S.A.L.H.S website: www.salhs.org.uk Stanstead Abbotts Local History Society Issue 15 Hidden Editor—Terry Collins July 2015

Our May speaker, following the Next we were shown some of the twelve erected to mark the path of AGM, was Anne Marie Parker with lesser known places where these the body of Queen Eleanor, wife of her thoroughly enjoyable talk on roads take us. To Royston caves for Edward I, on its journey from Lin- the subject of ‘Hidden Hertford- instance. This ‘cave’ below the junc- coln to Avenue. The shire’. tion of Ermine Street and the Icknield original cross was erected between She began by asking what made way was discovered in 1742 by acci- 1290 and 1294 and has been rea- the county so popular through the dent when a workman found a mill- tored three times since 1832. The ages, and the answers were, its stone while digging the foundation of original sculptures have been re- proximity to London, its good a new bench in the Butter Market. It is moved and are now in the Victoria North/South roads, but not so good and Albert Museum. East to West, its rivers like the Lea, Another item we were shown was Ver and Colne.. Although it is the a 19the Century coal post, of which sixth smallest county in area it has there are a number throughout the a population of over one million. It county including Wormley Woods. has no great features but a secret Coal posts were introduced to mark landscape. the area, a radius of 20 miles from Anne mentioned a number of vil- London, inside which a tax on coal lages, some dating from the was payable. They were introduced Domesday book that have been from 1861 but within 30 years they used in films and on calenders, became obsolete. such as Westmill, Aldbury and We took a quick look at the Ashwell. All of the talk was ac- HSBC bank building in Ware, which companied by some excellent pho- on closer examination can be seen to tographs. be two medieval buildings linked Another reason why the county not a natural cave but is man made, together. One of the them was the became popular was the excellent although its original use is not known. White Hart Inn, the original home of road system across the county It may have been a burial chamber, as the Great Bed of Ware and one of which began in the prehistoric era bones and a skull were found in it, or Ware’s 25 inns. with the Icknield Way running be- a secret chapel, possibly used by the House and Estate on the tween Royston and Tring, this was Knights Templar before their dissolu- West of the county has the beautiful followed by the Roman Ermine tion in 1312. It is best known for its countryside of the Chilterns to offer Street running from London to Lin- wall carvings which feature figures of with lots of walking trails with wild- coln., and which at least 4 saints, including St Christo- life including Fallow deer, Red passed through , which by pher and St Catherine. It is not known Kites, and Nightingales. Although the Middle Ages had become a who did these carvings or exactly the house is not open to the public it place of pilgrimage. In the 18th when they were made, although the can be seen from some of the foot- Century a number of Hertfordshire cave predates the Medieval period, but paths and is a Grade 1 listed build- towns had become stopping places they made have been made in the 13th ing and a fine example of neo Goth- on the coaching route between Lon- or 14th century. ic architecture. don and the North. Today of We then moved to After answering questions Anne was course we have the M1,M25 and and the Eleanor Cross. This is one of thanked for an excellent evening. the A1M motorways. only three remaining crosses from the Terry Collins Issue 15 Page 2 St James Church.

The June meeting took place away explanation for the church’s posi- manor, he gave it to Anne Boleyn in from the Parish Hall as members tion is that it is thought there was 1532 and she kept it until her death met at St James for a guided talk by a Roman encampment on the site four years later when it reverted to the Jonathon Trower, who is now the and the church was built there. Crown. High Sheriff of Hertfordshire. We As time passed however and the By 1566 it had been transferred to all gathered inside the church to grew in importance as a Edward Baeshe who was ‘General hear from him the history of this means of transporting goods to Surveyor of the Victuals for the Royal lovely old building. London the village began to grow Navy and Marine Affairs’. The lord- It is believed that there has been ship of the manor remained in the a church on the site since Saxon Baeshe family until 1676, during times, as it is mentioned in the which time the North, or Baeshe Domesday Book of 1086 that chapel, was erected in 1577. It then there was a priest in Stanstead passed to the Fields family until the Abbott, but the present building early nineteenth century when the dates, in part, from the 12th Cen- estate was split up.. The Jocelyn tury. The location of the church family acquired Stansteadbury and has been a matter of speculation the patronage and living for the for a great many years. Legend church was passed eventually to has it that the villagers wanted the W.R.Thomas in 1847. church at the bottom of the hill Thomas Fowell Buxton acquired where their cottages, etc. were lo- in the valley at the foot of the hill, the lordship of the manor together cated, and that is where they began although a few cottages and the with the patronage of the church in to build it. Every morning however manor house, ‘the Bury’ remained 1866. He was a brewer and the family they would find that all their work at the top. By the year 1200 the were part of the Truman Hanbury and for the day had been moved to the monks of Waltham possessed the Buxton group. He was also responsi- top of the hill, where it now stands. lordship of the manor and another ble for the building of St Andrew’s Some blamed the devil for this but religious body, the monks at Mer- church in 1881 and the village school it was also blamed on the monks of ton in Surrey possessed the right to and Parish hall. The Buxton family , as they became provide for and appoint a priest. retain the lordship of the manor but lords of the manor of Stanstead at This position remained until 1531 transferred the patronage of the living about the same time. A more likely when Henry VIII acquired the to the Peache Trustees,in the early part Continued on Page 4 AGM 2015

