A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



Northaw on the south. The village smithy, the 

 school, the vicarage and the Manor House lie close 

 together at the junction of this road with Stocking 

 Lane, which is an old road running north-west and 

 south-east through the parish. Opposite the school 

 is a large pond. Most of the cot. ages here are of 

 brick and date from the i 8th and early 1 9th centuries. 

 The cottage now used as the post-office appears to 

 date from the first half of the 17th century. It is of 

 brick, two stories in height, with diagonal brick 

 chimney-shafts, and is now weather-boarded. The 

 church stands in an isolated position about a quarter 

 of a mile north-west of the village. South of the 

 village a road branches off westwards to Little Berk- 

 hampstead, and still further south another turns east 

 to Broxbourne, passing Ashendens, the residence of 

 the Rev. Charles Edward Hornby, M.A., J.P. 

 Bayford Hall, a short distance north-west of the 

 church, is the residence of Admiral Alexander 

 Plantagenet Hastings, C.B., J. P., and the Misses 

 Randolph reside at Bayford House at the south end 

 of the village. Mr. Leonard Marlborough Powell 

 reside; at Bayford Grange and Mrs. Cuninghame 

 at the Warren, The Manor House, near the vicarage, 

 is the seat of Mrs. Barclay. It was originally built in 

 the 1 7th century, but received many additions and 

 alterations in the 19th century. The original stair- 

 case and some 17th-century panelling still remain. 



The nearest railway station is Hertingfordbury, 

 about 2 miles north of the village. 



The subsoil of the parish in the north is chalk. A 

 belt of Woolwich and Reading Beds runs across the 

 centre and the subsoil in the south is London Clay. 



Place-names that occur in Bayford in the 15th 

 century are : Lindhawes (now How Clay pits Farm), 

 Westhalegrove, Stroutershacche, Smoggefeld, Wal- 

 bournes and Crosfeldes. In the middle of the I 8th 

 century the following are mentioned : Lobb's Pound, 

 Stockinmead, Boarded Bridge Pastures, Moon field, 

 Lay Breech, Dendrige Hill, Great and Little Chace, 

 Quaker's Mead, Little Brickhills, Sallinger's Wood, 

 Duricke Lane, Eldenburymore, Weepine Wood, 

 Abbs Close, Haddons Mead, Gidnes, Cramphome 

 Croft, Stangells, Sluttswell Field, Warborne Spring, 

 Black Fan Wood. 



The manor of BAYFORD was part of 

 MANOR the lands of the Saxon kings, and Edward 

 the Confessor held it in demesne on the 

 day he died. During the reign of Harold Bayford 

 was held by Earl Tosti or Tostig, his brother, but 

 after the Conquest it again formed part of the royal 

 demesne, and in 1086 was held by King William, 

 It was then assessed at 10 hides,* but this assessment 

 probably included Essendon. J William I granted the 

 manor to Peter de Valognes, Sheriff of Hertfordshire/ 



and it was afterwards granted to his son Roger in 

 1141 by the Empress Maud to hold to him and hii 

 heirs.' After the death of Roger de Valognes, how- 

 ever, Bayford seems to have returned to the Crown, 

 for Henry de Essex paid y6j. \d. as the farm of 

 Bayford for half a year in 11 54-5.* Towards the 

 end of the 1 zth century the recognized farm of the 

 manors of Bayford and Essendon was £20 annually. 

 Richard the Treasurer (Thesaurarius) returned half 

 this amount in 1 1 77, presumably for half a year, and 

 the whole £20 for some years after.' In 1 194 the 

 Bishop of London, Richard Fitz Neal, owed 100 

 marks for having the two manors, 'as he had pre- 

 viously had them,' for life. 8 At the death of the 

 bishop in 1 199 the payments of £20 were resumed 

 by William the Treasurer, who then paid for a 

 quarter-year. 3 In 1211 he was succeeded as farmer 

 by John Fitz Hugh, 10 who gave place to John de 

 Bassingburn in 1214," and paym 

 Falkes de Breaute from 121 8 to 

 de Argentein, sheriff of the county 

 1226." 



In 1228 the manor of Bayford 

 Raymond de Burgh," and in 1 230 

 Raymond paid no farm during the 

 it, but was pardoned the debt thus i 



In 1247 the king granted the keepership of the 

 manor to his half-brother William de Valence, and 

 in 1249 granted the manor itself to him for life, 

 with reversion to the Crown." William forfeited 

 his lands after the battle of Lewes in 1 164, but was 

 restored in 1266, after the defeat of the barons at 

 Evesham,' 8 and held Bayford until his death in June 

 1 296," after which in I 297 the issues of the manor 

 were granted to Philip de Wiloughby, Dean of 

 Lincoln, for the remainder of that year and the 

 whole of the next. 1 " A little 

 later Edward I granted the 

 manor for life to his second 

 queen, Margaret of France," 

 whom he married in 1299 ; 

 she held it until her death in 

 1318," after which it was 

 held for life by Isabella, queen 

 of Edward II,™ who survived 

 her husband for some years. 

 In 1360 Bayford was granted 

 by Edward III to John of 

 Gaunt, then Earl of Rich- 

 mond, 21 'and his heirs male, 

 and it was confirmed to him 

 in 1376 under his new title 

 of King of Castiie and Leon 

 and Duke of Lancaster.* 1 Will 

 appointed steward th 



OLD FRANCE quar- 



itrint hSGLANDwiih 

 lie different of a 1M 



i de Louthe was 

 1359," and remained 



