Hertfordshire

by Herbert W. Tompkins

OLD COTTAGE, BALDOCK

BALDOCK, a small town in the northern extremity of the county, lies between the chalk hills at the junction of the Great North Road and the Roman Icknield Way. The malting industry is still busily pursued, although the town is not so exclusively devoted to it as formerly. Very fine barley was grown in the district before the reign of Elizabeth, and the horse fairs, of which there are several annually, are well attended. The township was founded by the Knights Templars, in whose time there stood a Lazar-house a little eastwards from the town. The church, dating from the fourteenth century, is large, and of considerable architectural interest. The chancel and adjoining chapels are Perp. and contain sedilia and piscinæ; the nave has eight bays and a lofty clerestory. The rood-screen is co-extensive with the width of the entire church; the octagonal font is of great antiquity (probably not less than 700 years); there are several brasses, two of which are of the early part of the fifteenth century. Note also (1) the defaced slab, with Lombardic inscription to Reynaud de Argenthem, (2) the piscina-like recess in the N. chapel, (3) the Dec. pillars and arches of nave, (4) the fine old chest near rood-screen (N. chapel). Baldock has been the recipient of many bequests; existing charities are in the name of Roe, Wynne, Pryor, Cooch, Clarkson, Smith, Parker, and a few others, the whole aggregating a considerable annual sum. The Wynne Almshouses are in the spacious High Street, where are also the fine town hall and fire station, erected in 1896-7. Some side streets between the church and station are noticeable for the variety of cottage architecture which they display.

Barkway (4 miles S.E. from Royston station, G.N.R.) was a village of some importance in the old coaching days, for it is on the main road from Ware to Cambridge. It was partly burnt in 1592. There are many quaint houses in the neighbourhood, and one or two inns seem to still retain something of the atmosphere of the old régime. Near the village, at a spot called Rokey Wood, a small bronze statue of Mars was discovered some years ago. It is of Roman workmanship and is now in the British Museum. Cyclists riding northwards or eastwards from Barkway will find many hills to test their powers; but the air is exceptionally good and the district decidedly worth visiting. The church (flint, with stone quoins) is Perp. with embattled and pinnacled western tower; it was restored in 1861. Several memorials are worth noticing: (1) marble sarcophagus, with bust by Rysbrach, to Admiral Sir John Jennings (d. 1743); (2) brass on N. wall, found in the flooring during restoration, to Robert Poynard (d. 1561), his wives Bridget and Joan, and his four daughters; (3) monuments to Chester and Clinton families in chancel. The once annual Pedlars’ Fair has been discontinued; as has also the Tuesday market, which dated from the days of Henry III. In Saxon times the village was called Bergwant, i.e., the way over the hill.

Barley, a village on the Essex border, is 2 miles N.E. from Barkway, and lies on the same high road. The Church of St. Margaret was restored in 1872, in fourteenth century Gothic, but the tower, which is Norman, still stands. During the restoration some curious jars, of ancient make, were found in the chancel walls, but were broken in the efforts to dislodge them. There is a brass to Andrew Willet, D.D., rector of the parish and author of Synopsis Papismi (d. 1621).

Some interesting data for a book on the antiquities of Barley are preserved in the pre-Reformation “Parish Hutch”. I may mention the “towne house ... tyme out of mynde used and employed for the keeping of maides’ marriages,” and the “Playstoe” or “common playinge place for the younge people and other inhabitants of the said towne”. This “towne house” may still be seen near the church.

Barleycroft End is S.E. from Furneaux Pelham ([q.v.]). It almost adjoins that village.

