A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



.vcre summoned to meet the 

 'are in 1337 when war with 

 and Giles de Badlesmere and 

 o lay before them the decisions 

 ind the king's plans for defence. 63 

 Again, in 1339 the Sheriff of Wilts, was directed by 

 Richard II to go to Ware with sixty knights and 

 esquires and 100 archers to join the Duke of York, 

 Lieutenant of England, who was fighting for the 

 king. M The town was a rendezvous for the county 

 in 1569, when the sheriff and justices met there and 

 signed the articles for the uniformity of public 

 worship.* 5 James I came to the town for hawking 

 in [606, 60 and later paid it several visits on his way 

 to or from Theobalds. 67 Of more historical interest 

 is the rising of Willam Parr Marquess of Northamp- 

 ton (lord of the manor of Waters Place) in the reign 

 of Mary. He assembled 500 men there and pro- 

 claimed' Lady Jane Grey as Queen of England. He 

 w^s indicted at Ware, and afterwards sentenced to be 

 drawn from the Tower to Tyburn and there hanged 

 and quartered, but was ultimately pardoned by the 

 queen. M Here too in 1647 Lilburne's mutinous 

 regiment defied the authority of Parliament, and was 

 only reduced by Cromwell and Fairfax seizing fourteen 

 of the mutineers, of whom one was executed. u9 In 

 the reign of Henry VIII Ware was made one of the 

 post towns,'" the postal arrangements being under 

 the control of the postmaster, supported by the 

 constables. 7 ' 



There is little of importance to record in the later 

 history of the town. Malt-making has always been 

 the principal industry, and Ware one of the chief 

 malt-producing towns in England. In 1788 a riot 

 was caused by the oppressive conduct of the excise 

 ■ : pie. ' 



nhabil: 



1 the collet 



lof r 



sed by 

 rought 



troops into the town and caused a number 

 to be arrested. A petition on behalf of the town was 

 made to Pitt by William Plumer and Lord Grimston, 

 which resulted in the Board of Excise being ordered 

 to remove the objectionable supervisor of excise and 

 the troops being recalled. The inhabitants were let 

 off with a warning to allow the revenue to be peace- 

 ably collected. It was then stated that there were 

 thirty-three mailings in the town, in which 1,370 

 quarters of malt were made every week, seventy men 

 being employed in them." At the present day many 

 of the mailings are disused owing to the depression 

 in the trade. Brewing and brick-making are carried 

 on in the parish ; the brickfields are to the west of 

 the town near the river. Messrs. Allen & Hanbury 

 have a chemical manufactory close by Ware Lock. 

 The market is now no longer held. About forty 



63 Co/. Poi- 1334-8, p. 5°4- 



" Ibid, i+oi-5, p. St. 



65 Cat. S. P. Dam. 1547-80, p. 351. 



K Ibid. 1603-10, p. 329. 



6? Ibid. p. 506 ; Nichols, Prog, of las. I, 

 iii, 493 ; MSS. of Lord Montagu of Beau- 

 lieu (Hist. MSS.'Com.), 96. 



ffl Warr. for Gt. Seal, Chan. Ser. bdle. 

 16, file 979. 



Sfffiu. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, App. 2ioa ■ 

 F.C.B. Hlrts. ii, Jl. See A remonstrance 

 from hit Excellency Sir Thwm Fairfax and 

 his council of Warn, 1647. 



s ago an attempt was made to establish a corn 

 ket {as successor to one which had been held at 

 had been discontinued owing to the market 

 was built for » corn exchange. 

 :vcr, ;ind the house is now 

 Fairs held under the charter 



at Hertford), and a hot 

 The project failed, hi 

 used as the town halt. 



made to Robert d> 

 still kept. 



In the 1 

 Berry Close, 



Quincy in 1254 (sc 



ma 



jt) are 



itury the field called Bury Field o 



by the i 

 if Ware as a shooting ground and any 

 'musterynge or trayninge of the country' generally 

 took place there. 75 



The highways of the parish were under the 

 control of three surveyors, two for the town (Ware 

 Infra) and one for the upland (Ware Extra). The 

 upland surveyor was responsible for the repair of 3 

 miles of highway from Ware Town's End to Widfbrd 

 Mill 74 and other cross roads, and the town surveyors 

 for the highways leading to Wadesmill and West mill. 

 Great difficulty was experienced by these surveyors 

 from the refusal of the inhabitants to do their share 

 in mending the roads. 76 The road from Ware to 

 London was proverbially bad, 7u owing to the clay soil 

 and to the heavy loads of malt carried along it. In 

 1 631 the justicesofthe peace for Hertfordshire reported 

 that the repair of the highway would be of little ujc 

 unless the king ordered that wagon< 

 and London should use carts with 



more than five hoi 

 should be brought c 

 between Michaelm 

 carried out, but tht 



twecn Royston 

 vheels and not 

 es with one cart, and that malt 

 1 horseback from Royston to W.ire 

 s and May. 77 This order was 

 maltsters did their best to evade 



Among the inhabitants of Ware may be men- 

 tioned William Warre, Guaro, or Varon, S.T.P. 

 (fl. c. 1 300), who was born in this parish, from which 

 he took his name. He spent most of his life in Paris, 

 where he is said to have taught Duns Scutus, who 

 mentions him twice in his works. 73 William Vallans, 

 poet and friend of Camden, was born in the 

 neighbourhood in 1578. His poem 'A Tale of Two 

 Swannes' (1590), one of the earliest examples of 

 blank verse outside the drama, is chiefly descriptive 

 of the towns of Hertfordshire. 80 The musician Simon 

 Ive was also bom at Ware, and baptized in the church 

 zo July 1660. 81 In the parish registers are many- 

 entries relating to the Fanshawe family, and the most 

 famous member of it, Sir Richard Fanshawe, diploma- 

 tist and author, is buried in St. Mary's chapel in Ware 

 Church, to which his body was removed by Lady 

 Fanshawe, who bought a site there for the purpose. 

 Lady Fanshawe, well known by her Memoir** was 

 buried beside her husband, and their son Richard, 



71 See Cal. S. P. Dam. 1581-90, p. 367; 



384 



