Sir Thomas Bouchier, K.G., who fought for the Earl of Richmond at Bosworth Field, sold the manor of Knebbeworth to Robert Lytton, Esq., Keeper of the Wardrobe to Henry VII., whose son William was buried in this parish. This Sir Robert began to erect a huge Tudor mansion on the site of a fortress which had stood since the days of the Conquest; it took several generations to complete it. The present house is the result of the work of demolition and reconstruction in the days of the novelist’s mother, and of the enlarging of 1883, when the S. wing and entrance were added; it is pseudo-Gothic. The castellated parapet, cupola-topped turrets, griffins upon pinnacles and many mullioned windows are noticeable features from the grounds. Within, the finest sight is the grand old banqueting hall, with its gallery for minstrels, its Elizabethan oak-screen, and wainscots by Inigo Jones. Around, on all sides, are suits of armour, some dating from the days of Henry VII. The room is associated with memories of Elizabeth, who was sometimes entertained at Knebworth by Sir Rowland Lytton, whom she knighted; he was buried in the chancel of the little church in the park (see below) in 1582. The room in which Elizabeth slept on these occasions is still shown as “Queen Elizabeth’s Chamber,” and contains a finely carved over-mantel (oak) and an oaken bedstead of colossal proportions. Among the distinguished guests so often entertained here by Bulwer Lytton were Dickens, Forster and Jerrold.

The grounds are nearly perfect, art and nature seaming to strive to out-do one another. Well-kept lawns are figured by flower-beds of all shapes and sizes; the rosery is very large; the great variety of evergreens imparts every hue and shade to the extensive walks stretching W. from the house. The lawns are divided here and there by stone balustrades and overlooked by statues of classical and modern figures. There are many nooks, pleasure houses and alcoves. A long avenue of limes leads to the lake.

The church, a little N. from the house, is approached through lodge gates. It is for the most part E.E. The oaken pulpit is octagonal; the finely carved panels represent scenes in the life of Christ, one of them bears the date 1567. At the N. side of the chancel, which has a piscina, is the Lytton Chapel, “a little Chapel or Burying Place, built by the Family of the Lyttons”. Among the members of the family buried in the chapel were (1) Dame Judith Barrington, daughter of Sir Rowland Lytton, and wife to Sir Thomas Barrington of Hatfield Broad Oak (d. 1657); (2) Sir William Lytton, Kt. (d. 1660); (3) Sir Rowland Lytton, Kt. (d. 1674). To the Sir Rowland Lytton who died in 1582 (see above) there is a fine brass with effigy, which also commemorates his wives Margaret and Anne, and his three children. There are other memorials both in the church and Lytton Chapel, among which note (1) brass to Simon Bache, Treasurer of the Household to Henry V. and Canon of St. Paul’s (d. 1414); (2) brass to John Hotoft, who filled the same office in the Household of Henry VI. (d. circa 1430). This brass formerly showed effigies of Hotoft in armour with his wife beside him. Note also, near the S. porch, two headstones with interesting inscriptions to servants of the Lytton family, and close by, in the park, the mausoleum erected by the mother of the novelist, who was buried within its walls. The epitaph to her memory on the exterior was written by her son. Passing out at the lodge gates we may turn left and reach a pretty dip, from whence a walk of 3 miles N. over open country leads to Stevenage.

Knebworth Green skirts the S. side of the park.

Langley, a hamlet on the Hatfield-Hitchin road, is 2 miles S.W. from Stevenage Station (G.N.R.). Langley Bottom is a few minutes’ walk N.

Langleybury (1 mile S. from King’s Langley Station, L.&N.W.R.) is practically part and parcel of Hunton Bridge, the church standing W. and the village E. of the main road from Watford to Hemel Hempstead. The church is modern, a Gothic structure; on the S. is a good lich-gate. Close to the S. porch is the large cross of Sicilian marble, by the Florentine sculptor Romanelli, to the memory of the late W. J. Loyd, at whose expense the church was erected. The walk from Langleybury to Buck’s Hill (W.), by way of West Wood, leads through some lovely bits of scenery, and should on no account be omitted. At the outset the confines of Grove Park are on the left and the road dips up and down as the woods are passed, and is shaded by fine beeches in many spots.

Layston was a village in Saxon times, but nothing now remains save the ruins of the church, still almost intact, at the meeting of two lanes, 1 mile N.E. from Buntingford. It is a flint structure, E.E. and Perp. The S. porch is in part demolished. There are monuments to the Crowch family of seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Lea, river. (See Introduction, Section II.)

