A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



on the north the upper story has a moulded sill with 

 a twisteJ ornament and is carried on carved brackets. 

 On the upper floor of the north front, on each side of 

 two modern oriel windows, is a row of small lights 

 with moulded oak frames and mullions. On the east 

 there are also two small blocked windows with oak 

 mullions. The house contains some 17th-century 

 panelling. The Star Inn in the same street is a 

 17th-century house of timber and plaster, much re- 

 stored. There is a carved br.icket under the eaves. 



Besides the inns there are a number of interesting 

 old houses in the town, principally of the 1 7th century. 

 St. Joseph's, formerly Wind Hill House, west of the 

 church, is an early 17th-century L-shaped house of 

 two stories and attics. It was apparently encased in 

 the 18th century with brick walls, and was much 



died without issue in 1866. Hi) brother Thomas 

 succeeded, and on his death the house descended to 

 Mr. Frederick Wilby (lord of Piggoto Manor, cj.v.). 

 In 1903 it was acquired by the Provincial of the 

 Redemptorist order for the Redemptorist Fathers, 

 who since May 1 900 had occupied a small house in 

 the Portland Road, to which an iron church was 

 attached. A church dedicated in honour of St. Joseph 

 and the English Martyrs was built on the site of the 

 stables of Wind Hill House, and opened by Cardinal 

 Bourne, Archbishop of Westminster, in 1906. One 

 of the stained glass windows has fragments of old 

 glass said to have come out of St. Michael's Church. 

 Previous to the arrival of the Redemptorist Fathers 

 in the parish a small house of Belgian nuns (Sceurs 

 de Ste. Marie) had been established in the Grange 



Tai White Horse Ini 



altered in the following century. It contains a 

 1 "th-cemun* heavy oak staircase, with moulded hand- 

 rail, carved balustrade and panelled and moulded 

 newels. The entrance hall on the east of the stair- 

 case was formerly part of the large hall and has the 

 remains of an ornamental plastered ceiling. This house 

 belonged in the 1 8th century to the Clapp family, and 

 was probably used in connexion with the old Stortford 

 School. 37 In 1806 it became the property of the 

 Wilby family, who enlarged it and put in a fresh 

 front. Mr. William Wilby of Wind Hill House 

 died in 1827 and was buried in St. Michael's. 

 His son Thomas died without issue in 1847, when 

 the property passed to his nephew William, who also 



Road in 1896. The sisters afterwards bought Wind 

 Hill Lodge, where they built a large convent by the 

 side of the old house, and they now have a school 

 there. SB The house no. 12 North Street is probably 

 of the 1 7th century and retains some of the old beams. 

 In High Street there is a timber and plaster house 

 of three stories (now divided into two dwellings, 

 nos. 10 and 12) of the early 17th century. It has 

 two gables and projecting upper stories, with carved 

 brackets under the second floor. There are two 

 oriel windows on the first floor, and all the windows 

 have wooden frames and mullions. On the north 

 side of Bridge Street, opposite the ' Black Lion,' is a 

 16th-century house with a hipped roof, now occupied 



' The Rev. Joseph Clapp wai head •* Information supplied br Major 



if the school; he died in 1767. Skeet. 



