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The abbots of Westminster appear to have leased the manor from time to time. In 1361 it was leased to John de Ditton, clerk, with a stipulation that he should not cut the timber, that he should erect a new water mill, and pay the abbot and convent of St. Albans the 4s. yearly which was reserved in the agreement between the two monasteries above mentioned. In 1576 the tenants brought an action against the lord of the manor complaining that he intended to inclose a third of their common, which they said contained 2,000 acres. The lord admitted that the common extended to 1,000 acres and that he, having no convenient manor-house, proposed to inclose 50 acres and build a house thereon.

By a doubtful charter Edgar, in 959, is represented as having confirmed Aldenham to the abbey of Westminster, and it was again confirmed to the same abbey in 1066 by Edward the Confessor. By the Domesday Survey we learn that the manor was held by the church of St. Peter of Westminster, and lay in the hundred of Dacorum. The hundred of Dacorum includes the Domesday hundreds of Danais or Daneys and Tring, which appear to have been united under the name of Dacorum at an early date, as no mention is made of the hundred of Tring in the roll of Robert Mantel of about 1200. This hundred may have derived its name from a colony of Danes which probably existed here, for three noble Danes granted lands in the hundred to St. Albans Abbey in the tenth century. The hundred of Danais according to the Domesday Survey included Aldenham, Barworth in Studham, Bushey, Caddington, Flamstead, Great Gaddesden, Kensworth, Shenley, Wheathampstead, Abbots Langley, and part of Redbourn and Windridge, the last three of which are now in Cashio Hundred.

The five major components were the municipal borough of Hemel Hempstead, the urban districts of Berkhamsted and Tring, the rural districts of Berkhamsted and Hemel Hempstead. The hundred of Dacorum has always been in the hands of the king, and was let to farm for ten marks in the reign of Edward I. Tring Hundred contained Aldbury, Great Berkhampstead, Little Gaddesden, Hemel Hempstead, King's Langley, Puttenham, part of Redbourn, Shenley, Wigginton, and one hide in Great Gaddesden. That part of the parish of Aldenham held by the abbot of St. Albans was in Cashio Hundred, while the remainder of the parish was in Dacorum Hundred. Abbots Langley and Windridge seem to have been transferred to Cashio Hundred before 1254–5, but Redbourn was apparently at that time still partly in the hundred of Dacorum. Within the hundred of Dacorum were parts of the honour of Berkhampstead and the liberty of Ashridge. In the honour of Berkhampstead were included King's Langley, Berkhampstead, Northchurch, Wigginton, Betlow, and Aldbury.

The monks of St. Albans appear to have claimed rights in the manor from an early date, and in 1167 we find the hundred of St. Albans, now Cashio Hundred or the liberty of St. Albans, fined for a murder committed in Aldenham, showing that Aldenham, or at all events a part of it, was then considered to be within the liberty. The abbot and convent of Westminster and the dean and chapter of St. Paul's, London, were quit of suit at the hundred court for their manors in Dacorum, and the lords of Flamstead, Shenley, North Mimms, and Bushey withdrew their suit, whether lawfully or not does not appear. The abbot of Faversham owed suit at the hundred court by four men and a reeve twice a yeare for his manor of Tring, and he seems to have tried unsuccessfully to withdraw this suit in 1316. View of frankpledge was claimed by the lords of the manors of Tring, Wheathampstead, Great Gaddesden, Flamstead, King's Langley, Caddington, Kensworth, Bushey, North Mimms, and Shenley, and the rector of Ashridge exercised the same right in Hemel Hempstead, Ashridge, and Little Gaddesden. The monks of St. Albans asserted that the manor was given to them by King Offa at the foundation of their abbey in 793, but there seems to be little, if any, evidence to bear out this assertion. The whole of the early evidence regarding Aldenham appears to be exceedingly unsatisfactory. It is stated that Abbot Frederick of St. Albans (1064–77) leased the manor to the abbot of Westminster for twenty years, during which time the lessee was to keep the Watling Street or the road to London, which passed through the thick woods there, safe for travellers. Leavesden was a tithing of the manor of Bushey, and when the parish of Bushey was formed out of the parish of Watford about 1166, the tithes from Leavesden were retained by the church of Watford. Leavesden, although parcel of the manor of Bushey and the hundred of Dacorum, continued in the parish of Watford, the remainder of which was in the hundred of Cashio. Cashio hundred was known as Albanestou at the time of the Domesday Survey, and in the twelfth century was usually called the hundred of St. Albans. During the thirteenth century the names Kayso, Kaysho, Kaysford, and Caysford are used. The name Cashio does not appear to have come into general use till after the sixteenth century.

