HAMERTON
Hambertune (xi cent.); Hamertun (xii cent.).
The parish comprises 2,184 acres, a considerable
part of which is arable land. Hamerton Grove, on the
west side of the parish, with one or two small copses
makes up 55 acres of woodland. The Alconbury
Brook flows through the village and the north part of
the parish. The land here is about 82 ft. above
Ordnance datum and rises at the southern boundary
to 227 ft.
The picturesque village, largely composed of 17thcentury timber-framed cottages, lies at the intersection
of the roads from Leighton Bromswold to the
Giddings and from Upton and Alconbury Weston to
Winwick. The church is on the south side of the
village and to the south of it is the Rectory House,
adjoining the remains of a homestead moat which
marks the site of the capital messuage of the Beauchamps mentioned in 1274 (fn. 1) and 1324. (fn. 2) The 'Manor
Place' was in lease to John Lawncell in 1542, when he
left his interest in it to Silvester Bedell, subject to
'Mastris Sibell' not coming to dwell in it herself. (fn. 3)
The following are the particulars for sale of this house
by Sir Francis Compton in 1669: 'One large
mansion house contayning a greate Hall, two parlours,
one Dining Room, one kitchen, with brew-house,
wash-house, darye-house and several stables and barns
and other convenient outhouses, and 20 lodging
chambers, one faire court before it, and several yardes
behind it, and ponds of water, with a great garden and
other lesser gardens and fair oarchards well planted
with good fruit, consisting of about ten acres. A dove
house well stocked. The advowson thereto belonging
worth £120 per annum.' The Manor Farm, on the
west side of the village, is an interesting brick house
with tiled roof, of the latter half of the 16th century,
to which additions were made in the 17th century.
Rookery Farm, at the east end of the village, is a 17thcentury timber-framed house, adjoining which is an
ancient brick barn. The footbridge over the Alconbury Brook, beside which is a ford, was repaired in the
reign of Edward VI by the churchwardens, who defrayed the cost by the sale of a cope of blue velvet sold
for 30s. (fn. 4) Probably the 14th-century re-used material
in the stonework of the bridge formed a part of the
repairs of this date. About a mile to the south-west
is Grange Farm, which was probably the site of the
grange of the priory of Royston.
In 1374 an inquiry was ordered as to two felons
who took sanctuary in the church of Hamerton, when
'the ministers of the church' hindered the bailiffs from
seizing their horses, goods and chattels. (fn. 5)
The nearest railway stations are at Abbots Ripton
and Barnwell, both 7 miles distant.
Some 13th-century field-names are Bonefurlong at
Caldewell, Millefurlong in Cumbe, Brocfurlong and
Blakedole. (fn. 6)
Manor
Ulfeck held HAMERTON, assessed at
15 hides (the 15 has been altered from 12),
in 1066 and the Conqueror gave it to
Eudo (Eoun) Dapifer or the Sewer, son of Hubert de
Rie. Two knights held two hides in 1086. The
Domesday Survey contains a passage underlined for
deletion that Alick and Lewine held three hides, the
soke of which was in Leightonstone Hundred, and
further that Eudo held the land and the king had the
soke. (fn. 7) Presumably Ulfeck had only 12 hides, and the
15 were made up by the addition of these three. In
1096–7 Eudo founded Colchester Abbey, to which he
granted two-thirds of the tithes of Hamerton. He
died in 1120, as is considered by Dr. Round, without
issue, but according to the Genealogia Fundatoris of
Tintern he left a daughter Margaret, who married
William de Mandeville to whose son, Geoffrey de
Mandeville, the Empress Maud in 1142 granted
portions of Eudo's fiefs in England on certain conditions. (fn. 8) The Mandevilles, however, never held
Hamerton, which seems to have passed to William
de St. Clair, who held lands in Huntingdonshire,
including probably this manor, in 1130–1 (fn. 9) and granted