Leavesden (about 2½ miles N. from Watford) is a village in the pretty district between Grove Park and Bricket Wood. The ecclesiastical parish was formed seventy years ago from the parishes of Watford and St. Albans. The huge brick building on high ground a little N. is the Metropolitan District Asylum for Idiots; it was erected in 1869. The church dates only from the formation of the parish and is situated at Garston, 1 mile E. It was designed by Sir Gilbert Scott and is E.E. The Grove, a large mansion of red brick, was erected in 1760 by one of the Villiers family, but has been restored and altered. The house contains a part of the pictures collected by Clarendon; comprising portraits by Vandyck, Lely, C. Janssens, Zucchero, Van Somer, Kneller, Hogarth, etc. The park is extensive and beautiful.

Lemsford is another modern ecclesiastical parish, formed sixty years ago. It is nearly 3 miles N. from Hatfield, on the S.E. side of Brocket Hall Park. It is widely known for its large mill on the river Lea. The church, erected in 1859 as a memorial to the sixth Earl Cowper, is E.E. and Dec., with a good E. window, also to the memory of the earl. The tower (W.) is lofty and embattled.

Letchworth (2 miles N.E. from Hitchin) has a small Perp. church, containing a curious old brass to Thomas Wyrley, an early Rector (d. 1475). The effigy represents him with a heart in his hands. Another brass, much defaced, dates from circa 1400; it is to William Overbury and Isabel his wife. The village, which almost adjoins that of Willian (q.v.), is ancient, and was once the property of Robert Gernon, a Norman warrior who fought at Hastings. There was a church at Leceworth at least as early as temp. Henry I., for during the reign of that monarch it was given “with all its appurtenances and twelve acres of land” to the monastery at St. Albans. Letchworth Hall, now a manor house containing some good carved oak, was built by Sir William Lytton (circa 1620), and still bears on the S. front the arms of that family.

Letty Green is close to Cole Green Station, G.N.R.

Levens Green (1 mile S. from Great Munden) has a tiny chapel-of-ease erected in 1893. The nearest station is Standon, G.E.R., 2½ miles E., between which and the hamlet lies the Old North Road.

Leverstock Green (1½ mile S.E. from Hemel Hempstead Station, M.R.) is in a pleasantly diversified district, at the junction of the roads from St. Albans and Abbot’s Langley. It has a modern church, Gothic in style, erected just before the district was constituted an ecclesiastical parish in 1850.

Lilley, a village on the Bedfordshire border, is 4 miles N.E. from Luton (Beds). It was formerly called Lindley, and Lilly Hoo, and the old manor, like so many others, was given to a Norman (Goisfride de Bech) for services rendered at Hastings. The church is of ancient foundation, but was rebuilt, in E. Dec. style, in 1870-71. Several old memorials are still preserved, notably those to the Docwra family, early seventeenth century. Putteridge Bury (1 mile S.) is in the centre of a park of 450 acres; on or near the site of the house built by Thomas Docwra, J.P. and High Sheriff of Herts, who died there in 1602. The present mansion dates from the beginning of last century.

London Colney, a village on the main road from Barnet to St. Albans, is on the river Colne. The nearest station is that of the G.N.R. at St. Albans, 2¼ miles N.W. The church, built by the third Earl of Hardwicke in 1825, is a plain brick structure of Gothic character. Half a mile E. is Tittenhanger Park, a large brick mansion with tiled roof and dormer windows, built by Sir Henry Blount in 1654. The manor had belonged to the Abbots of St. Albans, who had a residence on the same spot, commenced during the abbacy of John de la Moote and completed during that of John Wheathampsted. Henry VIII. and Catherine of Arragon stayed here during the “sweatinge sicknesse” (1528).

Long Lane is a hamlet near the river Chess, 1½ mile S.W. from Rickmansworth.

Long Marston, 1 mile N. from the Aylesbury Canal, is a village and ecclesiastical parish in the extreme W. of the county. The nearest station is Marston Gate, 1 mile N. The old church, a small Dec. structure, was pulled down twenty years ago with the exception of the tower, which stands in the disused graveyard. The new building, adjoining the present burial ground, is Gothic, and contains some portions of the old structure, and its two piscinæ.

Lower Green. (See Tewin.)

Ludwick Hyde is in the parish of Hatfield, 3 miles N.E. from that town.

Luffenhall, a little hamlet, is in the hollow between Weston and Cottered, 5 miles W. from Buntingford Station. The district is one of winding lanes and field footpaths so characteristic of the county.

Lye End, 2 miles S. from Sandon Church, is a hamlet lying W. from the Buntingford-Royston road.

Mackery End, 1½ mile N.W. from Wheathampstead Station, G.N.R., is close to Batford and Pickford mills on the river Lea. Charles and Mary Lamb had talked about the place “all their lives” and the essay by the former entitled “Mackery End in Hertfordshire” need only be named here. The place, as Lamb mentions, was also called Mackarel End. John Wheathampsted, who became thirty-third Abbot of St. Albans in 1420, was the son of Hugh Bostok or Bostock of the village from which he took his name; his mother was the daughter of Thomas Makery, “Lord of Makeyrend”.

