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 or
Barham Wood, is a small parish of 1,510 acres, bordering on Middlesex and divided from that county
for three-quarters of its length by the Bushey and
Barnet Road. Its western boundary follows the
slight curve of the Watling Street which parts Elstree
from 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 that
the land of Aldenham extended to the Elstree
Woods at that time. (fn. 1)
The greater part of Elstree parish is a slightly
undulating plain, but in the south the land rises
steeply to some 480 ft. above ordnance datum. The
village is on a hill in the extreme south-west at the
crossing of Watling Street and the southern highway, and it spreads into the neighbouring parishes of
Aldenham, Little Stanmore, and Edgware. Its chief
street is part of the Watling Street along which it
extends for nearly half-a-mile. The church is in the
north of the village near the High Street and the
houses stand close up to the narrow street. There
is a fine red-brick Jacobean house near the church
called Schopwick, which belongs to the trustees of
Lieut.-Colonel Bruce, and is the residence of Mr. Kershaw. In the south of the village just off the high road is
Elstree Hill House, a red-brick building, the older
part of which is of the reign of Queen Anne. It is
the residence of the Rev. F. de Winton Lushington,
head master of the preparatory school, which became
well known under the Rev. L. Sanderson, the principal,
from 1869 to 1903. Many famous men have been
educated here. The school buildings and large grounds
adjoin the house.
A little south of the Barnet road is a large redbrick gabled house called Penniwells standing in
large grounds, owned by Mr. F. Marment. Other
houses along this road are Abbotsbury, a modern
red-brick house, owned by Mrs. de Putron, the
Chantry, owned by Mr. A. Brampton, and Elstree
Lodge, the property of Mr. L. Staples, and tenanted by
Lieut.-Colonel G. A. Draffen. On the south, near
where 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, but
is now the property of Mrs. J. E. Warton, and on
the 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 an
ornamented ceiling in one of the lower rooms on
which the Wheel of Fortune is thought to be represented in the plaster. The Fortune is the property
of 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 story
goes that travellers on Watling Street would drink
there and leave a penny for the draught.
North-east of the church near Allum Lane is a
white house now called Radnor Hall, but for the past
200 years known as Palmers. It is the property of
Mr. D. Maclennan. Near it is Palmers Lodge, a
white brick and tiled house, the property of Mr. G. W.
Atkins.
The Midland Railway main line runs through
the parish from north to south, and in the centre of
the parish is a station called Elstree and Boreham
Wood, about which the hamlet of Boreham has
sprung up within the last twenty-five years. It is
growing rapidly and possesses a photo-paper and other
factories and engineering works. The houses are
mostly unimportant, but near Allum Lane which leads
to Elstree is Hillside, the property and residence of
Mr. Andrew Chatto. Boreham village is to a great
extent built on land which was formerly part of the
manor estate. It was separated from the manorhouse some forty or fifty years ago. (fn. 2)
In the parish of Elstree it is noticeable that the
hill roads are remarkably direct and seldom curve
to avoid the steep pitch, and it has been suggested
that the roads were originally slides for the timber
which used to be sent to London for fuel. (fn. 3) Nearly
all the parish is pasture, a great deal of the land
being laid down in grass of late years. In 1905
there were only 40½ acres of arable land, while there
were 1,272 acres permanent grass and no woods. (fn. 4)
Sir Richard Burton, the well-known traveller, was
born at Torquay on 19 March, 1821, and was
christened at Elstree Church from Boreham House,
now Hillside, on 2 September. (fn. 5)
An Act was passed for inclosing the common of
Boreham Wood in 1776, and in 1781 commissioners
were appointed to carry out the same. (fn. 6)
MANOR
In 1188 Pope Clement granted to the
kitchen of the monastery the whole land
of ELSTREE. He also gave to the
Abbey the wood of Boreham for the feeding of the
swine. (fn. 7) The monastery kept the manor until the
Dissolution, (fn. 8) and it was doubtless included in a large
grant of land to Sir Anthony Denny in 1542, who
died seised of it in 1550. (fn. 9) Sir Anthony held a high
position at court, being one of the Gentlemen of the
Privy Chamber and Groom of the Stole. He married
Joan, daughter of Sir Philip Champernoune of Devon, (fn. 10)
by whom he had a son Henry, who succeeded his father
in the property. In 1574 Henry Denny leased
Boreham Wood to Edmund Downing for sixty years,
and died the same year, leaving directions in his will
that his executors should take all his lands in Hert-fordshire for fourteen years for paying off his debts
and 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 next
son Edward. In 1589 this Edward was high sheriff
of 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 way
to claim the English crown. (fn. 12) Sir Edward was summoned to Parliament in 1604 as Lord Denny de
Waltham, and in 1626 was created earl of Norwich. (fn. 13)
After retaining the property for some thirty years Sir
Edward sold the whole manor,
but not the site, to Robert
Briscoe of Aldenham. With
this he sold also the Fryth
Farms and another farm called
Fryth House at 'Smugoakegreene.' (fn. 14) A few months
later in the same year, 1607,
Robert Briscoe sold that part
of Park which was in St. Stephen's and St. Peter's to Sir
Baptist Hicks, knt., and William Toperly, mercer, for Sir
Baptist and his heirs for ever. (fn. 15)
But that part of Park which lay in Elstree he kept
and bequeathed to Edward his nephew, who inherited
it at his uncle's death in 1616. (fn. 16)
Briscoe. Argent three running greyhounds sable.