the church to St. John's Abbey, Colchester. (fn. 10) It
seems likely that he left a daughter who married
Aubrey de Dammartin, to whom the king granted
the manor about 1152–3, to hold by the service of one
knight. (fn. 11) Aubrey and Maud his wife confirmed the
church to St. John's, Colchester, Hubert de St. Clair,
brother of William, being a witness to their charter. (fn. 12)
Hubert also confirmed the church, (fn. 13) before 1156. (fn. 14)
Hubert's widow, Clemence, held the manor in dower
in 1185, but William de Lanvalei, husband of their
daughter and heir Gunnora, (fn. 15) held the manor in 1156, (fn. 16)
and settled the reversion of it on his younger son
Ralph, to hold of the elder son and heir, William (II),
by the service of half a knight's fee. (fn. 17)
In 1205 William de Lanvalei (III) was under age; (fn. 18)
in 1210–12 he held a knight's fee here; (fn. 19) in 1215 he
had livery of Colchester Castle, but died the same
year, leaving a daughter and heir Hawise, wife by 1230
of John, son of Hubert de Burgh, the justiciar. (fn. 20) John
succeeded to the honours and estates of his wife, heir
to the Lanvalei property, but not to his father's
honours. His son, John, died in 1280, leaving three
daughters: Hawise, the wife
of Thomas de Greilly, Devorgilla, the wife of Robert Fitz
Walter, and Margery, a nun
at Chicksand. (fn. 21) Robert Fitz
Walter was overlord in 1324, (fn. 22)
and the overlordship passed
from his heiress Hawise to her
son William de Morley, hereditary Marshal of Ireland. (fn. 23)
The last mention found of
this overlordship is in 1613,
when the manor was still held
of the Lords Morley, (fn. 24) whose
barony fell into abeyance about 1686. (fn. 25) The service
is variously given as a red sparrowhawk (fn. 26) and a pair
of white gloves. (fn. 27)
Morley. Argent a lion sable crowned or.
The Ralph de Lanvalei to whom the reversion of
the manor was granted in demesne before the death
of Lady Clemence (fn. 28) was succeeded by a sister,
Gunnora, who married William de Beauchamp, (fn. 29) one
of the Beauchamps of Bedford. They had a son
John, whose heir was a minor in 1232. (fn. 30) William de
Beauchamp had a family by a second wife, his son
being Simon de Beauchamp (IV), whose daughter and
heir, Joan, died before 1262, her heirs being her three
aunts, of whom one was Beatrice, the wife of Thomas
Fitz Otes. (fn. 31)
William Fitz Otes was concerned with 2 carucates
of land here in 1243, (fn. 32) probably on the occasion of his
brother Thomas's marriage with the Beauchamp
heiress Beatrice. Thomas died seised in 1274 leaving
a young son Otes and three daughters, Joan, Maud
and Beatrice. (fn. 33) Beatrice, widow of Thomas Fitz Otes,
married William de Munchensey and in 1279 was
holding Hamerton in dower. (fn. 34) Her son Otes died
before 1282 (fn. 35) and was succeeded, as regards Hamerton,
by his sister Maud, the wife of John Botetourt. (fn. 36)
Maud was still alive on John's death in 1324, leaving
an heir, her grandson John, son of Thomas Botetourt,
a minor. (fn. 37) Her daughter Elizabeth, wife of William,
Lord Latimer, succeeded her in Bedfordshire. (fn. 38) For
some reason Hamerton and Mendlesham (Suff.),
another Fitz Otes manor, passed to Otto Botetourt,
who dealt with the latter in 1330 and died seised of
both manors in 1345, leaving a son John under age and
a widow Sibyl. (fn. 39) In 1346 Hamerton was held by Sibyl,
probably as dower. (fn. 40) John was holding a knight's fee
in Mendlesham in 1361, (fn. 41) and died before 1377, when
his widow Katherine sued for dower from John, son
of Sir John Knyvet and Joan his wife, daughter and
heir of John Botetourt. (fn. 42) Thus Hamerton went to
the Knyvets.
In 1418 John Knyvet of Mendlesham died seised of
the manor of Hamerton, leaving a son and heir Sir
John, (fn. 43) who died seised in 1445, leaving a son and
heir John. (fn. 44)
Knyvet. Argent a bend and a border engrailed sable.
