BRAUGHING HUNDRED 



Henry Engayne, lord of the manor of 

 PJRKS Hunsdon, received a grant of free warren 

 in the demesne lands of the manor in 

 1 z 5 3 - 03 A park was inclosed shortly afterwards, for 

 in 1296 a commission was appointed ' touching the 

 persons who entered the park of John Engayne at 

 Hunsdon, hunted therein, and carried away deer.' 33 

 In 14.45 lt was reported that Richard Duke of York 

 might safely 'inclose a way (100 virgates long and 

 16 ft. wide) called Jermynslane leading from East- 

 wick to Hunsdon, in his park of Hunsdon, making 

 another road on the south of the park.' 94 The park 

 also occurs in the life-grant of Hunsdon to the 

 Countess of Richmond in 1503, It was, however, 

 not included in the grant in tail-male to the Duke of 

 Norfolk in 1514, 95 but was retained by the Crown. 

 In 1529 there were three royal parks at Hunsdon : 

 the ' old,' the ' new,' and'Goodmanneshyde.' 96 Prob- 

 ably one of these was the same as ' Wyntrey Park,' 

 where the king killed two stags in July 1532." In 

 the following month Stephen Gardiner wrote to 

 Wolsey from Hunsdon : ' I have been hunting from 

 morn till night by the king's commandment.' 9B The 

 three parks of Hunsdon were granted with the 

 manor to Sir Henry Carey in 1559 and continued 

 with his successors. Henry Earl of Dover enlarged 

 the park by the purchase of certain lands called the 

 Spring, formerly Chauncy's Lands, in the parish of 

 Eastwick. Other lands within the parks were the 

 Brick Hills, the Nursery, Eastwick Lawn and 

 Edward's Downs. The parks were disparked before 

 1684, when the boundaries were given as follows : 

 Eastwick Hall and lands called Germans on the 

 north-west, Hunsdon Mill Lane on the south, 

 Hunsdon House on the south-west, Eastwick Woods 

 on the north-east. 9U 



A mill is included in the description of Hunsdon 

 given in the Domesday Survey and 'a water mill 

 worth 20s.' in an extent of 1297. I0 ° In 1508 the 

 mill conveyed with the manor is called Wadcsmill, 1 

 and another reference also occurs to ' Wardes Mill ' in 

 Hunsdon. 3 In 1607 two mills are included in the 

 manor. 3 Probably one of these was in the parish of 

 Eastwick, as the two properties were in the same 

 hands at this date. Subsequently the Hunsdon Mill 

 passed to the owners of Eastwick, and was sold with 

 that estate by Henry Gore to John Plumer in 170 1. 4 

 Situated in the south of the parish on the River Stort, 

 it stands wiihin a quarter of a mile of the boundary 

 between Hunsdon and Eastwick parishes. The mill 

 has been destroyed, but the house now forms part of 

 the Briggens estate. 



The church stands close to Hunsdou 

 CHURCH House, nearly a mile south of the village. 

 Its dedication is uncertain, but is attri- 

 buted to ST. DUNSTJN. It consists of chancel 

 43 ft. by 17 ft. 6 in., north chapel 22 ft. 6 in. by 

 13 ft. 6 in., nave 48 ft. 6 in. by az ft. 6 in., 

 south transept or chapel 23 ft. by 22 ft. 6 in., west 



HUNSDON 



tower 12ft. 9 in. by 11 ft., timber north porch ; 

 all the dimensions taken internally. The walls are 

 of flint rubble with stone dressings, the south chapel 

 being built of brick ; the roofs are tiled ; much of 

 the stonework has been renewed and the building 

 generally repaired. This church possesses some ex- 

 ceptionally good details of fittings of the 1 6th and 

 17th centuries. 



The walling of the nave belongs probably to an 

 earlier period than the rest of the building, but the 

 indications are too slight to fix the date ; the west 

 tower and north porch belong to the early part of the 

 15th century ; the chancel was rebuilt in the latter 

 part of the 15th century; the north chapel was 

 added about the middle of the 1 6th century, and 

 the south chapel was built by Lord Hunsdon about 

 1616. 



The chancel has a large five-light window in the 

 east wall, one two-light window in the north, and 

 two with a doorway between in the south wall ; 

 some of the jamb stones in the windows are original, 

 the rest is modern stonework. The north doorway 

 into the chapel has a four-centred arch with splayed 

 jambs ; the arch opening into this chapel, which is 

 used as an organ chamber and vestry, is modern. In 

 the south chancel wall is a piscina with hollow splayed 

 jambs and pointed arch ; adjoining it is a plain recess 

 with a wooden seat. The chancel arch of two plain 

 chamfered orders dates from the latter part of the 

 15 th century. 



The floor of the north chapel was raised about 

 4 ft. 8 in. in the 18th century for the construction 

 of a vault beneath, and a small gabled projection at 

 the east end was built to contain the short stair up 

 from the chancel. The east window is of two 

 cinquefoiled lights with a sexfoil opening in the head, 

 and is of late 14th-century date, reset in this wall ; 

 the jambs have been repaired with cement. In the 

 north wall is a window of two cinquefoiled lights 

 chiefly of modern stonework. The plain collar- 

 beam roof is probably original. 



In the north wall of the nave are two three-light 

 windows with cinquefoiled arches and tracery above, 

 also a door with moulded arch and jambs and traceried 

 spandrels ; all these are of the 15th century, but the 

 stonework has been much renewed. At the east end 

 of the north wall are the lower and upper doors to 

 the rood-loft set in a projecting portion of the wall. 

 In the south wall is a wide arch of three moulded 

 orders plastered, opening into the south transept or 

 chapel. West of it are two three-light windows of 

 modern stonework, the westernmost of which occupies 

 the position of the old south doorway, done away 

 with about 1830. 6 There are some old moulded 

 timbers in the roof. 



In the east and west walls of the south chapel is a 

 five-light mullioned and traceried window of plastered 

 brickwork and a four-centred doorway in the east • 

 in the south wall are two single-light windows with 



92 Cal Chart. R. 1226-59, P- 4*3. 



M CV. iV. IZ92-I30I, p. 220. 



M Inq. a.q.d. file 450, 00. 32. 

 95 See Manor. 



35 L. and P. Hen. fill, iv, g. 5336 

 (10). A field called ' Godmundeehyde ' 



1 this 



car]y a 



II97. 



It was then held by the lord of the 1 



of Humphrey Earl of Hereford (Chan, 



tnq. p.m. 2; Edw. I, file 80, no. 2). 



07 L. and P. Hen. VIU, v, 1206. 



• Ibid, iv, 1831. 



"Exch. Dec. Mixed Co. Mich. t6 

 Chas. II, no. 22. 



ln » Chan. Inq. p.m. 2; Edw. I, no. 46. 



' Close, 2:3 Hen. VII, pt. ii, do. 9 . 



! Rentals and Surv. portf. 8, do. 30. 

 This took its name from the Warde family. 

 John Warde had two mills in Hunsdon 

 a little earlier (Chan. Proc. [Ser. 2], 



329 



. S3)- 



of ,508, 



42 



