COCKAYNE HATLEY
Hettenleia (x cent.); Hatelai (xi cent.); Bury
Hattele (xiii–xv cent.); Hatley Port, Cockayne
Hatley (xvi cent.).
The small parish of Cockayne Hatley lies on the
Cambridgeshire borders 3 miles east from the
Potton station of the London and North Western
Railway. It contains 1,174 acres, of which 777 are
arable land, 283 permanent grass, 210 woods and
plantations. (fn. 1) The soil is strong clay and the subsoil clay. The chief crops are wheat, turnips, barley,
peas, and beans. In the north-east of the parish is
situated Cockayne Hatley wood, the south is mainly
agricultural. The small village is in the centre of
the parish, the greater part of which consists
of the Cockayne Hatley estate. The church is built
in the park, a little to the south of Cockayne Hatley
House, and is surrounded by trees on all sides but
the north, where the road to the house passes close
by. The house itself, facing south and west, is not
of much architectural interest, and its exterior is comparatively modern. The site, however, is old, and
parts of a former house still exist, though now hidden
by modern additions. Recent repairs are said to have
revealed a gallery, which was over the screens of the
old hall.
Mention has been found of a tenth-century grant
of land in Hatley by Efelmus and his wife Affa to the
abbot of St. Benedict, Ramsey, but no later evidence
has been obtained of the abbey holding. (fn. 2)
Manor
The manor of COCKAYNE HATLEY
also called BURY HATLEY and HATLEY
PORT was held, at the time of the Survey,
by Azelina wife of Ralph Taillebois, and had previously belonged to Ulmar a thegn of King Edward
the Confessor. (fn. 3) The overlordship of Cockayne
Hatley passed, with the other Bedfordshire property
of Ralph Taillebois, to Hugh de Beauchamp, (fn. 4) the
founder of the barony of Bedford, and became
attached to that honour. (fn. 5) The latest reference that
has been found to the overlordship is in 1515, when
the manor was held of Sir Edmund Grey as of the
barony of Bedford. (fn. 6)
No tenant of the overlord is mentioned in Hatley
at the time of the Survey, but members of the family
of de Port seem to have established their position as lords of
the manor in the twelfth century. (fn. 7)
In 1197 Adam de Port confirmed the gift of the church
to Newnham Priory, (fn. 8) and
again in 1231 he received the
grant of half a virgate of
land in Hatley, (fn. 9) from Ellen,
daughter of Agnes of Hatley,
whilst in 1277 William de
Port was in possession of the
manor. (fn. 10) This manor passed
from the de Ports in the last decade of the thirteenth
century to Roger Bryan, who acquired from William
de Port 70 acres of land in
1294, (fn. 11) a carucate of land,
8s. rent, and a messuage two
years later, (fn. 12) and finally, in
1298, lands, rents, a messuage,
and a mill. (fn. 13)
De Port. Barry argent and azure a saltire gules.
Joan, daughter of Roger
Bryan, married John d'Argentein, who was holding the
manor in 1308, (fn. 14) and from
him it passed to his daughter,
Joan wife of Ralph Butler, (fn. 15)
whose heir was her nephew
Edward Butler, who came of
age in 1360. (fn. 16) He made
various settlements of the manor, (fn. 17) and finally in the
year 1417 sold it to John Cockayne, chief baron of
the Exchequer, for 1,000 marks. (fn. 18)
Cocxaynz. Argent three cocks gules having their beaks, combs. and wattles sable.
