Radlett.]

murder took place in October, 1823, close by Gill's Hill cottage, which is reached by a narrow and crooked lane, running westward from Radlett Station towards Batler's Green. Weare was shot by one John Thurtell, his gambling associate, while driving with him in a gig to the house of one William Probert, in the above-mentioned lane. After the murder Weare's body was deposited in a pond behind the cottage, while the murderers divided the spoil, and it was afterwards dragged through a hedge into a field at a short distance from the house. Suspicion having been aroused, a search was made for the body, which was soon discovered. The murderers were forthwith arrested, and Thurtell and Hunt were tried at Hertford, and, being found guilty, the former was condemned and executed, and Hunt was sentenced to transportation for life. Probert, who turned "king's evidence," was discharged, but was afterwards apprehended, tried, and hanged, for horse-stealing.

The details of this old story have been often told; they caused great excitement at the time, and even now read more like fiction than fact. The careful plot, every detail of which fell out quite otherwise than it was planned; the body hidden and sunk, now here, now there; a brother's blood still crying for vengeance; the utter distrust of each other shown by Thurtell's confederates; and the supper on the fatal night, cheered or solaced, as the case might be, by the fitful minstrelsy of Joseph Hunt, an accomplice in the crime; Thurtell's family position, too-for his father was an alder man of Norwich-gave additional interest to the tragedy, which became a fruitful theme for itinerant theatres and peep-shows at country fairs; and "the actual roan horse and yellow gig in which Weare was carried were exhibited on the stage." Poetry came to the aid of the drama-if such doggerel as the following can be called poetry :—

"They cut his throat from ear to ear,
His brains they battered in ;

His name was Mr. William Weare,

He dwelt in Lyons Inn."

311

"Our elegant researches carried us out of the highroad and through a labyrinth of intricate lanes, which seem made on purpose to afford strangers the full benefit of a dark night and a drunken driver, in order to visit Gill's Hill, in Hertfordshire, famous for the murder of Mr. Weare. The place has the strongest title to the description of Words. worth :

'A merry spot, 'tis said, in days of yore,

But something ails it now-the place is curst.' The principal part of the house is destroyed, and only the kitchen remains standing. The garden has been dismantled, though a few laurels and flowering shrubs, run wild, continue to mark the spot. The fatal pond is now only a green swamp, but so near the house that one cannot conceive how it was ever chosen as a place of temporary concealment for the murdered body." Scott's description, however, seems to be somewhat exaggerated. The cottage occupied by Probert, and where Thurtell and Hunt spent the night following the murder, is still standing it is an ordinary one-storeyed house, with a high-pitched tiled roof. In the rear is the pond which Scott describes as a green swamp."

:

Midway between Radlett and Elstree, in the hamlet of Medburn, is a substantial and commodious boys' school, with master's house, garden, and playground. It was built out of the funds of the bequest of Richard Platt, mentioned above, and serves for the boys of both villages. Near Radlett church stands a school for girls and infants, built, in the year 1878, from the designs of Mr. Blomfield, and is in the style commonly named after "Queen Anne." It is of flint, with red-brick dressings, and a tile roof. Since the erection of this latter building, a school at Batler's Green has been converted into cottages.

Mr. William B. Phillimore, of Kendalls Hall, is the chief owner of property at Radlett, and lord of the manor of Elstree and Theobald Street, and his family have been great benefactors to Radlett, by the improvement of the dwellings of the labouring Newberries Park, the seat of Mr. Thomas Bagnall, is a large house in a pleasant park sloping down to the railway. It was purchased from the Phillimores about twenty years ago.

THE village of Shenley lies about two miles eastnorth-east from Radlett Station on the Midland Railway; the road thither, tortuous, but pleasant,

gave "Scenlea" to the above-mentioned monastery, "in perpetual alms;" "but," as Mr. Cussans infers in his "History of Hertfordshire," "as in a charter

passing for the greater part by the palings of Porters on the one hand, and by those of New Organ Hall on the other.

The parish extends from north to south, a distance of about six miles, from London Colney to Elstree and Chipping Barnet; the parish of Ridge forms its eastern boundary, and a long detached strip, belonging to the same parish, occupies the greater portion of its western side.

