A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



Richard toot a prominent part in the Barons' Wars. 

 In 1 166 we hear of him ' coining to the King's Court 

 to treat of his peace with him.' IS By the close of the 

 year 1 170 he had been succeeded by his son Richard," 

 of whom it was reported in 1274 that he 'held 

 assize of bread and ale and view of frankpledge in 

 Eastwict.' ,J He is almost certainly identical with 

 the Richard de Tany who in 1295 was holding the 

 manor of Eastwict, value £4.0, by the service of two 

 tnights' fees." He was succeeded by his son Roger, 

 who died seised of Eastwict Manor in 1301, leaving 

 an infant son Lawrence to succeed him." Lawrence 

 was only nineteen when he died in I 3 I 7, leaving as 

 heir to Eastwick his sister Margaret, then aged sixteen." 

 She married John de Drokensford, and they in 1329 

 received a quitclaim of the third of the manor held in 

 dower by Margaret widow of Laurence de Tany, 

 then wife of Thomas de Weston." Margaret pre- 

 deceased her husband, who held Eastwick 'by courtesy' 

 until his death in 13 + 1." His son Thomas de 

 Drotenslord, who is styled 'knight' in 1 346, in that 

 year granted the manor to Nicholas le Blake of Ware 

 and his wife Margery, to hold for lift* 



Thomas de Drokensford died in 1361, leaving an 

 only daughter and heir Anne, then aged four, who sub- 

 sequently married Thomas Mandeville, son of Walter 

 Mandeville of Black Notley in Essex." Thomas son 

 and heir of Thomas Mandeville died seised of Enst- 

 wickin 1400," leaving as heirs his two sisters, Juan the 

 wife of John Barry and Alice wife of Helmyngus 

 Leget, both of full age. Eastwick fell to the share of 

 Alice, on whom and her first husl and (Leget) the 

 manor was settled in 1408," and on her and her 

 second husband (Roge.- Spice) in 1413." Alice sur- 

 vived her second huiband, who seems to have been 

 succeeded in the tenure of Eastwict Manor by Clement 

 Spice, who was holding in 1428," and after him by 

 Roger Spice. The latter, in Michaelmas 1447, sold 

 the manor of Eastwick to William Oldhalt, kt." 

 William Oldhall purchased the neighbouring manor 

 of Hunsdon either at or about this date, and for 

 nearly two hundred years after this the two manors 

 followed exactly the same descent. Hunsdon being 

 the larger and more important of the two, the East- 

 wick tenants attended the Hunsdon courts, the last 

 separate court known to have been held for Eastwick 

 being in 1527." When Hunsdon Manor in 1532 

 became Hunsdon Honour, Eastwick formed part of that 

 honour. 'I he two properties are last found in the 

 same hands in 1637, in which year Henry Earl of 

 Dover, lord of Hunsdon, conveyed Eastwict to 

 truste.s," and it was shortly afterwards sold to Sir 

 John Gore of Gilston, kt. * probably in order to raise 

 money for the Royalist cause. It then descended with 

 the manors in Gilston (q.v.) to Mr. A. S. Bowlby, 

 the present lord of the manor. 



A mill worth 51. is recorded in the Domesday 

 Survey, but there is no mention again of a mill in 

 Eastwick until 1607, when it may be concluded that 

 of the two mills owned by the lord of Hunsdon 

 and Eastwick one was an Eastwick mill." Both the 

 mills were acquired by Sir John Gore in 16+1," but 

 only Hunsdon Mill is mentioned in the sale to John 

 Plumer in 1701." 



The church of ST. BOTOLPH wm 

 CHURCH rebuilt, all but the west tower, in 1871, 

 some of the old material being re-used ; 

 the stonework of the tower has been renewed. It 

 consists of chancel, north organ chamber, nave with 

 north porch, and west tower ; all the walls are faced 

 with flint and have stone dressings ; the roofs are tiled. 



The original 13th-century chancel arch has been 

 re-erected in the church; it is of two richly- moulded 

 orders, with three detached Purbeck marble shafts in 

 the jambs, with moulded capitals and bases. On the 

 sill of one of the north windows of the chancel is the 

 bowl of a piscina, without sufficient detail to deter- 

 mine its date. The tower is of three stages, unbut- 

 trcssed, with embattled parapet, but has been re- faced. 



Under the tower is the recumbent effigy in stone 

 of a knight with crossed legs ; he is clad in chain mail 

 and a long surcoat ; on his left arm is a long shield. 

 The plinth below the slab on which the effigy lies i* 

 modern. The figure belongs to the middle of the 

 13th century, and may be of Richard de Tany who 

 died about 1270. It is in a very good state of 

 preservation. 



On the tower wall is a brass figure of a lady in 

 Elizabethan costume, a shield and part of an inscrip- 

 tion ; the figure is that of Joan wife of Robert Lee, 

 whose figure has disappeared. The remaining part of 

 the inscription reads: 'which Robert died ye 23 

 day of January 1 {64 and the sayd Joan died the . . . 

 day of ... * Salmon also states that the brass is a 

 palimpsest and gives the inscription. 



There are three bells : the treble bears an inscrip- 

 tion in English, illegible ; the second is inscribed 

 ' Vox Augustini sonet in aure dei,' without date j the 

 third is by John Clark, 1601. 



The communion plate consists of cup, I 7 19 ; one 

 paien, 1705 ; another, 1735, and a modern flagon. 



The registers of baptisms and burials begin in 

 1555, those of marriages in 1556. 



A priest is included among the 

 ADPQWSQN tenants of Eastwick Manor at the 

 time of the Domesday Survey. ,g 

 In 1 1 38 Baldwin son of Gilbert de Clare {see the 

 manor) granted the church of Eastwick to Bourne 

 Abbey, Lincolnshire, a house of his own foundation.* 1 

 In 1194 a dispute arose between the Abbot of 

 Bourne and Richard de Tany, lord of the manor 

 of Eastwick, concerning the right of presentation, 



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