John Knyvet died in 1490, leaving a son William
aged 50 years and a widow Alice. (fn. 45) Sir William Knyvet
settled the manor of Hamerton on his son Charles and
Anne his wife for their lives (fn. 46)
and died in 1515, leaving as his
heir Edmund, son of Thomas,
son of his son Edmund
Knyvet, aged 7 years, (fn. 47) but
Charles was still holding in
1522. (fn. 48) The younger Edmund
was succeeded by Sir Thomas
Knyvet, who in 1565 conveyed Hamerton to Silvester
Bedell. (fn. 49) Silvester was succeeded by Sir John, his son
by his first wife Margaret
Highfield. Sir John died in 1613, (fn. 50) leaving a son
Thomas who married Winifred, daughter of Sir
Arthur Capell of Hadham (Herts) and died also
in 1613. (fn. 51) Their son Capell was created a baronet
in 1622 and died and was buried at Hamerton in 1643.
He left two daughters: Elizabeth, who married Sir
Francis Compton, and Mary,
who in 1655 married Sir
Thomas Leventhorpe, bart. (fn. 52)
Bedell. Gules a cheveron engrailed between three scallops argent.
Sir Francis purchased the
Leventhorpe moiety and
thus obtained the whole
manor. (fn. 53) In 1683 he sold it
to Erasmus Smith (fn. 54) or
Herriz of Edmundthorpe
(co. Leic.). Erasmus died
in 1691 and was buried
at Hamerton. His son Hugh
Smith left two daughters and
co-heirs, Lucy and Dorothy,
who each took a moiety of
the manor of Hamerton. Lucy married in 1747 James
Stanley, eldest son of Edward, eleventh Earl of Derby,
who assumed the additional surname of Smith. He
died in 1771 in his father's lifetime, leaving a son Edward
Smith Stanley, commonly called Lord Stanley, who
settled a moiety of the manor in 1774 (fn. 55) and succeeded his
grandfather as twelfth Earl of Derby in 1776. Dorothy
Smith, the other co-heir, married in 1746 John Barry,
youngest son of James, fourth Earl of Barrymore,
and their son, James Hugh Smith Barry, settled the
other moiety of the manor in 1778. (fn. 56) James Hugh
left his estates to his natural son, John Smith Barry,
who in 1821 by royal licence took the name and
arms of Smith Barry and seems to have acquired the
whole manor of Hamerton. He died in 1837, leaving
a son James Hugh (d. 1856), whose son Arthur Hugh
Smith Barry was created Lord Barrymore in 1902.
Lord Barrymore died without male heir in 1925 and
was succeeded by his nephew, Mr. Robert Raymond
Smith Barry, the present owner. (fn. 57)
The lords of Hamerton in 1276–9 had gallows,
view of frankpledge, amends under the assize of bread
and ale, and warren from of old. (fn. 58)
Royston Priory held a carucate of land here of the
lord. (fn. 59) It seems to have been granted to the
Cromwells after the Dissolution, (fn. 60) but afterwards
descended with the manor. (fn. 61)
The Knights Hospitallers claimed view of frankpledge of their tenants here. (fn. 62)
Church
The church of ALL SAINTS consists
of a chancel (32¾ ft. by 17½ ft.) with
vestry on the north (14½ ft. by 9¼ ft.),
nave (51¼ ft. by 19 ft.), north aisle (10 ft. wide),
south aisle (9¾ ft. wide), west tower (11 ft. by 11 ft.)
and south porch. The walls are of stone rubble and
pebble rubble, with stone dressings; the tower is of
ashlar. The roofs are covered with tiles, slates and lead.
The church is not mentioned in the Domesday
Survey (1086), but one probably existed, and there is
a reference to it in 1130. (fn. 63) The earliest parts of the
present building are the side windows of the porch,
which date from the extreme end of the 13th century,
but the whole church seems to have been rebuilt
with chancel, nave, side aisles and south porch in the
early years of the 14th century. The usual reconstruction took place late in the 15th century, when
the aisle walls were largely rebuilt with larger windows,
a clearstory added to the nave, the roofs of nave and
aisles renewed, a rood-screen and rood-stairs added,
and west tower built. The chancel, being decayed
and ruinous, was partly rebuilt in 1796, when a new
steep roof covered with tiles replaced the former flat
leaded roof. (fn. 64) The church was restored in 1854,
when the chancel walls were refaced; and the chancel
was underpinned and repaired in 1896–7.