Mangrove is a hamlet, partly in Offley and partly in Lilley parishes; Mangrove Green is on the S. outskirts of Putteridge Bury Park, on the Bedfordshire border. The nearest station to the latter is Luton (Beds).

Maple Cross, a hamlet 2½ miles S.W. from Rickmansworth, is near the river Chess. It lies between Mill End and West Hyde, on the road to Uxbridge.

Maran, or Mimram, river. (See Introduction.)

Marford, Old and New, are hamlets on the river Lea. The latter adjoins the E. side of Wheathampstead village; the former lies ¼ mile farther E.; the cress-beds, the hand-bridge over the river, and some dilapidated cottages render it a picturesque spot. On the opposite side of the road from Hatfield to Wheathampstead lies The Devil’s Dyke, a long, narrow gorge most beautifully wooded. It is a favourite haunt of the nightingale, as the writer can testify.

Market or Markyate Street (3½ miles S.W. from Luton, Beds) is a village on the high road from St. Albans to Dunstable. The church, a little N. from the village, in Cell Park, is small and uninteresting, with a chancel added in 1892. The mansion called Markyate Cell, a little farther N., is old, and occupies the site of the old Benedictine nunnery built by Geoffrey de Gorham, sixteenth Abbot of St. Albans, at the instigation of Roger the Monk, the church of which was consecrated in 1145. Cowper the poet was at school in the village, at the house of Dr. Pitman.

Marlowes is a suburb of Hemel Hempstead (q.v.).

Marsh Moor lies between Hatfield Park and Mimms Park. It is a hamlet in the parish of North Mimms, 2 miles S. from Hatfield.

Marston Gate is little more than the station (L.&N.W.R.) for Long Marston, 1 mile S. It is nearly the extreme W. point of the county.

Mayden Croft, or Maiden Croft, is near the source of the river Hiz, with the hamlet of Gosmore adjoining (S.E.). Some remains of a moat may be traced, which are supposed to mark the site of a nunnery. The manor is ancient; in the time of Edward III. it belonged to Sir Robert Nevill, Kt.

Meesdon (6½ miles N.E. from Buntingford) has a very ancient flint church, probably erected in the thirteenth century, but restored in 1877. The S. porch is Jacobean. The pavement of the Sacrarium is a mosaic of many coloured, vitrified tiles; it is almost unique in the county and is undoubtedly of great age. There is also in the chancel a curious monument and inscription to Robert Young, gent. (d. 1626). Most of the population are to be found at Meesdon Green, ½ mile W. from the church.

On Metley Hill, between the Icknield Way and the village of Wallington, may be seen Bush Barrow, one of the many ancient mounds in the county concerning which so little is known.

Micklefield Green (½ mile E. from Sarratt Church) is near the river Chess and the Bucks border. The nearest station is Chorley Wood (Met. R.) 2 miles S.W. The district is varied and undulating.

Mill End (1 mile S.W. from Rickmansworth) is on the Middlesex border, close to the river Colne. The church (modern) is late Dec. in style, and has several good stained windows. The village and parish were only formed in 1875. There is also a hamlet of this name 1½ mile S.W. from Buckland, on the Royston road.

Mill Green, at the N. end of Hatfield Park, is a pretty hamlet on the Lea, near the old paper mill.

Mimms, North (3 miles N.W. from Potter’s Bar Station, G.N.R.), is in one of the prettiest districts in the county, although so close to Middlesex. The church and parsonage are in the park, ½ mile from the village. Dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin, the church is Dec., unusually pure in style. It is said to have been built by Sir Hugh de Magneville (temp. Stephen); I should think it more probable that Geoffrey de Magneville, then Lord of the Manor, was the real founder, as stated by Chauncy. However this may be, the structure is now almost wholly of later date. The monuments and brasses are numerous and very interesting; several of the latter, now in the chancel, were moved from their original positions on the floor during the restoration sixty years ago. Among them we may note (1) large black marble monument in chancel surmounted by a figure of justice, to John Lord Somers, Baron of Evesham (d. 1716); (2) altar tomb in N. aisle, with Elizabethan effigy, to a Derbyshire family named Beresford; the inscription is only in part decipherable; (3) mutilated brass to Sir Robert Knolles (d. 14—), and to Elizabeth his wife (d. 1458); (4) brass to Sir Henry Covert (d. 1488); (5) fine old brass to Richard Boteler and Martha (Olyff) his wife (circa 1560); (6) brass, probably of Flemish workmanship, thought to be a memorial to William Kesteven, vicar (d. 1361). This effigy is closely described in Murray. “It is apparently Flemish, and resembles in style that of Abbot de la Mare at St. Albans. He is vested in a chasuble and stole, has a chalice on his breast, and over him is a rich canopy, with, on the dexter side, St. Peter, and underneath SS. John the Evangelist and Bartholomew, and in corresponding places on the sinister SS. Paul, James the Great, and Andrew, with their respective emblems. Above is the Almighty holding the soul of the deceased; at the sides are two angels swinging censers.” Separated from the chancel by an oaken screen is the chantry-chapel of St. Catherine, dating from early fourteenth century.

