BRAUGHING HUNDRED sawbridgeworth 



to Harlow and fragment) of p;>:tery of the Romano- 

 British period.'-* Historically Sawbridgeworth owes 

 its interest to i:s manors, which furnish an unusually 

 complete example of the processes of subinfeudation 

 (see below). 



The manor of SAfVBRIDGE- 

 MANORS WORTH, assessed in 1086 at 24$ hides 

 and consisting of land for forty ploughs, 

 meadow for twenty plough-teams, pasture for the 

 live stock, woodland for 300 swine and a mill then 

 held by a tenant, must have comprised the whole of 

 the present parish. In the reign of Edward the 

 Confessor it had been held by Asgar the Staller, and 

 after the Conquest it was 

 acquired by Geoffrey de Man- 

 deville, who held in 1086. u 

 William de Mandeville, son 

 successor of Geoffrey, 



mortgaged the 1 



■ to the 



Crown, and it was granted by 

 Henry I to Eudo Dapifer." 

 Geoffrey de Mandeville the 

 younger, however, on obtain- 

 ing a renewed grant of the ., „ , , 



°,, , „ ° . r , Manoevili.e, Earl of 



earldom of Essex (conferred Esse*. Quarterly or ami 



originally on his father gu f cl which arms were 



Geoffrey de Mandeville, son a.sumed and borae by 

 of William, in 1156), also che s " ! - 

 received all the lands held by 



Geoffrey his great-grandfather, including Sawbridge- 

 worth, with a release of the mortgage held by Henry I 

 on the manor. 16 The lands were to be held with 

 soc, sac, toll, team and infangentheof. Geoffrey the 

 second Earl of Essex died in 1 166, when he was 

 succeeded by his brother William de Mandeville, 

 third Earl of Essex. He died in 11 89, leaving no 

 issue, and Sawbridgeworth passed to his aunt Beatrice 

 de Say, daughter of William de Mandeville, and on 

 her death to her younger son Geoffrey de Say. From 

 this family the manor (reduced by 74. librates from 

 its extent in 1086, see below under Pishobury) took 

 the name otSATESBURT. 



In 1 as 2 Geoffrey de Say, son of the last-mentioned 

 Geoffrey, received the grant of a market to be held at 

 Sawbridgeworth on Saturday. 17 By another grant 

 the following year the day was changed to Friday. 18 

 William de Say, son and successor of Geoffrey, 

 probably inclosed the park,forin I237he was allowed 

 ten bucks from the king's forest of Essex to place in 

 his park of Sawbridgeworth. 19 In 124.5 he obtained 

 a licence for free warren in his manor. 20 The extent 

 taken at his death in 1272 mentions the park and 

 warren. 21 William de Say, his' son and 



presented before the commissioners of Edward I for 

 having appropriated free warren on alien fees and 

 on the lands of his tenants. 22 He claimed the liberties 

 of gallows, view of frankpledge, assize of bread and 

 ale, pillory, tumbrel and prison at Sawbridgeworth as 

 belonging to the honour of Mandeville and exercised 

 by his ancestors. These were allowed him. 23 William 

 de Say died in 1295. 21 Geoffrey de Say, his son, 

 was summoned to Parliament as Lord Say from 



1 3 1 3. In 1 306 he obtained a renewal of the Friday 

 market granted in 1223 and a grant of a yearly 

 fair on the vigil and feast of the Nativity of the 

 Virgin Mary (8 September). 26 He died in 1322 26 ; 

 his wife Idonia survived him and received a grant of 

 the manor for life from her son Geoffrey. 27 Geoffrey 

 the younger died in 1 3 5 9 2S and was succeeded by 

 his son William de Say. The extent of the manor 

 taken at his death in 1375 gives a messuage with 

 garden, 500 acres of arable land, 15 acres of meadow, 



2 acres of pasture and 1 00 acres of wood. The rents 

 from customary tenants included 1 lb. of wax and 



3 gross of arrows. 20 John son and heir of William 

 died a minor in 1382. 30 The manor passed to his sister 

 Elizabeth, who made a settlement on herself and her first 

 husband, Sir John de Falwesle, in i388, 31 and on her- 

 self and second husband, Sir William Heron, in 1 396. 32 



Elizabeth Lady Say died without issue in 1399. 

