In this Church, almost hidden among the pews, is an ancient tomb in good preservation, with brass figures of a Knight and his Lady on the top; and beneath their feet this inscription: Robert Albyn gist icy Et Margrete sa femme oubike luy The Knight is in plate armour, with a gorget of mail, and represented as standing on a lion: the head of the Lady rests upon a cushion; at her feet is a dog: she has on a square head-dress, and a long cloak, fastened across the shoulders with broaches, from which a knotted cord and tassel descends to the feet. The Market-House is a plain edifice of wood: the Shambles, near it, form a neat range of brick building. The charitable donations are not numerous; the principal one was made by Mr. Thomas Warren, who by will, dated December 2, 1796, gave 12001. stock, in the three per cent. consolidated bank annuities, in trust; the dividends to be applied to support fifty poor widows, by distributing 71. 10s. year to each, on the third of January; and to the establishment of two Free Schools, one for thirteen boys, and the other for fifteen girls. Great quantities of corn are annually sold in this town; and its contiguity to the Grand Junction Canal, has already had a beneficial effect on its trade. The population of Hemel-Hemsted, as ascertained under the late act, amounted to 2722; the number of houses to 497. HEMSTED-BURY," or the Bury House, at the bottom of the town, is a neat modern building, now the property of Hilton, Esq. a descendant from the ancient and noble family of Hilton, of Hilton Castle, in the Bishopric of Durham. The grounds are not extensive; and though somewhat formally laid out, are pleasant. A small part of the old Bury-sted, or mansion, in which Henry the Eighth was entertained by John Waterhouse, Esq. is yet standing on one side of the garden. This estate was the pro perty Many of the Manor Houses in this county are distinguished by the name of Bury, connected with that of the town or manor to which they are adjacent. perty of the late Earl of Marchmont; and has had many possessors during the two last centuries. It includes the whole of the town of Hemel-Hemsted; though its extent is not more than thirty-four acres and a half. BERKHAMSTED, BERKHAMSTED ST. PETER's, OR BERKHAMPSTEAD, as it is generally, though corruptly, spelt, is most probably of Saxon, origin, as the name implies; though some writers have referred it to a still more distant era. "The Saxons in old time," says Norden, "called this town Berghamstedt, because it was seated among the hills; for Berg signified a hill; Ham, a town; and Stedt, a seat; all which was very proper for the situation hereof." Chauncy, on the authority of Spelman, has affirmed, that a great Council of all the prelates and military men, was held here by Withred, King of Kent, in the year 697; yet this appears to be a mistake, that council having really assembled at Bursted, near Maidstone.* The King of Mercia had a Palace or Castle here; and the town, which seems to have grown up under its protection, had attained sufficient importance at the time of the Conquest, to be appointed as the place of meeting between the Norman Sovereign and the chiefs of the confederacy formed against his power, and headed by Abbot Fretheric, of St. Alban's. Soon afterwards, the King, in direct violation of the oaths which he had then taken, seized the possessions of the English, and divided them among his own followers. Berkhamsted was given to Robert, Earl of Mortaigne, his half-brother, and is stated in the Domesday Book, to be rated for thirteen hides. "In the Borough of this Vill," continues that invaluable record, "are two-and-fifty burgesses, who pay four pounds a year for toll, and they have half a hide, and two shillings rent by the year: there are two arpends of vineyard; meadow, eight carucates, common of pasture for the cattle of the vill: wood to feed a thousand hogs; and five shillings rent by the year. Its whole value is sixI 3 teen Gough's Camden, Vol. I. p. 349. + See before, p. 38 teen pounds. When he (the Earl) received it, its value was twenty pounds; and in the time of King Edward, twenty-four pounds. Edmar, a thane of Earl Harold, held this manor.” The Castle erected by the Saxons was enlarged, and strengthened, and fortified with additional outworks, by the Earl of Mortaigne; but in the time of his son and successor, William, who had rebelled against Henry the First, it was seized, with all his other possessions in England, and, according to the authority of most of those who have written on the subject, razed to the ground" by the King's orders. It is extremely probable, however, that the demolition was only a partial one, and that the Castle was again fitted up as a Royal residence, either in the time of Stephen, or very early in the reign of Henry the Second; as the latter kept his court at Berkhamsted, when he granted the Church of Havering, in Essex, to the monks of St. Bernard de Monte Jovis, to find firing for the poor. This Monarch also granted many valuable and independent privileges to the "Men and Merchants of the Honour of Wallingford, and Berkhamsted St. Peter's;" and, among others, that they should have peace through all his land of England and Normandy; with liberty to trade and sell their merchandize through all