The early 14th-century chancel has a three-light
east window with tracery in a two-centred head, nearly
all modern. The north wall has two early 14thcentury two-light windows with plain spandrels in
two-centred heads; an early 14th-century singlelight low-side window; a modern doorway to the
vestry; and a modern niche for a credence. The
south wall has two two-light windows similar to those
in the north wall, but both have their inner sills carried
down, that of the eastern window to form a seat, and
that of the western to allow a low-side window to be
formed below a transom in the western light; an
early 14th-century doorway with a two-centred head
and continuous moulded jambs; and a modern
piscina with a quatrefoiled basin. The early 14thcentury chancel arch has a two-centred arch of two
chamfered orders, the inner order carried on moulded
corbels supported on carved heads. The roof is
modern. The side walls have a stone cornice under
the eaves carved with ball-flowers.
The modern vestry has a three-light window in
the east wall, a plain doorway in the west wall, and a
fireplace on the north.
The early 14th-century nave has an arcade of four
bays on each side, all having two-centred arches of
two chamfered orders resting on octagonal columns
with moulded capitals and bases, and similar halfcolumns to the responds. The details on the north
side are slightly earlier than those on the south.
The labels over the arches turn up at the apex and
run into the string-course below the clearstory. The
late 15th-century upper doorway of the rood-stairs
is in the north-east angle. The late 15th-century
clearstory has four three-light windows on each side,
having cinquefoiled lights and four-centred heads.
The contemporary roof, much restored, has moulded
beams, carved figures at the feet of the jack-legs, and
carved angels with outstretched wings at the feet of
the intermediate principals. The original corbels
below the jack-legs are carved with angels.
The early 14th-century north aisle has in the north
wall three late 15th-century three-light windows
with four-centred heads, and a doorway of similar date
with a four-centred head and continuous chamfered
jambs. The east and west windows are similar to
those in the north wall. On the east wall is a rectangular 15th-century bracket; and at the southern
end of this wall is the lower doorway of the late
15th-century rood-stairs, the stairs themselves being
partly in the aisle and partly in a semicircular turret
in the outside angle between the chancel and aisle.
The roof is largely modern, but retains some old beams
with carved figures at the feet of the jack-legs—four
of them being figures of the Evangelists with animals'
heads; and the corbels below are crudely carved
grotesques.
The late 14th-century south aisle has a late 15thcentury three-light east window with simple tracery
in a depressed four-centred head. The south wall
has three somewhat similar three-light windows with
vertical tracery; an early 14th-century doorway
with a two-centred head and continuous hollowchamfered jambs; and a modern piscina with trefoiled
head and 14th-century trefoiled basin. (fn. 65) The roof is
similar to that of the north aisle and the jack-legs
rest on similar corbels.
The late 15th-century west tower has a two-centred
tower arch of three moulded orders, the two outer
continuous and the inner order resting on semicircular attached shafts with moulded capitals and bases.
The west doorway has a two-centred arch in a square
head with traceried spandrels, continuous moulded
jambs with moulded bases, and a moulded label
formed partly of the string-course above; the west
window is a three-light with intersecting tracery
in a four-centred head. The second stage is blank.
The third stage has a two-light window with simple
tracery in a four-centred head. The belfry windows are
coupled transomed two-lights with simple tracery in
four-centred heads. The tower has square buttresses
set in from the angles, which rise to half-way up the
belfry windows, and is finished with an embattled
parapet, below which is a band of quatrefoils in circles.
The stairs are in the south-west angle.