 Heron, who was summoned to Parliament as Lord 

 Heron from 1393, and is generally considered to have 

 been styled Lord Say, 33 obtained many of his wife's 

 estates, including Sawbridgeworth. Maud Bosenho, 

 daughter of Elizabeth deAlden,one of the co-heirs of 

 Elizabeth de Say, quitclaimed her right in the manor 

 to him in 1401. 34 He died seised in 1404, 36 his 

 nephew John, son of his brother John, being his heir. 

 The extent taken at his death mentions that the 

 capital messuage was then ruinous. Sir John Heron 

 died in 1420 and was succeeded by his son John, 3fi 

 who in 1 460- 1 settled Sawbridgeworth on himself 

 and his wife Agnes in tail with contingent remainder 

 to Brian Rowcliff and other feoffees. 37 John Heron 

 died in 1468 without issue. 33 A few months after- 

 wards the feoffees conveyed the manor to Sir John 

 Say, who died seised of it in 147s. 39 His son Sir 

 William Say died in 1529, leaving two daughters, of 

 whom Mary wife of Henry Bourchier, Earl of Essex, 

 inherited Sawbridgeworth. 40 Their daughter and 

 heir Anne, wife of William Lord Parr, had livery of 

 Sawbridgeworth on her father's death in March 

 1539-40. 41 Lord Parr, who was created Earl of 

 Essex in 1543 and Marquess of Northampton in 

 1547, was attainted in 1553 4 - and Sawbridgeworth 

 came to the Crown. 



13 East Hem. Arch. Sat. Tram, i, 191. 



M y.C.H. Herts, i, 332a. 



« Celchaur Cartulary (Roxburghe 

 Club), 22. There may have been a former 

 grant of the manor, aa well as of the church, 

 to Otwel Fitz Count (see advowson). 



,e See charter printed by Mr. J. H. 

 Round in Geoff, de Mandeville, 235. See 

 also article by Mr. Round in Essex Arch. 

 Soc. Tram. (New Ser.), v, 24;. 



V Rot. Lit. Clam. (Rec. Com.), i, 514. 



■ : - [bid 



.4.,.- 



W Cal. Close, 1234-7, P- 445- 

 ^ Cat. Chart. R. 1226-57, P- 28: 

 Abbrev, Rot. Orig. (Rec. Com.), 1", 7. 

 " Chan. Inq. p.m, 56 Hen. Ill, ho. 3 

 11 Hand. R. (Rec. Com.), i, 188. 



» Assize R. 323 (Mich. 6 Edw. I). 



14 Chan. Inq. p.m. 23 Edw. I, no. 49 ; 

 Cal. Pat. 1*92-1301, p. 188 ; Chan. 

 Inq. p.m. 25 Edw. I, no. 10. 



» Cal. Chart. R. 1 



ch rti 



the giant of free w 



the lord in 1531 (L. and P. Hen. Fill, . 



559 [3i]). 



ss Chan. Inq. p.m. 15 Edw. II, no. 4.1 



11 Cal. Pat. 



330-4, p. 3 it 





53 Chan. Inq. p.m. 33 Edi 

 35 Ibid. 49 Edw. Ill, pt. ii (1 

 no. 44 (file 2;.). 



30 Ibid. 6 Ric. II, no. 67. 



31 Cal. Pat. 1385-9, p. 407; Feet of 

 F, Div. Co. 11 Ric. II, no. 93. 



335 



'591-6, p. 339 j Feet of 

 "ic. II, no. no. 



! of 



a G.E.C. Pelt 



'i Close, 2 Hen. IV, pt. ii, m. 19 d. 



15 Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 Hen. IV, no. 1 



™ Ibid. 8 Hen. V, no. 17. 



» Feet of F. Div. Co. 39 Hen. V 

 110. 457- 



88 Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Edw. IV, no. 3 

 The heir was unknown. Agnes marri 

 David Malpas (Cal. Pat. 1476-85, p. 1 11 



M Chan. Inq. p.m. 18 Edw. IV, no.4 



« Ibid. {Ser. 3), li, 50. 



" Ct. of Wards, Feod. Surv. dlxxviii, f 

 372 d. ; see L. andP. Hen. Fill, xvi, I 3. 

 (16) i Feet of F. Herts. HiL 33 Hen. VII 



" G.E.C. Peerage, j.v. Northampton, 