Codicote and Shephall appear in the liberty of St. Albans in 1247–8, but in 1286–7 it was presented at the hundred court of Broadwater that the abbot of St. Albans claimed view of frankpledge, amendment of the assize of bread and ale, gallows, and return of writs in his manors of Codicote, Norton, and Shephall, from which it would appear that these three parishes were still considered to be in Broadwater Hundred, though pleas of the same date concerning them also took place at the hundred court of Cashio. Shephall, Codicote, and Norton were in the hundred of Broadwater, part of Redbourn, Abbots Langley, Napsbury in St. Peters, and Windridge in St. Michaels were in Dacorum Hundred. Newnham lay in Odsey Hundred, and Hexton and Bendish (in St. Paul's Walden) in the half hundred of Hitchin, while Bramfield was in the hundred of Hertford. Leavesden, a hamlet in Watford, now in Cashio Hundred, was in 1640 in the hundred of Dacorum. The vills of St. Albans and Watford each had its own bailiff separate from the bailiff of the hundred, and these two vills, with the hundred, and certain parishes in Buckinghamshire comprised the Liberty of St. Albans.

The abbots of St. Albans were lords both of the liberty and of the hundred. These they claimed by the grant of King Offa; but Offa's grant could not have included such extensive liberties as the abbots exercised in the thirteenth century, when they claimed return of writs, gallows, view of frankpledge, pleas of namii vetiti, free warren, fines and amercements for all transgressions of their tenants, and freedom to elect their own coroners for the liberty. The right to hold pleas of the crown in the liberty was conferred by Edward I, who seems also to have granted to the abbot the right to elect coroners. That the abbots' liberties were gradually acquired after the Conquest is evidenced by the history of Kingsbury Castle, the royal residence and town of the Saxon kings immediately outside the town of St. Albans, where the kings had their officers and keepers of the peace of the king and of the country, showing a conflicting, if not an overriding authority. After Kingsbury Castle was demolished by King Stephen, the abbot's power probably increased, and under Henry II the abbot obtained a charter, confirmed by John and later kings, granting all liberties which the king could bestow upon any church. This charter was sufficiently comprehensive to give a royal acknowledgement to that independence at which not only the abbots of St. Albans. When in the reign of Richard II the abbot was called upon to prove his claim to this right, he brought forward evidence to show that it had been exercised in former times. The abbot, as lord of the liberty, had been accustomed to pay all the expenses of the knights of the liberty at Parliament until about 1333, when Abbot Richard de Wallingford by extortion made the commonalty of the liberty and the vill pay such expenses.

Abbot Frederick only ruled for thirteen years it is said that he granted the lease, and was alive at the time of its expiry twenty years later, when he claimed the return of the manor, which, however, the abbot of Westminster denied him. The dispute continued for over two hundred years, but eventually it resolved itself into the question whether the abbot of Westminster held Aldenham of the abbot of St. Albans, and, consequently, if Aldenham was within the jurisdiction of the liberty of the abbot of St. Albans in his hundred of Cashio. These points were raised in 1202 when a jury gave a verdict favourable to St. Albans, and in 1256 an action was brought in the king's court which ended in an agreement between the parties, whereby the abbot of Westminster acknowledged that the bailiffs of the abbot of St. Albans should hold view of frankpledge in the manor once a year, and should have 4s. in lieu of all fines; that the township of Aldenham from henceforth should do suit at the hundred court of Cashio from three weeks to three weeks; that the abbot of Westminster should present every bailiff of Aldenham, on his appointment, to the coroner of the liberty of St. Albans; that when the bailiff of the liberty received any writ for attachment in Aldenham, he should send the tenor of the same to the bailiff of Aldenham. On the other hand, the abbot of St. Albans granted that the abbot of Westminster should have the imprisonment of all men arrested in Aldenham except the men of the liberty of St. Albans, and that the gallows erected at Kemprow (Keneprowe) should be common to both abbots for hanging those condemned. Again in 1437 disputes arose as to the rights of the abbot of St. Albans in Aldenham, and the suit which ensued was only abandoned from want of funds.

Westminster Abbey. Gules two crossed keys or.