North Mimms Park surrounds the fine Jacobean manor house of red brick, recently in part restored, but originally built about 1600 by Sir Ralph Coningsby; it is very extensive and can show some good carving, and a chimney-piece dating from sixteenth century. E. from this park is Potterels, a modern house standing in another but smaller park, and E. again from Potterels is the more famous Brookman’s Park, where, in 1682, Andrew Fountaine erected the mansion soon afterwards purchased by the great Lord Somers who died here in 1716. The house was completely burnt down thirty years ago and has only in part been rebuilt. The further stretch of park adjoining Brookman’s on the S. is Gubbins, or more correctly Gobions, where formerly stood the old manor house in which Sir Thomas More lived awhile with his family. The walks in each of these parks are very fine, and most beautifully wooded; they command distant views in many directions, and, in the autumn, are a perfect study in colour. No London cyclist should fail to visit this picturesque and interesting neighbourhood.

Mimms, South, recently included in the administrative county of Herts, has a restored, E. Perp. church, with fine massive W. tower. The Frowyk chantry, at E. end of N. aisle, contains a very ancient tomb with recumbent effigy of a knight in armour, under a richly designed canopy. The knight was a Frowyk, and there are also some mutilated brasses to this family. The village is prettily situated on rising ground, 1½ mile W. from Potter’s Bar Station, G.N.R. (Middlesex).

Moneybury Hill is on the Bucks border, close to the Bridgewater Column, 2 miles S.W. from Tring Station.

Moor Green (3 miles W. from Buntingford Station, G.E.R.) is a hamlet in Ardeley parish.

Morrell Green is a hamlet 2 miles E. from Barkway on the Essex border. The nearest station is Buntingford, nearly 6 miles S.E.

Mortgrove, on the Beds border, is little more than a modern house, 1½ mile S. from Hexton.

Munches Green lies in the centre of that quiet district of villages and hamlets which stretches between the G.N.R. and G.E.R. It is a hamlet a little S.E. from Ardeley Bury and nearly 4 miles W. from Westmill Station, G.E.R.

Munden, Great, formerly Mundon Furnival, from Gerrard de Furnival, who was Lord of the Manor in the time of Richard I., is a village 2 miles W. from Braughing Station, G.E.R. There is a Norman doorway on the N. side of the church, and a small Perp. reredos which was discovered during restoration in 1865. There is a brass in the chancel to John Lightfoot, Canon of Ely (d. 1675). The hamlet of Nasty, a little N.E. from the church, now takes Munden Furnival as its alternative name, but the older historians give that title to the district around the parish church.

Munden, Little, or Munden Frewell, is 2¼ miles S.W. from the above, and 4 miles W. from Standon Station, G.E.R. The church, conspicuously placed on the hill, dates from the thirteenth century; it was restored in 1866-68. It is a structure of many parts, consisting of nave of three bays, chancel, N. chapel, N. aisle, N. and S. porches, and W. tower. Note the two altar tombs beneath the chancel arcade, at the S. side of the chapel, each supporting the stone effigies of a male and female, presumably man and wife. They bear no inscriptions, but from the arms and shields figured on one of them it is conjectured to be the tomb of Sir John Thornbury, Kt., and his lady; whilst the other is probably that of his son Philip Thornbury and his wife: the former dates from about 1340-50. Early in the fourteenth century the manor belonged to a Knight named Frewell or de Freville, hence the old adjunct of the village. Rowney Abbey, now a modern mansion, takes its name from Rowenea Priory, founded by Conan, Duke of Brittany, about 1164, and occupied for several generations by a Benedictine prioress and nuns. At Munden Street, or Dane End, ¼ mile S. from Little Munden, were formerly two or three large tumuli, long since levelled.

Nash Mills, on the river Gade, is a hamlet in the parish of Apsley End, 2 miles S. from Hemel Hempstead. The House was the seat of Sir John Evans, K.C.B., F.R.S., etc., the great archæologist, who had a rich collection of coins, prehistoric flints, implements, etc., some of which were discovered in the neighbourhood.

