusts. 



sols, 



WILLIAN 



Wilie (xi cent.) ; Wilya, Wylye (xiii cent.) ; 

 Wylien (xiv cent.) ; Wickley (xvii cent.).— The parish 

 of Willian has an area of 1,864 acres, of which 1,372^ 

 acres are arable land, 308I acres permanent grass, 

 and iq| woodland. 1 The greater part of the parish 

 stands over 300 ft. above ordnance datum, but slopes 

 down slightly on the north and in the south-west, 

 where the village and manor-house are situated. It 

 is bounded on the north by the Icknield Way, and 

 for some distance on the west by the main north 

 road. The road between Hitchin and Baldock passes 

 through the northern part of the parish, and this and 

 another road parallel to it form the main streets of 

 the village. The village pond is on the north side of 

 the main road, opposite the Fox Inn ; a little further 

 along is a 16th-century thatched and timbered cottage, 

 known as the Old Vicarage. It is of two stories, the 

 upper of which projects at the back. The church 

 and rectory stand on a hill rising on the south side of 

 the road, with the schools just below them. Punch- 

 arden Hall, the residence of Mr. Ivor Tuckett, M.D., 

 lies at the north end of the village opposite the 

 church. It is a 17th-century house of timber and 

 plaster, the front of which was refaced with brick in 

 the 18th century. It is an L-shaped building with 

 a central chimney stack of brick with octagonal shafts 

 and moulded capitals and bases. On the ground floor 

 there is an original fireplace, the grate of which bears 

 the arms of the Merchant Taylors' Company. 



The subsoil is chalk and boulder clay. There is 



a chalk-pit on the south-east, close to the boundary 

 road, a disused one further south, and a sand-pit just 

 north of the village. There is no railway station in 

 the parish, the nearest being Letchworth, a mile and 

 a half away. Farms in the parish are Norman's Farm 

 and Pixmore. The part of the parish lying north oi 

 the road which forms the village street and runs on to 

 Baldock, comprising more than half of the whole, was 

 acquired by the First Garden City Co. in 1903. A 

 portion of the parish was annexed to Baldock for civil 

 purposes in 1 88 i. Ia 



The manor of WILLIAN was held 

 MANORS in the time of Edward the Confessor by 

 Lewric, a house-carl of Earl Lewin. 

 Half a hide also was held by a sokeman, Elmar oi 

 Benington, and half a hide all but 10 acres oi 

 Godwin of Letchworth (Godwin of Souberie) by 3 

 certain widow. By 1086 the whole had come into 

 the possession of Geoffrey de Bech, and was assessed 

 at 5^ hides.* 



Nothing is known of the descendants of Geoffrey 

 de Bech. At the beginning of the 13th century the 

 manor was held by William Malet de Graville,' who, 

 it is said, was son of Matthew de Graville, son 0: 

 William de Rue. 4 William Malet, being a Norman, 

 lost his English lands upon the separation ofNormandy, 

 and in 1204 Willian was granted in farm to Matthew 

 de Lilley. s In 1 216 King John granted the manoi 

 to Pain de Chaworth or Chaurces, 6 and he was stiL 

 holding in 1223/ In 1227, however, Pain apparent!) 



86 Dugdale, Man, vii, 820 ; Chan. Ino.. 

 m. 35 Edw. I, no. +6. 

 « Liber Aniiquus Hug. W:ih, " 



of I 



Hen 



> ti; z . 



Recov. R. Triii. 44 Eliz 



63 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccljixxvii, 

 no ; Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.) ; Bacon, Liber 

 W« 5 Clergy LiU. 



*& Information kindly supplied by Mr. 

 M. R. Pryor. 



70 ' Penny-Pricke consisted in throwing 

 with a piece of iron at pence, which were 

 placed on pieces of stick called holes. It 



is a common game in the 15th century, 

 d is reproved by u religious writer of 

 at period ' (J. Strutt, Sport, and Pastimti, 

 2). " Add. Chart. 36316. 



72 Urwick, Nottconf. in Her,,. 6.16-7. 

 1 Statistic! from Bd. of Agric. (1905). 

 "a Divided Parishes Act. 

 * V,C,H.Ht,u.\, 333. 

 » Wrottesley, Ped.frm lie Plea R. 490. 



Bk. of Etch. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 

 Robert Malet is later referred ti 

 held Willian (Assize R. 325 



177 



e Red 



73'- 



Abbrtv. Rot. Orig. [Rec. Com.], i, t») 

 The name is probably an error forWilliam 

 Mr. Round points out that a Mathew d< 

 Graville (Gerardi villa) was holding i 

 knight's fee in afire in Hertfordshire ii 

 1 166 (Red Bk. Exch. [Rolls Ser.], i, 362) 

 and that this may have been Willian 

 Malet '9 father. 



* Rot. Norman. 129. 



« Close, 18 John, pt. i, m. 4. Possibl] 

 this is a confirmation (see Red Bk. 

 Exch. [Rolls Ser.], ii, K04). 



1 Close, 8 Hen, III, m. 19. 



23 



