ceived his honor of knighthood from James the First. He built the Manor-House here; and in his descendants the estate continued till the death of Sir Thomas Brograve, Bart. the third of his family who bore the title, in the year 1707. It was afterwards sold, under an order of the Court of Chancery, to Ralph Freman, Esq. of Aspeden, who greatly improved the house and grounds, and considerably enlarged the park. From him it descended, by the marriage of an heiress, to the present Earl of Hardwick, who sold it to the late John Mellish, Esq. The grounds are laid out with much taste, and display some very beautiful landscapes. BRAUGHING, called Brachinges in the Domesday Book, was ancient demesne of the Saxon Kings, and was given by the Conqueror to Earl Eustace; but on his rebellion in the next reign, it was seized by William Rufus; and afterwards remained in the Crown till the time of King Stephen, who granted lands here, of the yearly value of 100s. to the Church of the Holy Trinity, in London, in perpetual alms. This grant was confirmed by the Empress Maud, who bestowed the remainder of the manor on the same foundation; and it continued attached to it till the period of the Dissolution, when Henry the Eighth granted it to the Lord Chancellor Audley; but it has since passed through a variety of families. The weekly market, which had been granted to the Canons of the Holy Trinity by Stephen, has been long disused. The Church at Braughing is a handsome building, consisting of a nave, chancel, and aisles; with a Chapel, now divided into a School-room, and Vestry, on the north side of the chancel. This Chapel was erected by Simeon Brograve, Esq. son and heir of Sir John Brograve, Knt. of Hamells, as a family burial-place; aud round it, on the inside, is this inscription: Hæc Capella fuit ex tructa "Near the Church-yard, (says Salmon, Hist. of Herts. p. 232,) is an old House, at present the habitation of poor families: it was given, with all sorts of furniture, for the use of weddings. They carried their provisions, and had a large kitchen, with a caldron, large spits, and dripping-pan; a large room for entertainment and merriment; and a lodging-room, with bride bed, and good linen: some of this furniture was lately in being." tructa propriis sumptibus SIMEONIS BROGRAVE, Arm. Domini Manerii de HAMELLS, in locum Sepulturæ pro mortuis dicta Domus et per Dominum dicti Manerii sustinenda perpetuoque reparanda. Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto. In this Chapel, many of the Brograces lie buried. Various memorials for other families appear in different parts of the Church. Salmon supposes Braughing to have been the Casaromagus of the Itinerary, but on very insufficient grounds, and he has not been supported by other authorities. His strongest argument is deduced from an ancient Encampment, traces of which may be distinguished to the south of the village, on a rising ground above the confluence of the Rib and the Quin. Not any discoveries, however, have been made here to justify his supposition of its ever having been occupied by the Romans. ALBURY, called Eldeberie in the Domesday Book, was in the time of the Conqueror the property of the Bishops of London; but in Henry the Second's reign, Hugh de Bokeland was Lord here, who obtained his surname from the Manor of Bokeland in this Hundred. William de Bokeland, his son, who was Sheriff of Cornwall in the latter end of Henry the Second's reign, left three daughters, co-heiresses, the youngest of whom married Robert de Ferrariis. In the next reign it was in the possession of the Baard family; and the daughter and heiress of Sir John Baard conveyed it in marriage to John De la Lee, whose son, Geoffrey, represented Herts in several Parliaments during the reigns of Edward the Second and Third. Sir Walter, his grandson, who was Lord also of Furneux Pelliam, left three sisters, co-heiresses. Joan, his second sister, married John Barley, Esq. several of whose descendants were Sheriffs of this county; and the last of whom, William, died in the seventh of Elizabeth, leaving two daughters, by his wife Joyce, daughter of John Perient, Esq. of Digswell. Dorothy, the elder, by a second marriage, conveyed Albury to the Leventhorps, on whose death it became divided among his four daughters, coheiresses; and afterwards descended in moieties through different families, till it was purchased by the Calverts. ALBURY HALL was, in the time of Charles the Second, the residence of the learned It Sir Edward Atkins, who was made Chief Baron of the Exchequer in the year 1686, and had purchased a moiety of the manor. is now the seat of Nicholson Calvert, Esq. one of the Members for the Borough of Hertford. The Church at Albury is dedicated to St. Mary, and contains some ancient inscriptions and monuments of the Lords of the Manor. In the nave is an ancient tomb, on which are the effigies of a Knight in armour, and his Lady: the latter lies on the right, a circumstance that induced Salmon to conjecture that this monument was erected in memory of John de la Lee, and his wife, the heiress of the Baards; it having been occasionally the practice, in sepulchral memorials, to give the lady the right hand, when an heiress. LITTLE HADHAM, or HADHAM PARYA, anciently belonged to the See of London; and it still pays Castle Guard to Stortford.