HERTFORD HUNDRED 



Inn " Thomas Hobbes, possibly the son of the 

 last-named Thomas, settled the remainder of the 

 manor, failing his own children, 

 Martha Peyton. 



i those of his sister 

 He left an only daughter Susan, 



n at his death in February 163 1-2." 



She" married John Fiennes, second son of William 

 first Viscount Saye and Sele. 76 Upon his death in 

 1696 Amwell Manor passed to his son-in-law Thomas 

 Filmer of the Inner Temple, who had purchased 

 the reversion of it." He died in 1 70 1 and was 

 succeeded by his two daughters, Susan wife of Robert 

 Eddowes and Mary afterwards married to Edward 

 Trotman." They sold the Amwell estate to Thomas 

 Burford" and it descended to his brother John 

 Burford of King's College, Cambridge. 80 Upon his 

 death it was purchased by Bibye Lake of Edmonton, 

 whose only daughter and heir Anna Maria took it in 

 marriage to Colonel Charles Brown. 91 At his death 

 in 1836 it descended to his son Captain Henry 

 Brown, who had distinguished himself in the Penin- 

 sular War. 8 ' His widow, Mrs. Mary Anne Brown, 

 held it after his death, which took place in November 

 1873." It was inherited by Captain Brown's 

 only child, Mrs. Charrington, from whom the lord- 

 ship of the manor was purchased by the governors of 

 Haileybury College. 61 



A hall existed at Amwell in 1*89.^ It may have 

 been the 'capital messuage' with lands in 'Hallefeld' 

 held by Andrew de Godesfeld, one of the successors 

 of Stephen de Aldingbournc, in the latter half of the 

 14th century. 86 In 1 398 the 'house' had to be 

 repaired after a strong wind. 81 Sir Edward Denny's 

 desire to build at Amwell implies that there was 

 probably no considerable house there in 1 600. The 

 present Amwell Bury lies among woods about hall a 

 mile to the north-west of the village. It has a modern 

 pigeon-house, the walls of which evidently encase a 

 late 17th-century building. The house is now the 

 property of Mr. E. S. Hanbury of Poles. 



Henry III granted to the Abbot of Westminster 

 in Amwell all the extensive liberties which he possessed 

 in his other lands. " By virtue of this charter, and a 

 confirmation of it by Edward I, 98 the abbey had 

 return of writs, exemption from the sheriffs tourn, 

 view of frankpledge, amends of assize of bread and ale 

 and other royalties 81 within the 'liberty' of Amwell." 



GREAT AMWELL 



A striking result of the abbot's privileges was the 

 difficulty experienced by the tenants of the manor in 

 bringing pleas of land against their lord. Hence a 

 plea between Peter de Limesy and the abbot in 

 1313 became a test case as to the right of the sheriff 

 to enter a liberty in the case of default upon the 

 part of the officers of its lord. 9S 



There was a fishery in the mill-pond in I 289-90. ra 

 This was probably the fishery farmed by Ellen de 

 Limesy in 1398. 9 ' At the present day the subscrip- 

 tion waters of Amwell Magna Fishery, which have 

 been sold to the Metropolitan Water Board, are 

 among the best in the River Lea. 



