A HISTORY OH HERTFORDSHIRE 



poor of the ecclesiastical district of St. Mary. By an 



order of the Charity Commissioners a I June 1904 

 £400 consols has been set aside as the educational 

 branch and £600 consols as the eleemosynary 

 branch of the charity. In 1909 gifts of 71. f>d. 

 each were made to thirty-nine labourers. 



Educational Charities : 



The Free school was founded in 1642 by Robert 

 Dewhurst. 6 ' 



By an order of the Charity Commissioners 

 10 February 1905, made under the Board of 

 Education Act, 1899, a sum of £100 Local Loans 

 3 per cent, stock was set aside, producing £3 yearly, 

 for providing dinners for bovs attending the school, 

 in respect of the gift in 1761 by John Gwilt for that 

 purpose. 



In 1880 Dr. William Buchanan, by deed, gave 

 £105, now represented by £102 14J. tod. Local 

 Loans 3 per cent, stock, the annual dividends, amount- 

 ing to £3 11. %d., to be applied in books or other 

 articles as prizes on the last Monday in February to 

 boys at the school. 



In 1904 John Earley Coo'., by will proved 

 ;8 September, left £200 for the benefit of the 



school, subject to repair of family tombs in Che-hunt 

 churchyard. The legacy was invested in £12$ 8j. <y. 

 Cape of Good Hope 3 per cent, stock, producing 

 £6 14V. yearly. 



Mrs. Elderton by her will (date not staled) gave 

 £ioo for the use of the Sunday school at Chcshunt. 

 The endowment now consists of £200 consols ; the 

 annual dividends, amounting to £5 a year, are under 

 a scheme of the Charity Commissioners of 3 Novem- 

 ber 1863 expended in prizes at Sunday school. 



Sec also under charity of John Britten above. 



James Bent ley's educational charity (see above) 

 consists of £400 consols, the annual dividends of 

 which, amounting to £10, are distributed among 

 five boys at the Dewhurst School for good conduct 

 and attainments. 



Goff's Oak, St. James: In 1 8 80 James Bentley 

 by his will bequeathed £1,000 consols, now repre- 

 sented by £932 17*. 5 d. Local Loans 3 per cent, stock 

 with the official trustees, the annual dividends, 

 amounting to £27 19/. 8d., to be applied as to £10 

 for the vicar and the remainder to be distributed to 

 the poor of this district not in receipt of parochial 

 relief. 



ESSENDON 



:»t.) i 



Essendene (xi cent.) , Isendene (xi 

 Fsyngden (xvi cent.). 



The parish of Essendon is bounded on the north 

 for some distance by the River Lea, which crosses its 

 north-west and north-east corners. Near the southern 

 border of the parish the land reaches a height of 

 400 ft., from which it slopes down towards the north, 

 where the lower-lying land near the river is liable to 

 floods. The parish contains 2,331 acres, of which 

 nearly a half consists of permanent grass, arable land 

 forming about one-third. 1 The soil is clay and gravel, 

 the subsoil clay and chalk. Grass and corn are the 

 chief crops. The greater part of the parish is farm 

 land with a few scattered farms and gravel or chalk- 

 pits. The woodland does not form any great con- 

 tinuous extent, the woods consisting for the most part 

 of narrow belts and small plantations. An extent of 

 the manor of Essendon made in 1332 states that 

 there were 8 acres of wood, worth ti. an acre, which 

 might be felled every eighth year for faggots, 1 " but in 

 1439 there was no fuel that year from the king's 

 woods at Essendon.' One of the privileges of the 

 rectors of Essendon, granted or confirmed by 

 Edward III, was the right to have a log from 

 the wood at Essendon for their hearth every year at 

 Christmas. 3 



The village stands on a hill overlooking the valley 

 of the River Lea. The church, rectory and part of 

 the village lie west of the Hertford road near the 

 point at which it is joined by a road leading from 

 Hatfield. The church is situated on the east side of 

 a triangular green. Essendon Bury, the old manor- 

 house, now a farm, lies about half a mile to the north 

 of the church. East of the Hertford road are the 

 school and a reading room and working men's club 



on 'Schoold,' V.C.H. 

 n Bd. of Agric. (1905). 



which was opened in 1 896. A water-mill stands by 

 the river, due north of the village. The present 

 building comprises a 17th-century house now encased 

 with brick but originally of timber and plaster. It 

 stands probably on the site of the king's mill which 

 was granted with the manor of Essendon, and to which 

 reference is made in the extent of 1332 and in other 

 mediaeval records.* In 1279, when a jury presented 

 that men of Essendon were accustomed to fish in the 

 waters of Essendon 'with botercll and other small 

 engines' until William dc Valence prevented them, a 

 verdict was given against the lord of the manor. 5 



Essendon Place, a little to the south of the village, 

 was until lately the seat of the Barons Dimsdalc. 

 Thomas, first Baron Dimsdale, was the son of John 

 Dimsdale of Thcydon Garnon, co. Essex, and came 

 of a family of medical men. In 1 766 he published a 

 tract on the treatment of small-pox by inoculation, and 

 in 1768 he was invited to Russia to inoculate the 

 Empress Catherine. For his services there he was 

 made a baron of the Russian Empire." After hi» 

 return to England he served as M.P. for Hertford from 

 1780 to 1790.' He died in ] 8co and was succeeded 

 by his son John, second Baron Dimsdale. Robert, 

 third Baron Dimsdale, brother and heir of John, was 

 succeeded by his son Thomas Robert, the fourth 

 baron, who bought Camfield Place (q.v.). He died 

 there in 1865. A little later Essendon Place was 

 acquired by the family, and Charles John, the fifth 

 baron, died there in 1872. The property is owned 

 by the present baron, but is now occupied by 

 Mrs. Edgar Lubbock. The house is a stuccoed build- 

 ing of the early 19th century. 



Near Essendon Place was an old house called Bird's 

 Place, pulled down in I 833,° which at the beginning 



