HERTFORD HUNDRED 



the north side of the chancel are two bays of 

 arcading, now buried in the wall ; part of one of 

 these columns was recently exposed during a restora- 

 tion, but was covered up again. The columns were of 

 four engaged shafts separated by a roll moulding, the 

 capitals were moulded ; the windows inserted in these 

 bays are modern. In the south wall of the chancel 

 are two 14th-century windows, each of two lights 

 with cusped opening in the head ; between them is 

 a blocked 14th-century doorway ; a slight break in 

 the wall to the west marks the junction of the 14th- 

 century work with the original nth-century wall. 

 There is no chancel arch. 



On the north side of the nave two bays of the 

 arcade are buried in the wall ; the apex of a third, 

 the westernmost arch, is exposed. It is of two wave- 

 moulded orders, and forms the head of the doorway 

 to the gallery ; in the built-up arches are inserted a 

 modern window and doorway. In the east end of 

 the south wall is a 14th-century window of two 

 lights with a cusped opening in the head, much re- 



tored ; a 



the jamb stones and round arch of a nar: 

 now blocked, of the original 12th-century 1 

 arch is cut from a single stone. 

 The south doorway is of 14th- 

 century date with arch of two 

 moulded orders and jambs with 

 mlding between ogees 

 ; parts of the stonework 



v light, 

 e; the 



hollov 

 and fillets ; 



wed. The 



window is modern. The nave 

 roof retains three late 1 5th-century 

 trusses with king-posts and cam- 

 bered tie-beams. Over the west 

 end is a small modern bellcote. 



All the fittings are modern. 



Beside the stair to the gallery is 

 a slab with indents of a foliated 

 cross, shields and remains of an 

 illegible inscription ; in the chan- 

 cel is a slab with indents of a half- 

 figure of a priest of 15th-century 

 date. There are several inscribed fli 

 members of the Lawrence and Cresse 

 17th-century date. 



The single bell is by John Briant. The d; 



IllSCenr. 





1 plate consists of two cups, 1 808, a 

 paten, 1 7 1 3, also plate, stand andpaten of Sheffield plate. 

 The registers before i8iz are as follows : (i) bap- 

 tisms from 1697 to 1784, burials 1706 to 1784, 

 marriages 1703 to 1784 ; (ii) burials from 1772 

 to 1800, marriages 1774 to 1800. 



The earliest record of the church 

 JDV0(fSON occurs in the year 1271 when it was 

 divided between the four heiresses as 

 already mentioned." About 1 3 16 Sir William de 

 Goldington, then lord of the manor, founded a 

 college of a warden and four chaplains who were 



STAN STEAD 



ST. MARGARET'S 



to celebrate mass at the altar of St. Mary in the 

 church of St. Margaret for the souls of Sir William 

 and of Margaret his wife, their heirs and ancestors, and 

 also for the soul of Robert de Vere Earl of Oxford, 

 his heirs and ancestors. Sir William endowed the 

 college with various lands in Thele, Amwell and 

 Bures Giffard and the advowsons of the churches of 

 Thele and Aldham. Licence to appropriate the 

 church, the revenues of which were said to be 

 insufficient for the support of a rector, was shortly 

 afterwards granted to the college." The college 

 remained on this basis throughout the 14th century, 

 receiving a few other grants of land," but by the 

 beginning of the 15th century it had become ex- 

 ceedingly poor, many of its lands had been alienated, 

 and it consisted of only one priest. 75 Accordingly in 

 143 1 licence was granted for its lands to be alienated 

 to the hospital of St. Mary ' Elsyngspittel ' in London, 

 the prior of which was to supply two regular canons 

 for the college of The!e. ;e On the dissolution of the 

 hospital in 1530" the rectory of Thele came to the 

 Crown, and from this time it has been a lay donative. 

 In 1536 Henry VIII granted it to Roger Poten, the 

 late prior of the hospital," and in 1 5 39 he granted 



[ZiModern 



of the rectory with the lands pertaining 

 to Richard Higham.™ The following year Richard 

 Higham received licence to alienate it to Philip 

 Parys." Philip was knighted at the coronation of 

 Queen Mary in 1553," and died in 1558, when his 

 heir was his kinsman Robert Parys, aged five." In 

 1561 the advowson was held by Ferdinand Parys of 

 Linton, co. Cambridge, who sold it in that year to 

 Nicholas Bacsh.' 3 In l 563 Nicholas settled the rectory 

 and mansion-house on his wife Dorothy and their heirs 

 male. 8 * Nicholas Baesh died in February 1 590—1 and 

 was succeeded by his son Edward, 65 who shortly after- 

 wards sold the rectory to his mother, Dorothy, and 

 her second husband 86 Robert Booth. 87 After Dorothy's 

 death Robert mortgaged the rectory to Sir Reginald 

 Argall, kt., of Higham Hill, co. Essex, into whose 

 hands it finally passed. m 



3 Feet of F. Herts. Mich. 3 & 4 Eliz. j 



:ov. R. Trin. 1561, rot. 40;. 



« Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), tcxeix, 



L; cf. Pat. 8 Jas. I, pt. Jtii, no. 16. 



'" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. z), ccxcix, 104 



* Vi-.it. oftitrt,. (Harl.Soc. xxii), 126. 



J Pat. 8 Jas. I, pt. .ii, no. 16. 



iS Ibid. ; Chun. Proc. (Ser. 2), bdle. 