In 1086 Geoffrey de Bech held z hides at 

 HAILEY (Hailet, xi cent. ; Heilet, xii cent. ; Heyle, 

 xiv cent. ; Heyleghe, xv cent.). They had formerly 

 been held by Wlwin, a man of Earl Harold," and 

 with the rest of Geoffrey's fief had subsequently been 

 in the hands of Ubert, the first Norman sheriff of the 

 county. w In 1086 the lord of the manor of Great 

 Amwell claimed woodland which Ilbert had attached 

 to this manor, and the canons of Waltham, probably 

 as lords of Brickendon, 3 ' also laid claim to woodland 

 in Hailey. 38 



Ralf the Butler (' Pincerna ') B9 appears to have suc- 

 ceeded Geoffrey de Bech in Hailey, Cockenhatch and 

 Bengeo. In the time of Henry I, Ralf sub-enfeoffed 

 Aubrey de Vere, possibly the father of the first Earl 

 of Oxford, who died in 1 141,™ of all the land which 

 had been held of him by Roger de Burun in Hailey, 

 Cockenhatch and Bengeo. 1 Robert de Burun, possibly 

 the son of Roger, was to recover the tenancy under 

 Aubrey de Vere upon payment of £32. s The 2 

 hides of Geoffrey de Bech and the land held under 

 Ralf the Butler in Hailey apparently included the 

 manor known later as Goldingtons in Thele. 5 Of 

 the interest of Ralf the Butler nothing further is 

 known, 4 but the successive Earls of Oxford retained 

 the overlordship of the manors of Revells Hall in 

 Bengeo and Goldingtons in Thele. s There was in 

 1700 no distinct manor of Hailey, 6 but a reputed 

 'manor' of Hailey was held with Goldingtons by 

 Sir Andrew Ogard, kt., in the 15th century 7 and 

 was acquired with that manor by William Frankland 

 in 1560.' It probably became absorbed in the 

 neighbouring manor of Goldingtons. 



"Feci of F. Herts. Hil. 4 las. I; 

 Trin. 5 Jas. I ; Recov. R. Trio. 5 jas. I, 

 m. Si; Add. Chart. 13582; Chauncy, 

 HU Antiq, of Htrts. 283. 



71 They were Robert, Edward and John 

 Peyton and Anns Lawrence j Chan. Inq. 

 jun. (Ser. 2), cccclxxdii, 85 ; rf. Recov. 



t their 



ight I 



! fron 



such 



C East, 2 

 " Chan. : 



*s- 



, m. 37. 

 , (Ser. 2), « 



Tr:n. 



76 G.E.C. Complete Peerage, vii, 69. 

 " Chauncy, Inc. cit. ; cf. Recov. R. 

 1. 21 Chas. II, m. 49. 



Tu!e-Jeeds quoted by Clutterbuck, 



aniAniiq. of Hera, ii, n. 



Feet of F. Herts. Hil. ; Geo. I. 



Clutterbuck, loc. ' 



91 Cuss 



ns,op. cit. Hertford Hund. 123; 



ov. R. Mich. 23 Geo. Ill, n_ „, . 

 Feet of F. Herts. East. 4a Geo. Ill ; 

 Mich. 54 Ceo. III. 



''Cussans, loc. cit.; cf. Recov. R. 

 Mich. 54 Geo. Ill, m. 195. 



93 Cussans, loc. cit. 



84 Inform, kindly supplied by the Rev. 

 R. S. Mylne, F.S.A. 



+'7 



powerful r 

 Oxford. But about 1314 a quarter-fee 

 in Hailey was said to be held of Alan la 

 Zouche, lord of Ware, by the Abbot of 

 Westminster {Cat. Inq, p.m. r-9 Ed-IB. II, 

 253), and a quarter-fee was also held of 

 him in Bengeo by (he Earls if Oxford, and 

 the manor of Chelsin Temple there by 

 the fought) Templars. It is possible that 

 the interest of Ralf the Butler was subse- 

 quently acquired by the Earls of Leicester 

 (lords of Ware), in whose family Ralf 

 the Butler of Ovcrsiry and his descend- 

 ants held office. In this case the jurors, 

 who returned the Abbot of Westminster 

 as tenant of the quarter-fee, had possibly 

 failed to distinguish between the two 

 holdings in Hailey. 



6 Feud. Aid:, ii, 4 3 3 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 

 (Ser. *), cccclxxiii, 15. 



6 Chauncy, op. cit. 283. 



7 Chan. Inq. p.m. printed by Cussans, 

 o P . cit. Hertford Hund. 1 35; cf. Chart. R. 

 21-+ Hen. VI, no. 44. 



<• Feet of F. Herts. East. 1 Etiz. 



S3 



