Sir Thomas Bouchier, K.G., who fought for the Earl of Richmond at Bosworth Field, sold the manor of Knebbeworth to Robert Lytton, Esq., Keeper of the Wardrobe to Henry VII., whose son William was buried in this parish. This Sir Robert began to erect a huge Tudor mansion on the site of a fortress which had stood since the days of the Conquest; it took several generations to complete it. The present house is the result of the work of demolition and reconstruction in the days of the novelist’s mother, and of the enlarging of 1883, when the S. wing and entrance were added; it is pseudo-Gothic. The castellated parapet, cupola-topped turrets, griffins upon pinnacles and many mullioned windows are noticeable features from the grounds. Within, the finest sight is the grand old banqueting hall, with its gallery for minstrels, its Elizabethan oak-screen, and wainscots by Inigo Jones. Around, on all sides, are suits of armour, some dating from the days of Henry VII. The room is associated with memories of Elizabeth, who was sometimes entertained at Knebworth by Sir Rowland Lytton, whom she knighted; he was buried in the chancel of the little church in the park (see below) in 1582. The room in which Elizabeth slept on these occasions is still shown as “Queen Elizabeth’s Chamber,” and contains a finely carved over-mantel (oak) and an oaken bedstead of colossal proportions. Among the distinguished guests so often entertained here by Bulwer Lytton were Dickens, Forster and Jerrold.
The grounds are nearly perfect, art and nature seaming to strive to out-do one another. Well-kept lawns are figured by flower-beds of all shapes and sizes; the rosery is very large; the great variety of evergreens imparts every hue and shade to the extensive walks stretching W. from the house. The lawns are divided here and there by stone balustrades and overlooked by statues of classical and modern figures. There are many nooks, pleasure houses and alcoves. A long avenue of limes leads to the lake.
The church, a little N. from the house, is approached through lodge gates. It is for the most part E.E. The oaken pulpit is octagonal; the finely carved panels represent scenes in the life of Christ, one of them bears the date 1567. At the N. side of the chancel, which has a piscina, is the Lytton Chapel, “a little Chapel or Burying Place, built by the Family of the Lyttons”. Among the members of the family buried in the chapel were (1) Dame Judith Barrington, daughter of Sir Rowland Lytton, and wife to Sir Thomas Barrington of Hatfield Broad Oak (d. 1657); (2) Sir William Lytton, Kt. (d. 1660); (3) Sir Rowland Lytton, Kt. (d. 1674). To the Sir Rowland Lytton who died in 1582 (see above) there is a fine brass with effigy, which also commemorates his wives Margaret and Anne, and his three children. There are other memorials both in the church and Lytton Chapel, among which note (1) brass to Simon Bache, Treasurer of the Household to Henry V. and Canon of St. Paul’s (d. 1414); (2) brass to John Hotoft, who filled the same office in the Household of Henry VI. (d. circa 1430). This brass formerly showed effigies of Hotoft in armour with his wife beside him. Note also, near the S. porch, two headstones with interesting inscriptions to servants of the Lytton family, and close by, in the park, the mausoleum erected by the mother of the novelist, who was buried within its walls. The epitaph to her memory on the exterior was written by her son. Passing out at the lodge gates we may turn left and reach a pretty dip, from whence a walk of 3 miles N. over open country leads to Stevenage.
Knebworth Green skirts the S. side of the park.
Langley, a hamlet on the Hatfield-Hitchin road, is 2 miles S.W. from Stevenage Station (G.N.R.). Langley Bottom is a few minutes’ walk N.
Langleybury (1 mile S. from King’s Langley Station, L.&N.W.R.) is practically part and parcel of Hunton Bridge, the church standing W. and the village E. of the main road from Watford to Hemel Hempstead. The church is modern, a Gothic structure; on the S. is a good lich-gate. Close to the S. porch is the large cross of Sicilian marble, by the Florentine sculptor Romanelli, to the memory of the late W. J. Loyd, at whose expense the church was erected. The walk from Langleybury to Buck’s Hill (W.), by way of West Wood, leads through some lovely bits of scenery, and should on no account be omitted. At the outset the confines of Grove Park are on the left and the road dips up and down as the woods are passed, and is shaded by fine beeches in many spots.
Layston was a village in Saxon times, but nothing now remains save the ruins of the church, still almost intact, at the meeting of two lanes, 1 mile N.E. from Buntingford. It is a flint structure, E.E. and Perp. The S. porch is in part demolished. There are monuments to the Crowch family of seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Lea, river. (See Introduction, [Section II].)
Leavesden (about 2½ miles N. from Watford) is a village in the pretty district between Grove Park and Bricket Wood. The ecclesiastical parish was formed seventy years ago from the parishes of Watford and St. Albans. The huge brick building on high ground a little N. is the Metropolitan District Asylum for Idiots; it was erected in 1869. The church dates only from the formation of the parish and is situated at Garston, 1 mile E. It was designed by Sir Gilbert Scott and is E.E. The Grove, a large mansion of red brick, was erected in 1760 by one of the Villiers family, but has been restored and altered. The house contains a part of the pictures collected by Clarendon; comprising portraits by Vandyck, Lely, C. Janssens, Zucchero, Van Somer, Kneller, Hogarth, etc. The park is extensive and beautiful.
Lemsford is another modern ecclesiastical parish, formed sixty years ago. It is nearly 3 miles N. from Hatfield, on the S.E. side of Brocket Hall Park. It is widely known for its large mill on the river Lea. The church, erected in 1859 as a memorial to the sixth Earl Cowper, is E.E. and Dec., with a good E. window, also to the memory of the earl. The tower (W.) is lofty and embattled.