BRAUGHING HUNDRED 



forms the parish boundary. Both these lanes are 

 probably ancient trackways. Another old by-road 

 called Crackney Lane or Watery Lane (also ancient,, 

 as it forms the parish boundary) ran south from Barrow 

 Farm, passed Crackney Wood, and ran through the 

 south-east corner of the Blakesware estate. This was 

 closed by order of Quarter Sessions in 1878, when a 

 new by-road was made from Widiord station. At the 

 same time part of the old mam road from Ware to 

 Widford was closed, which to the east of Scholars 

 Hill followed a line to the north of the present road. 

 This was made when the new house at Blakesware 

 was built. The old road joined the present main 

 road a little to the west of Widford station. 41 



The village is situated along the road to Hunsdon 

 on the high ground to the south of the river. The 

 church of St. John the Baptist and Widford Bury 

 (now a farm) lie further down the hill a little to the 

 west. The rectory is close by the church. At the 

 top of the road leading from the church to the 

 village is Walnut Tree House, the residence of 

 Mr. G. S. Pawle, J.P. The viUage is built in a 

 straggling way along the main road. There are a 

 good many new cottages and several inns. At the 

 north end of the main street is a smithy. The 

 public elementary school was built in 1875. Con- 

 siderably to the south of the village, in the main 

 road, is a Congregational chapel, built in 1 898. 

 Bourne House, to the north of the village, is the 

 residence of Mr. G. M. Horsey. 



The churchyard at Widford is the burial-place of 

 Mary Field, grandmother of Charles Lamb and 

 subject of his poem 'The Grandame.' She was 

 housekeeper at Blakesware, which adjoins Widford 

 on the north-west. The tombstone records her 

 death in 1792. Mrs. Elizabeth Norris, widow of 

 Lamb's friend Randal Norris of the Inner Temple, 

 her son Richard and her daughter Elizabeth, widow 

 of Charles Tween, were also buried here. The 

 original of Lamb's ' Rosamund Gray ' is said to 

 have been a native of Widford. 5 John Eliot, the 

 ' Indian Apostle,' was baptized at Widford in 1 604 ; 

 his father was Bennett Eliot, a yeoman and land- 

 owner in the neighbourhood. The version of the 

 Bible in the language of the Massachusetts Indians 

 made by Eliot was printed in 1661 by Samuel Green, 

 successor of Stephen Daye, the first American printer, 

 and is therefore of typographical as well as philological 

 interest. 



Before the Conquest WIDFORD was 

 MANOR held by Edred, a thegn of King Edward. 

 It was the land of the Bishop of London 

 in 1086, when it was assessed at 3 hides, 2 

 of which were in demesne. There were two 

 ploughs on the demesne and three others on the 



WIDFORD 



manor. There was meadow for two plough teams, 

 woodland for fifty swine B and a mill. 7 Another 

 hide was held of the Bishop of London by a certain 

 Tedbert, the successor of Alward, who had held of 

 Archbishop Stigand in the time of King Edward." 

 These are the only entries given in the Domesday 

 Survey, but whether they refer to the land which 

 was afterwards given to the abbey of Bcrmondsey by 

 Ivo de Grentmcsnil is not clear. It has been 

 suggested that the ' Wadford ' which was given in ex- 

 change by Hugh de Witvile to Hugh de Grentmesnil 

 for five houses in the city of Leicester 9 is Widford 

 in Hertfordshire. 10 Widiord, however, does not seem 

 to be elsewhere spelt Wadford L1 ; also there is no hint 

 of such a transaction in the Survey under Hertford- 

 shire, and there is nothing to account for the dis- 

 appearance of the Bishop of London's estate. But 

 the manor seems to have been acquired in some 

 way by Ivo de Grentmesnil, son of Hugh, and to 

 have been given by him to Bermondsey in exchange 

 for ' Andretesbury.' 12 It was confirmed in 1 1 18 by 

 Robert Earl of Leicester, to whom part of the Grent- 

 mesnil estates were pledged.' 3 



The manor remained with Bcrmondsey until the 

 Dissolution. The prior and convent had view of 

 frankpledge there, assize of bread and ale, infangen- 

 theof, quittance of shires and hundreds, sheriffs tourns 

 and sheriff's aids. 14 It was one of the estates of which 

 the notorious Adam de Stratton obtained a grant 

 from the convent in the reign of Edward I. He 

 was evicted in 1277 because he had no royal con- 

 firmation of this grant, 15 but the next year he again 

 obtained possession, this time to hold at a rent of 

 id., whilst he quitclaimed to the prior a rent of 

 £ loo in which the prior was bound to him. 16 

 Ultimately he was convicted for forging charters 

 which would give him the fee simple of the lands he 

 held in fee farm of the priory. 17 Widford then 

 came to the Crown and was granted back to 

 Bermondsey, with a rebuke for having 'indiscreetly 

 and improvidently ' leased it to Stratton. 18 In 1 3 1 7 

 the manor was leased to Geoffrey de Stokes and his 

 wife Alice for their lives at a rent of i% marks. 19 

 The convent was heavily in debt about twenty 

 years later to William de Cusancia, keeper of the 

 king's wardrobe, and obtained licence to lease the 

 manor again for a sum to be paid in advance or at a 

 yearly farm, in order to relieve their estate. 20 It 

 was accordingly leased in 1342 to Richard de 

 Wylughby and his wife Joan for their lives. 21 The 

 monastery surrendered in January 1 537—8. The 

 extent of the manor as given in the Valor of I 535 

 included 32 acres of wood. 22 



In 1544 the king granted Widford to Sir Richard 

 Southwell 23 of Horsham St. Faith, co. Norfolk/ 4 one 



403 