Nettleden was formerly in Bucks, but was transferred to Herts a few years ago. The village is beautifully situated at the foot of a wooded hill, at the meeting of the roads from Great Gaddesden and Little Gaddesden. The small parish church is a Perp. structure of stone, with a N. porch; it was partly rebuilt by the last Duke of Bridgewater, and was restored in 1887. Note the carved oak pulpit, which, like that in Little Gaddesden Church, was the gift of Lady Marian Alford (d. 1888). Sir John Cotton, Vice-Chamberlain to Edward VI., was buried here. The nearest station is Berkhampstead, L.&N.W.R., 2½ miles S.W.

Newnham (2½ miles N. from Baldock) is a village lying on high ground, with an E.E. battlemented church on a little knoll above a brook. It consists of chancel, nave of four bays with clerestory, S. aisle and porch, and W. tower. The interior can show little of interest, but there are brasses, (1) on chancel floor, to Sir William Dyer, Bart. (d. 1680); (2) to a family, the man in civic costume (circa 1490); (3) to Joan, wife of James Dowman (d. 1607), and her eight children.

Newsell, a hamlet 1 mile N. from Barkway, lies a little W. from the Cambridge Road. The nearest station is Royston, G.N.R., 3½ miles N.W. Newsell Park is a modern mansion S. from the hamlet.

No Man’s Land is a large tract of common, partly covered by furze, stretching left from the road between Sandridge and Wheathampstead. Some years ago a farmer close by collected quite a museum of stuffed birds, etc., shot in the neighbourhood, which many persons visited, but I understand the collection is now dispersed.

In 1884 Sir John Evans showed to Mr. W. G. Smith “a good white ovate palæolithic implement,” one of two found on No Man’s Land Common. In December, 1886, Mr. Smith visited the gravel pits there and found a somewhat similar implement in situ; this latter is engraved in his Man the Primæval Savage. At the same time Mr. Smith found two neolithic celts on the common.

Nobland Green (1¼ mile N.W. from Widford Station, G.E.R.) is little more than a farm and a few cottages.

Northaw (2 miles E. from Potter’s Bar Station, G.N.R.) is a village on the Middlesex border, near the source of the river Colne, and a place of considerable interest. In the wood N. from the village there lived a hermit named Sigar, the subject of some monkish legends. He lived about the time of Henry I., and was buried beside Roger the Monk (see Markyate Street) in the S. aisle of the Baptistery of St. Alban’s Abbey. There was originally a small church close to the village, E.E. or perhaps late Norman; this was replaced by the cruciform church of St. Thomas Becket, a pseudo-Perp. structure, destroyed by fire in 1881; the present cruciform building of Ancaster stone is Dec. with a conspicuous W. tower carrying four pinnacles. Note the piscina, three sedilia and credence table in chancel; also the finely carved font of Ancaster stone, on marble pillars, presented by the children of the parish. There are several memorial windows, of only local interest; but the pulpit and reredos are both good, the former showing the four Evangelists in canopied recesses. Unfortunately, only a portion of the old registers were saved from the fire of 1881.

Northchurch, or Berkhampstead St. Mary, forms one long street with Great Berkhampstead, but is a separate village, 1 mile W. from Berkhampstead Station, L.&N.W.R. The cruciform church is Dec.; it stands in a small graveyard close to the high road to Tring. The most curious memorial is the brass near the porch to Peter the Wild Boy, who was found wild in a forest in Hanover in 1725 and brought to England at the desire of Queen Caroline. He lived at a farm at Broadway (q.v.) and died in 1785. There is also a curious sentence about this church in Chauncy: “Henry Axtil, a rich Man starved himself, and was buried here April 12, 1625, 1 Car. I.” The church was entirely restored in 1883, when the present N. aisle was added.

Northfield, a small hamlet, is a little S. from Ivinghoe (Bucks).

Norton, near the tiny river Ivel and the Roman Icknield Way, is 1 mile W. from Baldock. The large building on the hill-top close by is the Three Counties Asylum. The manor belonged to the Abbot of St. Albans at the time of the Conquest; and in the year 1260 Roger de Norton, who took his name from this village, became the twenty-fourth abbot of that monastery. The church, E.E., is of great antiquity, some parts of it having been little altered; it is of flint, and stands at the N.E. end of the village. It contains two or three old memorials, but none of historic interest. A pretty walk from the church leads through Norton Bury and beside the Ivel to Radwell Mill.

Offley or Offley St. Leger (3 miles S.W. from Hitchin) is a village at the meeting of the ways from Hitchin, Temple Dinsley, and Lilley. It owes its name to Offa, King of the Mercians, who had a palace here, as we learn from his life by Matthew Paris, and its adjunct to the St. Legiers, who became Lords of the Manor soon after the Conquest. Miss Hester Salusbury, who became Mrs. Thrale, and afterwards Mrs. Piozzi, used as a child to visit at Offley Place, in the park close to the church. The old mansion was built by Sir Richard Spencer in 1600, and in part rebuilt early last century, when its style was changed from Jacobean to a form of Gothic.

