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PANSHANGER, 



HERTFORDSHIRE, 



THE SEAT OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL COWPER. 



XANS HANGER, originally called Blackmere or Bleakmoor, from its elevated and sterile character, 

 forms part of the parish of St Andrew, and was granted by William I, at the Conquest, with the 

 Manor of Sele, to Geoffrey de Bech, one of his followers. In Domesday it is recorded that " Godfery 

 Runevile holds of Godfery de Bech one hide of land in Blakemoor, in the Hundred of Hasford. The 

 arable land is two caracutes in demesne. There is one villain, with two bordars ; of meadow land, two 

 caracutes, with common pasture for cattle, and wood to feed forty hogs. In the time of Edward the 

 Confessor two of the royal thanes held and had power to sell it. It was then valued at forty 

 shillings ; now at fifteen shillings." From the above date till the time of Henry VIII, its history is 

 but imperfectly, if at all known. At that period, however, it appears to have formed part of the 

 possessions of Gertrude Courtenay, Marchioness of Exeter, upon whose attainder it came to the Crown, 

 and was afterwards granted by Letters Patent, dated 18th June, 38th Henry VIII, to Nicholas Throckmorton, 

 Esquire, in fee, together with the Manors of Magdaleyn, Bury, and Westington; of whom it was sub- 

 sequently purchased by Sir Stephen Slanley, who was Lord Mayor of London, and knighted by Queen 

 Elizabeth in the 37th year of her reign. On his death it descended to his son Stephen, and continued 

 in the family until it became vested in two daughters, one of whom, Mary, married to a gentleman named 

 Hitchcock, bought her sister's moiety, and had issue a daughter, who carried it in marriage to a Mr Elwes, 

 a merchant of London, by whom it was sold to William, son of William, first Earl Cowper. This noble 

 family were owners of Hertford Castle during the reign of the two Charles's, and zealously supported 

 the royal cause. On the acquirement of the Panshanger property, a name first given to it by Henry 

 VIII, they lived at Colne Green, a short distance off, which continued to be the principal residence 

 till about 1801, when it was taken down, and the present handsome Gothic building at Panshanger, 

 erected as the family seat. 



The situation of the house is excellent, and commands an extensive prospect, enlivened by charming 

 scenery. The river Maran, whose source is in the parish of Kingswalden, flows in a south-westerly 

 direction through the grounds, and after receiving the waters of a small stream called the Kine, which 

 rises near Kinneton, and from which the town is named, joins the Lea, near Hertford. The gardens 

 occupy principally the south front of the house, and are distinguished for picturesque variety and general 

 beauty of arrangement. The terrace is composed of a series of large beds in Portland stone, with a 

 pavement of the same material; the long beds being under the windows, and the whole filled with the 



