ELSTREE
Tithufes (x cent.); Tidulvestre (xii cent.); Tydolvestre, Idulvestre, Idulfestre (xiii cent.); Idelstre,Adulvestre, (xiv cent.); Ilstrey, Elstree (xvi cent.).
Elstree, which includes the hamlet of Boreham orBarham Wood, is a small parish of 1,510 acres, bordering on Middlesex and divided from that countyfor three-quarters of its length by the Bushey andBarnet Road. Its western boundary follows theslight curve of the Watling Street which parts Elstreefrom the parish of Aldenham and brings it into connexion with London and St. Albans. It is interesting to notice in a grant of King Offa of 795 thatthe land of Aldenham extended to the ElstreeWoods at that time. (fn. 1)
The greater part of Elstree parish is a slightlyundulating plain, but in the south the land risessteeply to some 480 ft. above ordnance datum. Thevillage is on a hill in the extreme south-west at thecrossing of Watling Street and the southern highway, and it spreads into the neighbouring parishes ofAldenham, Little Stanmore, and Edgware. Its chiefstreet is part of the Watling Street along which itextends for nearly half-a-mile. The church is in thenorth of the village near the High Street and thehouses stand close up to the narrow street. Thereis a fine red-brick Jacobean house near the churchcalled Schopwick, which belongs to the trustees ofLieut.-Colonel Bruce, and is the residence of Mr. Kershaw. In the south of the village just off the high road isElstree Hill House, a red-brick building, the olderpart of which is of the reign of Queen Anne. It isthe residence of the Rev. F. de Winton Lushington,head master of the preparatory school, which becamewell known under the Rev. L. Sanderson, the principal,from 1869 to 1903. Many famous men have beeneducated here. The school buildings and large groundsadjoin the house.
A little south of the Barnet road is a large redbrick gabled house called Penniwells standing inlarge grounds, owned by Mr. F. Marment. Otherhouses along this road are Abbotsbury, a modernred-brick house, owned by Mrs. de Putron, theChantry, owned by Mr. A. Brampton, and ElstreeLodge, the property of Mr. L. Staples, and tenanted byLieut.-Colonel G. A. Draffen. On the south, nearwhere a road made in 1881 branches off to the station,is a large stucco house called Deacon's Hill House.It used to be the home of the Phillimore family, butis now the property of Mrs. J. E. Warton, and onthe opposite side of the Barnet road is Deacon's Court,the property of Mrs. Miller.
A little south-east of the village is a seventeenth-century house called the Fortune, so named from anornamented ceiling in one of the lower rooms onwhich the Wheel of Fortune is thought to be represented in the plaster. The Fortune is the propertyof Mrs. Sanderson, widow of the Rev. L. Sanderson.Near this house is an old well called 'Penny Well.''No heart can think, no tongue can tell, what lies'tween Brockly Hill and Penny Well.' The storygoes that travellers on Watling Street would drinkthere and leave a penny for the draught.
North-east of the church near Allum Lane is awhite house now called Radnor Hall, but for the past200 years known as Palmers. It is the property ofMr. D. Maclennan. Near it is Palmers Lodge, awhite brick and tiled house, the property of Mr. G. W.Atkins.
The Midland Railway main line runs throughthe parish from north to south, and in the centre ofthe parish is a station called Elstree and BorehamWood, about which the hamlet of Boreham hassprung up within the last twenty-five years. It isgrowing rapidly and possesses a photo-paper and otherfactories and engineering works. The houses aremostly unimportant, but near Allum Lane which leadsto Elstree is Hillside, the property and residence ofMr. Andrew Chatto. Boreham village is to a greatextent built on land which was formerly part of themanor estate. It was separated from the manorhouse some forty or fifty years ago. (fn. 2)
In the parish of Elstree it is noticeable that thehill roads are remarkably direct and seldom curveto avoid the steep pitch, and it has been suggestedthat the roads were originally slides for the timberwhich used to be sent to London for fuel. (fn. 3) Nearlyall the parish is pasture, a great deal of the landbeing laid down in grass of late years. In 1905there were only 40½ acres of arable land, while therewere 1,272 acres permanent grass and no woods. (fn. 4)
Sir Richard Burton, the well-known traveller, wasborn at Torquay on 19 March, 1821, and waschristened at Elstree Church from Boreham House,now Hillside, on 2 September. (fn. 5)
An Act was passed for inclosing the common ofBoreham Wood in 1776, and in 1781 commissionerswere appointed to carry out the same. (fn. 6)
MANOR