Offley Green is 4 miles N.W. from Buntingford Station, G.E.R. The walk beside Julians Park to Rushden, 1 mile S.W., is very pleasant.

Offley Holes (2½ miles S.W. from Hitchin) is a small hamlet. Offley Grange, Offley Hoo, Offley Cross and Offley Bottom are all in the immediate neighbourhood, W. and N.W.

Old Hall Green (1½ mile W. from Standon Station, G.E.R.) lies W. from the Old North Road. It is a small hamlet.

Oxhey (2 miles S. from Watford) is a hamlet on the Middlesex border. It has a good modern church, E.E. in style. N. lies Oxhey Place, on the site of the old home of the Heydon family, rebuilt by Sir William Bucknall in 1668, and again by Hon. William Bucknall in 1799. The chapel, close to the old mansions, was spared by both those renovators, but has since been repeatedly restored. It contains many interesting monuments, conspicuous among which is that on the S. wall to Sir James Altham (d. 1617) who had built the chapel on the site of an earlier structure in 1612. The old judge is represented kneeling in his robes between two pillars, beneath a canopy of alabaster; behind him is the effigy of his third wife Helen (Saunderson). Note the carved oak seventeenth century reredos, occupying the whole of the E. end of the chapel. It is divided into three compartments by two columns, massive and twisted, with Corinthian capitals; these support a frieze, with cornice and pediment. Note also the oak ceiling, and the five Tudor windows (replaced). Oxhey Hall, N.W. from the chapel, is now a farm; but can still show the wonderful ceiling of carved oak, in sixteen panels, which must be very ancient.

PANSHANGER PARK, Lord Desborough, K.C.V.O, should be visited by all who love an historic home surrounded by beautiful scenery. It lies almost midway between Hatfield and Ware Parks; the house itself is 1½ mile N. from Cole Green Station, G.N.R. The park is very extensive (about 900 acres); the river Maran flows through it from W. to S.E., opening into a lake S. from the house. It is famous for its splendid timber; the wonderful “Panshanger Oak,” one of the very largest in England, stands W. from the house.

Panshanger is not a “correct” structure from an architectural standpoint; the writer of Murray’s Handbook describes it well as “a stucco-fronted, semi-castellated Gothic mansion of the Walpole-Wyatt type”. Most ramblers, however, are not architects, and the grey stone mansion and its surroundings are, as a whole, as picturesque as they can well be. The greater part of it was built by Peter, fifth Earl Cowper, in 1801; but the picture gallery, overlooking the terrace and gardens, was a later addition. The house was partially burnt in 1855. The older home of the family stood at Cole Green—then called Colne Green.

The famous Cowper Collection is largely the result of the taste and perseverance of the third earl, who resided for some years at Florence. Only a few of the pictures can be named here: Madonna, by Raphael (1508); Holy Family, by Fra Bartolommeo; Mountainous Coast (fishermen in foreground), by Salvator Rosa; Nativity, by Carlo Dolce; Virgin Enthroned, by Paul Veronese; Third Earl Cowper and His Family; First Earl Cowper, by Sir Godfrey Kneller; Francis Bacon, by Van Somer; Turenne, by Rembrandt; Charles Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, by Janssens. The whole collection is worth careful study. Permission to view may be obtained when the family are away.

Park Street, a large hamlet with station 1/3 mile W. (L.&N.W.R.), is on the river Colne, 2 miles S. from St. Albans. The parish church is at Frogmore (q.v.).

Parker’s Green (4 miles S.W. from Westmill Station, G.E.R.) is a hamlet adjoining Wood End.

Patient End may be reached from Braughing Station, G.E.R., 4 miles S.E., the road being more direct than that from Westmill Station, about the same distance as the crow flies. The hamlet lies between Albury and Furneaux Pelham.

Patmore Heath is 1 mile S.E. from the above.

Pepperstock, a hamlet on the Beds border, is a little W. from the Harpenden-Luton road, and close to Luton Hoo Park.

Perry Green (1¼ mile S.E. from Hadham Station, G.E.R.) is a small scattered hamlet.

Peter’s Green, on the Beds border, lies at the meeting of several roads; the Half Moon and Rising Star with a few cottages comprise the hamlet. The descent W. towards Chiltern Green Station, M.R., commands a fine view, looking towards Luton Hoo Park. The several ways (one is hardly more than a lane) lead S.E. to Kimpton, S. to Harpenden, N. to Lawrence End Park, and N.E. to Breachwood Green and Bendish.

