HERTFORD HUNDRED 



same gate and a granary adjoining the bakehouse ; 

 (4} the great chamber called the King's Chamber 

 with two chapels adjoining the same, the kitchen and 

 the lesser hall j (5) the great hall of the king with 

 two chimneys adjoining the same and two garde- 

 robes ; (6) a certain chamber without the postern 

 and the drawbridge beyond the same postern ; (7) the 

 stone wall in the circuit with the tower of the same 

 castle and the two chimneys of the two chambers 

 aforesaid ; (8) the wooden stockade next the outer 

 ditch, * which is in many places prostrate on the 

 ground.' 



The next two surveys are couched in general terms 

 and give little information as to the buildings of the 

 castle. That of 1 522—3," however, mentions that 

 there is ' a fayre river runnynge alonge by the North- 

 side of the said Castell and the water of the same 

 Ryver serveth for and to all the houses of Office 

 within the same Castell and arere a very litle garden 

 grounde, but there is a fayre courtyarde and large 

 which is almost finished rounde aboute with fayre 

 [houses].' 



The survey of 1558-9 " refers only to the general 

 dilapidation of the buildings, ' as well in timber work 

 as in tiling, glazing and leading, dawbing, sealing 

 and ironwork,' and computes the cost of repairs at 



£""■ 



Thirty years later the castle buildings were again 

 in a bad state of repair, and a fourth survey L> (dated 

 1587—8) indicates that many of the apartments 

 required entire rebuilding. Mention is here made 

 of the privy kitchen, the serving place with the 

 scullery, the bakehouse, the rooms over the pantry, 

 the passage between the court and the bakehouse, 

 the shed towards the kitchen, timber for the chapel 

 end, the lodging where my Lord Treasurer did lie 

 in the term, the bridge towards St. Andrews, the 

 house in the castle yard next the water with the 

 chimney and the west gable end, the old gate-house in 

 the castle yard. Many of these buildings may be 

 identified on the Elizabethan plan and the majority 

 of them appear to have been of timber. The ' Castle 

 Yard ' was evidently the inner bailey and the ' bridge 

 towards St. Andrews ' is distinctly indicated on 



The greater part of the buildings were pulled 

 down early in the reign of James I. In a survey of 

 the extent of the castle dated 1609— 10 ll it is stated 

 that ' there are standing upon part of the site of the 

 said castle one fair gatehouse of brick, one tower of 

 brick and the old walls of the said castle and also 

 three old houses without the walls.' The site con- 

 tained 7 acres and 3 roods, part called the ' Castle 

 yard' being fenced with stone and part unfenced 

 called the ' Castle ditches ' ; ' the utter bryme of the 

 utter ditch' being bounded by the king's highway 



10 Exch. Accts. bdle. 4.65, no. 16. 



11 Duchy of Lane. Special Com. no. 1. 



12 Ibid, no. 416. 



18 Duchr of Lane. Special Com. no. 813. 

 For notices of works at the castle occurring 

 in 1357, «397, HH and 15°° '« Cal. 

 Pat. 13 54-8, p. 583 j 1390-9, pp. 148-9; 

 1422-9, p. 193 ; Cal. S. P. Dam. 1547-80, 

 p. 166. 



11 ' Ann. Lond. ' Ctran. a/Edvj. I and 

 Ediv.il (Rolls Ser.), i, 17,21. 



15 Malthew Paris, Ckron. Mai. (Rolls 



BOROUGH OF 

 HERTFORD 



called Castle Street on the south and east. With the 

 exception of the three old houses and the tower of 

 brick, evidently the south-east bastion, this survey 

 represents fairly accurately the still existing remains 

 of the castle. 



The most important period in the history of the 

 castle was the Civil War in the reign of King John. 

 Hertford and Berkhampstead were both taken by the 

 barons in 1215 and were held until the following 

 year. The defection from Louis of France then 

 began and was followed by the surrender of the 

 castles." At the end of the same year Hertford was 

 besieged by Louis. The castle seems to have been 

 bravely defended by the constable Walter de 

 Godarvile, but after a siege of nearly a month it 

 surrendered, 1 * probably having no further supply of 

 provisions. 



The castle was used as an occasional residence by 

 most of the kings of England whilst it remained a 

 royal castle. 15 After the grant in dower made to 

 Queen Isabel in 1327 (see above) she stayed at the 

 castle from time to time and died there on 22 August 

 1358. 11 The next year King John of France was 

 lodged there during his captivity in England. 18 John 

 of Gaunt received a grant of the castle at the same 

 time as the manor (see above) in 1360, and bought 

 large stores of timber from his neighbours, who did 

 not dare to refuse him, in order to fortify it. 

 According to the chronicler Walsingham, one of his 

 grievances when he retired from court in 1377 was 

 that the king had taken possession of the castle of 

 Hertford, where he had meant to spend most of his 

 time.' 3 The castle was, however, confirmed to him 

 by a grant of the same year." It seems to have been 

 chiefly between 1 396 and I 399 that he used it as a 

 residence." The castle came again to the Crown 

 on the accession of Henry IV, and in 1428 was ■ 

 appointed one of the summer residences of the 

 Crown." In 1424 there is mention of the Bishop of 

 Durham surrendering the great seal in ' the great 

 chamber in the castle of Hertford.'" 



In the itineraries of Henry VIII Hertford Castle 

 appears with the royal houses of Hunsdon and Hat- 

 field." The Princess Mary was staying there when 

 Wriothesley brought her a proposal of marriage from 

 Philip Duke of Bavaria, nephew of the Count Palatine, 

 in December 1539." Prince Edward was at the 

 castle at the time of Henry's death. The news of 

 this event was for a time kept secret from the public, 

 but the Earl of Hertford (afterwards Duke of 

 Somerset) and Sir Anthony Browne hastened to 

 Hertford, took Prince Edward secretly to Enfield, and 

 there told him and the Princess Elizabeth of the 

 prince's accession to the throne.* 6 



In 1563, 1581 and 1592 the law courts were 

 removed to Hertford Castle owing to the Plague in 



Ser.), 



ted there, Cal. 



Pai. 1232-47, >347-;S. 1301-7, 1307- 

 '3. 1 33°-4. IJ34-*. '338-40, 1343-?. 

 '345-8, 1348-5°. '354-8, 1377-81, 

 1401-5, 1405-8, 141 3-16, 1436-41, 

 1461-7, 1476-85, ftaiim. 



17 For her household accounts there 

 in 1357-8 see Cott. MS. Calba, E xiv. 

 See Cuaaans, op. cit. 51. 



^Cal.Clatt, 1354-60, p. 572- 



« Walsingham, Hiir. Angl. (Chron. 

 Mon. Sci. Albani, Rolls Ser.), i, 339. 



80 Cal. Pat. 1377-81, p. 26. 



« See numerous letters dated there, 

 Cal. Pat. 1396-9, pauim, also of Henry 



50? 



Duke of Hereford. The Duke of Lao- 

 casier spent Christmas there in 1390 

 (Walsingham, op. cit. r 9 5)- 



«Pr 0C . /P.C.iii,pp.lii, 3 95. 



M Ibid, vi, 34.6. 



! < See L. and P. Htn. VIII, xvl, 677. 



53 Ibid. xiv, 696-7. There is a letter 

 of hers dated therein 1536 (ibid, xi, 526). 



as P. Fraser Tytler, England under 

 reigns of Edward VI and Mary (1839), i, 

 16. See also Burnet, Hist, af Reformat,™ 

 (1865), ii, 37, where it is shown from 

 Edward's Diary that he was at Hertford, 

 not Hatfield. 



64 