From this family, who continued to hold the manor
in an almost unbroken line of succession from father
to son for more than 300 years, Hatley acquired
the prefix Cockayne. Reginald son of John Cockayne
succeeded his father in 1427, and held the manor
till his own death in 1433, (fn. 19) when the estate passed
to his son John, who died in 1492. (fn. 20) His son
Edmund appears to have left two sons, Humphrey,
who died in 1515, the same year as his father, and
William, to whom the estate, being entailed on male
heirs, then passed. Chad Cockayne, who married
Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Nicholas Luke, chief baron
of the Exchequer, succeeded to William in 1527, (fn. 21)
and his son John held the manor in 1595. (fn. 22)
In 1625 Lewis Cockayne made a settlement of the
manor on the occasion of the marriage of his son
John to Susan Field. (fn. 23) He, however, died without
issue, and the manor passed to John Cockayne,
son of his brother Richard, who succeeded his grandfather Lewis before 1663, in which year he attained
his majority. (fn. 24) He married Elizabeth daughter of
Sir Richard Cust, and died in 1719, leaving a son
Richard, who died in 1731, having survived all his
children. He had one brother, Samuel, with whom
he appears to have been on unfriendly terms, for in
his will he left him the specific sum of one shilling,
and the estate of Cockayne Hatley to his second
cousin, Judith Cockayne, with the condition that she
should marry a man of the name of Cockayne.
Samuel Cockayne, as lineal representative, threatened
litigation, but a compromise was effected in 1733, by
which Judith in return for £1,000 gave up the estate
to Samuel. (fn. 25) At his death in
1745 Samuel left a will under
which the Cockayne Hatley
estate passed to his cousins by
the mother's side, the descendants of his grandfather, Sir
Richard Cust. Saville Cust,
who adopted the additional
name of Cockayne, accordingly succeeded to the manor
in 1745. He never married,
and the estate passed to his
nephew Francis, who died unmarried in 1791, being succeeded by his youngest sister Lucy, sole survivor of the
family. (fn. 26) She, as last surviving tenant in tail mentioned
in the will of Samuel Cockayne, had power to disentail the estates. This power she exercised by settling
them on her nephew Brownlow Lord Brownlow, with
remainder to his second son Henry Cust, and his sons
in succession. On the death of Lord Brownlow in
1807 the estate passed to Henry Cust, who was
holding in 1857. (fn. 27) In 1852, on the death of Henry
Francis Cust, his eldest son, the estate was disentailed. (fn. 28)
Cockayne Hatley manor was subsequently sold to
Mr. Bradshaw, from whom it was purchased by
Mr. Lomax, who now owns the property.
Cust. Ermine a cheveron sable with three fountains thereon.
The Countess Judith held 3 hides 2½ virgates as
one manor in Hatley in the eleventh century. (fn. 29) This
manor had belonged to Earl Tosti, and the Survey in
mentioning it expressly states that it lay (jacuit) in
Potton, own manor of the countess, (fn. 30) and as no documentary evidence is obtainable of its further history
in this parish it is to be assumed that it early became
absorbed in Potton (q.v.).
Cockayne Hatley contained one mill at the Survey
of 1086, which was worth 18s., and belonged to
Azelina, wife of Ralph Taillebois. (fn. 31) In 1298 it was
granted by William de Port to
Roger Bryan, (fn. 32) and has since
been found appurtenant to the
manor. (fn. 33)
In 1308 John de Argentein
received a charter of free warren in his manor of Hatley, (fn. 34)
to which also was attached the
right to hold a view of frankpledge. (fn. 35)
Argentein. Gules three covered cups argent.
The master of the Knights
Templars claimed view of frankpledge in the thirteenth
century for land which he held in Hatley as appurtenant to his manor of Langford. (fn. 36)
Church
The church of ST. JOHN consists of
a chancel 19 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft. 3 in.,
nave 36 ft. by 18 ft., with north aisle
5 ft. 9 in. wide and south aisle 6 ft. wide, and west
tower 12 ft. 8 in. by 13 ft. 4 in., all internal measurements. The plan, owing to successive rebuildings
and additions, is one of extreme irregularity, the
chancel, nave, and tower being all set at different
angles, and only the tower being rectangular on
plan.
The earliest part of the church now existing is the
north arcade of the nave, belonging to the latter part
of the thirteenth century, and the north aisle probably
retains its thirteenth-century width. Before this
time there doubtless existed an aisleless nave and
chancel, the former of approximately the same dimensions as at present, but no details of an earlier date
than the north arcade have survived.
The chancel seems to have been rebuilt in the
early part of the fourteenth century, being enlarged
in both dimensions, and the irregular angle at which
it is set is doubtless accounted for by the usual
mediaeval process of building the east wall outside the
lines of the older chancel which it was to supersede,
a method very productive of errors in setting out.
