BRAUGHING HUNDRED 



conveyed the manor to John Chauncy and William 

 Colt, clerk. 50 John Chauncy died in 1510." In 

 1533 his son John Chauncy received a quitclaim from 

 Giles Heron and his wife Cicely, 62 but it is not clear 

 what interest they had in the manor. 



John Chauncy, who died in 1 5 47, seems to have 

 settled Netherhall on his second son Henry, 63 to 

 whom a further quitclaim was 

 made by Leonard Skillingham 

 and Griselda his wife, James 

 Frauncys and Alice his wife, 

 and John Whypall and Wini- 

 fred his wife in ic + cj. 61 

 Henry Chauncy (father of the 

 John Chauncy who held Over- 

 hall) built the capital messuage 

 of New Place in Gilston, 

 having, it is said, been forced 



to leave Pishobury in Saw- Chauncy, Gules a 



brldgeworth, which he held cross paly argent and a 



on lease and used as a resi- Me f """V^f " lisn 

 dence, by a sale over his head P"" 1 ™ 

 to Walter Mildmay. 55 He 



attached to his new house 40 acres of land, part of 

 the manor of Netherhall, and 80 acres of land, part 

 of Giffords. 56 The manor of Netherhall was settled 

 on his son Edward, but Edward never appears in 

 possession, and immediately after the death of Henry 

 in 1587 William his grandson and heir (son of John 

 Chauncy) conveyed the manor to his uncle George 

 Chauncy. 57 In 1615 George Chauncy sold it to 

 Alexander Williams of the Pipe Office, 68 who married 

 Elizabeth sister of Sir Dudley Carleton, ambassador 

 at the Hague. 69 Their son Anthony died in 1632, 

 and shortly afterwards his father sold Netherhall to 

 John Gore, 90 Lord Mayor of London in 1624 and 

 knighted in 1626, who died seised of it in 1636. fil 

 His son John Gore of Sacombe was Sheriff of Hert- 

 fordshire in 1639, and was knighted by Charles I in 

 1641. He fought on the king's side during the 

 Civil War, but later he made his peace with the 

 dominant party. He died in 1659/ 2 having in 

 1657 settled the messuage or farm called Upper- 

 hall, a mill in Hunsdon, and the manors of Overhail, 

 Netherhall and Giffords on his son Humphrey Gore, 

 on the occasion of his marriage with Persis English. 63 

 Humphrey Gore, who was knighted in 1 660, 

 inclosed the park at New Place. 6 * He made a settle- 

 ment on his son John in i69i, G5 but John died in his 



GILSTON 



father's lifetime, and Humphrey was succeeded at his 

 death in 1699 by his son Henry Gore. 86 In 170! 

 Henry Gore sold the manors to John Plumer of Blakes- 

 ware. 57 He died in March 1 718-19, and was buried 

 at Eastwick. His second son William, who married 

 Elizabeth Byde of Ware Park and was M.P. for 

 Herts, in i7J4t succeeded him here and at Blakes- 

 ware, 68 and in 1760 settled the manors on his son 

 William Plumer the younger, 68 who succeeded at his 

 father's death in 1767 and lived at New Place. He 

 was M.P. for Hertfordshire from 1768 to 1806. 

 He died in i8zz and was buried at Eastwick, having 

 left New Place to his widow Jane. The old house at 

 Blakesware (q.v.) was then pulled down, and its most 

 valuable contents brought to Gilston.™ Mrs. Plumer 

 (Lewin) married as her third husband Robert Ward, 

 who assumed the name of Plumer. The latter, by 

 profession a barrister, was also a novelist and politician 

 of some note. After his marriage he lived at Gilston 

 Park and acted as sheriff of the county in 1832. 

