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Esq. late Garter King at Arms, whose third son, the Rev. William Brown, cousin-german to Henry Brown, Esq. of North Mims, is

now owner.

BROOKMANS, in the Parish of North Mims, was formerly the property of the Great Lord Somers, from whom it passed to the descendants of his eldest sister, who married Charles Cocks, Esq. whose family have been since advanced to the peerage. It now belongs to S. R. Gaussen, Esq. The House is a respectable building, standing in a pleasant Park.

GOBIONS, another estate in North Mims Parish, had its name from the ancient family of Gobion, of whom Sir Richard Gobion, Knt. was seated here in the time of King Stephen. In Henry the Seventh's time, it was the property of Sir John More, father of the illustrious Sir Thomas More, whose family had possessed it for several generations, and who settled it in jointure upon his second wife, of the same name as himself. It was afterwards seized, with the other estates of Sir Thomas More, by Henry the Eighth, and was settled on the Princess Elizabeth, who retained it till her death, after which it was again the property of the Mores; but has since passed through various hands, by purchase and otherwise: it was lately the property of John Hunter, Esq. who acquired considerable affluence in the East Indies, and was a Director of the East India Company. The gardens were formerly celebrated for their splendor in the ancient taste.

NORTH MIMS, anciently the inheritance of the Magnavilles, was, in the time of Edward the Third, the property of the cele brated warrior Sir Robert Knolles. It afterwards passed to the Coningsbys, by the marriage of a female and co-heiress, and from them, by sale, to Sir Nicholas Hyde, Bart. whose grand-daughter, Bridget, conveyed it in marriage to Peregrine Osborne, Duke of Leeds. Since the death of the late Duke, in 1799, the manor has been sold to Henry Brown, Esq. whose seat, in NORTH MIMS PARK, is a very handsome building, and its situation, and the surrounding scenery, is extremely fine.

The Church is dedicated to St. Mary, and consists of a nave, side aisles, and chancel, with an embattled tower at the west end.

Among

Among the monuments is a grand one in the chancel, in memory of JOHN, Lord Somers, "Baron of Evesham, and Lord High Chancellor in the time of William the Third, who died the twentieth of April, 1716," and to whose memory this was erected by Dame Eliza Jekyll. On the north side of the chancel is the Chapel or Burial-place of the Coningsbys, whose arms, impaling several other families, are depicted on glass in the windows. Several of the Botelers, of Watton Wood-Hall, with whom the Coningsbys intermarried, have memorials here; and several other ancient tombs, in different parts of the Church, have been erected to different families.

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TITTENHANGER, or TYTTENHANGER, in the parish of Ridge, was an ancient seat of the Abbots of St. Alban's, who frequently resided here, though their Manor-House was but a mean building, till a new and stately Mansion was founded by Abbot John de la Moote, about the end of the fourteenth century. This was afterwards enlarged, and much adorned, by the munificent Abbot John of Whethamsted, in the time of Henry the Sixth; and it continued to belong to the Abbey till after the Dissolution. Henry the Eighth, in the last year of his reign, anno 1547, granted the manor and estate to Sir Thomas Pope, founder of Trinity College, Oxford, who had been enriched by many grants of the lands of the dissolved Monasteries. He made Tittenhanger his principal residence; and dying without issue, in 1559, devised it to his widow, Elizabeth, daughter of William Blount, Esq. of Blount Hall, in Staffordshire. This lady was succeeded by her nephew and heir, Thomas Pope Blount, Esq. and from him this estate has descended to the present Earl of Hardwicke, in right of his mother, Catherine, first wife of the Honorable Charles Yorke, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain; she being the sole heiress of the ancient Hertfordshire families of Pope, Blount, and Freman. The Blounts became extinct by the death of Sir Henry Pope Blount, about the middle of the last century: several of them were men of talents, and considerable literary reputation.*

The

In the Cæsar manuscripts, to which a reference has before been given under Bennington, is the following remarkable entry, after the

date

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The present Mansion at Tittenhanger was built by the first Sir Henry Pope Blount, in 1654, and is now inhabited by the Right Honorable Charles Yorke, next brother to the Earl of Hardwicke. Chauncy describes it" as a fair structure of brick, with fair walks and gardens." Since his time, the house has been very little altered; but the gardens have been long destroyed, and the Park is converted into a farm. The House, which is large and convenient, contains several family pictures of the Blounts, but none of them deserving of much notice, except a three-quarter length of CATHERINE, Lady Blount, by Sir Godfrey Kneller. A fine picture of SIR THOMAS POPE, which was in one of the rooms, has been removed to Wimpole, the seat of Lord Hardwicke, in Cambridgeshire. Sir Thomas Pope Blount, Knt. with his father, William Blount, Esq. and his Lady, Frances Blount, lie buried under an altar-tomb in the neighbouring Church at Ridge.

COLNEY HOUSE, the seat of George Anderson, Esq. is situated in the Parish of Shenley, about one mile south-west from London Colney. This estate was formerly part of the extensive Manor of the Weald, or Wild, and had the name of Colney Chapel, as supposed, from a religious edifice thought to have stood on a small piece of land in the Park, which is still surrounded by a moat, though now planted, and laid out into walks. The present Mansion is built with Tottenhoe stone, and was erected about twenty-five years ago, by Governor Bouchier, at an expense of about 53,000l. including the charges for laying out the pleasuregrounds, and making other improvements in the Park, which includes about 150 acres. It is a handsome and regular structure, with wings, and has two fronts; the principal of which faces the east, and has a semi-circular portico at the entrance, surmounted by a half dome. The west front is diversified by a uniform projection

dateAugust 31, 1693-Mr. Charles Blount, of Tittenhanger, in Hartfordshire, died in London, Felo de se, five weeks after he had shot himself into the belly with a pistoll: for love of Mrs. Hobby, (his wives gister) who was a rich widow.'

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