Edward Briscoe held this property (fn. 17) till his death
some twenty-two years later, and was succeeded by
his son Edward, (fn. 18) who in 1670 conveyed the manor
to his son George. (fn. 19)
In 1702 the property was still in the family of the
Briscoes. (fn. 20) From them it passed to Edward Beauchamp, whose son Ephraim succeeded him. Ephraim's
son William predeceased his father, who died in 1728,
when the estate passed to his grandson William who
was created a baronet in 1744. Later he added his
mother's maiden name of Proctor to his own in compliance with the will of his uncle George Proctor. (fn. 21)
Proctor. Argent a cheveron sable between three martlets gules.
Beauchamp. Gules a fesse between six billets or set barwise with a quarter ermine.
Sir William Beauchamp-Proctor was owner in 1745
and 1747, (fn. 22) but in 1768 the manor had passed into
the hands of Thomas Jemmit (fn. 23) who was holding up
to 1774, (fn. 24) in which year he made a settlement of the
property.
Cussans says that in 1774 the manor was conveyed
to George Byng, of Wrotham Park, Middlesex, and
that in 1789 his son George sold it to William
Robert Phillimore, on whose death in 1846 it came to
his son Captain William Brough Phillimore. (fn. 25) It is
now owned by Mr. R. C. Phillimore, but nearly the
whole of the manor is now enfranchised. (fn. 25a)
The walls of the old manor-house, pulled down
c. 1880, were built into the present fine modern redbrick house which is a little north-west of Boreham
station. It is now the property of Mrs. Barstow, of
'The Cottage,' Shenley, and was tenanted by the late
Hon. Henry Lloyd Gibbs. Several chimney-pieces
from 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 land
belonging to the manor-house some forty or fifty
years ago, but when the Midland Railway was made
through Elstree most of this land was sold, and is
now built over. (fn. 26)
About 1202 the abbot granted to Gilbert de
Hendune feeding for thirty hogs in the wood of
Boreham. (fn. 27) The rent for this privilege was two
Norwegian goshawks, (fn. 28) and that for a piece of land in
Elstree was a pair of white gloves. (fn. 29) Early in this
same century Elstree bore a heavy share of the
expenses incurred by the abbey manors in entertaining
King John, Fawkes de Breauté, and the French
Marshal. (fn. 30)
About 1275, the abbot appropriated for his own
use a park in Boreham Wood, and laid claim to free
warren there, but by what right was not known. (fn. 31)
One of the services due to the monastery was a
supply of horses for the abbot's yearly visit to the cell of
St. Mary at Tynemouth, and one tenement at Elstree
was answerable for a horse for this purpose. (fn. 32)
CHURCH
The church of ST. NICHOLAS is
almost entirely modern, and has a chancel with south chapel and north vestry,
a nave of five bays with north and south aisles and a
south-west tower with a shingled spire. The only
old work is in the south arcade of the nave, which was
rebuilt in 1853 on the old foundations and with the
old 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 arched
braces and collars, the rest being copied from them. The
south doorway of the nave with a four-centred arch
under a square head, and a rose and a shield bearing a
saltire in the spandrels, is said to be old work, but is
more probably a nineteenth-century reproduction of a
former doorway. Plans and elevations of the church
preserved in the library of the Society of Antiquaries
show that in the early part of last century it consisted
of nave, chancel, and south aisle, the chancel having a
late fifteenth-century square-headed east window of
three lights, and on the south side of the nave roof
was a small dormer window in the position of a rood
window. The bells were in a wooden turret at the
west end. The chancel screen existed till 1824,
when it was taken down. The font, at the west end
of the north aisle, is of the fifteenth-century, octagonal
with a panelled bowl and a slender, panelled stem
surrounded by an arcade of open arches. The detail
is good but obscured by paint, and a modern block
of stone has been inserted between the old bowl and
stem. (fn. 33)
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 taken
down and fixed in the tower in 1853, but the most
interesting was broken in the process and has only
lately been pieced together and set up once more in
the church by the care of the rector, the Rev.