St. Albans Abbey. Azure a saltire or.

At the surrender of Westminster Abbey to the crown on 16 January, 1539–40, the manor was in lease to Robert Duncombe, and in 1543 the manor court was held in the name of the king. On 1 August, 1546, Henry VIII granted it with the rectory and advowson of the church to Ralph Stepneth, and on 12 February, 1555, there was confirmed to the said Ralph and Joan his wife, and their men and tenants, freedom from toll for all their goods, as Edward the Confessor had granted to the abbots of Westminster and their men.

Stepneth. Argent a fesse ebecky or and gules between three owls azure.

The manor and advowson remained in the hands of the Stepneth family, and were sold by Paul Stepneth and Sarah his wife on 20 January, 1588–9, to Edward Carey, master and treasurer of Queen Elizabeth's jewels and plate, who was afterwards knighted, and died on 18 July, 1617, leaving Henry his son and heir, on whom the manor had been settled at the time of his marriage with Elizabeth Tanfield in 1602. Henry was created Viscount Falkland, and at his death in 1633 he was succeeded by Lucius Carey, Viscount Falkland, his son, who in 1642 sold the manor to Sir Job Harby, bart., a merchant of London. Sir Job died in 1663, and was succeeded by his son Sir Erasmus Harby. In 1640 the hundred of Dacorum was divided into three parts called Tring, Hemel Hempstead, and Wheathampstead divisions. Theobald Street is now the only part of Aldenham which lies in this hundred, and this was also the case in 1640. The Domesday Book records Tring Hundred but this was absorbed into Dacorum by the 16th century when John Speede produced the first printed map. At this time Dacorum was surrounded by Hitching Hundred and Broadwater to the north, Hartford Hundred to the east and Caisho Hundred to the south-east all in the shire of Hartfordshire. In 1644 the Dacorum Hundred was divided into two. The Parish of Hemel Hempstead with Great Gaddesden and Kings Langley was separated from Berkhamstead and surrounding parishes. Thus today Little Gaddesden and Great Gaddesden are in different parishes.

The 'freedom post' of St. Albans, mentioned in deeds of 1663 and 1686 as standing on the highway leading from St. Albans to St. Stephen's, may perhaps have formed one of the limits of the Liberty. The lands of St. Albans lying around the monastery were divided for purposes of court-leet jurisdiction into three sokes. The most important perhaps of these, the soke of Park, comprised the manors held by the abbey to the south-east of St. Albans, extending into the parishes of Aldenham, Barnet, St. Stephen, St. Peter, Elstree, Ridge, and Northaw. The southern boundary was the 'Shyredyche,' dividing Hertfordshire from Middlesex. The halimote court was usually held under the ash tree in the Great Court of St. Albans Abbey or at Tyttenhanger, the caput of the soke, but Barnet, Bramfield, Phaunton, Sopwell, and Northaw are also mentioned as places where the courts were held. The second soke was that of Cashio, which apparently comprised the parishes of Watford and Rickmansworth.

Leavesden in Watford parish was also at that time in the hundred of Dacorum. The manor was in 1664 sold by Sir Erasmus Harby to Denzil Holles, first Baron Holles of Ifield, from whom it passed to Sir Francis Holles, his son, and then to Denzil Holles, third Baron Holles, who died without issue in 1694, when the manor went to his cousin John Holles, fourth earl of Clare and duke of Newcastle. At the death of the duke of Newcastle in 1711 the manor passed to his nephew, Thomas Pelham, created in 1714 Viscount Pelham and earl of Clare, and in the following yeare marquis of Clare and duke of Newcastle. He sold it in 1754 to Samuel Vanderwall, a merchant of London, who, at his death without issue, bequeathed it to his stepson Thomas Neate. The manor was sold by Neate in 1799 to George Woodford Thellusson, and was purchased in 1805 by the trustees of his father's will, whereby it went to his brother Peter Isaac Thellusson, created Lord Rendlesham in 1806, in the hands of whose descendant, the present Lord Rendlesham, the manorial rights now are.

Carey. Argent a bend sable with three roses argent thereon.

Holles. Ermine two piles sable.

The abbot of Westminster claimed the return of all writs in his manor of Aldenham, and many other liberties. There was a custom by which the copyhold tenants elected the reeve of the manor, who collected the lord's rents and delivered to the lord every yeare two dozen capons, two dozen geese, two dozen hens, and two bushels of oatmeal, for which the lord gave him 22s. and a livery coat, or 10s. instead of the coat.

