Rushden, Hertfordshire
Encyclopedia
Rushden is a small village and civil parish
in England
in the county of Hertfordshire
.
and Buntingford
. Although a very small village Rushden has a colourful and varied history and was mentioned in Domesday, although the size of the village has doubled since 1086 when there were only 100 inhabitants.
, there were two large farms and twenty families (100 people) living in Risendene (Rushy Vale) around Church Green. Each family probably had two pigs. Cattle and sheep were grazed on unfenced pasture at South End Green. Southern Green remains the same today.
The first Lords of the Manor - the Bassets - lived in the Bury beside the church. The list of vicars is complete right back to 1220.
The Church 'living' was handed over to the Chapter of Lincoln and in 1336 it was declared a Vicarage but a very poor living. Two hundred years later it was still only valued at £8 per annum.
1350 The Nave of the present church was built and later the Tower.
15th century Bradfield Grange, now known as Friars Farm, was used by Cistercian monks and leased to the Newport family for £5 in 1478.
16th century: The Age of the Rising Gentry and Yeomen and the Decline of the Church and Barons.
The Bury by the church fell down. The Newport and Goodman families take advantage of rising prices and falling money values during the Tudor period.
1536 Newport buys Friars for £60.
1547 Cumberlow Green: Tudor mansion and three cottages and 420 acres (1.7 km²) were sold to John Goodman by the Fortescues who had received it from Henry VII.
1580 Newport bought Youngloves Farm (originally owned by John Younglove whose family moved to Cottered
by the end of the 16th century)
1586 Newport bought Julians for £1000. The Newport family now owned most of Rushden.
In James I's reign the depression caused the gentlemen and yeomen to start selling to the London City men while other poorer people began buying common fields. Outlying bits of farms were sold by the big landowners. Between 1603 and 1618 nearly the whole village changed hands.
1603 Newport sold Ivellingsbury across the Green from the church (possibly where Church Farm is) to the Vicar's sister for £110 together with 43 acres (174,015 m²). He also sold Julians to John Stone, a London lawyer.
1605 A Tudor Yeoman, named Hamers, having gradually bought bits of land, bought Shaw Green Farm.Bradfield Grange (Friars) was sold to John Stone as well. Sixty acres next to the house was known as Old Field Green, now known as Offley Green. This must have been a Common Field that went out of cultivation in the Black Death or in early Tudor times when sheep farming was profitable. It was ploughed up in World War II for increased food production. John Goodman had become rich from high corn prices and built a Manor house in the meadow opposite the Tudor Cumberlow Green House.
1615 Youngloves was also bought by John Stone for £416 together with 100 acre (0.404686 km²). Stone built the Jacobean house (Julians) and his family lived there until the end of the 17th century.
1650-1660 There was an influx of inhabitants and a population of 200.
1674 A miller named Hankin bought an acre of land and built a windmill and a cottage (part of Windmill House).
1699 Penelope Stone married Adolphus Meetkerke. As workers like Hankin bought land, a house-owning village gradually began developing. 17th Century cottages were built by carpenters, bricklayers, blacksmiths and wheelwrights who were picking up a cottage here and a scrap of land there. This continued until the Agricultural Revolution in the 1770s. The cottages they built were spacious to accommodate large families and cottage industries such as spinning and straw-plaiting.
In the 18th century Julian's Georgian façade was added. It stands two feet in front of the Jacobean walls.
1722 John Goodman's Manor House at Cumberlow Green was abandoned and fell into disrepair. The remains were left and today only an uneven field, which is not allowed to be ploughed, marks the site.
1726 John Goodwin built the New House (the present one).
1752 Ivellingsbury sold to the executors of Thomas Paternoster - related to the first printer in Hitchin.
1770s After the agricultural revolution, the large landowners were buying as much land as they could.
1779 Meetkerke bought Cumberlow Green and the Manor of Rushden from a family called Hodges.
1791 Meetkerke bought Shaw Green Farm.
1801 First Census - population 253. 1821 - 333, 1891 - 225. Squire Meetkerke owned most of Rushden, having bought the centre of the village and many cottages. Common Fields are reorganised to be more compact and less scattered. The population increase means cottages are divided up into two, three and even four - one room downstairs and one or two upstairs.
1840 Many of the Meetkerke family had died in epidemics. Only Adolphus remained and he only had two daughters. He was an amiable, tolerant man and in 1841 the many footpaths that criss-crossed the Estate Park were used by poachers and villagers alike.
1857 School building (present village hall) was given by Adolphus VI.
1870 Day School opened.
1901 Population - 195, 1951 - 178, 1991 - 220.
1918 Mrs Metcalfe died. Julians was sold by Adolphus' granddaughter, bought by the Cavendish Land Property Company.
1920 The Sale of Rushden.
and remains so today. In 1935 it was re-pewed when 19th century deal box pews were replaced by local oak. The original Elm trees behind the church were destroyed by Dutch Elm disease. The iron railings in front of the church were taken down during the war as part of the war effort. There were more railings around the horizontal wooden tomb.