BARNET, EAST (½ mile from Oakleigh Park Station, G.N.R.) is surrounded by Middlesex except to the N.W. where it adjoins New Barnet. The old village is situated at the meeting of the roads from High Barnet, Southgate and Enfield. The Church of St. Mary the Virgin is very interesting; it stands on the hill-top, at a sharp bend in the road, about ½ mile S. from the village. It is said to have been founded about the year 1100 by an abbot of St. Albans; if this date is approximately correct this abbot must have been Richard d’Aubeny or de Albini, who ruled the great monastery from 1097 to 1119, and in whose day the whole manor (including Chipping or High Barnet) belonged to the Abbey of St. Albans. The structure is Early Norman, with a western tower of brick, through the lower portion of which the church is entered. The N. wall is probably the most ancient church wall in this part of the county. There is a lich-gate at the N. entrance to the churchyard. A son of Bishop Burnet, the historian, was once rector here, and is buried in the church. Tradition states that Thomson the poet was tutor to the son of Lord Binning when that nobleman lived at the old Manor House, the site of which is now a part of the rectory garden. Near the church, too, stood once a house in which Lady Arabella Stuart was confined. Belmont House (C. A. Hanbury, Esq., D.L., J.P.) marks the site where stood Mount Pleasant, once the property of the Belted Will Howard, Warden of the Western Marches, referred to in the “Lay of the Last Minstrel”. Little Grove, a house on Cat Hill (Mrs. Stern), stands where stood formerly the house of the widow of Sir Richard Fanshawe, Bart., Ambassador to Spain in the reign of Charles I. The whole neighbourhood is varied and undulating; the eastern extremity of the parish touched the confines of Enfield Chace until late in the eighteenth century.

BARNET, HIGH (formerly “Chipping Barnet” from the market granted by Henry II. to the Abbots of St. Albans, which was held every Monday), stands on the hill-top about 11 miles N.W. from London, and 9 miles S.E. from St. Albans. As stated above, the manor belonged to the Abbots of St. Albans, and Chauncy tells a story in this connection which is worth repeating: “Anno 18, Edw. I., the Abbot of St. Albans (Roger de Norton, 24th Abbot) impleaded several Persons for prostrating his Ditch and burning his Hedges and Fences in the Night at Bernet; Richard Tykering, one of the Defendants, said, that because the Abbot enclosed his Pasture with Hedge and Ditch, so that he and the Tenants there, could not have their common, as their Ancestors were wont to have, they did lay open the same. The Abbot answered that they ought not to have Common there; but ’twas found by the Jury that the Tenants ought to have Common; and Judgment was given against the said Richard Tickering only for that he burnt the Hedge.” Other squabbles between abbot and peasant are referred to in this book, in the section on St. Albans. The Parish Church of St. John the Baptist stands at the junction of the roads from London, Enfield and St. Albans. It has known many changes. A church stood upon the spot so long ago as circa 1250, to which a detached tower was added about a century later. The body of this structure was almost wholly replaced by a new building, reaching to and including the tower, near the end of the abbacy of John de la Moote (1396-1401). The present church is the result of the restoration and enlargement under the direction of Mr. W. Butterfield, in 1875; it is of flint and worked stone, partly Dec. and partly Perp. The old tower was lowered sufficiently to form a portion of the nave and a new embattled tower was built, now a conspicuous landmark for many miles round. The present N. aisle is entirely new. The nave is clerestoried, with eight bays; most of the windows are of stained glass. The Ravenscroft mortuary chapel, adjoining the S. transept, contains many monuments, the most conspicuous being the altar-tomb and recumbent effigy in marble to Thomas Ravenscroft (d. 1630), which was formerly in the chancel. Other memorials are to James Ravenscroft (d. 1680) who founded and endowed the almshouses in Wood Street near by, called Jesus’ Hospital, and to John Ravenscroft (d. 1681). Note (1) the beautifully carved font screen, pinnacled and crocketted; (2) the pulpit, adorned with carved figures of men famous in English Church history; (3) the four ancient ledgers of stone, two in the chapel and two in the tower-basement, all inscribed to members of the Ravenscroft family. The church was formerly a chapel-of-ease to that at East Barnet. A Roman Catholic church, dedicated to SS. Mary the Immaculate and Gregory the Great, stands in Union Street: it was built in 1850.