A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



!n the south wall is a two-light window with flowing 

 tracery of the 14th century, the inner sill being 

 carried down to form a seat, and beside it is a single- 

 light window of the same date. There is a cinque- 

 foil-headed piscina in the south wall, and just above 

 it and in the north wall opposite are two small stone 

 brackets, with sockets in their tops, probably for 

 lights ; there is a small square locker in the north 

 wall. 



The tower is of two stages with a tiled pyramidal 

 roof. The lower stage forms the south porch, which 

 has a moulded arched entrance, the mouldings dying 

 on the splayed jambs. There is a single-light cusped 

 opening on each face of the tower at the belfry stage. 

 There are a few old timbers in the nave roof. The 

 font is of the I 2th century. It is of Purbeck marble, 

 and has a -quire basin carried upon a large central 

 shaft, with a smaller shaft at each angle ; the bases 

 are moulded and rest on a square plinth. On each 

 face of the basin arc fo ur shallow round-headed panels. 

 The 17th-century cover is of wood. 



In the east window is some old glass ; the head of 

 a female saint is probably of late 14th-century work ; 

 a number of quarries painted with birds and a border 

 with 'Maria' monogram repeated may belong to the 

 next century. In the south-west window of the 

 chapel are some heraldic fragments. 



There are some 15th-century bench ends with 

 poppy heads at the west end of the church, much 

 defaced. In the chapel are fragments of a slab with 

 foliated cross and remains of a marginal inscription 

 in Lomhardic characters, probably of mid- ] 4th- 

 ccntur, d,K. 



In the chancel are several brasses : a priest in cope, 

 without inscription, of the early ] 6th century; a priest 



Vynter, rector of the parish, who died in 1404; a 

 priest in eucharistic vestments, holding chalice and 

 wafer, with the symbol of the Trinity above, to John 

 Wryght, rector of the parish, 1519; to Anne 

 Bramneld, 1578; to William Lucas, rector of the 

 parish, 1602. Fixed to the wall of the chapel is an 

 inscription to Thomas Dalyson, rector of the parish, 

 who died in 1 541 ; this probably belongs to the brass 

 in the chancel. 



There are two bells in the ;owcr ■ the treble is 



inscribed 'calit me joamms + ' with marlc of 

 Richard Wymbish, 14th century ; the tenor 'l.K.s. 

 $ T.w * s.' by an unknown 16th-century founder. 



The communion plate includes an engraved cup 

 and cover paten, 1571, and a paten of 1 693 presented 

 by Rev. W. Neale, M.A., rector in 1755. 



The registers are in two books : (i) baptisms and 

 burials from 1717 to 1812 and marriages 1717 to 

 1753; (ii) marriages from 175+*° i8r*. 



There is a bishop's transcript for the year com- 

 mencing Michaelmas 1588. 



The earliest known record of 

 ADrOlfSON Clothall Church is the presentation 

 of a rector in 1237 by Simon de 

 Clothall, lord of the manor. 6 ' Maud de Bottele, one 

 of his three daughters, surrendered her share in the 

 advowson to her sister Emecine de Hauvillin 1271," 

 and at the same time it was agreed that Muriel 

 Scales, the third daughter, and her heirs should 

 present for one turn and Emecine and her heirs for 

 the two following turns. 65 This arrangement held 

 good until 1404, when James Billingford and his wife 

 Aubrey presented a certain John Hogges, under colour 

 of their acquisition of the rights of John son of 

 Richard kinsman of Ralph brother and heir of 

 Reginald de Hauvill. Matthew and Henry Rede and 

 Thomas Blount, who had acquired the manors of 

 Hauvills and Boiteles (q.v.), brought a plea against 

 Billingford in 1405, and judgement was given in 

 their favour. 6 ' 



It has been seen that one-third of the advowson 

 subsequently descended with the manor of Hooks (q.v.). 

 The whole advowson was re-united when John 

 Mitchell acquired that manor, and has since been 

 retained by the successive lords of the main manor. 



A meeting-place for Protectant Dissenters in Clothall 

 was certified in 1720. °* 



The official trustees hold a sum 

 CHARITIES of £131 6/. %d, consols, which is 

 regarded as representing the invest- 

 ment of £60, stated in the Parliamentary returns of 

 ] 786 to have been given to the poor by Dr. James 

 Sibbald and others, and of a legacy of £50 by will of 

 James Smvth, proved in the P.C.C. 20 September 

 1 8 10. The annual dividends, amounting to £3 51. Sa'., 

 arc distributed in bread at Christmas-time. 



COTTERED 



Choldrei (xi cent.) ; Keldtcia (xii cent.) ; Codreye, 

 Coudray, Coddram, Coddred, Codrcth (xiii cent.) ; 

 Cotrede (xvi cent.). 



The parish of Cottered contains 1,832 acres. Of 

 this about two-thirds consist of arable land and one- 

 quarter of permanent grass, 1 The only piece of wood- 

 land in the parish is Drink-water Wood, which lies to 

 the south-east. The soil is generally heavy on a 

 subsoil of chalk. The River Beane flows through 

 the parish, the western districts of which are liable to 

 floods. In the north-east the land rises as high as 

 49^; ft. above the ordnance datum. 



The Roman road known as Stane Street passed 



through Hare Street, a hamlet on the borders of 

 Cottered and Ardeley, its course being apparently 

 marked by Back Lane, which forms the south-western 

 boundary of Cottered. There is a record of this road 

 in Cottered in 1346, when the 'King's Highway 

 called Stanestrat ' is referred to as a boundary.' 



Cottered lies 3 miles west of Buntingford, in which 

 town is its nearest railway station on the Great Eastern 

 railway, and 6 miles east of the market town of 

 Baldock. 



The main road which connects these two towns 

 passes through Cottered. Other roads connect it 

 with Throcking and Ardeley. 



r.-.R.S 



« Ibid. 638. 



1 Statiatici from Bd. of Agric. (1905). 

 1 J. Harney Bliom, Carlat An! :j u a! 

 of UrA WMwghby di Broki, 6, 