The number of houses in Shenley parish in 1871 was 301, the population at the same time amounting to 1,380. Of this number, 382 belonged to the ecclesiastical district of Colney St. Peter. During the next decade the number of the inhabitants had slightly diminished.

From an ancient Chartulary, formerly belonging to the Abbey of St. Albans, but now preserved in the British Museum, it appears that before the time of the Conquest one Thurefleda, a pious lady,

SHENLEY CHURCH AND VILLAGE.

of Edward IV. to the abbey (in which the confirmations of grants by previous kings are all recited at length) there is no mention of Shenley, it is probable that the manor, which in Domesday Book is said to have belonged to St. Albans, was the saine manor which was afterwards known as Ridge. This supposition is strengthened by the fact that Ridge is not mentioned in Domesday, and that the abbot's manor of Shenley is there described as being in Albaneston Hundred (the Hundred of Cashio), and the other two within the

Shenley.]

Hundred of Danais, or Dacorum." About two hundred years after the Conquest the manor was in the possession of John Fitzacre, who, in 1267-8, granted it, together with the advowson of the church, and the chapel of Colney, to Adam de Stratton, and in the same year obtained from the king a grant to hold an annual fair and a weekly market within this manor. At the close of the thirteenth century the manor was forfeited to the Crown, and shortly afterwards it was granted by Edward III. to Sir John de Pulteney, or Poultney, who was five times Lord Mayor of London. The

313 of Newberries was formerly known as Old Organ Hall, and appears to have been first called Newberries by its late owner, Mr. Phillimore, from whom it was purchased by Mr. Thomas Bagnall. The building now known as Old Organ Hall, which lies on the east side of the railway, near to Boreham Wood and Elstree Station, is a farmhouse on the estate.

The estate of Porters, mentioned above, covers a large portion of the parish, being no less than 1,300 acres in extent. The mansion, the seat of Mr. Myers, who is lord of the manor, occupies the

manor remained vested in the Poultneys for just three centuries, when it was carried, by the marriage of an heiress, to the Crewes, of Crewe Hall, Cheshire. It subsequently passed to the family of Lomax, in whose possession it remained down to 1850, when it was sold to Mr. William J. Myers, of Porters Park, in the parish, and with his descendant it still continues.

The manor of Shenley Hall, otherwise Salisbury, lies in the north-eastern part of the parish, near London Colney. It derived its name from the family of Montacute, Earls of Salisbury, who owned the property in the fourteenth century. The manor subsequently descended in the same way as that of Bushey, and seems to have reverted to the Crown in 1471, on the death of the Earl of Warwick, the "kingmaker," as we shall see presently, at the Battle of Barnet. It now belongs to the Phillimores, late of Newberries. The present mansion 27

SIR T. POPE.

summit of a pleasant hill, commanding an extensive view towards the south-west. Chauncy, in his "Antiquities of Hertfordshire," describes Porters as "an old seat," and Sir Richard Coxe, who died in 1623, is described as "of Porters." From the Coxes, the estate passed by marriage to Sir Edmund Anderson, with whose family it continued for many years. Nicholas Hawksmoor, the architect, a pupil of Sir Christopher Wren, whom he assisted in rebuilding St. Paul's Cathedral, was living here at the time of his death, in 1736; he may, however, have been only a tenant, for in 1750 died Mr. John Mason, who was at that time lord of the manor of Weld, which had become amalgamated with this estate, and who, on his tomb in Shenley churchyard, is described as "of Porters."

The estate of Holmes, otherwise Canons, but

commonly called High Canons, is situated about a mile south-east of the village, on the left of the road towards Barnet. The property derives its name from the fact of its having formerly belonged to the Prior and Canons of St. Bartholomew, in Smithfield, in whose possession it remained till the dissolution of religious houses, when it passed to the Crown. In 1543 High Canons was sold to one Nicholas Bristow, and since that time it has undergone several changes of ownership. Mr. Thomas Fitzherbert, who purchased the estate at the end of the last century, expended a large sum of money in improving the grounds and mansion, which was shortly after again sold. In 1812 the property was purchased by Mr. Enoch Durant, with whose family it now remains.