Pre 1937. The church with the old pews which had doors and high backs but made from cheap wood. There was a stove opposite the door which used to get too hot to sit near. The pulpit and lectern are on opposite sides from today. The organ can be seen in the chancel near the choir stalls on the left. Boys would be paid 4d to pump the organ for the whole service. There is a small altar at the end of the chancel. The altar was enlarged in the 1960s and the organ moved to the back of the church.
The Spender window depicting wild flowers, in the bell tower, is in memory of the Spender Sisters' mother. Flowers in the left window from top to bottom are : rose, shirley poppy, aquilegia, orchid, wood lily, marguerite, cowslip, poppy, fuchsia, primrose, trumpet gentian, daisy, pasque flower.
Flowers in right window (top to bottom): anemone, wood lily, fritillaria, holly, crocus, gentian, kingcup, tulip, rose, lily, cornflower, nasturtium, and buttercup.
The sculptor Percy Portsmouth lived in Youngloves in the 1950s. His patron was the Duke of Wellington and he did commissions for the Wellesley family and a sculpture of Ramsey McDonald. He retired here from the Chair of Sculpture at Edinburgh. His wife Kate started the WI. A statue he made in the 1960s can be seen in the church.
Rushden's five original bells were cast as a peal by John Briant of Hertford, one of the finest English bell founders, in 1787. He died in poverty in the Alms Houses in St Albans in 1829 and is buried in the churchyard of All Saints, Hertford. The new sixth bell, made in the Whitechapel foundry, was hung in the 1970s. The Bishop of St Albans (Robert Runcie
) officiated. He later became Archbishop of Canterbury.
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in the county of Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
.
Location
Rushden is located just off the A507 between BaldockBaldock
Baldock is a historic market town in the local government district of North Hertfordshire in the ceremonial county of Hertfordshire, England where the River Ivel rises. It lies north of London, southeast of Bedford, and north northwest of the county town of Hertford...
and Buntingford
Buntingford
Buntingford is a small market town and civil parish in the district of East Hertfordshire and county of Hertfordshire in England. It lies on the River Rib and on the Roman road Ermine Street. As a result of its location, it grew mainly as a staging post with many coaching inns and has an 18th...
. Although a very small village Rushden has a colourful and varied history and was mentioned in Domesday, although the size of the village has doubled since 1086 when there were only 100 inhabitants.
History
Starting in 1086 with the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
, there were two large farms and twenty families (100 people) living in Risendene (Rushy Vale) around Church Green. Each family probably had two pigs. Cattle and sheep were grazed on unfenced pasture at South End Green. Southern Green remains the same today.
The first Lords of the Manor - the Bassets - lived in the Bury beside the church. The list of vicars is complete right back to 1220.
The Church 'living' was handed over to the Chapter of Lincoln and in 1336 it was declared a Vicarage but a very poor living. Two hundred years later it was still only valued at £8 per annum.
1350 The Nave of the present church was built and later the Tower.
15th century Bradfield Grange, now known as Friars Farm, was used by Cistercian monks and leased to the Newport family for £5 in 1478.
16th century: The Age of the Rising Gentry and Yeomen and the Decline of the Church and Barons.
The Bury by the church fell down. The Newport and Goodman families take advantage of rising prices and falling money values during the Tudor period.
1536 Newport buys Friars for £60.
1547 Cumberlow Green: Tudor mansion and three cottages and 420 acres (1.7 km²) were sold to John Goodman by the Fortescues who had received it from Henry VII.
1580 Newport bought Youngloves Farm (originally owned by John Younglove whose family moved to Cottered
Cottered
Cottered is a village and civil parish west of Buntingford and east of Baldock in the East Hertfordshire District of Hertfordshire in England. It has a population of 634....
by the end of the 16th century)
1586 Newport bought Julians for £1000. The Newport family now owned most of Rushden.
In James I's reign the depression caused the gentlemen and yeomen to start selling to the London City men while other poorer people began buying common fields. Outlying bits of farms were sold by the big landowners. Between 1603 and 1618 nearly the whole village changed hands.
1603 Newport sold Ivellingsbury across the Green from the church (possibly where Church Farm is) to the Vicar's sister for £110 together with 43 acres (174,015 m²). He also sold Julians to John Stone, a London lawyer.
1605 A Tudor Yeoman, named Hamers, having gradually bought bits of land, bought Shaw Green Farm.Bradfield Grange (Friars) was sold to John Stone as well. Sixty acres next to the house was known as Old Field Green, now known as Offley Green. This must have been a Common Field that went out of cultivation in the Black Death or in early Tudor times when sheep farming was profitable. It was ploughed up in World War II for increased food production. John Goodman had become rich from high corn prices and built a Manor house in the meadow opposite the Tudor Cumberlow Green House.