Our May meeting was the date for their lives in the Great War. anniversaries coming up in the next the SALHS third AGM. In the village we have cleaned the year, from the crowning of King Har- Chairman Ian White got the pro- War Memorial for the anniversary old in 1066 to the battle of the ceedings going with has annual of the outbreak of the war and Somme in 1916. report. He began by reminding the placed a bench in the Meadow in The treasurers report showed that we audience how well the Society was memory of our first secretary Char- had over £4000 in our bank account doing as we were only in our 3rd lie Lovick. and that we had sold over 340 copies year and had a membership in ex- In a more light hearted mood our of Ron Dale’s book. cess of 100, which, when compared Quiz Night raised over £500 for the Special thanks were given to Brian with towns like Hertford and Ware, Society and our Christmas Social Johnson for his splendid work main- whose comparable society had less evening, was livened up by songs taining our ever growing website, and than half that number. from Lynne Heraud and Pat Turner to Terry Collins for his quarterly He mentioned the range of topics and music by Rob and Beth newsletter. that we had covered during the past Gifford, and we hope to repeat Finally all the committee members year, from the Buntingford Line to these at our next Festive party. were re-elected unanimously for an- the men from the village who gave Finally he mentioned the range of other year. Terry Collins Issue 15 Page 3

Markets and Market Towns in Medieval Hertfordshire Our July speaker was Mark Bailey at Ware built by the Earl of Leices- right to hold a market was granted from the University of East Anglia ter. By imposing tolls on many of by the local landowners but the and he began his talk by looking at these bridges money was raised King authorised them. All were the reasons for the rise of markets in which could assist the local econo- granted a market ‘charter’, some of medieval England. my. The use of existing Roman roads which still exist. He said that the rise in commercial- also improved transportation. The Many Hertfordshire towns held isation in England in the 12th and use of waterways as a means of markets and fairs but not Stanstead 13th Centuries between the Domes- Abbotts even though it had 7 bur- day Book and the Black Death led to gesses, but Stanstead St Margaret's a form of industrialisation. The rea- held a weekly market on Thursday sons for this were; and had an annual fair every June. 1. Within Common Law the intro- Other local towns with important duction of Civil Pleas and Litiga- markets included Buntingford, tion Standon, Hertford, Royston and St 2. Courts enabling legal action to be Albans. taken. In most of the towns where they 3. Standardised Weights and were held the markets tended to be Measures. held in an area through which trav- 4. The Rise of Trade Guilds ellers would have to pass. In At the same time agricultural indus- Buntingford for example it was at try improved and transport also be- transport grew when it was realized the junction of both the North- came easier as peasants were able to that it was cheaper than going over- South and the East-West roads. In use horses rather than oxen. land. Standon the area where the market Bridges replaced fords as the By the year 1350 there were over was held can still be seen although means to cross rivers, often built by 2000 weekly markets in England to- now it is more like the village local initiatives, such as the bridge gether with 2500 seasonal fairs. The green. Continued on Page 4

Life’s Little Problems: Where Is Stanstead Abbotts?