The village of Shenley fringes the cross-roads at the south-eastern extremity of Porters. It consists of a few straggling cottages and general shops, and, from its lofty situation, possesses some charming views, particularly towards the north-west, where, at a distance of about five miles, the city of St. Albans, with its venerable abbey, is plainly discernible, cresting the opposite range of hills. In 1841, in consequence of the distance of the church from the bulk of the population, a plain brick-built chapel-of-ease was erected in the centre of the village. It consists of a chancel and nave, with a small belfry turret at the south-west angle. the afternoon and evening services are performed, the morning service being still continued in the old parish church, to which we will now direct our steps.

Here

This edifice, dedicated to St. Botolph, lies about a mile north-west from the village, at the foot of the hill, and a little to the right of the road to St. Albans. The church originally consisted of chancel, nave, south aisle, and tower; but in 1753, the edifice having become dilapidated, the tower was demolished, the western end built up, the chancel and tower arches and the arcading of the nave pulled down, the open timber roof demolished, and baulks of timber laid from wall to wall, with the result that the structure has been converted into a good-sized rectangular chamber, with a flat plaster ceiling. On the site formerly occupied by the south porch is now a square wooden tower, painted white, with a tiled roof, and containing three bells. The walls of the body of the church are of chalk, faced with squared flints, and the buttresses between the windows have been partially repaired with brick.

The windows are of the Perpendicular style throughout. The large four-light east and west windows, and also three or four others, are filled with memorial painted glass. The font is

ancient, and stands at the west end of the church. under the organ gallery; and in the exterior of the south wall is an old sun-dial. The pulpit and a carved oak reredos and altar-rails were erected by subscription in 1878.

In the churchyard are several fine yew-trees. The tomb of Nicholas Hawksmoor, the architect, mentioned above, is in the churchyard. It is an altar-tomb, the slab of which is broken, and the inscription barely legible. Hawksmoor was the architect of St. George's, Bloomsbury, St. Mary Woolnoth, Lombard Street, and other well-known City churches. Close by the belfry is the memorial of a former parish clerk; it consists of a board supported by two uprights, and bears the following lines:

"Joseph Rogers, died August 17th, 1828, in the 77th year of his age, having been clerk of this parish a half century.

"Silent in dust lies mould'ring here
A Parish Clerk of voice most clear;
None Joseph Rogers could excel
In laying bricks or singing well.
Though snapp'd his line, laid by his rod,
We build for him our hopes in God,
The Saviour God, that He will raise
Again that voice to sing His praise,
In Temple blest, which always stands,

The Church of God not made with hands."

Colney House, in the hamlet of Colney Chapel, about a mile northward from Shenley Church, and the same distance south-west from the village of London Colney, but belonging to the parish of Shenley, is a spacious stone mansion, built about a century ago by Governor Bouchier, at an expense of £53,000, including the charges for laying out the pleasure-grounds and making other improvements in the park, which is about 150 acres in extent. The house is a handsome and regular structure, with slightly projecting wings, and is doublefronted. The principal front, facing the roadway, has a semicircular portico at the entrance, surmounted by a half-dome. The west front, overlooking the park, has a bay-window on either side of the doorway. These bays rise to the level of the second floor, and are surmounted with balustrades. The park contains some fine oak and elm trees, and the pleasure-grounds are extensive. The estate was sold by Governor Bouchier to Margaret of Anspach, who resided here for three years, after which it was disposed of to the Earl of Kingston. Early in the present century it was sold to Mr. George Anderson, with whose family it remained for many years. It was subsequently owned by the Oddies; and in 1871 it was disposed of to Sir Andrew Lusk, Bart., who sold it some years later.

London Colney.]

The above estate was formerly part of the extensive manor of the Weald, or Wild, and obtained the name of Colney Chapel, it is supposed, from a religious house which is thought to have stood on a small piece of land in the park, surrounded by a moat, though now planted and laid out in walks. The river Colne skirts the north side of the park in its course towards Aldenham and Watford. It is crossed by a wooden foot-bridge in the line of the roadway at this point, but is fordable for vehicular traffic. Following the course of this stream in a north-easterly direction we soon find ourselves at London Colney.

