BRAUGHING HUNDRED 



second baronet, was also buried there in 1694. e3 

 Several of the incumbents of Ware have been men 

 of some note. Charles Chauncy (1592-1672), a dis- 

 tinguished Orieatal and classical scholar and professor 

 of Greek at Trinity College, Cambridge, was presented 

 to the vicarage in 1627. As an opponent of Laud, 

 he was accused of making a schism in Ware and was 

 imprisoned by the high commission in 1634. ** He 

 submitted, but afterwards wrote a retractation before 

 sailing for America in 1637. During the Common- 

 wealth he was invited home by his old parishioners at 

 Ware, but was persuaded by the overseers of Harvard 

 College to become their second president, a post which 

 he held until 1672. He was married at Ware to 

 Catherine Eyre in 1630, and his eldest son Isaac, 

 afterwards a Nonconformist minister, was baptized 

 there in 1632. 8S William Webster, a voluminous 

 writer, was instituted to the vicarage in 1740, and 

 held the living until his death in I758. S6 Another 

 Greek professor at Cambridge, Thomas Francklin, 

 became vicar in 1759- He was a popular preacher, 

 and in T 767 was made a royal chaplain. He was 

 also a friend of Dr. Johnson and Sir Joshua Reynolds, 

 and through their influence was made chaplain to 

 the Royal Academy. He vacated Ware on being 

 appointed rector of Brasted in 1777. 8; Joseph W. 

 Elakesley, a distinguished scholar and tutor at Trinity 

 College, Cambridge, was vicar from 1845 to 1872. 

 He was well known as the ' Hertfordshire Incumbent ' 

 from his letters to the Times on social and political 

 subjects; he was appointed Dean of Lincoln in 1872. 

 John Trusler (173J-1820), a man of most eccentric 

 genius, was curate at Ware in the early part of his life. 

 Among many wild schemes projected by him was one 

 of sending circulars to every parish in England and 

 Ireland proposing to print in script type 150 sermons 

 at the price of is. each, in order to save the clergy 

 both study and the trouble of copying. This plan is 

 said to have met with considerable success. 83 From 

 1778-9 William Godwin, author of Political Justice, 

 was a minister at Ware. Alexander Cruden, compiler 

 of the famous Concordance, was a tutor there in his 

 youth. The antiquary John Nickolls, son of a Quaker 

 miller in the parish, was born at Ware in 1 710 or 

 171 1. He acquired the letters formerly in the 

 possession of John Milton, which he published as 

 Original letters and papers of state addressed to Oliver 

 Cromwell 1 649-5 8 ■ His collection of 2,000 prints of 

 heads at his house at Queenhithe, collected from the 

 bookstalls about Moorfields, furnished the material 

 for Joseph Ames's Catalogue of English Heads.** 



The hamlet of Wareside on the east of the parish, 

 which is served by Mardocks railway station, was 

 formed into a consolidated chapelry in i844, B0 the 

 church of Holy Trinity having been built in 1840. 

 The National infants' school was built in 1895 and 

 the mixed school in 1872. To the west of Wareside 

 is Reeves Green, to the north-east of it are two other 



WARE 



greens, Babb's Green and Helham Green, joined by 

 Hogtrough Lane, while to the north-west of it is 

 New-hall Green. Fanhams Hall on the main road 

 about half a mile west of Newhall Green is a brick 

 house covered with rough-cast with stone dressings. 

 The roofs are tiled. The principal rooms are panelled 

 and some of them have elaborate plaster ceilings. 90 " 

 From Newhall Green Long Lane runs south to Bulters 

 Green, passing Morlcy Ponds. Morley House, close 

 by, has a moat. There was also a moat (now not 

 much more than a vallum) at Prior's Wood Farm to 

 the west of Waters Place. 



