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so called from some antient lords. AsTwICKE. SIMONDS HIDE, the possession of Simon Fitz Ade, who was lord of it in 1239, 23 Henry III. He left it to his son John Fitz Simon, whofe pofterity inherited it for several generations. HOLDWELL and LUDWICK. BROCKET HALL, situated on a hill in a large park, well wooded, and full of good timber, inclofed with a brick wall next the road, a mile long, aud watered by the river Lea. It afterwards by the marriage of Mary, the heiress, of Sir John Brocket, knt. became the lordship of Sir James Read, bart. her son, by Sir John Read, bart. It now belongs to lord viscount Melbourne. The house is a fine structure, by Mr. Paine.

HATFIELD HOUSE, the magnificent scat of the marquis of Salisbury, was built on the site of the antient episcopal palace by Robert first earl of Salisbury. The house is of brick, in the form of a half H. In the centre is a portico of nine arches, and a lofty tower, on the front of which is the date 1611. The structure has a very antique appearance,

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The noble founder inclosed two parks; one for red, and the other for fallow deer; in the first he planted a fine vineyard, which was in existence when Charles I. was conveyed here a prisoner to the army.

James, the fifth earl, suffered the house to fall into de cay; but the late earl restored it to its pristine magnificence, after the designs by Mr. Donowell. The park and plantations, which are watered by the Lea, exhibit all the beautiful scenery of modern gardening.

In this house are several fine paintings; among which are a portrait of queen Elizabeth, having in one hand this flattering motto, "Non sine sole iris;" and a portrait of Petrarch's Laura, on which is this inscription: "Laura fui: viridem, Raphael fecit, atque Petrarcha." The principal portraits are the lord treasurer Burleigh, and his son Sir Robert Cecil; William, second earl of Salisbury; lord viscount Cranbourn; James, third earl, all by LELY; James, fourth earl, KNELLER; lady Latimer, LELY; Algernon, earl of Northumberland, and his lady, VANDYCK; Mary,

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queen of Scots; Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester; Richard III.; Margaret, countess of Richmond, mother of Henry VII.; Henry VI.; Catharine de Cornara, queen of Cyprus; a very curious painting on board of Henry VIII. and queen Anna Boleyn, at a wake, near London.

The church, dedicated to St. Ethelreda, is a rectory in the patronage of the marquis of Salisbury: the building is in the form of a cross, having a chapel joined to the chancel. On the west is a tower, with a low spire.

In the chancel are monuments and incriptions for Sir Francis Boteler, of Woodhall, descended from the Botelers, barons of Oversley, Wem, and Sudely; he died 1690; and another for his lady Elizabeth, 1668; Sir Henry Goodyer, 1629; Sir Joseph Jordan, 1685; Dr. Richard Lee, rector, 1684; others for Sir John Brocket, and his lady, and his mother-in-law the lady Saunders, wife of lord chief baron Saunders. In the chapel is a fair marble monument, exhibiting a skeleton, with the treasurer's staff in his hand, for Robert Cecil, first earl of Salisbury.

Hatfield has several almshouses for paupers; and the po pulation under the late act, amounted to two thousand four hundred and forty-two, inhabiting four hundred and cightytwo houses.

TOTTERIDGE, though situated near Barnet, is an hamlet belonging to this parish; it is so called from its situation upon the ridge of an hill. It is not mentioned in Domesday Book, and therefore is thought to have been waste ground, and so passed with the manor to the monks of Ely, and to the bishopric, from which they were alienated to the crown, in consideration of an annuity of 1500l. per annum, to be paid out of the Exchequer to the bishops of that see for

over.

The tithes of the village are paid to the rector of Hatfield, who is obliged to find a curate to supply the cure constantly; yet ever since the forty-third year of queen Elizabeth, when the statute was made for the relief of the poor, it has been reputed a distinct parish, and the inha

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bitants chuse constables. The churchwardens and overseers of the poor, neither pay to church or poor at Hatfield.

The church or chapel is situate in the middle of the village, and contains a nave and tower of wood at the west end. There are in the church several memorials for the dead; but none of particular interest.

Having gone so far out of the road, we return through Hatfield to WHETHAMPSTEAD, three miles from Welwyn. The manor was part of the possessions of king Edward the Confessor, for furnishing a portion of the provision for the royal table; but afterwards given by that monarch towards the support of his abbey of Westminster. At the dissolution of the abbey it became vested in the dean and chapter, who still possess it. The church is said to be the oldest in the county, except St. Alban's; the clerk's desk is said to be part of the antient rood at this place. There are several memorials for the dead; the most particular is in the north transept; it consists of an handsome alabaster monument, with the figures of a knight and his lady; the inscription is as follows:

"Here lieth the body of the virtuous lady Dame ELIZABETH GARRARD, late wife of Sir John Garrard, knt. and bart. one of the deputy lieutenants of this county, son of Sir John Garrard, and grandchild of Sir William Garrard, knights, both of them sometime lord mayors of the city of London, whose ancestors lie buried in the parish church of Sittingbourn, in Kent, but themselves in the parish church of St. Magnes, in London. She was the eldest daughter of Sir Edward Barkham, knt. lord mayor of the city of London. She was born 1611, died 1632."