Before my legs retired I used to lems is it not? Sometimes such mi- bout, through the Maltings and out often walk down Cappell Lane. nutiae can spoil a simple walk down again into the Lea. Additionally, Usually this was to reach the old Cappell Lane. thanks to earlier gravel workings, Buntingford railway line at the It seems to me that when in the we have three fishing lakes in hump back bridge, when on my Easneye Woods, on crossing over Marsh Lane and a sailing Lake, plus way to one of my favourite walks the Ash to Watersplace Farm and an excellent fishing lake accessed up the Ash valley and around onwards to Widbury Hill, that I am by the Town Mead (the Amwell Easneye. Now, when walking no longer in Stanstead Abbotts once Lake). To cap all this, we also have down Cappell Lane I knew that again. I believe the river Ash tum- the Rye Meads and the RSPB nature somewhere was an invisible divid- bling downhill from Wareside is reserve which is absolutely full of ing line which meant that I had roughly the boundary line. The Sax- water. We are indeed a very watery crossed into Hollycross Road and ons often used rivers for boundary village. Stanstead Abbotts stretches that sooner or later I would actually lines and thus we have the Ash be- beyond Rye House as far as the be in Ware and not Stanstead Ab- tween Stanstead and Ware; the Stort Stort which joins the Lea at Feildes botts. Now I may be weird and I being the boundary line between us Weir and if you have not been to the can concede this point, but I do like and Roydon and also between Hert- weir, it is worth a visit. It is a mas- to know which town or village I am fordshire and Essex; and the Lea terpiece of water engineering. But I in. (By the way I still believe that divides us from St. Margaret,s and still don’t know where Cappell Lane Hollycross Road was meant to be Great Amwell. We are bounded on becomes Hollycross Road! And I Holycross Road as the canons of three sides by rivers with the Mill hate wandering around the village in Waltham Abbey were once the vil- Stream coursing through the village a state of perpetual confusion. lage owners). Life is full of prob- centre under the Red Lion rounda- Ron Dale Issue 15 Page 4 St James Church - Contd. Markets and Market Towns - Contd.

Continued from Page 2 Continued from Page 3 of the 20th century.. The church is Existing towns in England grew in increase in wealth per capita as an now in the hands of the Churches size and there were 4000 new towns age of consumerism entered with Conservation Trust which was set in the country by the end of the 14th the average person able to buy up in 1969 to preserve those Century and as a result the popula- more goods as a result of higher churches no longer needed for wor- tion density increased. All towns wages. And in addition new indus- ship but which are of historical and were subject to a feudal overlord tries began to spring up across the architectural importance. who, in turn, answered to the King. country. At the end of Mr. Trower’s talk There were three types of market At the same time however the he was thanked by Chairman Ian town, Royal Boroughs, the only one number of markets began to con- White for a most enlightening and in Hertfordshire is the county town, tract, by the year 1500 two thirds entertaining evening, and then most Hertford. Secondly there were of the markets founded by 1350 no of us gathered for a glass of re- Mesne boroughs where the lord re- longer existed . Also pockets of freshment outside the church. tained control and ran the markets, urban decay and decline began to Terry Collins e.g. St Albans, and finally Manorial appear. market towns which had no burgess- This is only an abridged version es or urban institutions e.g. Royston. of Mark’s extremely interesting By the year 1340 there were 36 and educational talk, after which market franchises in the county. he was kind enough to answer a The population had increased so that number of questions before being the were 12 taxpayers per square warmly thanked by Chairman Ian mile and more than 20% of the pop- White. Terry Collins ulation lived in towns, the largest in the county being St Albans. Data Protection Act Then came the Black Death in 1348/49 during which 40% of the In accordance with the above act we have population died and did not recover to advise that the Society holds infor- for over two centuries. When the mation on computer in respect of each member. This information is used for sickness finally ended the shortage routine membership purposes only and of workers meant that there was an remains confidential.

Forthcoming events The SALHS Committee May 2014 August Sunday 16th BBQ - Members Only. Hon. President Ron Dale September Friday 11th Julian Grenfell - Hertfordshire’s WW1 Chairman Ian White Poet by HALS Secretary Lynne Heraud Treasurer Glenis Collins October Friday 9th Quiz Night –Tickets £5 available at Sept. Archivist/Historian Ray Dixon meeting or from Terry Collins Archivist/Facebook Andrea Coppen Public Relations Bob Hunt November 13th The Royal Gunpowder Mills by Andrew School Liaison/ Thomas Programme Organiser Janet Dance Newsletter Terry Collins December 11th Christmas Party - Members Only Parish Council Rep Julia Davies Committee Members Linda Gifford January 8th 2016 Hertfordshire: A Landscape History by Gerald Coppen Anne Rowe Website Manager Brian Johnson

Unless stated otherwise all meetings are at the Parish Hall at 7.30pm General enquiries email Members Free. Non Members £2 Tea, Coffee and biscuits included [email protected]