In 1188 Pope Clement granted to thekitchen of the monastery the whole landof ELSTREE. He also gave to theAbbey the wood of Boreham for the feeding of theswine. (fn. 7) The monastery kept the manor until theDissolution, (fn. 8) and it was doubtless included in a largegrant of land to Sir Anthony Denny in 1542, whodied seised of it in 1550. (fn. 9) Sir Anthony held a highposition at court, being one of the Gentlemen of thePrivy Chamber and Groom of the Stole. He marriedJoan, daughter of Sir Philip Champernoune of Devon, (fn. 10) by whom he had a son Henry, who succeeded his fatherin the property. In 1574 Henry Denny leasedBoreham Wood to Edmund Downing for sixty years,and died the same year, leaving directions in his willthat his executors should take all his lands in Hert-fordshire for fourteen years for paying off his debtsand for the 'advancement' of his younger children. (fn. 11) His son and heir Robert, a minor at his father's death,died two years later, and the estate passed to the nextson Edward. In 1589 this Edward was high sheriffof the county, and in 1603 had the honour of knighthood bestowed upon him, when he went with a splendid retinue of 140 men to meet King James on his wayto claim the English crown. (fn. 12) Sir Edward was summoned to Parliament in 1604 as Lord Denny deWaltham, and in 1626 was created earl of Norwich. (fn. 13) After retaining the property for some thirty years SirEdward sold the whole manor,but not the site, to RobertBriscoe of Aldenham. Withthis he sold also the FrythFarms and another farm calledFryth House at 'Smugoakegreene.' (fn. 14) A few monthslater in the same year, 1607,Robert Briscoe sold that partof Park which was in St. Stephen's and St. Peter's to SirBaptist Hicks, knt., and William Toperly, mercer, for SirBaptist and his heirs for ever. (fn. 15) But that part of Park which lay in Elstree he keptand bequeathed to Edward his nephew, who inheritedit at his uncle's death in 1616. (fn. 16)
Edward Briscoe held this property (fn. 17) till his deathsome twenty-two years later, and was succeeded byhis son Edward, (fn. 18) who in 1670 conveyed the manorto his son George. (fn. 19)
In 1702 the property was still in the family of theBriscoes. (fn. 20) From them it passed to Edward Beauchamp, whose son Ephraim succeeded him. Ephraim'sson William predeceased his father, who died in 1728,when the estate passed to his grandson William whowas created a baronet in 1744. Later he added hismother's maiden name of Proctor to his own in compliance with the will of his uncle George Proctor. (fn. 21)
Sir William Beauchamp-Proctor was owner in 1745and 1747, (fn. 22) but in 1768 the manor had passed intothe hands of Thomas Jemmit (fn. 23) who was holding upto 1774, (fn. 24) in which year he made a settlement of theproperty.
Cussans says that in 1774 the manor was conveyedto George Byng, of Wrotham Park, Middlesex, andthat in 1789 his son George sold it to WilliamRobert Phillimore, on whose death in 1846 it came tohis son Captain William Brough Phillimore. (fn. 25) It isnow owned by Mr. R. C. Phillimore, but nearly thewhole of the manor is now enfranchised. (fn. 26)
The walls of the old manor-house, pulled downc. 1880, were built into the present fine modern redbrick house which is a little north-west of Borehamstation. It is now the property of Mrs. Barstow, of'The Cottage,' Shenley, and was tenanted by the lateHon. Henry Lloyd Gibbs. Several chimney-piecesfrom the manor-house are now in Aldenham House;one bears the date 1859, but this is a modern addition,the chimney-piece being of seventeenth-century date.There used to be a considerable amount of landbelonging to the manor-house some forty or fiftyyears ago, but when the Midland Railway was madethrough Elstree most of this land was sold, and isnow built over. (fn. 27)
About 1202 the abbot granted to Gilbert deHendune feeding for thirty hogs in the wood ofBoreham. (fn. 28) The rent for this privilege was twoNorwegian goshawks, (fn. 29) and that for a piece of land inElstree was a pair of white gloves. (fn. 30) Early in thissame century Elstree bore a heavy share of theexpenses incurred by the abbey manors in entertainingKing John, Fawkes de Breauté, and the FrenchMarshal. (fn. 31)
About 1275, the abbot appropriated for his ownuse a park in Boreham Wood, and laid claim to freewarren there, but by what right was not known. (fn. 32)
One of the services due to the monastery was asupply of horses for the abbot's yearly visit to the cell ofSt. Mary at Tynemouth, and one tenement at Elstreewas answerable for a horse for this purpose. (fn. 33)
CHURCH
The church of ST. NICHOLAS isalmost entirely modern, and has a chancel with south chapel and north vestry,a nave of five bays with north and south aisles and asouth-west tower with a shingled spire. The onlyold work is in the south arcade of the nave, which wasrebuilt in 1853 on the old foundations and with theold materials, and in the south wall of the south aisle.In the nave roof three trusses of the former fifteenth-century roof are preserved, plain work with archedbraces and collars, the rest being copied from them. Thesouth doorway of the nave with a four-centred archunder a square head, and a rose and a shield bearing asaltire in the spandrels, is said to be old work, but ismore probably a nineteenth-century reproduction of aformer doorway. Plans and elevations of the churchpreserved in the library of the Society of Antiquariesshow that in the early part of last century it consistedof nave, chancel, and south aisle, the chancel having alate fifteenth-century square-headed east window ofthree lights, and on the south side of the nave roofwas a small dormer window in the position of a roodwindow. The bells were in a wooden turret at thewest end. The chancel screen existed till 1824,when it was taken down. The font, at the west endof the north aisle, is of the fifteenth-century, octagonalwith a panelled bowl and a slender, panelled stemsurrounded by an arcade of open arches. The detailis good but obscured by paint, and a modern blockof stone has been inserted between the old bowl andstem. (fn. 34)
In the tower are six bells by Warner of Cripplegate, five of 1875, and one added later.