At the time of the Domesday Survey 

 MANORS WARE was a large and important manor 

 rated at 24 hides and valued at £45, 

 whilst under King Edward it had been worth the 

 exceptionally large sum of £$0- n Before the Con- 

 quest it had been held by Anschil of Ware, and was 

 evidently his seat. 02 In 1086 it was held by Hugh 

 de Grcntmesnil, who probably acquired it in exchange 

 for land in Bedfordshire of Ralph Taillebois, 03 who 

 elsewhere appears as the grantee of Anschil's lands.' 4 

 At the time of the Survey there was land for thirty- 

 eight ploughs, meadow sufficient for twenty plough- 

 teams, woodland to feed 400 swine, two mills worth 

 24;. and 375 eels, an inclosure for beasts of the chase 

 and 4 arpents of vineyard newly planted." 5 The last 

 two appurtenances of the estate point to a residence 

 there of Hugh de Grentmesnil. 08 The chief estates 

 of this powerful lord were in Leicestershire, and 

 there is an early connexion between his family and 

 that of the Beamonts, Counts of Meulan and after- 

 wards Earls of Leicester. According to Ordericus 

 Vitalis, Ivo son of Hugh de Grentmesnil was one of 

 the four lords of the town of Leicester, and, being in 

 disgrace at court, he pledged his share (apparently 

 the largest one) to Robert Count of Meulan, who 

 about 1107 received a grant of the county of 

 Leicester and is generally considered the first Earl of 

 Leicester. According to the chronicler, Robert never 

 made any restoration to Ivo's son and heir. It is 

 possible that this son was Hugh de Grentmesnil, and 

 that he was the father of Parnel de Grentmesnil, who 

 in 1 168 married Robert Earl of Leicester, grandson 

 of the above-mentioned Robert, who thus acquired 

 the vast estates of the Grentmcsnils, 3 ' and among 

 them the manor of Ware. 93 



Earl Robert, Steward of England, died on a voyage 

 to Jerusalem in 1 190, when he was succeeded by his 

 second son Robert, called Fitz Parnel, who in 1 199 

 received the grant of a weekly market on Tuesdays at 

 Ware." This grant was made shortly after he had acted 

 as steward at the coronation of King John. He died 

 without issue in 1 204 ; his mother, Parnel Countess of 

 Leicester, survived him, and apparently held the manor 

 of Ware in dower, for in 1207 the king granted her 

 avalagium et karktam batelbrum and a market and bridge 

 at Ware for her life as Earl Roger had them. 100 Parnel 



83 Ntta Gen., &c, of the Famhaw 

 family, Did. Nat. Bicg. 



81 Diet. Nat. Bhg. i see Cat. S. P. Do:*. 

 [629-31 ; 1634.-5, 



85 Diet. Nat. £ 



K Ibid. 



BS Ibid, 



■ ibid, 



■* i:v' 



W W, Gas. 30 Apr. 184 

 Ma See Archil. Rev. Dec 

 105-Dec. 1905, p. 242). 

 91 KC.II. He,!., i, :2ftA. 



92 Ibid. 326*, ^83. 



93 On the fief of Hugh de Beauchamp 

 (the successor of Ralf Taillebois) in Bed- 

 fordshire were several estates 'held in 

 exchange for Ware" {I'.C.H. Herts, i 

 283). 



" Anschil ia probably identical will 

 Aschil, a thegn of King Edward, whr 

 held Stotfold and who wai succeeds 

 there by Ralf Taillebois (ibid.). 



94 V.C.H. Herts, i, iz6A. 



» Ibid. 283. 



« G.E.C. Peerage, s.v. Leicester. 



93 The n.anor was in the king's hi 

 by forfeiture of file Earl of Leicester 

 1173, when the sheriff accounted 

 £19 ;j. spent in stocking it {Pip, 

 If, Hen. II T Pipe R. Soc. ], 2o). 



" 9 Cat. Rot. Chart. 1199-1216 (R 



foi 



'« Rot. Lit. Pat 



38s 



-!6(R«.C.m.), 

 49 



