A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



The old parlour adjoining the south end of the hall 

 is lined with early 17th-century oak panelling with a 

 fluted frieze. The room above project! about 18 in. 

 on the west ; its orginal fireplace, now in a passage, 

 is built up. The external plastering on the west 

 front is in flush-beaded panels decorated with combed 

 work. Close to the house is a large barn of pre- 

 Reforraat.on date ; it measures externally about 

 146 ft. by 33 ft., and is divided into nine bays ; 

 there are two large transeptal entrances on the east 

 side. The building is timber-framed and weather- 

 boarded and rests on dwarf walls of thin bricks ; 

 the roof is tiled, and the end gables are slightly 

 hipped. 



The stocks and whipping-post stand in the church- 

 yard protected by an iron railing. The rectory and 

 school (built in 1875) lie a little to the north-east. 

 Close by are some gabled cottages of two stories with 

 tiled roofs (once forming one house) of about 1600. 

 This is all the village of Thorley there is, if village it 

 can be called. Probably Thorley was originally part 

 of the vill of Sawbridgeworth.* Thorley Street is a 

 hamlet on the main road. 



Thorley Place is the residence of Mr. G. S. Streetcr, 

 the lord of the manor ; Stone Hall, close by, is the 

 residence of Mrs. Clark. Thorley House is tJie 

 property of Mr. Laurie Frere. On the east of 

 Thorley Street a group of buildings is formed by 

 Twyford House, Twyford Bury, and Twyford Mill. 

 Twyford House is the residence of Mr. Laurie Frere. 

 It came into the Frere family through the marriage of 

 Elizabeth Rapcr Grant (daughter of William Grant 

 and Elizabeth daughter of John Raper who married 

 Elizabeth daughter of William Hale of Twyford 

 House) with George Frere, who died in 1854. His 

 son Mr. Bartle John Laurie Frere, who died in 1893, 

 was of Twyford House. Twvford Bury is the resi- 

 dence of Mr. T. Cornwell. 



No inclosure award has been made for the parish, 

 but there were common fields when the tilhe com- 

 mutation award was made. Thorley Common lay 

 on the north-east of the parish, Limestead Common 

 to the west of Butler's Hall on the south side of the 

 road leading from Thorley Place to that house, 

 Dunnings Common on the north side of the same 

 road, Harris Common to the south-east of Butler's 

 Hall. 5 Appurtenant to Thorley Hall were lands in 

 some of the Sawbridgeworth common fields adjoining 

 Thorley, 1 an additional argument in favour of the 

 intimate connexion between the two parishes. Other 

 place-names found in Thorley are the Vineyard, a 

 field north of the road leading from the main road to 

 the church, Further Park near Thorley Houses, the 

 Moors, Church Field west of the churchyard. Mill 

 Field (marking the site of the mill) on the north of 

 the church, Alderbury Pasture opposite the rectory, 



and Sedgwick, a very large field on the north of 

 Thorley Place.* 



The manor of THORLET was held 

 MJNOJtS in the reign of Edward the Confessor by 

 a certain Godid, a 'man ' of Asgar the 

 Staller. After the Concjuest it was purchased from 

 the king by William Bishop of London, to whom 

 Godid remitted her right. Before 1086, however, it 

 had been acquired by Geoffrey de Mandeville (else- 

 where the successor to the lands of Asgar the Staller), 

 and he was holding it at the time of the Domesday 

 Survey, although the Bishop of London was still trying 

 to make good his claim. 8 The manor was then 

 assessed at 4 hides and had land for eight ploughs, of 

 which four were on the demesne ; a mill is mentioned 

 in the extent. 7 The overlordship descended with the 

 honour of Mandeville. 



Pain and Ernald de Thorley were landholders 

 in Thorley at the end of the 12th century, 8 and 

 were possibly tenants of the manor. Richard de 

 Thorley was defendant in an action of common 

 fishery at Thorley in 1230/ and Arnold son of 

 Richard was holding the manor later in the cen- 

 tury. 10 He conveyed it to William Gerbergh of 

 Yarmouth (Gernemuth), who in 1269 was forcibly 

 ejected by William de Clifford, 11 who claimed free 

 warren in Thorley in 1275. 13 About the same time, 

 however, judgement was given for William Gerbergh in 

 an action brought by him against William Clifford." 

 Shortly afterwards Margery daughter of Arnold de 

 Thorley quitclaimed the manor to William Gerbergh," 

 whose son Thomas claimed view of frankpledge and 

 assize of bread and ale as liberties pertaining to the 

 manor as part of the honour of Mandeville in 1 278." 

 In 1311 Theobald de Merk, who in 1303 was 

 assessed with Thomas Gerbergh and the Prior of 

 Mcrton (for whom see below) of a third of a knight's 

 fee in Thorley, conveyed his 'manor of Thorley' to 

 John Gerbergh and his wife Alice. 10 John was suc- 

 ceeded by Thomas Gerbergh, who died before 1 379, 

 when his widow Alice was holding the manor." She 

 married secondly Stephen Wyvele, 18 and in 1 389 

 released all right in the manor." In Hilary term 

 i 3 89-90 William son of Roger Gerbergh conveyed the 

 manor to Thomas de Pinchbeck and others,™ probably 

 for a settlement. A later conveyance to the same in 

 1393 s1 seems to have been in trust for John Corbet, 

 who had a grant of free warren in the manor in I 395. E ' 

 Thomas son of John Corbet granted it in 1414 to 

 Richard Marshall, 23 evidently in trust for John 

 Leventhorpe, to whom John son of Thomas Pinch- 

 beck remitted his right in 1419.** John Leventhorpe 

 obtained an inspeximus of the grant of free warren in 

 i+38. 9S 



From this date the manor descended in the Leven- 

 thorpe family with Shinglehall and Mathams in 



» Akbrr 



" So d 



i, iSS). 



» Ibid. 



« A hire 

 The result 

 with the < 

 conveyance 



» PLc. 



KPIac. (Rec. Com.), 188. 

 127; (//W. R. [Rec. Com 



■- Plat. (Rec. Com.), it 

 of the action is here giv 

 nrolmrnt of the charter 



. c Ed*. II, uo. 



#ai holding one-third in d 

 " Close, 5 Rlc. II, m. 3 

 "Ibid. II Ric. II, pL i 



