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their Brasses; together with an inscription for JOHN CROWCH, Esq. Lord of this Manor, and of Corny-bury, in the time of Elizabeth, who died in the year 1605; and another for Dr. W. Slatholm, author of the book De Febribus.

BUNTINGFORD

Is a small market-town, erected at the junction of Layston, Aspenden, Throcking, and Widdial, and on land formerly belonging to them all. It is situated near the little river Rib, and immediately on the high road to Huntingdon, which occasions it to be a place of some trade. The first mention of Buntingford that occurs, is in the time of Edward the Third, who granted a market and fair here to Elizabeth de Burgo, at the annual rent of sixpence. The market-day was afterwards altered by another grant from the same King; and it was again altered by Henry the Eighth, in favor of the Lord Chancellor Audley, who was empowered to appoint two men to govern the markets and fairs, under the direction of six others, inhabitants of the town; the profits to be employed for the good of the town, at the discretion of the Lord. The Chapel at Buntingford was built, by voluntary subscription, during the years 1614 and 1621, under the superintendance of the Rev. Alexander Strange, who was Vicar of Layston fortysix years, and lies buried in his own structure. Near it is an Almshouse for four poor men, and as many women, founded and endowed in the year 1684, by DR. SETH WARD, Bishop of Salisbury, who was a native of this town. He also founded four scholarships, in Jesus College, Cambridge, for boys born in this county, and educated in the Grammar School at Buntingford; giving the preference to natives of this and the adjoining parishes.

This benevolent prelate was born in the year 1617; and having been taught the early rudiments of learning in the Grammar School of his native town, was removed to Sydney College, Cambridge, of which he was afterwards chosen Fellow. In the time of the Civil Wars, he was imprisoned for his opposition to the ruling powers; but, after the Restoration, he was promoted to the See of Exeter. He

was afterwards made Chancellor of the Order of the Garter, and by his influence occasioned that office to be annexed to the See of Salisbury, to which he was translated in 1667. He died in January, 1688, and was buried in Salisbury Cathedral.

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The Manor of WIDDIAL, called Widehale in the Domesday Book, was granted by the Conqueror to Hardwyn d'Escalers, who is thought to have had his residence here. In his posterity it continued till the marriage of Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas de Scales, with Anthony Widville, afterwards Earl Rivers, whose possessions being seized by Richard the Third, after the decapitation of the Earl, at Pontefract, Widdial continued in the Crown, till Henry the Eighth granted it to George Canon, and John Gill, his son-in-law, who had afterwards possession of the whole manor. His grandson, also named John, was Sheriff of Herts in the seventeenth of Elizabeth; and was succeeded by George, his son, who was knighted in the first of James the First. He sold this estate to John Goulston, Esq. a Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas, from whose descendants it was purchased by the late Brabazon Ellis, Esq. He sold it to his father-in-law, John Hecton, Esq. of Bedfords, in Essex; but it is now, or was lately, the seat of Thomas Calvert, Esq. In Widdial Church are various monuments, in a chapel which runs the whole length of the north side, of the Gill and Goulston families, together with an inscription in memory of GEORGE CANON, Gent. who built the chapel in the reign of Henry the Eighth. On a Brass in the Chancel is the effigies of DAME MARGARET, only daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Nevil, Knt. and wife to Sir Robert Southwell, Knt. Master of the Rolls: she died in December, 1575, at the age of fifty-five. The windows of the Chapel have been ornamented with painted glass in a very superior style, representing various events in the History of Our Saviour: some of the subjects are yet perfect.

At THROCKING was formerly a seat of the Soames, Baronets, now demolished. Sir Thomas Soame, Bart. lies buried in the Church. The estate belongs to the family of Elwes of Roxby, in Lincolnshire, who inclosed the Park here. The Rector of ThrockVOL. VII. MARCH, 1806. N

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ing has no house, nor any land, in the parish, except the Church yard; a circumstance almost unparalleled.

ASPENDEN, or ASPEDEN, called Absesdene in the Domesday Book, was granted by the Conqueror to Eudo Dapifer. In the time of Edward the First it belonged to John de Wengham, Precentor of St. Paul's, and continued in his family till the time of Edward the Fourth, when it passed to Sir Ralph Jocelyn, by his marriage with Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of William Berkley. Sir Ralph was twice Lord Mayor of London; and was made Knight of the Bath at the Coronation of Elizabeth Gray, Edward the Fourth's Queen. He died in 1478; and his wife surviving him, married, secondly, Sir Robert Clifford, third son of Lord Clifford, who had this manor in her right. Being implicated in the conspiracy for asserting the rights of Perkin Warbeck, he was arrested; but obtained his pardon by making known the particulars of the plot. Salmon supposes his estate to have been restored to him only for his life, as in the next reign, Aspenden was held by the Crown; and was finally granted, by Edward the Sixth, to John Philpot, Esq. on a fee-farm rent of 281. annually. He sold it to Sir Ralph Sadleir, of Standon, whose son, Sir Thomas, again sold it to William and Ralph Freman, brothers and merchants, of London, who made the Manor-House their place of residence. Ralph, son of William, died possessed of it in 1665: William, his grandson, left, by Catherine, his wife, (sister and heiress to Sir Henry Pope Blount,) an only daughter and heiress, named Catherine, who married the Hon. Charles Yorke, son of the first Lord Hardwick, and father of the present Lord: by this marriage most of the family estates came into the Yorke family; but Aspenden had been previously sold to the Duke of Buccleugh, and afterwards to the Bolderos: Charles Boldero, Esq., who resides at ASPEDEN HALL, is now owner.

