Under the Saxons the manor of Cassio was, it has been stated, among the numerous possessions of Offa with which he endowed the Abbey of St. Albans, and it remained attached to that abbey until the dissolution of the religious houses by Henry VIII. In Domesday Book it is stated that “the Abbot of St. Albans holds Cassiou; it answers for twenty hides; of these the abbot holds nineteen. There is land for twenty-two ploughs. Six hides are in demesne, and there are five ploughs, and a sixth may yet be made. Three foreigners and thirty-six villeins with eight bordars have there fifteen ploughs, and one may yet be made. There are, moreover, three bordars and two bondmen, and four mills of 26_s._ 8_d._ Meadow for twenty-two ploughs. Pasture for the cattle. Pannage for 1,000 hogs. Its whole value is £28; when received £24; and in King Edward’s time £30. St. Alban held and holds this manor in demesne.” In the twelfth century the revenue duties payable from Cassio to the abbey were, at Christmas 2_s._ and twenty-four hens; at Easter, 2_s._ and 600 eggs; and on St. Alban’s day, 2_s._ and twenty-four cheeses. By Henry I. the whole liberty of Cassio was formally made over to the abbey. In 1546, after the dissolution of the monasteries, “the lordship or manor of Cayshobury” and other places was granted to Sir Richard Morrison, Knight, in consideration of certain property in Yorkshire and Worcestershire, and of the sum of £176 17_s._ 6_d._ in money; to hold the same by the service of the tenth part of a knight, and paying for the same yearly £5 12_s._ 6½_d._ Soon after this, Sir Richard commenced the erection of “a fayre and large house, situated upon a dry hill not far from a pleasant river in a fayre park, and had prepared materials for the finishing thereof; but before the same could be half built, he was forced to fly beyond the seas.” The mansion was completed by his son, Sir Charles Morrison, who died in 1599. On the marriage of Elizabeth Morrison, the only surviving child of Sir Richard’s grandson, the property passed to her husband, Arthur Capel, created Baron Capel of Hadham in 1641, from whom the present possessor, the Earl of Essex, is lineally descended. Baron Capel appears to have resided more at Hadham than at Cassiobury, but his son, Arthur Capel, created Viscount Malden and Earl of Essex in 1661, after residing there for a time, took up his residence at Cassiobury, the greater part of which he is said to have rebuilt—indeed, it is said that the whole of the mansion, with the exception of the north-west wing, was rebuilt by him, employing for the house May, the architect, and for the laying out of his gardens Moses Cooke—who in 1675 published a volume on fruit-trees—and, it is also said, Le Notre, and Rose, his head-gardener at Essex House, in the Strand. [Illustration: _Back View._]