ODSEY HUNDRED 



, of St. 



•■''/" 



in 1 141, was paid four times a year," on the ninth, 



twenty- sixth, fortieth and forty-sixth Sundays after 



the feast of St. Faith." The 



rent paid to the brew-house at 



each term was 64 quarters of 



wheat, 12 quarters of barley, 



64 quarters of oats and a 



money rent of 42/. At the 



same time there were due to 



the chamberlain, besides a 



fixed sum from the church, 



£11 I2i. 4^. from the manor 



for wages, wood and alms 1 



and 40^. towards the obit of 



John Malemeyns." The 1 2th- 



century lessee received in 



addition to the farm-stock and 



three barns filled with wheat, 



oats, barley and hay, a good hall (doubtless on the 



site of Ardeley Bury) with ' cloisters ' (tristmd) and a 



chamber leading out of the hall, courtyard, granary 



and kitchen, stables and a place for storing hay. In 



the hall were four small butts, three cups, ' lead above 



the oven,' a bench, a cupboard and two tables." 



In 1222 the farmer of the manor was Theobald 

 Archdeacon of Essex," and it became customary for 

 the lessee to be one of the canons of St. Paul's !9 and 

 to farm the courts as well as the demesne lands." 



Sir Henry Chauncy, writing in 1 700, stated that 

 the manor-house and demesne 

 lands (only) had been held for 

 above 200 years by his an- 

 cestors, who had had several 

 leases for lives from the dean 

 and chapter. 31 In 1610 Henry 

 Chauncy of Arde'.ey, gentle- 

 man, evidently the writer's 

 grandfather, 3 ' sublet ' the Owld 

 House' with various lands and 

 tenements, including the great 

 barn called ' Powles Barn,' to 

 one John Wright of Ardeley, 



yeoman." Chauncy then had passant a&urt ttiircm. 

 a lease for three lives, which 

 was renewed to his son Henry Chauncy in 1634. 3I 



In 1649 the Parliamentary trustees for the lands of 

 deans and chapters sold the manor to Montague Lane 

 of London, esquire, Peter Burrough of Clement's Inn, 

 gentleman, and Edward Head of Ardeley, yeoman. 35 

 At the Restoration the dean and chapter recovered 

 their lands,' 6 and continued to take the profits of 

 Ardeley until 1808, when the manor-house and 

 demesne lands were sold to John Spurrier, auctioneer. 37 



rftf 4 



ARDELEY 



The manorial rights were not included in the sale, but 

 are now vested in the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. 

 Ardeley Bury and the demesne lands were sold by 

 John Spurrier to Sir David Baird, K.B., 19 January 

 1810. He conveyed them in the subsequent year to 

 Commissary-General John Murray. At his death in 

 1834 his estate descended to his daughter Susannah 

 Catherine Saunders Murray, wife of Major Adolphus 

 Cottin, who assumed the name of Murray. 19 She 

 resided at Ardeley Bury and died 21 April i86o. a " 

 Her son and heir Adolphus William Murray be- 

 queathed the property to Philip Longmore of the 

 Castle, Hertford, his solicitor. Shortly after his 

 death, which occurred in 1879, the estate was pur- 

 chased by Mr. J. J. Scott, father of the late Major 

 J. T. Scott,' in whose trustees it is now vested. 



At Ardeley, as in their other manors, the Dean and 

 Chapter of St. Paul's exercised many liberties and 

 privileges. In 1287 the tenant of their manor 

 claimed assize of bread and ale, free warren and 

 gallows.*' They held view of frankpledge for the 

 whole parish as late as 1638." King Edward II 

 exempted their tenants at Ardeley from supplying 

 corn to the royal purveyors." A grant of free 

 warren in Ardeley was made by the same king in 

 February 1315-16." The lords of the manor were 

 entitled to fines arising from pleas before the barons 

 of the Exchequer, the judges of both benches, the 

 judges on assize, and all 'Greenwax' fines." 



In Chauncy 's time Ardeley Bury stood in the midst 

 of an ancient park, then disparked, and was surrounded 

 by a moat." It may therefore have occupied the site 

 of the ancient hall let to Osbert of Ardeley in 114.1,* 

 for in 1222 the manor-house was surrounded by a 

 park of 60 acres." The present house was built in 

 the latter part of the 16th century, but was much 

 altered and modernized by John Murray in 1820." 

 It is a red-brick house L-shaped in plan with three 

 towers in the front. The hall has some original 

 panelling reaching to about 6 ft. 6 in. from the floor, 

 and there is panelling in some other rooms. The 

 deep moat, with an inner rampart, which surrounded 

 the house, is now dry. 



Within the parish three small manors were held 

 of the main manor of Ardeley, in which they were 

 probably included at the time of the Domesday 

 Survey. 



CROMER HALL (Crawmere, xiii cent. ; Cromar- 

 hall, xvi cent.) originated in 'assart' land reclaimed 

 from the wood or waste of Ardeley Manor. 50 It is 

 evidently identical with a 'place' next Ardeley Park, 

 which Ralph son of William of Cromer held of the 

 main manor in 122a by service of rendering three 



~> D.™. 3 /Sf. P fln /'i(Can 

 * Ibid. 154-7. 



'■■• Ibid. Inti(j..i. p. xIvji. 



».), .35. 



f Ibid. 136 ; the lease to Ma 

 Aubrey, also in the 12th century, a 

 'one handraill, a high ladder, winnowi 

 ■aBketV&c. (i 37 ). 



mi C. of St. P 

 42 5. 



* Ib!d. 



L ' 3 MSS. of D. 

 A Boxes 26-40, nc. 414, 

 cf.no. 141 r, 14.12, and A Box 5: 



30 See the court rolls, ibid. £ 

 57, 58. 



31 Chauncy, Hist. Aruif, of Ht 



■ held i 



the 



n and chapter, 1630-8. 



.. 45 



Cf. Chauncy'a pedigree of the family, 

 Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), bdle. 304, 



649, pt. 1, no. 15. 



.H. Land, i, 41S. 



, Hh 



. d, Quo Vfe 



;rtec 



tiq-tfrnm. 



of Hera. OJsty Htwd. 



, 641, She had 



J9 Gent. Mag. i860, 

 married secondly Sir Robert Murray, 

 bart. (Cussans, Inc. cit.). 



'" Cusaans, loc. cit. ; information kindly 

 supplied by MeEBrs. Sworder & Long- 



■" Cil. Chart. R. 1300-26, p. 305. 

 ■'■' Close, 1649, \> l - 1, n 0. '!■ 



* Chauncy, Hist. Axtiq. of Her!,. 53. 

 - 17 See above. 



* Don. of St. Paul's (Camd. Soo.), 



45 Clulterbuck, loc. cit. It is not 

 quite clearwhether Chauncy the historian 

 of Hertfordshire lived at Ardeley Bury or 



5 " Don. of St. Prntt (Camd. See), 



