A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



It ii ; building of two stories with attics, and is 

 partly built of brick and partly of timber framing 

 covered with cement. It was probably originally 

 a house of late 1 6th -cent urj- date, but it has been so 

 much altered and added to in the 17th and ]8ih 

 centuries that the old plan is lost. The west side is 

 the oldest part, and the cellar under this appears to be 

 the only 16th-century work remaining. In one of the 

 cellar; is a blocked window in the east wall, probably 

 originally an outside wall ; in the south wall of the 

 same cellar are two small triangular -headed niches, 

 similar to those at Watton Place, Wymondley Bury, 

 and othe: old houses in the county. In an angle on 

 the west front is a timber-framed staircase, cemented 

 externally, probably of 17th-century date. The 

 north, south and east fronts are mainly additions of 

 the early 1 8th century. In the window of a room 

 on the west side is some old heraldic glass ; one por- 



have free warren, and to crenellate the house." Sir 

 Andrew Ogard was by birth a Dane, who received 

 letters of denization in England in 1+36." He wai 

 a 'knight, chamberlain, and councillor' of John Duke 

 of Bedford, the regent,' 1 who granted him the 

 keepership of the castle of Prudhoe in Northumberland 

 and made him one of his executors. 7 * Later he 

 was appointed captain of ihe castle and town of Caen 

 in Normandy. 7 ' He had estates in Norfolk and 

 Hertfordshire, and acted several times as J.P., com- 

 missioner, &c.,for the latter county. 78 According to 

 a contemporary account the purchase of the manor of 

 Rye cost X'- 100 '< ttlc building of the inner court 

 with brick and of the rooms and in closure {clauitrum) 

 cost 1 1,000 marks, whilst the granary and storehouse 

 with 16 horses and 30 cows were worth 2,000 

 marks. It also relates that whilst in England Ogard 

 had a chapel in his house with priests, clerks, and 



Stanstead Bu«y from the No»th-west 



tion shows a sheaf of corn flanked by the initials I.F. 

 of a member of the Feilde family. There is also a 

 shield of arms with the date I 563 above. 89 



The manor of RYE may be identified with the 

 half hide which was held in 1086 by Geofirey de 

 Bech. 10 There seems to be no further record of it 

 until 1443, but doubtless it followed the descent of 

 Thelc in Hertford Hundred (q.v.), for in that year Sir 

 Andrew Ogard had licence to inclose the site of his 

 manor of Rye a/ias the Island of Rye and 50 acres of 

 land, 10 acres of meadow, 80 acres of pasture and 16 

 acres of wood within the island, to make a park and 



choristers. 77 Apparently his expenditure was on a 

 lavish scale, and he is known to have been very rich 

 when he died. This was in 1454, when his son 

 Henry was four years old. 78 The custody of the 

 heir wai granted by Edward IV to Lawrence Bishop 

 of London, 78 and in 1463 the manor was granted 

 during the heir's minority to the king's brother, 

 George Duke of Clarence. 8 " 



Henry Ogard bequeathed the manor of Rye to hit 

 son Andrew, 81 who died seised of it in 1526, leaving 

 a son and heir George. 1 * 1 In 1559 George Ogard {of 

 Ormesby, co. Norfolk) sild the manor to William 



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