London Colney, which is partly in the parishes of Shenley and Ridge, and partly in those of St. Peter and St. Stephen, in St. Albans, is a large village of some 850 inhabitants, and was formed into a separate ecclesiastical district in 1826. It stands on the great high road through Barnet and South Mimms to St. Albans, from which place it is distant about three miles and a half. The principal part of the village slopes upward from the north bank of the River Colne, from which the place derives its name, and which is here crossed by a brick bridge of seven arches. The church, dedicated to St. Peter, was built in 1825, by Philip, third Earl of Hardwicke. It is a plain rectangular brick building, with semicircular-headed windows; that at the east end, of three lights, is filled with stained glass, representing "The Ascension," and was designed by Louisa, Dowager-Marchioness of Waterford; it was erected in 1865 as a memorial to the founder of the church.

The hamlet of Tittenhanger lies to the east of London Colney; it forms part of the parish of Ridge, and consists of two or three humble cottages, nestling pleasantly near the winding Colne, and on the outskirts of Tittenhanger Park, the seat of the Countess of Caledon. The manor of Tittenhanger belonged, at the time of the Conquest, to the Abbots of St. Albans, who frequently resided here, though their manor is stated to have been but a "mean building." About the end of the fourteenth century, however, Abbot John de la Moote commenced the building of a new and stately mansion here, "where," according to Chauncy, "he and his successors might retire for their ease and pleasure, and recreate themselves with their friends and relations, but died before he could finish the same." This was afterwards completed, on a more extensive and elaborate scale, by his successor, Abbot John of Whethamsted, in the reign of Henry VI., and the property continued to belong to the abbots till they were despoiled of their possessions at the dissolution of monasteries. Thorne, in his "En

315 virons of London," observes that "there is a tradition that Wolsey expended a large sum on it, intending to make it one of his residences." In 1528, Henry VIII. and Queen Katherine are stated to have taken up their residence at Tittenhanger during the continuance of the malady known as the "sweating sickness" in London. In 1547, the last year of his reign, Henry VIII. granted the manor and estate to Sir Hugh Paulet, from whose family it was conveyed by marriage to Sir Thomas Pope, the founder of Trinity College, Oxford. Sir Thomas, who had been the fortunate recipient of many grants of the lands of the dissolved monasteries, made Tittenhanger his principal residence, having greatly improved the house; and on his death, without issue, in 1559, it continued in the possession of his widow, Elizabeth, the daughter of Mr. William Blount, of Blount Hall, Staffordshire. This lady was succeeded by her nephew and heir, Mr. (afterwards Sir) Thomas Pope Blount ; and from him the estate descended to Philip, third Earl of Hardwicke, in right of his mother, Catherine, first wife of the Hon. Charles Yorke, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, she being the sole heiress of the ancient Hertfordshire families of Pope, Blount, and Freeman. These Blounts became extinct by the death of Sir Henry Pope Blount about the middle of the last century. On the death of the Countess of Hardwicke, in 1858, the property was inherited by her daughter, Catherine, Countess of Caledon.

The present mansion of Tittenhanger was built about the middle of the seventeenth century by the first Sir Henry Pope Blount, from the designs of Inigo Jones, and it is described by Chauncy as "a fair structure of brick, with fair walks and gardens." The house is of Tudor architecture, large and convenient, oblong in form, and has an inner court. It was originally surrounded by a moat, but this has been filled up; the gardens, too, were long ago destroyed, and much of the park has been broken up and converted into a farm. What there is left of the park is pleasant and well wooded, and is watered on its western side by the river Colne.

Colney Heath, the extreme northern limit of the metropolitan area, and consequently the utmost extent of our wanderings in this direction, abuts upon the north-east side of Tittenhanger Park. The district was formed into an ecclesiastical parish in 1846. The church, dedicated to St. Mark, is a brick building in the Byzantine style, consisting of an apsidal chancel, a nave, and a small bell-tower.

We must now make our way homewards once more, but by way of the high road, through South