HERTFORD HUNDRED 



de Thele.' ' In 1 2+7-8 it was deposed that the men 

 of London had built a granary at Thele {ad Pontem 

 Tegtk) in which they placed corn which they carried 

 to London in their own ships instead of in the king's 

 ships.* At the end of the 13th century the dues 

 from the bridge of Thele were taken by the warden 

 of Hertford Castle, and in 1299, in a suit brought 

 by the monastery of St. Albans against the warden 

 of that castle concerning tolls which he had taken in 

 St. Albans and Barnet, it was stated as an analogous 

 case that Henry III and his predecessors and William 

 de Valence Earl of Pembroke, whom Henry had ap- 

 pointed governor of the castle (q.v.) in iz;o, had 

 always taken tolls at the bridge of Thele.' In 1331 

 Aymer de Valence Earl of Pembroke, governor of 

 the castle, died seised of the tolls of the bridge of 

 ' Thele, 8 and the bridge remained attached to the 

 castle until the death of Queen Isabella, when the 

 castle (q.v.) reverted to the Crown, and the king 

 in 1359-60 granted the bridge of Thele with the 

 bridge of Ware to John Lucas of Ware.' It was 

 afterwards acquired by John of Gaunt, to whom the 

 castle of Hertford (q.v.) was granted in 1360, and 

 descended with the castle, except for occasional 

 leases.' When in 1630 the castle and manor of 

 Hertford were finally alienated from the Crown, the 

 bridge of Thele passed with them to William Cecil 

 Earl of Salisbury." The bridge was a wooden one 

 until 1873, when an iron bridge was built." 



The village of St. Margaret's is a continuation of 

 Stanstead Abbots, on the west side of the Lea, along 

 the road to Hertford. From this a road runs south 

 to meet the main road from London to Ware, which 

 passes through the parish on the west, and along this 

 road are situated the church and manor-house, with 

 St. Margaretsbury (so named only about twenty years 

 ago), now the residence of Mr. Septimus Croft, lying 

 to the west. At the junction of the two roads is a 

 pair of framed timber cottages with thatched roofs, 

 probably not earlier than the first half of the 19th 

 century. 



No record of THELE occurs in the 

 MANOR Domesday Survey, and it was probably 

 included at that date in the manor of 

 Hailey in Great Am well. The woodland mentioned 

 in the extent of that manor in io86 1J may be the 

 woods in St. Margaret's, for Hailey itself is very bare. 

 Hailey in 1086 was held by Geoffrey de Bech. 1 ' In 

 the early part of the izth century it had come to 

 Ralph Pincerna, of whom it was held by the Buruns, 15 

 and that the Buruns held land in Thele is evident, 



STANSTEAD 



ST. MARGARET'S 



for Roger de Burun granted a tenement on the banks 

 of Thele to the abbey of St. Albans. 1 " In the reign 

 of Henry I Aubrey de Vere appears as mesne lord in 

 Hailey between Ralph Pincerna and the Buruns," 

 which also tends to show that Thele was originally 

 included in Hailey, for Aubrey de Vere's descendants, 

 the Earls of Oxford,'" appear as overlords of the manor 

 of THELE alias COLDINGTONS" (Thele, xiii 

 cent. ; Goldingtons Thele alias St. Margaret's Thele 

 alias Stanstead Thele, xvi cent.). By the end of the 

 13th century, apparently, the manor and advowson 

 had become divided among the following co-heirs 

 of a tenant under the Earls of Oxford : Lucy wife 

 of Henry Chacepork,* Alice wife of William le 

 Marchand," Mabel wife of Nicholas lc Mareschal, 

 and possibly Margaret wife of John de Love tot. 

 Between 1274 an d 1276 John de Lovetot and 

 Margaret his wife™ seem to have acquired the 

 interests of the other co-heirs 1 ' 3 and in 1277 obtained 

 a grant of free warren in their demesne lands here 

 and elsewhere." 1 They also received a quitclaim 

 from Mabel de Waunford in 1287, who held in 

 dower."" In 1281 John de Lovetot received a grant 

 of a weekly market at Thele on Thursday and an 



fair there 



the 



the feas 



:.nd the 



free warren 



settled the manor oi 



in tail in the follow 



morrow of the Nativity of St. John Baptist and the 

 six days following." Joan wife of Humphrey de 

 Bohun (lord of Ware) quitclaimed to John in iz8i 

 all right to hold view of frankpledge, 16 and later he 

 claimed assize of bread and ale and gallows." 



In 1303 William de Goldington was holding a fee 

 of the Earl of Oxford/ 8 half of which was in Bengeo-,* 

 and the other half probably in Thele. William de 

 Goldington was holding the manor in I 3 1 3 30 and 

 died seised before 3 February 131 8—1 cj. 3 ' He was 

 succeeded by his son John," who received a grant of 



esne lands of Thele in I 3 38 " and 

 himself and his wife Katherine 



.g year. 31 He died about 1338, 

 ith Katherine for life. 35 

 She married as her second husband John Fermer, who 

 died holding the manor in her right in 1 3 54. 1 * 

 Accounts for the manor while it was in his hands 

 include the farm of the fishery, valued at Jr. 6d." 



Katherine died in 1358 and was succeeded by her 

 son John de Goldington, aged twenty-six. :s He had 

 a son John Goldington, and the latter a son, also 

 John Goldington, 13 who died seised of the manor in 

 1419." His son Thomas, then aged fifteen,* 1 sur- 

 vived him only a short time and Thele passed to his 

 cousin and heir John Hinxworth of Ashwell, who was 



H, 