Piccotts End is passed when going from Hemel Hempstead to Great Gaddesden. It is on the river Gade, at the N.E. extremity of Gadesbridge Park.

Pin Green (1½ mile E. from Stevenage Station, G.N.R.) lies between the Great North Road and the river Beane.

Pirton (3½ miles N.W. from Hitchin) is an ancient village on the Beds border, said to owe its name to one Peri, who possessed it in Saxon times. William I. gave it to Ralph de Limesie, or Limesy, who founded the church and gave the tithes of it to the Abbey of St. Albans. The site of the castle built by Ralph is thought to be at Toot Hill, W. from the church, where a moat may be traced. The church was originally cruciform, but the transepts have long disappeared; the tower, massive and embattled, still standing between nave and chancel. Restoration has been carefully carried on recently; the tower was rebuilt in 1877, but some Norman work may still be traced in its arches. Note (1) monument and curious inscription to Jane, wife of Thomas Docwra (d. 1645); (2) double piscina, fourteenth century, in S. wall of chancel.

Pirton should be visited for the fine old houses in its neighbourhood. High Down, S. from the church, is Elizabethan, with gables, twisted chimneys and mullioned windows; it was formerly the home of the Docwras. Pirton Hall, on a hill N.W. from the village, is also Elizabethan, and the Rectory Manor House and Hammond’s Farm are both ancient. In the latter is some fine old carved oak.

Plummers is 1½ mile S.W. from Knebworth Station, G.N.R. It consists of a few cottages.

Ponfield lies between Bedwell and Bayfordbury Parks. It is a small hamlet nearly 2 miles S.E. from Cole Green Station, G.N.R.

Poplar’s Green is on the river Maran, on the W. edge of Panshanger Park. The old church at Tewin is less than 1 mile N.W. The station is Cole Green.

Potten End (2 miles N.E. from Berkhampstead Station, L.&N.W.R.) has a modern chapel-of-ease to Nettleden (1 mile N.). The hamlet is prettily situated between the rivers Gade and Bulbourne.

Preston (4 miles W. from Stevenage Station, G.N.R.) is a hamlet beautifully situated on high ground. The Church of St. Martin is a small building a few yards W. from the green, a modern erection; close by is the Bunyan Chapel, and ½ mile N. is Bunyan’s dell, where the author of the Pilgrim’s Progress often preached. Temple Dinsley, a manor house a little E. from the Red Lion, stands on the site of the preceptory of the Knights Templars, founded by Bernard de Baliol in the reign of Stephen.

Puckeridge, a village on the Old North Road, nearly 1 mile S.W. from Braughing Station, G.E.R., was visited by Pepys on more than one occasion. Here, at the White Hart Inn, the road divides, going left nearly due N. to Royston and right to Cambridge. The village lies partly in Standon and partly in Braughing parish. The nearest church is at Standon, 1 mile S.E., but divine service is conducted in the church schoolroom.

Puddephats (3 miles N.W. from Redbourn Station, M.R.) is a hamlet in Flamstead parish.

Purwell Mill, on the river Purwell or Pirrel, 1 mile E. from Hitchin, stands near the spot where the tesselated pavement of a Roman villa was discovered many years ago, in excellent preservation.

Puttenham (1½ mile S. from Marston Gate Station, L.&N.W.R.) lies near the Clinton chalk hills, in the extreme W. of the county, on the Bucks border. The church, close to the village, is of several periods, parts of the structure being E.E. and other portions Perp. and Tudor. Several portions should be carefully noted: (1) very large embattled W. tower, built of blocks of Ketton stone with flints laid in squares between each block; (2) roof of nave, thought to date from temp. Edward IV.; with two shields under the ridges, one bearing the arms of Zouch, the church having belonged to the Priory of Ashby; (3) solid oak pews, probably coeval with nave roof. The S. porch was rebuilt in 1889. The vill of Puteham belonged to Leofwin, brother to Harold Godwin; William I. gave it to his half-brother, Odo, Bishop of Bayeux.

Queen Hoo Hall. (See Bramfield.)

Rabley Heath (1 mile S.W. from Knebworth Station, G.N.R.) adjoins Sallow Wood. Knebworth and Codicote churches are about equidistant (1¼ mile), N.W. and S.W. respectively.

Radlett, with station on M.R. (main line), is about 5 miles S. from St. Albans, on the high-road from the Marble Arch to that city. Seen left from the train the neighbourhood is very pretty, the spire of the church showing among the trees some distance before the station is reached. The cruciform church is modern (1864), E. Dec. in style, with several good windows of stained glass. A picturesque ramble may be taken by turning into any lane in the vicinity, especially towards the Valley of the Colne, W. A potter’s kiln of the Roman Age was discovered here.

