A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



sum of/. 109 9>- ^4■ consols producing £7 14*. 8</. 

 yearly, the interest to be applied in the purchase of 

 clothing for distribution to the poor at Christmas. 



The apprenticing charity of the Rev. Thomas 

 Turner, founded by will 1706, consists of a close 

 of land called Dovelees of about 7 acres, producing 

 £" ¥■ 6^- yearly. 



In 1730 John Sandford by deed gave a rent-charge 

 □f £z to the poor not in receipt of parochial relief. 

 This charge is received from an estate at Collins Cross 

 and appears to be distributed in money gifts. 



The charity of Mrs. Anne Phillip., foonded by 

 deed 1744, towards the maintenance and support of 

 the minister of the Water Lane Meeting Houie, 

 consists of j£6io $s. consols, in the name of the 

 official trustees, producing £'S 5'- T**' 1 ?' arilio 8 

 from the sale in 1870 of land originally given. 



The Educational Charities."— Comprising the 

 gifts of Margaret Dane, will 1 5 79 i ,he Rev " wiiliam 

 Polhill, will proved in 1722 ; Exton Say er, will 1730; 

 and of the above-mentioned Elizabeth Jones. Also 

 the Nonconformist school." 



BRAUGHING 



Brachinges (xi cent.) ; Bracking, Braughinge, 

 Brawyng (xiii cent.) ; Broughhynge (xvi cent.), and 

 many other variants. 



Braughing is a parish of 4,368 acres, of which I 5 

 acres are water. Rather less than three-quarters of 

 the area is arable land, about one-quarter grass, and a 

 small proportion, about 252 acres, woods and planta- 

 tions. 1 The parish lies high, the level for the most 

 part being between 300 ft. and 400 ft. above the 

 ordnance datum, and the valleys of the rivers about 

 100 ft. lower. The country is undulating and well 

 wooded. The soil is mixed, the subsoil clay over 

 chalk and gravel. Here and there the sand outcrops 

 at the surface, and where this is the case springs of 



In 18 I 2 an Act was parsed for inclosing the common 

 lands, then estimated at 1,300 acres, and certain 

 Lammas lands consisting of 50 acres, also for freeing 

 all lands within the parish from tithe: by allotments 

 to the rectors and vicar. Lammas Piece and Lammas 

 Mead, adjoining the vicarage, were allotted to the 

 vicar, whilst Lammas land in Langrev Mead and Sow 

 Mead was allotted to the lord of Ha'mels, to whom a 

 portion of the great tithes belonged.' The copyhold 

 land has n..w been ne.irly all enfranchised. 



The River Quin joins the Rib a little to the south- 

 west of the village. To the north of this point the 

 road to Cambridge crosses the Quin by a brick bridge 

 of three arches, called Griggs Bridge, 1 built in 1769. 

 Further on the road crosses the Rib on Ford Bridge, 

 a county bridge, which in the 17th century was of 

 in 1766 s probably in brick, repaired 



Nei 



■773." 



oft- 



The 



ridge c 



the 



Rib c 



the 



d to Buntingford crossing the 

 of the parish is also a county 



The Roman road called Siane Street, after passing 

 through Little Hadham and then forming for a little 

 way the boundary between Braughing and Standon, 

 comes to an abrupt end at Horse Cross 1 in this parish. 

 The course of the road, however, can be traced west- 

 ward along the parish boundary, which follows a 



straight line as far as the River Rib. A little further 

 to the west it must have crossed Ermine Street. 

 There was a Roman settlement to the south-west of 

 the village. 9 That Braughing was a place of im- 

 portance in Saxon times is evidenced by the fact that 

 it was the head of a hundred and also of a deanery. 

 The Domesday Survey shows that the greater part 

 of Braughing was held ' in alms ' by a man of King 

 Edward, and had been so held under his predecessors. 

 There is, therefore, some reason to think that it was 

 once royal domain, as the meeting-place of the hun- 

 dred court very often seems to have been.' In the 

 10th century the church of Braughing is called 

 ' monastcrium,' " which possibly suggests a church of 



The village of Braughing is situated a little to the 

 east of Ermine Street in the valley of the River 

 Quin. It is built on both sides of the river in the 

 angle formed by the junction of the road to Cambridge 

 and a road running north-east towards FurneuJt 

 Pelham. The parish church of St. Mary stands 

 about midway between these two roads, along which 

 lie the two main streets of the village, Green End on 

 the Cambridge road and The Street on the Pelham 

 road. At the further end of The Street is a group of 

 houses called Powell's Green. Green End is the main 

 street of Braughing. At the south end of it is the 

 village smithy. Braughing Hall close by was built in 

 1 889 ; it is attached to the Congregational chapel and 

 is used for social purposes. The rest of the village is 

 grouped irregularly round the church, and owing to 

 its trees and old houses and varying levels is very 

 picturesque. Between the two main streets run 

 three lanes, all of which cross the River Quin. 

 These are called Malting Lane or Bridge, Fleece 

 Lane or Bridge, and Ships Bridge. 1 ' Malting Lane, 

 the southernmost, is so called from a malting at one 

 end of it, and is also called Bell Lane from the Bell 

 Inn at the other. The names of the other two lanes 

 evidently recall the sheep washing which took place 

 in the shallow part of the river here. Close to the 

 church on the north-west is Braughing Bury, the old 



;l Sse article on the Hens. Schools, 

 V.CJi.mru.W, 81. "Ibid. 82. 



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



' Local and Per-onal Act, 52 Gen. Ill, 

 cap. cki. Copy lent by Mr. C. J. Long- 



» The road here was fori 

 Grig's CaEe (Smi. R. [Herts 



I. faiiia. Called Nev 



.--..<:c 



early as 1667 (ibid, i, 101). Another 

 bridge called Jennings Bridge it men- 

 tioned in 1665 (ibid. 172). Thomai 

 Jennings had land in Braughing in the 

 16th century (Com. Pleas D. Enr. East. 

 6 Edw. VI, m. 5). See also will of 

 Henry Johnson, 1569 (H t m. G«. i, 

 238), which mentions a 'Mr. Jenyngs.' 



6 Hoare's Cross is another spelling. 

 Hoare's Cross Field it close by. The 

 Tithe Allotment of Standon smU> it 

 Whore's Cross. 



306 



9 For the account of thii tee V.C.W. 

 Hem. iv, ' Roman Remains.' 



10 Cf. Assize R. 6 Edw. I, Agard's 

 MS. index, fol. 98*, where the jurors 



'< Birch, Can. Sex. ii, 571. This is a 

 bequest by a certain A thelgixs of land 

 charged with a rent in kind to the ««iui- 

 Itrium of Braughing. 



" Shipes Bredg in 1642 {S111.&. [Herts. 

 Co. Ree.], i, 70)- 



