HERTFORD HUNDRED 



BENGEO 



i ;45 j it is a palimpsest and on the back are parts of 

 a shrouded figure ; the second has also a figure of a 

 knight in armour, without inscription, but possibly 

 representing John Knighton, who died in 1586 ; the 

 third is a shield of arras : barry of eight, on a canton 

 a tun, for Knighton, impaling quarterly (1) and {4) 

 on a pale a conger's head, for Gascoigne, (2) and {3) 

 three picks, for Pickett or Pigott. Hanging on a 

 bracket close by is part of the brass of a lady, said 

 to be the wife of Thomas Knighton above mentioned ; 

 this brass and the shield are also palimpsests, and 

 have both been cut from a Flemish brass of an 

 ecclesiastic. 



The octagonal font is of late 15th-century date ; 

 the panelled sides of the bowl are ornamented with 

 Tudor roses, the base is moulded. 

 ' The two bells are modern. 



The communion plate consists of chalice, 1869, 

 paten, 1871, and flagon, 1869. 



The registers before 1 8 1 2 are as follows : (i) all 

 entries 1538 to I 7 1 3 ; (ii) baptisms and burials 1713 

 to 1775, marriages 1713 to 1754; (iii) baptisms 

 and burials 1775 to 1 8 1 a ; (iv) marriages 1755 to 

 1812. 



Bayford Church, which is men- 

 ADFOWSON tioned as early as 1222," was a 

 chapelry pertaining to the rectory of 

 Essendon 80 until 1867, and the advowson therefore 

 followed that of Essendon B1 (q.v.). In 1867 it was 

 made a vicarage in the presentation of the lord of 

 the manor, and was endowed out of the Common 

 Fund." 



In 1366 the people of Bayford appealed for right 

 of sepulture at their own chapel, owing to the in- 

 convenience of having to go to Essendon. They 

 stated that the distance between their chapel and 

 Essendon Church was about 3 miles and that the 

 vill of Little Berkhampstead lay between them. The 

 bodies had to be carried past a water-mill on a stream 

 of which one bank was in the demesne of Berk- 

 hampstead and the other in Essendon, wherefore 

 'the carts going with bodies are often brought to 



nd the people attending annoyed 

 passing through Berkhamp- 



grief in the r 

 with attachments 

 stead.' M 



In 1503 the church had an image of St. Nicholas, 

 for the mending of which Robert Markham left 

 6s. 8*'." 



In 1607 Sir George Knighton, 

 CHARITIES kt., by will gave 10/. yearly towards 

 the reparation of the chapel in Bay- 

 ford Church and lot. yearly for the poor. The 

 annuities were redeemed in 1863 by the transfer to 

 the official trustees of £33 6s. 8d. consols, who also 

 hold a further sum of £30 161. 3^. consols, arising 

 from accumulations of income. The dividends on 

 the stock, amounting to £1 12/. yearly, are dis- 

 tributed to the poor periodically." 



In 1840 Edward Jones, by his will, bequeathed a 

 legacy, now £459 3*. 8^. consols, the annual divi- 

 dends, amounting to £11 9/. 4^., to be applied in 

 keeping in repair the family vault, and the residue to 

 be distributed triennially among male labourers, being 

 housekeepers and over twenty-five years of age, not 

 having received parish relief. In 1907 a sum of 

 £29 is. was divided among twelve labourers. 



In 1853 William Yarrell, by will, bequeathed 

 £500 consols, the annual dividends, amounting to 

 .£12 IO/., to be applied, subject to the repair of the 

 family vault, for the benefit of the poor. In 1908 

 twenty-two persons received sums of js. 6d. or to/. 



The sums of stock are held by the official trustees. 



The Baker Foundation, under the will of Miss 

 Charlotte Amelia Baker, proved 8 February 1836, 

 consists of £431 8/. C)d, Leicester Corporation 3 per 

 cent, stock, held by the official trustees, producing 

 £12 18;. \od. yearly. By a scheme of the Board of 

 Education 13 December 1904 the income, wholly 

 or in part, is made applicable for the benefit of any 

 public elementary school in the parish, and the 

 residue (if any) in maintenance of exhibitions at a 

 secondary school or institution of technical or in- 

 dustrial instruction. 



BENGEO 



Belingehou (xi cent.) ; Beneggho, Beningho (xiii 

 cent.) ; Bengeho (xv cent.) ; Benjow (xvi cent.). 



The parish of Bengeo lies north of Hertford and 

 west of the parish of Ware, from which it is sepa- 

 rated by the River Rib. Under the provisions of 

 the Local Government Act of 1 894 the old parish 

 of Bengeo was divided into two parts. The northern 

 or rural parish has an area of s,778Jacres, consisting 

 mainly of arable land, which forms about two-thirds 

 of the whole area, and a few scattered woods. The 

 greater part of the parish has an elevation of over 

 ioo ft., but there is lower-lying land in the eastern 

 part near the River Rib which is liable to flood. 

 The soil is gravel, the subsoil clay, and the chief 

 crops are wheat, barley and turnips. The district is 



thinly populated, the popular 

 for the most part in the h, 

 Chapmore End. A road 

 through the parish, dividing 

 one branch leading north-east 

 Ware to Stevenage, which also 

 the other branch continues in 

 The southern or urban parii 

 on the east by the River Beai 

 275 acres and lies on either 

 Hertford, of which borough 

 church of St. Leonard stands 

 of Bengeo urban parish near 

 Beane with the Lea ; near 

 the old manor-house, and thei 



.ted 

 mlets of Tonwell and 

 from Hertford passes 

 ; into two branches ; 

 crosses the road from 

 passes through Bengeo, 

 a northerly direction. 

 h of Bengeo is bounded 



It has 



3 of 



de of the road from 

 it forms part. The 



the junction of the 

 it is Bengeo Hall, 

 position suggests that 



"Cal.Pat. 1116-25, p. 328. 



80 The church served by 1 



mentioned among the tenant 



.f the 

 >d in that 

 iprised by 



81 Cal Pat. 1216-25, p. 228; Bac 

 Liber Regis, ;i8. 



& Load. Gas. Index, 118; Cueas 

 op. cit. Hirrfor d Hund. 152. 



88 Line. Epis. Reg. Mem. Bp. Bucki 



"P.C.C. 13 Holgrave. 

 86 Sir George Knighton also charged hie 

 capital messuage in Bayford with the 



which, however, nothing is known in the 