Radwell, on the Beds border, is in a charming district, threaded by the little river Ivel, 1½ mile N.N.W. from Baldock. The mill is reached by turning left after passing The Compasses, a quaint old inn, where a story is told of the “Maid of the Mill,” a local beauty, who captured many hearts in days long past.[5] Between The Compasses and the mill stands the little Perp. church, very ancient, but in part restored on several occasions. It has no tower, the two bells hanging in a small turret at the W. end of nave. Here, as at Norton, there are several memorials to the Pym family; and a few others worth noting: (1) brass, with effigies, to John Bell, Gent. (d. 1516), and his two wives; this was discovered during restoration, about twenty-five years ago, but the inscription was copied by Chauncy, so it must have been hidden by some alterations effected after, say, 1690; (2) marble monument to John Parker, Kt. (d. 1595), and Mary, his wife (d. 1574); the latter was buried at Baldock. There is also a small brass to Elizabeth (Gage or Cage), wife of John Parker (d. 1602). The font is fourteenth century. Radwell, formerly Reedwell, is said to owe its name to the many reeds that grew by the river-side. There are plenty of moor hens, coots and dab-chicks on the lake-like expansion of the Ivel near the mill.

Red Heath is in the parish of Croxley Green, 2 miles N.N.E. from Rickmansworth.

Red Hill, 4 miles E. from Baldock, is a small hamlet in a very quiet neighbourhood. The nearest church is at Wallington, ¾ mile N.W. Julians, a substantial house in the park, ½ mile S., was built early in the seventeenth century.

Redbourn (i.e., the road by the burn) lies on the old Watling Street, 4 miles N.W. from St. Albans. The river Ver, here a small stream, skirts the E. side of the village. The old manor, like that of Abbots Langley, was given to the Abbey of St. Albans by Egelwine the Black and Wincelfled, his wife, in the days of Edward the Confessor. St. Amphibalus was probably buried here after his martyrdom; his barrow was on the Common, and the story of the removal of his bones to St. Albans is narrated in Matthew Paris, and is referred to in the Introduction (Section IX.). The church of St. Mary, at Church End, ¾ mile W. from the station (M.R.), dates from Norman times; the only existing portions of the ancient structure are the three columns of the N. aisle arcade, but much thirteenth and fourteenth centuries work still stands. It was largely rebuilt by Abbot John Wheathampsted (temp. Henry VI.). Note (1) almost unique carved oak rood screen, double canopied; (2) pointed arches of S. side of nave, replacing those defaced during the Commonwealth; (3) Eastern sepulchre and sedilia in chancel; (4) piscinæ in N. aisle and lady-chapel; (5) brass in chancel, with eight kneeling effigies, without date; (6) brass in chancel to Richard Pecock, or Pekok (d. 1512). There are silk and corn mills on the Ver, close by.

Reed lies on the chalk range, midway between Buntingford and Royston, about 3½ miles S. from Royston Station, G.N.R. The village lies right from the Old North Road. One of the best Norman doorways in the county is on the N. of the little church, which also contains good Dec. portions. The tower alone was untouched during the restoration of sixty years ago. Some remains of two moats are a little E. from the village; Reed End, Reed Green and Reed Wood, are in the vicinity. The neighbourhood is less wooded and picturesque than most of the county.

Revel End (1½ mile S.W. from Redbourn Station, M.R.) is a hamlet.

RICKMANSWORTH is in the extreme S.W. of the county; the rivers Colne, Chess, and Gade unite here, close to the Grand Junction Canal; and it is easy to understand why the place was formerly called “Rykemereswearth,” i.e., the rich moor-meadow. It is a compact little town with many quaint houses and quainter by-paths. The residence now called Basing House, in the High Street, was for some time the home of William Penn, the Quaker; a photograph of it was long since reproduced in the Quiver. The manor was given by Offa to the Abbots of St. Albans, who retained it till the Dissolution, after which Edward VI. granted it to Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London. Henry III. granted a market to be held in the town every Wednesday; it was subsequently held on Saturday, but has long been discontinued. Paper-making and brewing are now largely carried on in the neighbourhood.

The church, at the S. end of Church Street, was rebuilt (except the tower) in 1826; and again in 1870, from designs by Sir Arthur Blomfield. It is Perp., almost entirely embattled, and is constructed of flints, with stone dressings. Note (1) sedilia, piscina and modern oak stalls in chancel; (2) restored marble altar tomb carrying shield of arms, and inscription to Sir Henry Cary, Baron of Leppington and Earl of Monmouth (d. 1661); (3) brass with effigy to Thomas Day (d. 1613), and his wives Alice (d. 1585), and Joane (d. 1598); a separate inscription in the “Ashbie Chapple” ran—I am not sure if it is still preserved:—