HertfordshireTompkins, Herbert W. (Herbert Winckworth)
History
Hertfordshire
Tompkins, Herbert W. (Herbert Winckworth)
Hertfordshire (England) -- Guidebooks
BISHOP'S STORTFORD is in the extreme E. of the county and on the Essex
border. It is an ancient town, deriving its name from the ford over the
river Stort, and from the fact that William I. gave the town to Maurice,
Bishop of London. It is famous for its Grammar School, at which the late
Cecil Rhodes, a native of the town, was educated. The site of Waytemore
Castle, built by William I., is on a mound near the road to Hockeril,
where a low, wide flint wall is partly surrounded by a moat. The church
of St. Michael on Windhill is Perp.; it was restored in 1859. There was
a former church on the same site; the present structure dates from say
1420-40. The nave has six bays; the tower is pinnacled and has a ring of
ten fine bells. Chauncy's book has an interesting paragraph about this
church. "Three Gylds and a Chantry were founded in this church; the Gyld
of St. Mary; the Gyld of St. Michael; and the Gyld of St. John Baptist;
to which, An. 1476, Elizabeth Spycere gave Legacies, _viz._, to the two
former 13s. 4d. a piece, to the last 40s. These Saints had their altars,
and St. Michael his Tabernacle, on which much Cost had been bestowed;
but the Chantry was founded in the time of Richard III. and the
Settlement thereof cost much Money." Chancel and nave are separated by a
screen of carved oak; the font (Norman) was discovered during the
restoration of the church; there is a piscina in the S. aisle. The
clerestory was added and the chancel restored in 1884; on the chancel
floor is a brass to Lady Margaret Denny (d. 1648), "a maid of honour in
ordinary for five years to Queen Elizabeth of blessed memory". There is
also a memorial to Sir George Duckett, Bart. (d. 1822), who increased
the facilities for the navigation of the Stort, which is now navigable
by barges to the town. A cattle sale is held every Thursday, which is
market-day. The trade in malt is still very large. We read that in old
times a cross was erected on each of the four roads leading from the
town. The main thoroughfares are still in the form of a cross; going
down Windhill the visitor will find a bridge over the Stort before him,
and a main street on either side. The town can boast several of the
finest old inns in Herts.
BOREHAM WOOD (11/4 mile N.E. from Elstree) is a large and rather prettily
situated hamlet.
_Bourne End_, 1 mile W. from Boxmoor Station, L.&N.W.R., contains little
more than an inn, a coffee-room, and a few cottages standing beside the
Grand Junction Canal.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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