Later in the fourteenth century a south aisle was
added, its arcade not being parallel to the existing
arcade, and the final irregularity was attained by the
addition of a western tower early in the fifteenth
century, which appears to have been set out after the
same fashion as the chancel—the west wall of the
nave and aisles being rebuilt to square with the new
tower, without reference to the direction of the nave
arcades.
Later in the fifteenth century the south aisle was
lengthened eastward, and a south porch was added;
the latter was destroyed about 1823, and its outer
archway now serves as a north doorway to the nave.
By the beginning of the nineteenth century the
church had fallen into a very bad state. In the
repairs then undertaken between 1823 and 1830
the east wall of the chancel was taken down and the
chancel shortened and re-roofed, and at the same
time the nave received a new roof, and the south aisle
was taken down and rebuilt with the old materials.
The chancel has a modern east wall
with a three-light window copied from
the east window of Wilbraham Church
in Cambridgeshire. There are twolight windows of fifteenth-century style
on either side of the chancel, whose
tracery appears to be modern, and in the
south wall is another similar window
blocked, with a small fourteenth-century priest's door, also blocked, close to
it on the east. A piscina formerly in
the chancel is now set at the northwest angle of the nave in the tower
wall, but has entirely lost its ancient
appearance in the process of 'restoration.' The chancel arch is plain and
pointed without any moulded detail,
and is probably part of the nineteenthcentury repairs.
The nave arcades are of four bays;
that on the north having circular columns with
moulded capitals, and pointed arches of two hollowchamfered orders, the labels over the arches being apparently of modern detail; the bases of the arcade are
worked in cement. The south arcade has octagonal
pillars with moulded capitals and arches of two orders
with wave moulds; the labels here again being
modernized. The clearstory is of four square-headed
windows a side, each of two cinquefoiled lights, and
belongs to the latter part of the fifteenth century.
The nave roof, as already noted, is modern, but on
the underside of the tie-beams are set fifteenth-century
wooden figures of angels brought here from Biggleswade Church. The date of the roof is on one of the
tie-beams.
The windows in the north aisle are of fifteenthcentury style with tracery which appears to be
modern. The three north windows are each of
three lights, while the east window is of two lights
and contains some extremely interesting fourteenthcentury glass from a 'church in Yorkshire,' representing St. Edward, St. Oswald, St. Dunstan, and St.
… bald, the canopies in the heads of the lights
being of the fifteenth century, and in the tracery
above other fragments of old glass have been set. This
is the only old glass in the church, but there is a
great deal of modern heraldic glass.
The north doorway has a pointed arch under a
square head with traceried spandrels, and four-leaf
flowers in the arch and jambs, and is somewhat
awkwardly set in the wall, not having been in its
original position intended to take a wooden door.
The east window of the south aisle, which is
blocked on the inside, is a good fifteenth-century
window of three lights with tracery, the three
south windows of the aisle being of fourteenth-century
date with trefoiled main lights and quatrefoils over.
The south doorway, now blocked by the monument of Sir Patrick Hume, is also of the fourteenthcentury with a moulded arch of two orders and
a label.
The tower is of three stages, 66 ft. high, with an
embattled parapet and modern angle pinnacles copied
from Denton Church, Lincolnshire. The belfry
windows are in pairs, with tall two-light trefoiled
openings and ogee heads. In the second stage are
plain square-headed lights on north, south, and west,
and in the ground stage a large three-light west
window with a western doorway below it, both
having labels with crocketed finials at the apex. At
the north-east angle is a stone stair entered from the
west end of the north aisle. It stops at the level of
the belfry floor, and a second stair in the south-east
angle runs up to the battlements.
Plan of St. John's Church, Cockayne Hatley
The fittings of the church are unusually elaborate.
In the two eastern bays of the nave and the western
half of the chancel are a set of finely-carved stalls
from the abbey of Alne, near Charleroi, dated 1689.
Of these eight are in the chancel and twenty-four are
in the nave, the western stalls being returned. The
walls of the chancel are panelled with very elaborate
carved woodwork with sixteen medallions in high
relief representing saints and doctors of the church,
each being surrounded by wreaths of foliage and
fruit. Between each compartment are angels holding
instruments of the Passion, and the backs of the stalls
are inlaid with patterns in black wood.