The early 14th-century porch has a two-centred
outer arch of two chamfered orders, the lower order
resting on attached semicircular shafts with moulded
capitals. The east and west walls each have a reset
late 13th-century two-light window with a soffit-cusped
circle in a two-centred head. In the north wall, east of
the door, is a semicircular headed recess for a stoup,
but with modern basin. The roof is modern, but
retains two late 15th-century beams.
The 15th-century font has an octagonal panelled bowl
with moulded coving on an elongated-octagonal panelled
stem and moulded base, and stands upon two steps.
It is fixed against the western column of the south
arcade, and the side against the column has been cut off.
There are four bells, inscribed: (1) C. & G. Mears
Founders London 1854; (2) T: Eayre Kettering:
[Crown]: 1728: [Crown] Gloria Patri Filio et Spiritui
Sancto; (3) Non Verba Sed Voce Resonabo Domine
Lavdem [and, on second line] Thomas Norris cast
me 1628 W. Bvrnbi S. Fitchiohn Ch: Wa.; (4) Henry
Penn made me 1706 William Smith churchwarden.
In 1709 there were four bells and a clock. (fn. 66) They
were rehung in a new frame in 1933.
In the chancel is a loose piece of 15th-century oak
tracery, apparently from the chancel screen, which
existed as late as 1851. (fn. 67) A few of the benches in the
church incorporate 15th-century moulded rails, etc.
The 17th-century Communion table is in the south
aisle.
In the churchyard is a late 13th-century base of
a column used as the base of a modern churchyard
cross; the real base of the churchyard cross was
found in a clump of trees north of the church and now
lies in the churchyard on that side. A stone fixed
to the south clearstory wall, outside, is inscribed
'I. B. 1707.'
On the north wall of the north aisle are some small
remains of painting, including parts of a late 15thcentury St. Christopher, and a woman, and 17thcentury inscriptions.
There are the following monuments: in the vestry,
to the Rev. Ferrar Collet, rector, d. 1679; and the
Rev. John Pyne, rector, d. 1822; in the nave, to
Rose Sophia Thomas, d. 1898; Arthur Hugh, Lord
Barrymore, d. 1925; in the north aisle, War Memorial,
1914–19; in the south aisle, to Mawde (Lane), wife
of John Bedell, d. 1587 (fn. 68) ; Sir John Bedell, Kt., d.
1613; Ralph Newton, d. 1760, Ann, his wife, d. 1775,
and Ann d. 1762, Ralph d. 1763, John d. 1787, their
children, Christopher, their son, d. 1798, Martha, his
wife, d. 1839, Ann, Christopher's daughter, d. 1854,
Elizabeth, wife of Christopher's son, Ralph, d. 1805,
and some infants.
The registers are as follows: (i) baptisms, marriages
and burials 27 November 1750 to 11 December 1812,
marriages end 4 December 1763; (ii) the Official
Marriage Book, 5 December 1763 to 3 January
1812.
The church plate consists of a silver cup with a
coarse stem, inscribed 'The Town of Hamerton in
the County of Huntington' and hall-marked for
1674–5; a silver cover paten, inscribed 'Hammerton
Com: Hunt:' and similarly hall-marked; (fn. 69) a silver
standing paten, inscribed 'Presented by James Hugh
Smith Barry Esqre to the Church of Hamerton, September 1837. The Revd. A. Nash Rector' and hallmarked for 1837–8; a silver flagon, inscribed 'The
Church of Hamerton in the County of Huntingdon'
and hall-marked for 1851–2.
Advowson
The church seems to have been
given to St. John's Abbey, Colchester,
by William de St. Clair about 1130, (fn. 70)
and his gift was confirmed by Aubrey de Dammartin
and Maud his wife. (fn. 71) The abbey continued in
possession until the Dissolution. (fn. 72) It was retained
by the Crown until 1599, when it was granted to
Henry Best, (fn. 73) probably on behalf of Sir John Bedell,
the lord of the manor, who included the advowson
in a settlement in 1600. (fn. 74) Except for a presentation
by Susan Collet, executrix of Ferrar Collet, late rector,
in 1679, (fn. 75) probably for one turn only, the patronage
has remained in the hands of the lord of the manor
to the present day.
The living is a rectory.
There are no charities for this parish.