A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



a chaplain, who should reside there and who should 

 be provided by the parishioners with a house, 4 acres 

 of arable Lnd, id. every Sunday with blessed bread, 

 2!. in Christmas week or bread to that value, and 

 ji. id. per annum." After the Dissolution the 

 advowson came with that of Ware to Trinity College, 

 Cambridge. The church was served by a vicar of its 

 own until 17S1, when the vicarage was consolidated 

 with that of Ware." 



In 1810 the parsonage and glebe land were sold 

 for the redemption of the land tax with which the 

 vic.irage was charged, and the house was then pulled 

 down." When the church of St. Mary was built by 

 Mr. Hanbury in 1853 the Master and Fellows of 

 Trinity College gave him the advowson, reserving 

 the great tithes. The vicarage was then again separated 

 from Ware and a residence built for the vicar." 

 Mr. E. S. Hanbury is the present patron. 



The charity of Jane Wall, founded 



CHARITIES by will dated 'in 1 573, is regulated by 



schemes of the Charity Commissioners 



1862 and 1875. The property originally consisted 



of about 19a. of land in Thundridgc and 4 a. zt. of 

 land in Much Mundcn. The land at Thundridge 

 was exchanged under the Act of 1 fit 2 George IV for 

 25 a. 1 r. 37 p. of land situate near Nobland Green. 

 The rcil estate has been sold from time to time, and 

 the trust fund now consists of £1,126 9/. <)J. con sol t 

 with the official trustees, producing £$$ $s. yearly. 



The charily of an unknown donor, which is 

 regulated by a scheme of the Charity Commiisioners 

 14 December 1909, consists of an annu.il rent-charge 

 of 40/. issuing out of the Youngjhury estate. 



The income of these two charities was applied in 

 1909 as to £21 icy. in clothing tickets to about 

 forty-eight families, £18 in bread lickeis to fifty 

 families, .£5 to parish nurse, and £t) 101. in scholar- 

 ships and assistance to children leaving school. 



In 1908 Miss Katharine Jane Green, by her 

 will proved at London 24 November, gave £\0 

 consols, the interest to be applied in coals to be 

 given at Christmas, and equally divided between the 

 six oldest poor women, cither widows or spinsters. 

 The stock is held by the official trustees. 



WARE 1 



»)■ 



.(» 



1.) 1 Win. (xi 



at.) ; W.rre (*iii 



large parish now divided into the civil 

 parishes o! Ware Urban and Ware Rural, the la.ter 

 including an area of about 4,208 acres, of which 31 

 acres are water, whilst Ware Urban comprises the 

 town of Ware and has an area of 628 acres, of which 

 16 are water. Thus the town occupies but a small 

 part of the ancient parish, being surrounded by open 

 country, but the population is almost entirely massed 

 in the town, except for that part of it scattered in the 

 hamlets of Widbury, a mile to the east, Fanhams Hall, 

 a mile north-east, and Wareside, 2 miles north-east. 

 An inclosure award for Ware Marsh was made in 

 j86i and one for Ware Wengeo Common in 1854 s 



The parish is intersected by the main road from 

 London to Cambridge through Buntmgford and 

 Royston, from which the Watton road branches oft" 

 immediately to the west or the town, whilst the road 

 to Hertford forms the boundary for a little way on the 

 south. The Broxbourne and Hertford branch of the 

 Great Eastern railway has a station in the to , n, and 

 at Mardocks is a station on the Buntmgford branch of 

 the same line. On the west the parish is bounded by 

 the River Rib, which joins the Lea at a point on the 

 south-west of the parish near Ware Park Mill. 



The River Lea, which joins the Thames at 

 Blackwall about 20 miles distant, has always played 

 an important part in the history of Ware. It has 

 long formed the principal means of communica- 

 tion between the eastern side of Hertfordshire and 

 London, and it was therefore of great importance for 

 the carriage of corn and other commodities to the 

 capital. The efforts of Hertford to preserve the 



monopoly of this trade and of Ware to secure it 

 caused an acute rivalry between the two towns. 

 Disputes constantly arose with regard to obstructions 

 in the river at Ware, made in order to block the 

 pissagc of the Hertford ships. In 127J the lord of 

 the manor prevented ships from passing up and down 

 by the erection of a weir between Ware and Hertford,* 

 and in 1 300 a commission was appointed for removing 

 obstructions caused by mariners and boatmen placing 

 their vessels across it. 1 Obstruction to navigation was 

 frequently caused by the weirs, mills, pools, stakes and 

 kiddles erctted in the river, and after the statute of 

 25 Edward III commissions were periodically issued 

 for the removal of all those erected later than the reign 

 of Edward I and for preventing tolls beingtaken from 

 the boats at these weirs, &c. 6 In 1439 the river 

 seems to have been completely stopped up by these 



Efforts to improve the navigation of the river were 

 made in the 1 6th century and later. An Act of 

 Parliament was passed in I 571 for bringing the Lea 

 (or Ware) River to the north of London by mean; of 

 a new cut to be made by the City. This wa; to 

 serve for barges and other boats carrying corn, victuals 

 and articles of merchandise between Ware and London 

 and also for ' tytlebotes ' and wherries carrying pas- 

 sengers. The part of the river between Ware and 

 this new cut was to be cleansed and made deep 

 enough for the passage of barges. 7 In 1739 an Act 

 was passed for improving the navigation from Hertford 

 to Ware and from Ware to the new cut," and a further 

 Act, pa;scd in 17G7, for improving the navigation 

 from Hertford to the Thames empowered the trustees 

 to make new cuts between Hertford and Ware at 



