BRAUGHING HUNDRED 



THUNDRIDGE 



apprenticed from time to time, a premium of £10 

 being paid in 1907. 



In 1884 Mrs. Georgians Martha Vander Meuien 

 by declaration of trust gave a sum of £115, the 

 interest to be paid to the rector for the time being 

 for the upkeep of the churchyard. This charity was 



byasu 



official 

 church' 



1909 by Admiral F. Vander Meuien 

 '1 00, the two gifts being represented by 

 id. i\ per cent, annuities with the 

 ['he annual dividends, amounting 

 e applied in the upkeep of the 



THUNDRIDGE 



Tonrich (1086); Tunrigge, Thanruggc, Thorn- 

 ru gge (xiii cent.) ; Thunrigge, Thunrych, Thurrich 

 (xiv and xv cent.) ; Thundriche (xvi cent.). 



Thundridge is a small parish of 2,206 acres bounded 

 on the north-west by the River Rib, which divides it 

 from the parish of Standon, and on the north-east by 

 the Nimney Bourne. The main road to Buntingford 

 intersects the parish on the west. Of the total area 

 rather more than half is arable land, but there is 

 a considerable amount of pasture in the valley of 

 the Rib. The chief woods are Sawtres Wood 0:1 

 the north in the bend of the river, Steere Wood 

 farther south, and Buckney Wood to the south of 

 this. Gardiner's Spring, a small wood to the west 

 of Buckney Wood, preserves the name of the 1 7th- 

 century owners of the manor. The land rises from 

 the valley of the Rib on the north and is for 

 the most part between 200 and 300 ft. above the 

 ordnance datum. The soil varies, the subsoil being 

 gravel and clay. No inclosure award has been made 

 for the parish. Burleigh Common and Halfyard 

 Common are still in several ownership, but Ashridge 

 Common, which from its name must have been an 

 open field, is now owned by one person only. All 

 three are arable.' 



There is no village of Thundridge properly speak- 

 ing ; all that remains of the original settlement arc a 

 17th-century chimney stack of brick which belonged 

 to the manor-house called the Bury (pulled down in 

 1812),* the ruins of a cottage which, once formed part 

 of the stables of the Bury, and the tower of the old 

 church, all situated close together in a bend of the river 

 about half a mile east of the Buntingford road. The 

 church is surrounded by fine chestnut trees, pines and 

 yews, and in summer the spot is beautiful in spite of its 

 deserted appearance. To the south of the church is 

 Thundridge Hill, the slope of which is occupied by 

 a long field planted with lines of elm trees. Leading 

 to the church from the west is an avenue of elms 

 known as the Causeway. This at the further end is 

 continued to Wadesmill by a picturesque path along 

 the side of the river. 



The hamlet of Wadesmill is built along the road 

 to Buntingford and lies partly in the parish of Thun- 

 dridge and partly in High Cross (formed from the 

 ancient parish of Standon), the bridge over the Rib 

 forming the boundary. The part of the village on 

 the eastern bank of the river is known locally as 

 Thundridge. The church of St. Mary occupies a 

 good position on high ground further along the road 

 to the south. The vicarage stands some little distance 

 from it in Poles Lane. The main street of the village 

 was the street parallel with the main road, now known 



as Back Street. The main road is said to have run 

 along here before it was diverted to its present route, 

 this new part of it being still known as New Road. 3 

 In Back Street is the old White Hind Inn and next to 

 it stood the smithy, now pulled down. A row of 

 cottages on the same side as the 'White Hind' was 

 built by Mr. Hanburyin 1888. The mixed elemen- 

 tary school on the other side of the road was built in 

 1900, superseding one opposite the church which is 

 now used as a reading-room. The infants' school 

 near the church was opened in 1894, taking the place 

 of one which stood in front of the present house. The 

 situation of the hamlet on the main road to Cam- 

 bridge brought much traffic through it when travelling 

 was by coach. At the beginning of the 19th century 

 more than 100 horses were often stabled at the 

 Feathers Inn on the other side of the bridge. The 

 turnpike at Wadesmill was one of the first three put 

 up in the county.* 



Poles, on the north-west of the parish, is the seat 

 of Mr. E. S. Han bury ; the house, which is modern, 

 stands in a park of about 100 acres. Swangle's Farm, 

 to the south-east of the old church, preserves the 

 name of a family of Swangle who appear in the 

 neighbourhood in the 14th century. 6 On the south- 

 east of the parish is a farm called Castlebury. The 

 original form of this name is Casewellbury. At the 

 end of the I 5th century there is record of a mill 

 called Casewell Mill, 6 and in 1694. half a messuage or 

 farm called Casewelbury, or Carswelbury, was sold by 

 Humphrey Taylor, citizen and mercer of London, to 

 Sir Henry Wincombe of Bucklebury, co. Berks., 

 bart. 7 From Castlebury a by-road runs south-west to 

 Newhall Green in Ware parish and east to Baker's 

 End in Thundridge. Baker's End B communicates by 

 road with Nobland Green on the north-east and with 

 Rush Green on the north by a road which passes 

 through Halfyard Common. The number of these 

 small greens in the neighbourhood is noticeable. 



Anastasius Cottonus Jacksonus Lightfoot, son of 

 John Lightfoot, rector of Great Munden, the Hebrew 

 scholar and Biblical critic (and named after his father's 

 friends Sir Rowland Cotton and Sir John Jackson), 

 became vicar of Thundridge in 1661. Another divine 

 of some note, William Webster, was instituted in 

 1740. He was a voluminous writer, chiefly of 

 theological works, but in 1740 he published a 

 pamphlet on the woollen manufactory from materials 

 furnished by a merchant in the trade called The 

 Consequences 0/ Trade to the Wealth and Strength of any 

 Nation, by a Draper r,f Londun, which had a large sale ; 

 this he followed next year by a refutation of his own 

 arguments called The Draper's Reply. 



The Old North Road," Oll.er spellings are Caasullbery on a map 

 237- of 1648 and Caasalbery on Norden's map. 



E vl, fol. I2il,. 8 Bequest to Christopher Eedle of 



Proc. hdk. 159, no. Baker's End, 1572 (Birtt. Gin. 1, 570) j 

 house and land called Gymmes at Baker's 

 'ill. Ill, pt. v, no. 37. End (ibid, ii, 85). 



377 48 