A. R. T. Eales. It is in the north aisle, and is of
alabaster with a long English metrical inscription to
Olive Buck.
The plate is modern and consists of a silver cup,
flagon and paten of 1844, given in 1851, a second
cup and two patens of 1852, given in 1853, and a fine
silver-gilt chalice given in 1906.
The earliest register begins in 1655 and ends in
1757, 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 Richard
Williams, Stationer of St. Albans, which said Mr. Fly
beinge Minister of Elsterie bestowes this Booke
on his Parish—it cost twentye shillinges, &c.' It
contains the record of several briefs, beginning in
1659. The second book goes from 1758 to 1812.
There are also preserved churchwardens' accounts
from 1715 to 1744, and from 1742 to 1842, and a
book of vestry minutes 1769–1823.
ADVOWSON
In 1188 there was a chapel at
Elstree the profits from which were
appropriated to the use of the abbey
by the permission of Pope Clement in that year. (fn. 34)
This chapelry became a parish before 1424. (fn. 35)
The rectory of Elstree belonged to the abbey of
St. Albans till the Dissolution, and afterwards came
to the crown, (fn. 36) and has apparently remained in the
hands of the crown since, (fn. 37) the presentation being with
the Lord Chancellor. (fn. 38)
In the thirteenth century there appears to have
been another chapel in Elstree, for in 1248
Henry III confirmed an earlier charter by which
the chapel of St. Bartholomew, Elstree, was granted
by Robert de Ramis to the prior and convent of
St. Bartholomew's, Smithfield. (fn. 39) It seems that there
was a tenement in Elstree called Chappell House,
which was held in 1637 by Edward Briscoe. (fn. 40)
In 1792 an order was passed by the vestry that
10s. 6d. should be allowed to the churchwardens for
the use of the psalm-singers. (fn. 41) In 1803 a meeting
was held in the parish church to discuss the Acts of
Parliament recently passed for the defence of the
kingdom. (fn. 42)
In 1669 the house of Mr. Richard Haly was used
for a conventicle, the preachers there being Isaac Loaffes,
a nonconforming minister, and Jeremiah White, chaplain to Cromwell, and preacher to the Council of
State. (fn. 43) In 1760 a house at Boreham Wood was certificated for Independents, who still have a chapel
here. (fn. 44) There is now also a Baptist chapel.
CHARITIES
In 1616 Robert Briscoe, by deed,
charged 6 acres of land called Church
Mead 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. The
rent-charge is paid by Mr. D. Maclennan, the
owner of the property charged.
In 1726 Samuel Nicholl, by deed, made provision
for the payment of certain rent-charges given by
himself and others of the name of Nicoll by assuring
3 acres of land called Pen's Croft in Aldenham.
Under the Inclosure Act of 16 Geo. III this land
was exchanged for 6 acres in the parish of Edgware,
Middlesex, known as Pasture Tree Field, which was
sold 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 in
this parish called Maggots Mead, containing 4 acres,
with 40s. a year for the poor, to be distributed on
the second Lord's day after Christmas.
In 1730 Robert Warren by his will proved in the
P.C.C. in 1750 charged a close called Monk's Mead
with 40s. to be distributed among the poor on
Candlemas and All Saints' Day.
Allotment to the Poor.—Under the Inclosure Act
above referred to provision was made for the continuance of an annual payment of £2 10s. for the
benefit of the poor. The charge was redeemed by
the transfer in 1905 to the official trustees of £120
consols.
The above-mentioned charities are administered by
one body of trustees and income applied in weekly
allowances and coals to widows and lone women.
The said Robert Warren by a codicil to his will
also charged his field called the Home Field with
£5 annually for apprenticing a poor child. The
annuity is paid by Lord Aldenham. The official
trustees also hold £263 12s. 6d. consols arising from
investment of accumulations. By a scheme of 1896
the income is applicable (1) in apprenticing, (2) for
the promotion of technical instruction.