A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



abbots recovered the right of presentation, for by the 

 vear 1334 the patronage had clearly come to them." 

 The dissolution of Westminster Abbey brought the 

 advowson and rectory of Ashwell into the king's 

 hands, and they were granted by him to the first 

 Bishop of Westminster in I 5 4. 1," a pension from the 

 vicar.ige being granted the following year to the dean 

 and chapter." Subsequently the advowson was granted 

 with the manor, first to Bishop Ridley and secondly 

 to Bishop Bonner. 15 In 1556 the vicarage pension 

 was granted to the reinstated Abbot of Westminster 

 — all that remained to the abbey of the manor and 

 advowson of Ashwell. It is interesting to note that 

 Laud's appointment of Herbert Palmer, the Puritan 

 divine, to this benefice in 1632 was brought forward 

 by him at his trial as evidence of his impartial patron- 

 age. 16 The survey of Ashwell taken by the Parlia- 

 mentary Commissioners in 1647 describes the 

 parsonage of Ashwell as 'consisting of a hall, a 

 kitchen, 2 butteries, a brew-house, a malt-house, tiled, 

 with five chambers over them, 3 great barns, 2 stables 

 thatched, a granary, a garden, an orchard, a great 

 yard ; the whole containing about 4 acres.' " The 

 sile of the manor by the trustees for the sale of 

 church lands in 1648 makes special exception of 

 the advowson, though one of the trustees himself 

 obtained leave to buy the parsonage- house and the 

 glebe land." In 1662 the Bishop of London once 

 more presented to the living," and the patron.ige 

 remained with his successors until 1852, when it was 

 transferred to the Bishop of Rochester," in whose 

 diocese Ashwell had already been placed in 1 846." 

 In 1877, however, Hertfordshire was placed in the 

 new diocese of St. Albans, all patronage of the Bishop 

 of Rochester in that diocese being transferred to the 

 Bishop ofSt. Albans." In 1867 this benefice was 

 declared a rectory.™ 



In 1306 Thomas de Staunton and Simon le 

 Bakestere founded a chantry in Ashwell Church, 

 dedicated to the Blessed Virgin," for the support of 

 which Thomas granted 12 acres and Simon 1 acre 

 of land in the parish." In 1 3 J 1 William de Risscby, 

 the king's yeoman, founded a similar chantry, which 

 he endowed with land of the annual value of ijj. 

 and with 5/. rent,' 8 and in 1401 John Sennesterre 

 made a bequest to maintain a chantry priest in the 

 church." In 1450 is the record of the induction 

 of a chaplain into apparently the first of these 

 chantries, the collation being in the hands of the 

 abbot's treasurer." The foundation in 1476 of a 

 chantry tor the founders of the gild of St. John the 

 Baptist is mentioned below. At the Dissolution only 

 one chantry is mentioned, value 1001. per annum." 

 The advowson was included in the grant to the 

 Bishop of Westminster in 1 541" In the reign of 

 Elizabeth the chantry estate was in the possession of 

 Nicholas West," who settled it upon his son and heir 



William West by indenture of 1 5 72. NithrJas Weit 

 died seised of this chantry (detcribed as ' the late 

 chantrey') with appurtenant lands, rents and service* 

 in 1586." 



On 26 August 1476 licence was granted to George 

 Duke of Clarence (brother of the king), Thomas Bishop 

 of Lincoln, the chancellor, and others, to found 'a 

 fraternity or gild of four wardens and other persons 

 wishing to be of the fraternity, to be called the 

 fraternity or gild of St. John the Baptist within the 

 church of St. Mary Ashwell.' The members, who 

 were (o include both brethren and sisters, were to 

 elect their wardens annually, and to act as a corporate 

 body in the acquisition of lands, &c. Licence was 

 also given to them to found a chantry in Ashwell 

 Church for the souls of the king's father, of the present 

 king and queen after their deaths, and of the founders 

 and members of the gild" A fraternity of St. John 

 the Baptist had existed before this, for in 1457 one 

 William Freeman of Ashwell, merchant, left 61. %d. 

 by will 'to the fraternity of St. John the Baptist.'" 

 Similar bequests follow throughout the reigns of 

 Henry VII and Henry VIII." In 1574 Andrew Bill 

 and Elizabeth his wife surrendered to Nicholas West 

 and Joan his wife and William West their son and 

 heir 'a house or tenement called le Guyldchowse or 

 St. John's House or le Brotherhcadhowse ' in Ashwell, 

 situate ' in the High Street of Ashwell,' and 'a barn 

 and a close of pasture containing I acre, pertaining to 

 the said house.'" There was also a fraternity of 

 Sr. George in Ashwell." 



Licence for a Presbyterian meeting-place at Ash- 

 well was taken out in 1672, and meeting-places for 

 Protestant Dissenters were certified from 1692. 

 The Congregation.il chapel, dating from about 1767, 

 was burnt down in 1850 and rebuilt." 



The following charities are regu- 



CH4RITIES lated by a scheme of the Charity 



Commissioners dated 25 May 1 897 : 



I. Lawrence Williams's, founded by will dated 

 10 September 1582, consisting of a yearly payment 

 ot " j[3 by ^e Fishmongers' Company, of which a 

 yearly sum of 2/. ia applicable for the sexton and of 

 6j. for the reparation of the church. 



z. John Sell's, by will 24 May 1618, consisting of 

 1 a. 3 r. 10 p. of land in Ashwell. 



3. Thomas Chapman's, by will dated 8 March 

 1 668, now consisting of £120 consols with the 

 official trustees, producing £1 yearly, representing 

 redemption of rent-charge. 



4. Thomas Plomer's, by will dated 2 August I 701, 

 under which testator gave £80 to purchase land, 5/. 

 yearly out of the income to be paid to the parish 

 clerk. 



5. The poor's land comprised in indenture of 

 6 September 1 7 1 8 and indenture; of lease and release 

 20 and 21 April 1722. The endowment of this 