Many of the monuments in the church were takendown and fixed in the tower in 1853, but the mostinteresting was broken in the process and has onlylately been pieced together and set up once more inthe church by the care of the rector, the Rev.A. R. T. Eales. It is in the north aisle, and is ofalabaster with a long English metrical inscription toOlive Buck.
The plate is modern and consists of a silver cup,flagon and paten of 1844, given in 1851, a secondcup and two patens of 1852, given in 1853, and a finesilver-gilt chalice given in 1906.
The earliest register begins in 1655 and ends in1757, with a gap from 1744 to 1753. It has a titlepage in red and black ink, recording that it was'bought for a register by Maister Fly of RichardWilliams, Stationer of St. Albans, which said Mr. Flybeinge Minister of Elsterie bestowes this Bookeon his Parish—it cost twentye shillinges, &c.' Itcontains the record of several briefs, beginning in1659. The second book goes from 1758 to 1812.There are also preserved churchwardens' accountsfrom 1715 to 1744, and from 1742 to 1842, and abook of vestry minutes 1769–1823.
ADVOWSON
In 1188 there was a chapel atElstree the profits from which wereappropriated to the use of the abbeyby the permission of Pope Clement in that year. (fn. 35) This chapelry became a parish before 1424. (fn. 36)
The rectory of Elstree belonged to the abbey ofSt. Albans till the Dissolution, and afterwards cameto the crown, (fn. 37) and has apparently remained in thehands of the crown since, (fn. 38) the presentation being withthe Lord Chancellor. (fn. 39)
In the thirteenth century there appears to havebeen another chapel in Elstree, for in 1248Henry III confirmed an earlier charter by whichthe chapel of St. Bartholomew, Elstree, was grantedby Robert de Ramis to the prior and convent ofSt. Bartholomew's, Smithfield. (fn. 40) It seems that therewas a tenement in Elstree called Chappell House,which was held in 1637 by Edward Briscoe. (fn. 41)
In 1792 an order was passed by the vestry that10s. 6d. should be allowed to the churchwardens forthe use of the psalm-singers. (fn. 42) In 1803 a meetingwas held in the parish church to discuss the Acts ofParliament recently passed for the defence of thekingdom. (fn. 43)
In 1669 the house of Mr. Richard Haly was usedfor a conventicle, the preachers there being Isaac Loaffes,a nonconforming minister, and Jeremiah White, chaplain to Cromwell, and preacher to the Council ofState. (fn. 44) In 1760 a house at Boreham Wood was certificated for Independents, who still have a chapelhere. (fn. 45) There is now also a Baptist chapel.
CHARITIES
In 1616 Robert Briscoe, by deed,charged 6 acres of land called ChurchMead with an annual payment of£3, of which £2 was to be given to the poor, and£1 towards the repair of the parish church. Therent-charge is paid by Mr. D. Maclennan, theowner of the property charged.
In 1726 Samuel Nicholl, by deed, made provisionfor the payment of certain rent-charges given byhimself and others of the name of Nicoll by assuring3 acres of land called Pen's Croft in Aldenham.Under the Inclosure Act of 16 Geo. III this landwas exchanged for 6 acres in the parish of Edgware,Middlesex, known as Pasture Tree Field, which wassold in 1882 for £730 and invested in £724 11s. 3d.India 3½ per cent. stock with the official trustees.
In 1726 John Warren by will charged a field inthis parish called Maggots Mead, containing 4 acres,with 40s. a year for the poor, to be distributed onthe second Lord's day after Christmas.
In 1730 Robert Warren by his will proved in theP.C.C. in 1750 charged a close called Monk's Meadwith 40s. to be distributed among the poor onCandlemas and All Saints' Day.
Allotment to the Poor.—Under the Inclosure Actabove referred to provision was made for the continuance of an annual payment of £2 10s. for thebenefit of the poor. The charge was redeemed bythe transfer in 1905 to the official trustees of £120consols.
The above-mentioned charities are administered byone body of trustees and income applied in weeklyallowances and coals to widows and lone women.
The said Robert Warren by a codicil to his willalso charged his field called the Home Field with£5 annually for apprenticing a poor child. Theannuity is paid by Lord Aldenham. The officialtrustees also hold £263 12s. 6d. consols arising frominvestment of accumulations. By a scheme of 1896the income is applicable (1) in apprenticing, (2) forthe promotion of technical instruction.