1615 Youngloves was also bought by John Stone for £416 together with 100 acre (0.404686 km²). Stone built the Jacobean house (Julians) and his family lived there until the end of the 17th century.
1650-1660 There was an influx of inhabitants and a population of 200.
1674 A miller named Hankin bought an acre of land and built a windmill and a cottage (part of Windmill House).
1699 Penelope Stone married Adolphus Meetkerke. As workers like Hankin bought land, a house-owning village gradually began developing. 17th Century cottages were built by carpenters, bricklayers, blacksmiths and wheelwrights who were picking up a cottage here and a scrap of land there. This continued until the Agricultural Revolution in the 1770s. The cottages they built were spacious to accommodate large families and cottage industries such as spinning and straw-plaiting.
In the 18th century Julian's Georgian façade was added. It stands two feet in front of the Jacobean walls.
1722 John Goodman's Manor House at Cumberlow Green was abandoned and fell into disrepair. The remains were left and today only an uneven field, which is not allowed to be ploughed, marks the site.
1726 John Goodwin built the New House (the present one).
1752 Ivellingsbury sold to the executors of Thomas Paternoster - related to the first printer in Hitchin.
1770s After the agricultural revolution, the large landowners were buying as much land as they could.
1779 Meetkerke bought Cumberlow Green and the Manor of Rushden from a family called Hodges.
1791 Meetkerke bought Shaw Green Farm.
1801 First Census - population 253. 1821 - 333, 1891 - 225. Squire Meetkerke owned most of Rushden, having bought the centre of the village and many cottages. Common Fields are reorganised to be more compact and less scattered. The population increase means cottages are divided up into two, three and even four - one room downstairs and one or two upstairs.
1840 Many of the Meetkerke family had died in epidemics. Only Adolphus remained and he only had two daughters. He was an amiable, tolerant man and in 1841 the many footpaths that criss-crossed the Estate Park were used by poachers and villagers alike.
1857 School building (present village hall) was given by Adolphus VI.
1870 Day School opened.
1901 Population - 195, 1951 - 178, 1991 - 220.
1918 Mrs Metcalfe died. Julians was sold by Adolphus' granddaughter, bought by the Cavendish Land Property Company.
1920 The Sale of Rushden.
The Church of St Mary
The Nave was built in the 14th century and the west tower in the late 14th century. A blocked 14th century doorway remains in the Nave. The Chancel arch and the font were added in the 15th century. The Chancel was pulled down in 1849 when it was replaced by the present one. The Church has stood on its little hill for 600 years. It was built by local craftsmen with no trained architect, using local materials except stone from Stamford. Transport was very difficult and the tools simple. Drawings from 1831 show a Hertfordshire spike on top of the tower. In 1908 it was given to the Duchy of LancasterDuchy of Lancaster
The Duchy of Lancaster is one of the two royal duchies in England, the other being the Duchy of Cornwall. It is held in trust for the Sovereign, and is used to provide income for the use of the British monarch...
and remains so today. In 1935 it was re-pewed when 19th century deal box pews were replaced by local oak. The original Elm trees behind the church were destroyed by Dutch Elm disease. The iron railings in front of the church were taken down during the war as part of the war effort. There were more railings around the horizontal wooden tomb.
Pre 1937. The church with the old pews which had doors and high backs but made from cheap wood. There was a stove opposite the door which used to get too hot to sit near. The pulpit and lectern are on opposite sides from today. The organ can be seen in the chancel near the choir stalls on the left. Boys would be paid 4d to pump the organ for the whole service. There is a small altar at the end of the chancel. The altar was enlarged in the 1960s and the organ moved to the back of the church.
The Spender window depicting wild flowers, in the bell tower, is in memory of the Spender Sisters' mother. Flowers in the left window from top to bottom are : rose, shirley poppy, aquilegia, orchid, wood lily, marguerite, cowslip, poppy, fuchsia, primrose, trumpet gentian, daisy, pasque flower.
Flowers in right window (top to bottom): anemone, wood lily, fritillaria, holly, crocus, gentian, kingcup, tulip, rose, lily, cornflower, nasturtium, and buttercup.
The sculptor Percy Portsmouth lived in Youngloves in the 1950s. His patron was the Duke of Wellington and he did commissions for the Wellesley family and a sculpture of Ramsey McDonald. He retired here from the Chair of Sculpture at Edinburgh. His wife Kate started the WI. A statue he made in the 1960s can be seen in the church.
Rushden's five original bells were cast as a peal by John Briant of Hertford, one of the finest English bell founders, in 1787. He died in poverty in the Alms Houses in St Albans in 1829 and is buried in the churchyard of All Saints, Hertford. The new sixth bell, made in the Whitechapel foundry, was hung in the 1970s. The Bishop of St Albans (Robert Runcie
Robert Runcie
Robert Alexander Kennedy Runcie, Baron Runcie, PC, MC was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1980 to 1991.-Early life:...
) officiated. He later became Archbishop of Canterbury.