* In the reign of Henry the Third, it belonged to Sir William de Baud, whose grandfather, Sir Nicholas, was a commander against the Saracens in the Holy Land. This Sir William was the person who granted a fat buck and doe annually to the Dean and Canons of St. Paul's, for liberty to enlarge his park with twenty-two acres of their lands, adjoining to his seat at Corringham, in Essex. In his family, many of whom were Sheriffs of Herts and Essex, this manor continued till the year 1505, when Thomas Baud, Esq. conveyed it by indenture to Sir Thomas Darcy, Knt. Lord Darcy, and his heirs. Lord Darcy again conveyed it, with all its appurtenances, to Sir William Capel, in the twentieth of Henry the Seventh; and his descendant, the Earl of Essex, is now owner. In the Church are inscriptions for ARTHUR, LORD CAPEL, Baron of Hadham, who was beheaded, for his loyalty to Charles the First, on the ninth of March, 1648; ELIZABETH, his wife, only daughter of Sir Charles Morison, Knt. who died January the twenty-sixth, 1660; and HENRY CAPEL, third son of Lord VOL. VII. MARCH, 1806. Arthur, **Salmon's Herts, p. 279. + For an account of the curious ceremony with which these animals were received by the Dean and Canons, see Vol. V. p. 486. Arthur, Knight of the Bath, and Lord Deputy of Ireland in the time of William the Third, who died at Dublin, May the thirtieth, 1696, aged fifty-eight. Several ancient slabs for the Baud family, but mostly deprived of their brasses and inscriptions, are also remaining here. At the time of the Domesday Survey, the Manor of STANDON was held by Rothais, wife of Richard de Tonebruge, in whose family, the Clares, Earls of Hertford, it continued till the reign of Edward the Second, when it was conveyed in marriage by Elizabeth, a daughter and co-heiress of Gilbert de Clare, to Roger d'Amory, who procured a charter of free-warren for this manor, and had summons to Parliament, from the eleventh to the fourteenth of the above Sovereign. Elizabeth, grand-daughter and heiress to Elizabeth d'Amory, by her son William de Burgh, (the issue of a first marriage with John de Burgh, son and heir of the Earl of Ulster,) married Lionel, Duke of Clarence, third son of Edward the Third, who procured the grant of a market weekly, and a three days fair, for this manor. Philippa, their daughter, married Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March; and their grand-daughter, Ann, married Richard of York, whose grand-son, Edward, was the successful claimant for the Throne against Henry the Sixth. After his accession, Standon remained vested in the Crown till it was given by Henry the Eighth to Ralph Sadleir, Esq. This gentleman was a native of Hackney, in Middlesex; and having been educated under Cromwell, Earl of Essex, he became his Secretary; and while in this situation, attracted the notice of the King, by his knowledge and assiduity in state affairs. Henry received him into his own service in the twenty-sixth of his reign; and, within four years afterwards, he was appointed a principal Secretary of State, and employed on different negociations with the Scottish court. Henry made him one of the executors to his will; and soon after the accession of Edward the Sixth, he was knighted. In the same year, 1547, he accompanied the Protector, Somerset, to Scotland, as Treasurer for the army; and was present at the decisive battle of Musselburgh, fought on September the tenth: in this battle his bravery was so eminently conspicuous, and tended so much towards the success of the day, that he was constituted a Knight Banneret on the field, together with Sir Francis Bryan, and Sir Ralph Vane.* The banner of the King of Scots was taken by Sir Ralph Sadleir in this battle; and, after his death, was placed near his monument in Standon Church, where the pole of it still remains. After the accession of Queen Mary, he resigned his employments, and retired to this estate, where he rebuilt the Manor-House on the site of the former one. In the reign of Elizabeth, he was again very actively employed in state affairs, and was a member of all the committees of Parliament for the trial of the Queen of Scots. He died in his mansion at Standon, in March, 1587, having represented this county in various Parliaments, from the thirty-third of Henry the Eighth, to the twenty-eighth of Elizabeth; leaving three sons, and four daughters. Sir Thomas, his eldest son, and successor, was Sheriff of Herts in the thirty-seventh of Elizabeth; and had the honor of entertaining James the First at Standon for two nights, during his progress from Scotland to London. He died in 1606, and was succeeded by his son Ralph, who married Ann, daughter of the Lord Chief Justice, Sir Edward Coke, but had no issue: indeed, the tradition of the place represents him as never having consummated the wedding, though he lived upwards of fifty-nine years with his wife, in good correspondence, and in the same house. On his death, Gertrude, his sister, succeeded him in the possession of Standon: she was married to Sir Walter Aston, Bart. who was ambassador at the Court of Spain in the time of James the First; and, on his return, was created Baron Forfar, of the Kingdom of Scotland. Walter, Lord Aston, his second son and heir, married Mary, daughter of the Lord Treasurer Weston: he obtained a new grant for a Friday market at Standon, and two fairs annually; but these have been long disused. The co-heiresses of the last Lord Aston, sold the estate and manor, between twenty and thirty years ago, to William Plumer, Esq. one of the present representatives for this county. The ancient mansion of the Sadleirs is now a very fine 0 2 This was the last creation of Knights Bannerets in England. ruin, |