A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



The history of St. Margaret's rectory after this 

 date becomes very obscure. In 1626 it Mas held 

 by Dorothy Lacy, widow of Matthew Lacy of 

 Melton Mowbray, co. Lciceiter, and on her death 

 in that year it passed to her six daughters and 

 co-heirs." They must have sold it, for in 1650 it 

 was held by Sir Thomas Stanley, let., 30 but some time 

 afterwards it passed to the lord of the manor of 

 Goldingtons, and in 1 684 was held together with 

 that manor by Thomas Weftrow." From this date 

 it has descended with the 



by; 



"(q.v.). In 1899 

 of Parliament abolishing all donatives it 



cting-place for Protestant Dissenters in the 



as certified in 1 700. M 



An unknown donor — as stated in 

 CHARITIES the Parliamentary Returns of 1786— 

 gave land for teaching one child. 

 Red Marsh, was sold in 1 86 1 

 :sied in _£to8 13/. 1 id. consols, 

 iscquently augmented by 

 umulations to £151 15/. 6d. consols, producing 

 16/. id. yearly, which is applied in paying the 

 irenticeship premium for a poor boy, when there 

 uflicient money for the purpose, 

 in 1908 a premium of £25 was paid. 





The land, known 1 

 and the proceeds in' 



STAPLEFORD 



Stapelford (xii cent.) ; Supilford-bv-Wacton (xi 



■■!■ 



Siaplefor. 

 crei. Arable 



floods. 



small parish containing about 1,354 

 : land occupies more than half of it, 

 it one-third consists of permanent grass. 1 

 cry little woodland, and what there is lies 

 the higher ground in the west, where the 

 es to an altitude of from 250 ft. to 300 ft. 

 Beane waters the cast of the parish ; the 

 on the west bank is low and liable to 

 'he soil is gravel, clay and chalk, on a 

 subsoil of clay and chalk. The church, restory, 

 schools (built in 1872) and a few cottages Stan J on the 

 north-east border of the parish on the east side of the 

 River Beane on a by-road to Bengco, but the principal 

 part of the village lies scattered along the main road 

 from Hertford to Stevenage a little to the wot of 

 the church. The road from the village to the church 

 now crosse; the River Beane by a bridge, probably on 

 the site of the ford from which the parish takes its 

 name Stapleford has always been but a small 

 village. In [33+ it is described onlv as a hamlet,' 

 and in 1428 it is said to have contained only nine 

 inhabitants. 1 



:, barley, beans and oats form the principal 

 livay station is at Hertford, 

 3 J miles to the south. 



Stapleford appears to have been in- 

 M.-/XOSS eluded in the Domesday Survey in the 



large area comprised at 1 

 Bengeo, which encircles it on the ea.-l 

 Several of the holdings given under the name of 

 Bengeo cannot be traced thereafter 1 086. One of 

 these was that of Geoffrey de Mandeville. This 

 holding in 1086 was rated at 3 hides and 1 virgate 

 and included a mill,' ~'"i may apparently be iden- 

 tified with the manor of STJPLEFORD, vihich 

 has always formed part of the honour of Mandeville, 1 



The 1 



by 



43 M. I. in chunh. 

 '" Rt-cov. R. Mich. 16;:, rot. 

 51 Ibid. Trin. 36 Chjs.Il, rot 

 "-' S« F«t of F. Her:s.Tr;a. : 



Stafford, 9 husband of her daughter Anne, died seised 

 of it in 1403, lu and after his death there is no fur- 

 ther record of the overlordship. 



In 1 192 John 1c Moyne, apparently tenant in fee 

 of Stapleford Manor, was holding a 'knight's fee in 

 Stapleford which he had inherited from his mother." 

 Stapleford remained with this 

 family," whose descent is diffi- 

 cult to trace, until the end of 

 the following century, when 

 John le Moyne granted it to 

 Robert Aguillon. This was 

 before 1278, in which year 

 Robert claimed view of frank- 

 pledge in his manor of Staple- 

 ford, which he held by the 

 gift of John le Moyne.' 1 In 

 1286 Robert Aguillon died Aoumaok. Cub, * 



seised of 7 J acres of meadow fi "" dl '" "'*""■ 

 in Stapleford, 1 I/, (id. rent of 



assize, together with o!her rents and a water-mill, 

 which he held of John le Moyne by the service of a 

 clove gillyflower." Probably before this date a sub- 

 fcoffment had been made of the greater part of the 

 mnnor, this part becoming the manor of Waterford 

 Hall (see below). Isabel, the wife of Hugh Bardolf, 

 was Robert Aguillon's heir,' 5 and in 1 303 Hugh 

 Bardolf was holding a knight's fee in Stapleford with 

 Anselm Gobion." Bardolf was lord of the neigh- 

 bouring manor of Watton Woodhall, and after this 

 date the lands in Stapleford were attached as a 



1 Statistics from Ed. 



3 Fnj. Aids, ii, 456 

 • I'.C.H. HtrK- i- 1 



' PUc, dc Q 



p. 8. 



E. (.905). 



ffarr 



Herts. Mich. 



i & ; Geo. IV 



93 Eau H,r:, 



P en D. E: i 

 : Fce; nf F 

 IV ; M:-!: 



. (Rec. Co. 



179. 



8 G.E.C. CpmpUtt Pttrag; i.v. tssr 

 ; CjI. !r, } . p.m. 10-20 Ed~w. //, 2; 



Feud, Aidi, ii, 434 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 



obtrt If Moyne ii entered in 



(1 AVwV/tu holding a knigh.'i 



,rTrej-d e M,ndeviJ] e ( F .a64),»r 



r Suplcbrd. 



lac. dc Qu„ Wart. (Rec. C01 



al. tvj. p.m. t - ■ 9 Edit. I, j6i 



476 



