HERTFORD HUNDRED 



Al Amwell Magna Cottage there is let into the 

 wall a triangular panel bearing the date 1606 and 

 surmounted by a crown and thistle and the letters 

 I R 6. A. R., the initials of James I and his queen, 

 Anne of Denmark, and the king's favourite motto 

 Bead tacljul This stone was formerly above the 

 central arch of Netherbow Port, Edinburgh,' 8 and 

 was placed in its present position by Mr. Robert 

 William Mylne, F.R.S., of the Home Lodge, architect 

 and antiquary. The latter's grandfather, Robert 

 Mylne, F.R.S., architect to the Dean and Chapter 

 of St. 'Paul's Cathedral (where he is buried), and 

 designer of the bridge at Blackfriars opened in 1 769, 

 settled in Amwell about 1770. He was engineer to 

 the New River Company for forty years, and was 

 succeeded by his son, William Chadwell Mylne of 

 Amwell, who also was engineer to the company, and 

 effected the alterations in the works of the New River 

 Companyafter the Metropolis Waterworks Act, 1851." 



Immediately below the village is ' Emma's Well,' 

 a spring utilized by Sir Hugh Myddelton as one of 

 the sources of the New River. It is said to have 

 been named after Emma wife of Cnut.*° It seems 

 to have been called 'Amwell Well' in the i+th 

 century." On an island in the New River is a stone 

 bearing a legend to this spring. On another island 

 is a monument to Sir Hugh Myddelton. Beyond 

 the river the Hertford branch of the Great Eastern 

 railway traverses the parish. The River Lea, which 

 forms the eastern boundary, was doubtless the 

 mediaeval route from Amwell to London. There 

 is record of the swamping of a boat on the way 

 to Westminster about 1289." The Lea evidently 

 served also to turn the manorial mill which existed 

 in 1086." It was damaged by the erection of a 

 new sluice by the Abbot of Waltham in iz8i," and 

 was still in need of repair in 1289." 



Amwell Bury lies to the north-west of the village. 

 Between Amwell Bury and Ware is Presdales, 1 " a 

 modern house, the residence of Mr. A. G. Sande- 

 man, j.P. 



Hailey is a hamlet in the south of the parish sepa- 

 rated from Amwell village by Goldings Wood and 

 the parish of Stanstead St. Margaret's. Hailey Ha.'l, 

 on the main road from Hoddesdon to Ware, is a 

 modernized house with a homestead moat. Near it 

 are brick-works, and the clay on the opposite side 

 of the road is still worked. The hamlet includes 

 Haileybury College, which stands on high ground 

 near the beautiful woodland of Hertford Heath. 

 The heath is crossed by Ermine Street. The college 

 was opened in 1809 for the training of civil servants 

 of the East India Company." After the abolition 

 of the company the building was temporarily used 

 as a barracks for its army. In i86z the college 

 was converted into a public school. !B It is built in 



GREAT AMWELL 



the classical style after the designs of Mr. William 

 Wilkins, architect of the National Gallery. The 

 buildings, which are of brick with stone dressings, 

 surround a large quadrangle, having the chapel, library 

 and head master's house on the south.. The chapel, 

 which was completed in 1877, occupies the centre 

 of this range. The chancel is on the north, projecting 

 into the quadrangle, and is surmounted by a lofty 

 octagonal dome. The southern portion of the chapel 

 is contained within the walls of the older buildings. 

 To the east is the library, a plain, well-proportioned 

 room, which formed the original chapel. The south 

 front of this range, facing on the terrace, forms the 

 principal elevation of the college, and, seen from 

 Hailey Lane, presents an imposing appearance. The 

 centre is marked by a hcxastjle portico of the Ionic 

 order, above which rises the chapel dome, and near 

 either end of the elevation arc tetrastyle porticoes of 

 the same order. The original perspective drawings 

 for the terrace front, both as first proposed and as 

 actually erected, are preserved in the library, having 

 recently come into the possession of the school authori. 

 ties. Among the many alterations and additions made 

 to the buildings since l86z the Bradby Hall, to 

 the east of the great quadrangle, designed by Mr. 

 Reginald Blomfield and erected in 1887, is the most 

 important from an architectural point of view. It 

 is a building of brick in the quasi-Jacobean style of 

 that period. In 1907 additional class rooms were 

 built on the west side of the quadrangle. Hailey 

 House, an 18th-century building of brick, is now 

 incorporated into the premises of the school. 



The southernmost point of the parish is the little 

 hamlet of Woolens bn.0;:, where there is a mission 

 church served from Great Amwell. The 15th- 

 century form of this name was ' Wowelond.' 



Before the Conquest AMWELL, 

 MANORS AMlf'ELLBURT or GREAT AM- 

 WELL was a. 'berewick' or outlying 

 estate attached with two others at Hertford and 

 Hoddesdon to Earl Harold's manor of Hatfield 

 Broadoak. 8 ' All three berewkks were evidently 

 included in the 14J hides at Amwell which consti- 

 tuted the holding of Ralf de Limesy in io86. 3 ° 

 This holding probably extended over what is now 

 Little Amwell, part of which with Ralf's lands in 

 Hertford formed the endowment of his priory at 

 Hertford. 31 Ralf's holding at Hoddesdon was pro- 

 bably identical with the manor of Geddings and 

 Other lands held of the manor of Great Amwell. 38 



About 1 1 30 Ralf de Limesy was succeeded in his 

 Hertfordshire lands by his son Alan." Gerard son 

 of Alan owed scutage for lands in Hertfordshire in 

 ii6l. si His widow Amice had two sons living in 

 I185.' 5 The elder was John de Limesy. 36 Either 

 this John or one of his predecessors seems to have 



18 In the 



This stone 





u now in Greyfriars churchya 

 burgh (inform, kindly supplii 

 Rev. R. S. Mylne, F.S.A.). 



19 Ditl. Nat. Bag. ; inform, kindly sup- 

 plied byfheRey. R. S. Mylne. 



» Eat Herts. An h. See. Trans. u 33. 



" Add. R. 26827. ,! Ibid. 



a r.C.H. Httn.i, 32;. 



M Cal. Clou, 1279-88, p . ij 2; Qui. 

 Put. 1381-92, p. 103. 



"Add. R. 26828. 

 M There h menti. 



M.mo:-, 1289-90 (Ad 



* F.C.H. Hera, ii, 97-9. 

 39 r.C.H. Essex, i, + 29/ 



Hertford 'berewick' war 



in which was built the ! 



ford (see the account of tl 

 30 F.C.H. Hens, i, 325* 



V.C.H. Essex, i, 338. 



11 See under 



'!,!<:, M:,-. 



', 1°< 



415 