 His wife died in 1831 ; he survived until 1846. 71 

 After Mrs. Ward's death Gilston Park had been left 

 unoccupied and in 1 85 1 the house was dismantled 

 and the pictures and old furniture (including the 

 marble busts of the Caesars 

 immortalized by Lamb) were 

 offered for sale; The old 

 house was situated nearer the 

 lake than the present one ; 

 the porch still remains on the 

 lawn. 71a Henry George Ward, 

 only son of Robert Ward by a 

 previous marriage, sold Gilston 

 Park to John Hodgson, who 

 built a new house there. 72 His 

 brother William Hodgson suc- 

 ceeded in 1882, and died in 



-„/l, , _, , wse laa-vy suite aa-i 



i886, 7S whenthemanorpassed „ gent w hh three kinds' 



to his nephew Mr. Edward kinds raved in ike sable 



Salvin Bowlby. His son Mr. and three rings m ike 

 Arthur Salvin Bowlby sue- argent alUomurcdoured. 

 ceeded in 19OZ, and is the 



present lord of the manor. The courts leet and baron 

 for the manor were held in 1702 at New Place, but 

 generally afterwards at the Plume and Feathers Inn. 74 

 The manor of GIFFORDS was the holding of a 

 family named Giffard or Gifford who appear in 

 Gilston at the end of the izth century, when 

 Giffard de Gilston called Peter de Goldington to 



s» Anrt. D. (P.R.O.), A 644. Accord- 

 ing to a deed quoted by Clutterbuck (op. 

 cit. ii, 404) a moiety of the manor was 

 conveyed to John Chauncy in 1480 by 

 Joan and Robert Horncliff. These pro- 

 bably represent a co-heiress either of Sir 

 William Estfield or of John Bohun. The 

 difficulty in the decent of Overhail ex- 

 plained iu note 3 5 applies also to Nether- 

 hall as far as a deed quoted by Clutter- 

 buck (Ioc. cit.) is concerned, whereby John 

 Chauncy settled (inter alia) the manor of 

 Netherhall on. his son John in 1478. 



61 Chauncy, Hist. Antiq, of Herts. 

 rS 7 . 



K Feet of F. Herts. Trio. i$ Hen. VIII. 

 53 Chauncy, loc. cit. The eldest son 

 Maurice became a monk at the Charter- 

 house, London (see ' Dom. Maurice 

 Chauncy' by E. Burton, East Herts. Areh. 

 Stt.Bwu.iv [.[hies). Henry Chauncy 

 and his sons Edward and George were in 



favouring popery' 'Cal. S. P. Don:. 1581- 

 90, p. 36). 



» Feet of F. Herts. East. 3 Edw. VI. 



56 Chauncy, loc. cit. 



ssChan. Inn, p.m. (Ser. 2), cc*iv, .59. 

 In 1574. he conveyed 'the site of the 

 manor of Netherhall' to John Peter and 

 Francis Wyndham (Feet of F. Herts. 

 East. 17 Eli/.). This was perhaps a sale 

 of the old house. 



57 Feet of F. Herts. Mich. 30 & 31 

 Eliz.; Recov. R. Mich. 29 Eliz. rot. 130 ; 



55 Feet ol" F. Herts. East. 13 Jas. I. 



65 Johnston, op. cit. A letter from 

 Elizabeth to her brother written in 1616 

 and giving a description of Gilston (S. P. 

 Dom. Jas. I, liixviii, a) is printed here. 



61 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccclxxjri, 

 3»- 



1 of the 



Mar 



^ M. I. ; Le Neve, Pedig 

 digits (Harl. Soc. viii), 100. 



•» Close, 3 Will, and Mar; 

 o. 5. 



64 Ibid. 9 Will. Ill, pt. v, ni 



65 Recov. R. Trin. 3 Will. 

 >t. 177; Close, 3 Will, a 

 t. xvii, no. S . 



66 Chauncy, op. cit. 189 ; 

 >iv. Co. Trin. 6 Will. a. 

 .c-cov. R. Mich. 9 Will. Ill, r 



w Feet of F. Herts. Mich. 13 Will'. Ill ; 

 lose, 13 Will. Ill, pt viii, no. it. 

 63 Salmon, Hist, of Herts. 156. 

 m Recov. R. East. 33 Geo. II, rot. 271. 



71 Diet. Nat. Biog. 



7,3 See llhs. Land. Ne-ws, 26 Apr. 18515 

 [formation from Mr. C. E. Johnston. 

 " Johnston, loc. cit. 





