A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



ws 



Sha 



ju: 



of 



the 



Argent 



-rbert Mayo. 



Rev. 



nds of the 



manors and estate were to 

 come, after the deaths of his 

 widow, Anne Shaw, and his 

 two sisters, to the Rev. Charles 

 Mayo, grandson of Rebecca 

 daughter of Sir John Shaw 

 and hi> second wife. Charles 

 Mayo, who had previously 

 been a lessee of the estate, 

 succeeded to the property in 

 1 824, and when he died with- 

 out issue in 1858 he was suc- 

 ceeded by his nephew Willian 



the death of the latter in 1 888 the estate passed to 

 his nephew, the Rev. Herbert Harman Map 

 dying in 1 900 was succeeded by his son t 

 Charles Edward Mayo." 



In 1 240 Henry III granted thi 

 canons of Cathal to the nuns of Chchunt,' 6 which 

 lands became known as the manor of CHESHUNT 

 XUXXERr. In 1352 Edward 111 granted the 

 nuns exemption from paiment of tenths, fifteenths, 

 aids and tallages," and in 1358 free warren in all 

 their lands of Cheshunt," a grant which was con- 

 firmed by Richard II and Henry VI." In 1536 

 the site of Cheshunt Nunnery, or the priory of the 

 nuns of St. Mary de Swetmannescroite, was granted 

 to Sir Anthony Denny. 30 The latter was succeeded 

 by his eldest son Henry Denny, who in 1564 sold 

 the c-tate to Richard Springham, Anthony Throck- 

 morton and Richard Davys. In 1 590, however, 

 Edward Denny, younger brother of Henry, bought 

 back the estate, which he sold in 1 592 to Sir William 

 Cecil." Cheshunt Nunnery then probably followed 

 the descent of Theobalds until in 1608 it was leased 

 by the Crown to Thomas Dewhurst for thirty-one 

 years.** In 1614 it was granted to Robert Dewhurst, * 

 who settled the estate upon his great-nephew Robert 

 Gill. On the death of the latter it came to his 

 brother William Gill, who in 1675 convejed it to 

 Mark Mortimer, by whom it «as sold in 1713 to 

 Samuel Benson. The latter conveyed it in 1 7 1 4. to 

 Robert Benson Lord Bingley, who left it by will in 

 1729 to Robert son of Samuel Benson, who released 

 it to William jansen." Catherine Ann, the daughter 

 of William Jansen, had married John Blackwood, and 

 in 1776 Cheshunt Nunnery was settled upon her." 

 From her it passed to the Hon. Lionel Darner and 

 Williamza his wife, only surviving daughter and heir 

 of William Jansen. In 1 804 the Nunnery was re- 

 leased to William Butt of Corn ey Bury, and he in 

 1 S 1 1 sold it to John Early Cook, who was the 



1 th, 



1 1821.*° At the present time the property 

 possession of the devisees of the late Thomas 



« Chai 





J a chief or with* pal, 

 trttrfy of FRANCE 

 d ENGLAND b,- 



Rochford. 



After the Dissolution the rectory of Cheshunt, to 

 which was attached an estate called the RECTOR}' 

 MANOR, became part of the 

 possessions of the Dean and 

 Chapter of Westminster,' 7 who 

 in 1 544 received licence to 

 alienate it to Anthony Denny. 

 From the latter it passed by 

 exchange in the same year to 

 George Dacres, who at the 

 same time acquired the manor 

 of Mote. 18 By 1 61 2 the 

 rectory had come into the pos- 

 session of Henry Atkins, phy- 

 sician in ordinary to James I 

 and Charles I," who in that 

 year received £~joo from the 

 Crown for the surrender of 

 tithes arising from land lately wwn ™"° Tudor ™«. 

 inclosed in Theobalds Park." 



In 1632 Henry Atkins conveyed the rectory to 

 Sir Edmund Scott ; from the latter it passed with 

 the parsonage-house and two water-mills to his 

 brother Sir Stephen Scott,' 1 whose youngest sur- 

 viving son sold them to Sir Edward des Bouverie." 

 The latter, dying in 1695," left the rectory to be 

 sold, and it was bought by his elder son William 

 des Bouverie, who was the possessor in 1700.*' He 

 left it to his son Sir Edward, who sold it to Thomas 

 Martin before 1728. ,J The rectory manor appears 

 to have been still in the hands of the Martin family 

 in 1814." In 1855 it came by purchase to James 

 Bcnttey of Woodgrcen Park." His estate was sold 

 in 1881, and the present owner of the manor of the 

 rectory is Mr. Edmund Theodore Doxat, but there 

 is now no copyhold left. 



The church of ST. MART stands 

 CHURCHES a little to the west of the town, and 

 consists of chancel 45 ft. by 21 it., 

 south chapel, north chapel or vestry, nave 74 ft. 

 by 22 ft., south porch, north and south aisles, each 

 75 ft. by 9 ft. 6 in., and west tower 16 ft. square; 

 all internal dimensions. The walls are cemented, 

 probably on flint rubble ; the east wall and the 

 modern portions are faced with flint, and the west 

 tower is built of ashlar. 



It appears from a brass in the church to Nicholas 

 Dixon, rector, that the whole of the church was 

 rebuilt by him between 1418 and 1448, and no 

 structural work of an earlier date now remains. 

 The south chapel, north vestry and south porch are 

 modern, and the church generally was extensively 

 restored during the latter part of the 19th century. 



The five-light traceried window in the east wall of 

 the chancel is almost entirely modern, only the inner 



