HERTFORD HUNDRED 



In February 1537-8, shortly after the dissolution 

 of Hertford Priory, Anthony Denny and his pro- 

 spective wife, Joan Champernown, obtained a grant of 

 the advowson and rectory of Amwell 19 ; they descended 

 with the manor of Great Amwell to Sir Anthony's 

 grandson Edward, who sold them in 1577 to [ohn 

 and Thomas Skinner. 80 They alienated them to 

 Isaac Woder of Gray's Inn, gentleman, in 1599." 

 In the same year he transferred the presentation for 

 one tarn to William Hutchinson, S.T.D.," and 

 apparently parted with the advowson and rectory 

 shortly afterwards, as in 1616 they were bequeathed 

 by Geoffrey Elwes, alderman of London, to his son 

 Silviu;," who died in 1638." The advowson and 

 rectory evidently passed to his executor, who was 

 his brother Jeremy." The batter's grandson Jeremy 

 Elwes of Throcking was presented to the living in 

 l683,and was succeeded by his brother Robert.' 5 The 

 advowson descended in the direct line of this family 

 until 1833," when Robert Cary Elwes of Great 

 Billing, great-grandson of the last-named Robert,* 8 

 sold it to the Rev. Mordaunt Barnard, from whom 

 it was purchased by William McNab." His only 

 daughter married the Rev. R. Parrott, who became 

 vicar in 1864. The advowson descended to their 

 daughter, Mrs. W. J. Harvey, wife of the present 

 vicar. The rectorial tithe was not included in the 

 sale to William McNab, and is at present vested in 

 trustees.' 



On the parish borders near the heath is a chapel 

 belonging to the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion, 

 built in 1900 in memory of Dr. Reynolds of Ches- 



BAVFORD 



hunt College. There were certificates for a Quaker 

 meeting-house in 1691, a meeting-place for Anabap- 

 tists in 1692, and for Primitive Methodists in 1850." 

 Tiie charities of this parish have 

 CHJRITIES been consolidated and are regulated 

 by a scheme of the Charity Com- 

 missioners 8 May 1908. They comprise the 

 charities of: 



1. William Purvey, founded by will proved 28 

 October 1617, consisting of a yearly rent-charge of 

 1 3/. 4,7., issuing out of an estate called Wormley Bury 

 at Wormley. 



2. William Hill, will (date unknown) referred to 

 in Parliamentary Returns of 1786 as a rent-charge of 

 zos. A sum of £i 6s., supposed to represent the 

 endowment, is paid in respect of two cottages in Ware 

 Valley in this parish. 



3. Sylvester {alias Silvius) Elwes, will proved 1639. 

 The endowment now consists of £797 js. $d. 

 consols, arising from the sale in 1870 of land 

 originally purchased with a legacy of £±0. 



4. Elizabeth Spranger, by deed 1 686, being a rent- 

 charge of 50;. out of HaileyHall Farm. 



5. William Plomer, will 1727, trust fund £3 10 p. 

 consols, arising from the sale in 1870 of land originally 

 purchased with a legacy of £30. 



The sums of stock are held by the official trustees, 

 producing £27 13/. 8^. yearly, the total income of 

 the charities amounting to £32 3/., which under the 

 scheme is applied for the benefit of the poor of the 

 ancient parish, mainly in the distribution of money 

 and coal. 



BAYFORD 



Begesford (xi cent.); Begeford, Beiford (xii cent.); 

 Beyford, Byfordberi (xiii cent.). 



The parish of Bayford has an area of 1,852 acres, 

 of which 398 acres are arable land, 1,028 acres per- 

 manent grass and 425 acres woods.' The parish in 

 the north, where it extends to the River Lea, stands 

 at about 140 ft. above the ordnance datum ; the 

 ground rises gradually in a southerly direction and 

 reaches a height of 402 ft. near Ashendene in the 

 extreme south of the parish. A small stream which 

 rises near Ashen Grove forms part of the eastern 

 boundary of the parish and flows through the grounds 

 of Bayfordbury into the Lea, which forms the northern 

 boundary. Another tributary of the Lea divides 

 Bayford on the west from Little Berkhampstead. 



Bayfordbury, the residence of Mr. H. W. C. 

 Baker, the lord of the manor, lies, with its park of 

 270 acres, in the north-east of the parish. The 

 house is three stories in height with a basement, 

 consisting, as originally designed in 1759, of a square 

 central block with isolated office wings on either side. 

 A view in the possession of the owner shows that the 

 walls were then faced with red brick. In the early 

 19th century the wings were connected with the 



main portion of the house by the erection of a large 

 room on the west for the reception of the portraits of 

 the Kit Cat Club, which had been moved here 

 from Barn Elms, and the corresponding library on the 

 east. At the same time the exterior of the whole 

 house was stuccoed. The chimney-pieces and door- 

 cases of the earlier date are excellent examples of the 

 mid-iSth-century style. The later additions are 

 well designed in the Greek manner of their period. 

 A number of fine cedars standing near the house 

 were planted in 1765. The celebrated collection 

 of portraits of thirty-nine members of the Kit Cat 

 Club, a political association numbering among its 

 members most of the Whig celebrities of the early 

 part of the 18th century, includes thoie of Addison, 

 Steele and Pope ; they are mostly by Kneller. 

 Sir William Baker married Mary daughter of Jacob 

 Tonson, who was nephew and heir of Jacob 

 Tonson, the secretary of the Kit Cat Club, and the 

 portraits came to his son William Baker in 1772 

 on the death of Richard Tonson, the last of the 

 Tonsons. la 



The village of Bayford lies on high ground on the 

 road leading to Hertingfordbury on the north and 



«X. and P. Htn. VIII, xiii (i), 384 



t. it) Eli 

 ;tofF. I 



ad. Epis 



crts. Mich. 4.1 &4iEliz. 

 Reg. Grind all, fol. 331*. 

 ;>. tit, Hertford Bund. 



KC.fi, Norrhana Familm, 6j. 



■■ Ibid. 



:. Bits. (P.R.O.). 

 » Ibid. ) Feet of F. Herta. Trio. 

 Geo. III. 



™ V.C.H. Nonhant, Famiiiii, So. 

 25 Cussans, op. cit. Hertford Hurtd. 1 



■■'< InlWr 



kindly supplied by the Rev. 



>m Bd. of Agric. (190;). 

 on Bayfordbury by J. J. 

 Herts. Arch. Soc' Treat. 