The altar rails, from Mechlin in Flanders, are about
two feet high, and have four compartments carved in
high relief with types of the Eucharist: (1) The
Israelites obtaining water from the rock; (2) The
Gathering of the Manna; (3) Harvest; (4) Vintage.
The altar table is in carved oak of Renaissance style
bought in London.
The altar cloth and cushions were made from the
garter robe of one of the dukes of Richmond, and
the foot-cloth is part of the carpet formerly in St.
George's Chapel, Windsor.
The pulpit, which stands at the west end of the
nave, came from St. Andrew's Church, Antwerp, and
is an exceedingly fine specimen, dated 1559. It is
hexagonal, each side inclosing a carved panel, on four
of which are figures of the Evangelists.
Under the organ loft, which is in the west tower,
are large oak folding doors from Louvain; and the
rail of the loft itself belongs to the same series as that
now in the chancel brought from Mechlin.
The pulpit cushion is made from part of the pall
of George III.
The pews in the nave are mostly of modern deal,
but there are a few mediaeval oak benches. At the
east end of the north aisle is the Cockayne pew,
screened off by woodwork from the church of St.
Bavon, Ghent.
The font is octagonal, and was originally quite
plain, but has been carved with quatrefoils in modern
times. It dates from the fifteenth century. It
formerly contained a dish of Italian majolica, which
was used at christenings.
The oldest monument in the church is an incised
slab at the west end of the church. It is of early
fourteenth-century date, with a floreate cross and
indents for two shields above it. The marginal
inscription runs—
Dame — DE ERIEN GIST ICI DIEU DE SALME EIT MERCI
amen.
In the nave are three slabs with brasses, all to
members of the Cockayne family, the westernmost dated 1527, and showing the figure of William
'Cokyn' with his two wives and ten children. The
next, which is of the fifteenth century, shows a knight
and his lady with three sons and two daughters.
This is probably the gravestone of John Cockayne,
1492, but the figure of the man is of earlier date, c.
1430. To the east of it is the brass of Edward
Cockayne and his wife Elizabeth, 1525, with eleven
sons and four daughters. On this are the arms of
Cockayne impaling a cheveron between three fetterlocks.
In the south aisle is the large alabaster monument
of Sir Patrick Hume, 1627, blocking the south doorway.
There was formerly in the church the monument
of Sir John Cockayne, formerly Lord Chief Baron
of the Exchequei, who died in 1427, but it has been
entirely removed.
There are two bells by Thomas Mears, 1828.
The plate comprises a cup with cover paten, flagon
and standing paten of 1773, given by Francis
Cockayne Cust.
The registers begin in 1701.
Advowson
There is no mention of this church
in the Survey, but it first appears as
one of the fourteen churches which
formed part of the original endowment of Newnham
Priory, founded by Simon Beauchamp in 1166. (fn. 37)
The grant was confirmed by Adam de Port in 1197, (fn. 38)
and again by William de Port about 1277. (fn. 39) In
1327 the prior and convent received licence to
impropriate this church whose advowson they held in
pure and perpetual alms of the barony of Bedford. (fn. 40)
At the Dissolution the rectory of Hatley Port, which
was worth £4 4s., (fn. 41) became crown property, and
in 1564 was granted to Thomas Reeve. (fn. 42) Between
this date and 1595 it was transferred to John
Cockayne, (fn. 43) who was the lord of Cockayne Hatley
manor, and since then the living, which is a
rectory, has remained in the gift of the lords of
that manor. (fn. 44)
Charities
Lady Hume, widow of Sir Patrick
Hume, who died in 1627, as appeared
from an old terrier, charged certain
lands in the parish with an annual payment of £3
for the uses following, namely—20s. to the rector
for two sermons annually, at Lady Day and Michaelmas; 20s. yearly to the poor; and 20s. yearly to the
repairs of the church. These payments are made by
F. G. Lomax, esq., of Cockayne Hatley Hall, and
duly applied.