parts of those kingdoms, and Aquitain, and Anjou, without paying either custom, or exaction; that they should be quit of all servile works; be exempt from all tolls; and enjoy the same liberties, laws, and customs, as in the time of Edward the Confessor; and that no market should be held within seven miles of the town." The Castle and Honour of Berkhamsted continued in the Crown till the seventh of King John, who granted them to Jeoffrey FitzPiers, Earl of Essex, "with the knight's fee thereunto belonging," in fee-farm for 1001. per annum. On his death, in 1213, they seem to have reverted to the Crown; or were, perhaps, seized by the King in the confusion of the Barons' wars. About three years afterwards, anno 1216, 17, the Castle was besieged by Lewis, the Dauphin *Dug. Mon. Angl. Vol. II. p. 420. + Chauncy's Hertfordshire, p. 572.. Dauphin of France, in conjunction with those of the English Nobility, whom the tyranny of John had induced to have recourse to foreign assistance. During this investment, the garrison, taking advantage of the negligence of the besiegers, made two successful sallies on the same day, returning to the Castle with divers chariots, arms, and provisions, and the banner of William de Magnaville; but after a siege of some continuance, they at length surrendered, on receiving the King's commands for that purpose. Henry the Third, in the eleventh of his reign, granted the Earldom of Cornwall, together with the Honour and Castle of Berkhamsted, to Richard, his younger brother, afterwards King of the Romans, in reward for his services at the siege of the Castle of Riole, in France; but disagreeing with him soon afterwards, he again seized the Castle into his own hands. The interposition of the Earls of Pembroke and Chester, occasioned its restoration to the Earl of Cornwall; who afterwards married Isabel, dowager of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Glocester, and sister to the Earl of Pembroke: this lady died in childbed, at Berkhamsted Castle, in 1239. In the year 1244, the Earl again married to Senchia, sister to the Queen, and daughter to Raymond, Earl of Provence, whom he endowed at the church door (at Westminster) with a third part of all the lands which he then possessed, or should af terwards acquire. In the ensuing year, the King granted him an annual fair, of eight days continuance, for his manor of Berkhamsted; and here, after a long illness, as appears from Matthew Paris, he died, on the fourth of the nones of April, 1272. Edmund, his only surviving son, by Senchia, his third wife, succeeded to his estates and titles; and in his time it was found by inquisition, taken at Berkhamsted, in the twenty-eighth of Edward the First, that there were four knights' fees held of this Honour; and also that there were then twelve burgesses within the borough of Berkhamsted, together with fifty-two free tenants, and twenty-two tenants by serjeancy. This Earl founded the College of Bon-Hommes, at Ashridge, or Asherugg, in Buckinghamshire, where he died with out issue, in the calends of October, 1300, I 4 The *Dug. Bar. Vol. I. P. 211. The Honour and Castle of Berkhamsted, with the Earldom of Cornwall, having thus reverted to the Crown, were, in the first of Edward the First, granted to Piers Gaveston, on his marriage with Margaret, daughter of Joan of Acres, the King's sister, which appears to have been solemnized at the Castle. The haughty conduct, and upstart insolence, of this Nobleman, having led to his death by violence, his titles and possessions again devolved to the Crown; and in the second of Edward the Third, John of Eltham, next brother to the King, was advanced to the Earldom of Cornwall: two years afterwards he had a grant of the Honour, Castle, and Town of Berkhamsted, with other manors, to the value of 2000 marks per annum: but dying without issue, in 1336, his estates were granted, by the King, to Edward the Black Prince, together with the Dukedom of Cornwall, to "be held by him and his heirs, and the eldest sons of the heirs of the Kings of England." Richard the Second, son of the Black Prince, occasionally resided at Berkhamsted Castle; and afterwards gave permission to Robert de Vere, Marquis of Dublin, to live in it; giving him li berty, also, to supply himself with wood and fuel out of the woods and park. In 1450, Henry of Monmouth, afterwards Henry the Fifth, was possessed of the Castle, Honour, and Town of Berkhamsted; and from him they regularly passed to Henry of Windsor, afterwards Henry the Sixth; and to his son, Henry of Westminster. On the accession of the House of York, the Stewardship of this Castle and Lordship was given, by Edward the Fourth, to John, Lord Wenlock; and the Castle became the residence of Cicely, daughter of Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmoreland, and Duchess of York, the King's mother; who died here in the eleventh of Henry the Seventh, anno 1496. Since that period, the Castle and Honour of Berkhamsted have descended from the Crown, to the successive Princes of Wales, as heirs apparent to the Throne, and possessors of the Dukedom of Cornwall under the grant of Edward the Third, In the second of Queen Elizabeth, the site, circuit, and precinct, of the Castle, were demised for a term of years, by that Sovereign, to |