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In the Hall Park is the village Church, a small fabric, dedicated to St. Mary, and containing various monuments and inscriptions memory of the Fremans. Here also is a handsome monument in memory of SYR ROBERT CLYFFORD, late Kynght for the Body to the most excellent Prince, Kyng HENRI the vii, and Master of his Ordinaunce.' He died on the fifteenth of March,

in the twenty-third of the above Sovereign. The slab which covers the tomb is inlaid with curious Brass figures of the Knight and bis Lady in attitudes of prayer. In the chancel window was the portrait and arms of Sir Ralph Jocelyn, who has been mentioned as an owner of this manor. The former has been removed; but an engraving from it was published in the year 1796. In the Churchyard is a memorial for JOHN and MARTHA WARD, the parents of Seth Ward, Bishop of Salisbury.

BENNINGTON, called Belintone in the Domesday Book, was a seat of the Mercian Sovereigns; and here, according to Spelman, a great Council of nobility and prelates was assembled about the year 850, under King Bertulph, who, on the complaint of Askill, a Monk of Croyland, of the great devastations committed on the property of that Monastery by the Danes, granted the Monks a new charter of divers 'splendid liberties,' and several extensive nanors. In the time of Edward the Confessor, it was held by Almer, surnamed De Belintone; but after the Conquest, it became the property of Peter de Voloines, as appears from the Domesday Book, which also states, that here was a Priest, and a park of deer; Parcus silvatican bestiarum.

Robert de Valoines, grandson of Peter, left a daughter and heiress, married to Robert Fitz-Walter, who by her had two daughters, the eldest of whom married William de Magnaville, Earl of Essex, but died without issue: the youngest had three daughters; Lora, the second of whom, married Henry de Baliol, and had is sue a son, Alexander de Baliol, who, in the thirteenth of Edward the First, conveyed this manor to John de Benstede; and the grant was confirmed by the King in the following year. In the thirty-third of the same Sovereign, a charter of a weekly market, and a fair annually, was granted to him for this manor; but the former has long fallen into disuse. This John de Benstede was made a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, in the third of Edward

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In a quarto pamphlet, intituled, A Survey of the present State of Aspeden Church, Herts.' Copies of all the inscriptions for the Fremans in the Church are inserted in this publication.

'ward the Second; and Dugdale has enumerated him among the Barons of England; yet as he had summons to Parliament only in one year, and as in that year the Judges and King's Counsel are promiscuously named among the Barons, it may be presumed that he was not summoned as a Peer. In his family this manor continued during several generations; but early in the reign of Henry the Seventh, it was sold to Sir William Say, Knt. who had considerable possessions in this county, and in Essex.

Sir William Say had two daughters; Elizabeth, married to William, Lord Montjoy; and Mary, married to Henry Bouchier, Earl of Essex: the former had issue, a daughter, Gertrude; after whose decease this manor, by settlement, devolved on Anne, the only daughter of her aunt by the Earl of Essex. This lady conveyed it in marriage, with other estates, to Sir William Parre, Lord Parre, of Kendal, who was afterwards created Earl of Essex; though his children, by the Lady Anne, had, in the preceding year, been bastardized by the Parliament. In the first of Edward the Sixth, he was advanced to the dignity of Marquis of Northampton; and in the fourth of the same Monarch, made Great Chamberlain of England. The year following, he married Elizabeth, daughter to George, Lord Cobham; and then procured a special Act of Parliament to disannul his former marriage, and to ratify this, as well as to legitimate the children which he might have by his second wife. After the death of Edward the Sixth, he supported the claims of the Lady Jane Grey; for which he was afterwards arraigned, and condemned to die; but he was respited by the Queen, and restored in blood before the end of the same year. His estates, however, were not restored; and in the third and fourth of Philip and Mary, Bennington, and others of his manors, were granted, for forty years, in trust, for Anne, Viscountess Bouchier, and Lady Lovaine, provided the late Marquis, Sir William Parre, should live so long. In the twelfth of Elizabeth, that Sovereign granted the reversion of this manor to Walter, Viscount Hereford, to hold in soccage under a yearly rent of 441.-4s. 2d. This nobleman, who was descended from Cicely,. sister and heiress of Henry Bouchier, Earl of Essex, was two years

afterwards

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