This place gave birth to John Bostock, or de Whethampsted, a learned and munificent abbot of St. Alban's, in the reign of Henry VI. Here also the barons assembled in 1311 against Edward II. and refused the pacific interven

tion of two nuncios from the pope.

REDBURNE, stands near the Watling Street, and on the road towards Dunstable, and owes its chief support to its conveniencies for travellers.

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Egelwine the Black, and Wincelled his wife, with the consent of Edward the Confessor, and Editha his queen, gave this manor to the monastery of St. Alban's; but William the Conqueror being offended with Frederick the abbot, for hindering his march to London, took away this manor from the abbey, and all other its lands between Barnet and London Stone; but after Frederick's death, Paul, a monk of Caen in Normandy, succeeded, and by the help of Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, obtained the restitution of Redburne, and all other its revenues and lands; so that in Domesday Book it is recorded, "That the abbot of St. Alban's held seven hides, and one virgate of land in Redborn," which grant Henry I. confirmed; and gave the church for the cloathing of the monks, which gift king John ratified; but it was much defaced afterwards by the French, when they went to relieve the castle of Mount Sorrel in Leicestershire, then besieged by William Ma-rischal.

Antiently this place was famous for the relics of St. Amphibalus, who had converted many in divers parts of Britain, and coming to Verulam, made a convert of St. Alban, and lodged' with him till he was forced to abscond, under the persecution of Dioclesian, when St. Alban was martyred. He wandered into divers places; he was at last made bishop of Anglesea, in which he testified great zeal against the idols of the Welsh; being apprehended, he was brought to Verulam, and martyred in the same place, where St. Alban had before suffered; but the Christians seeing his body lying neglected, took it, and buried it in this place, where much veneration was paid to it, till it was removed and enshrined with St. Alban's at Verulam in 1178. He was a linguist, and great divine for those remote times. He wrote a book against the Errors of the Gentiles, some Homilies upon the Evangelists, and other learned works mentioned by Bale. This town is at present most remarkable for the old military highway, called Watling Street, upon which it is seated, and for a certain brook near it, called Wenmer, or Womer, which, according to popular superstition,

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superstition, never swells higher than usual, but it foretells a scarcity of corn, or some approaching troublesome times, The manor of this town continued in the abbot till the Dissolution, when it passed it the crown, and still remains in it.

There is a small manor in this town, called AIGNELLS, SO termed from John de Aignel, its lord in the reign of Ed ward II. John de Whethamsted, in the reign of Ed ward IV. purchased it for the use of the monastery of St. Alban's; which possessed it till the suppression, when it was conveyed by king Henry VIII. to the families of Rowlatt, Cox, Bisouth, and King, from whom it passed to lord viscount Grimston, in the same manner as Gorhambury.

Here was a cell of Benedictines, subordinate to the abbey of St. Alban's, dedicated to St. Amphibalus,

The church is a vicarage, the great tithes being appro priated to the abbey, which, after the Dissolution, was given to Sir Ralph Rowlatt, and are since vested in the heirs of Sir Harbottle Grimston, who bought them of Sir Francis Bacon, viscount Verulam. The building was erected by John Whethamsted, and situated near the town. It was in the patronage of the heirs of Sir Harbottle Grimston, bart. and now in that of lord Grimston. Philip Lea, vicar of this parish, was ejected for his loyalty in 1642, and his living by sequestration *.

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GORHAMBURY, about two miles west of St. Alban's, is the seat of lord viscount Grimstone, and formerly belonging to the abbey; it took its present name from Robert de Gorham, the eighteenth abbot, a Norman, In 1540, Henry VIII. made a grant of the manor to Sir Ralph Row.

* Mr. Camden is of opinion, that Duro-cobrivæ, a station, which Antoninus, in his Itinerary, mentions, must be hereabout; for he says, Dur coch, in the British or Welsh tongue, signifies the same as Redborn, and Briva, a bridge or passage over a river; and this conjecture is confirmed by the name of a small stream running by it, which below St. Alban's is called Col. The distance from Verulam, however, doth not answer, for Antoninus says that it was twelve miles, whereas Redbourne is but seven.

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