Pelham, Duke of Newcastle. Azure three pelicans argent.

It would seem that there was no manor-house during the time that the abbot of Westminster held the manor. Robert Stepneth in 1576 complained that he had no convenient residence, but that he intended to build one and to inclose a part of the common for a site. The intention to build a house he apparently carried out, but not on the spot originally proposed, as we have reference to the capital messuage of the manor at the time when Henry Carey, afterwards Viscount Falkland, succeeded to the property as the house in which Robert Stepneth formerly lived, and a drawing of the old manor-house among Baron Dimsdale's collection of Hertfordshire views shows a building of the Elizabethan period. The manor-house is known to have stood in a field to the south-east of the church, where some mounds still mark the spot. It was pulled down before 1711 and was not rebuilt. The field is still known as the Bowling Green. The house faced a road, closed in 1801, which once formed the fourth of the Four Want Ways, and led through the present garden of the vicarage to the church.

Thellusson, Lord Rendlesham. Quarterly wavy argent and or; in the first and fourth quarters two wings fesseways sable, each with a trefoil or upon it; and in the second and third quarters an oak tree torn up by the roots, each with a scutcheon gules with three drops argent hanging from the branches.

There is mention, in connexion with Aldenham, of a Roger Meridene in the twelfth century, and again between the years 1201 and 1214. It may be the latter Roger who, probably in the first half of the thirteenth century, granted to Richard, abbot of Westminster, all his right to the mill of Aldenham which he had held of the abbot; together with the mill pool, the mill stream, and the mending of the pool, for which the abbot was to pay to him and his heirs half a mark of silver every year. In the same century Thomas de Meridene agreed to forego such rent, and to receive instead from the abbot and convent one pair of white gloves which should cost a penny, or one penny, every yeare at Easter. The abbot was in receipt of a rent from a fish-pond in Aldenham in the fifteenth century. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the Prior of St. Bartholomew, London, held a messuage in Aldenham of the abbot of Westminster.

Within the chief manor of Aldenham were divers holdings which went by the name of manors, but whether they had all the necessary qualifications of a manor is doubtful. Amongst these was the manor of PIGGOTS, now known as Piggott's Manor, which lies near Letchmore Heath on the south side of the road leading from Elstree to Aldenham. In 1832 the estate contained 109 acres. Its name is doubtless derived from its early holders. Thomas Picot held land in Aldenham in the thirteenth century; his son was Geoffrey Picot who held one carucate of land of the manor of Aldenham as a free tenant, and who was mentioned in 1261 and 1297. The holding appears to have passed from him to members of other families. Lists of free tenants of the capital manor, which probably date from the fourteenth century, mention John Cokenwale as holding the messuage and land which once belonged to Geoffrey Picot, and William Hardlyngton as the tenant of the land called Picot.

Picot. Sable three picks argent.

In 1449 it was held by John Hale, citizen of London and brother of John Hale of Aldenham, and in 1472 it was in the tenure of his daughters, Alice widow of John Penne, citizen and mercer of London, and wife of William Brayne, and Agnes wife of John Thrale, who united in settling it on Ralph Penne, son of Alice. A description of the manor as held freely of the lord of Aldenham for the yearly rent of 15s 8d. seems to belong to this period. Ralph granted the reversion of the manor to Humphrey Coningsby, knight, the farmer of the capital manor, who paid for Piggotts an annual rent of 16s. In 1548 he conveyed it to Richard Hewes; and in 1570 John Ayleward and Anne his wife granted it to Thomas Briscoe. It remained in the Briscoe family till 1718, when Edward Briscoe and Margaret his wife conveyed it to Thomas Day. It subsequently passed to Henry William Willis, who by his will dated 26 March, 1829, devised it to trustees for sale. These trustees sold the manor in 1832 to the executors of the will of Peter Thellusson, and it has since descended with the manor paramount. In 1879 it was held by Mr. Edward Oddie, under a lease from Lord Rendlesham. Mr. Oddie died in 1884, and Piggotts manor was afterwards bought by Mr. G. W. Williams, who pulled down most of the house, and built on the site a larger one, where he now resides.

Briscoe. Argent three running greyhounds sable.

The family of Penne, or de la Penne, from which PENNE'S PLACE takes its name, was settled in this parish at least in the middle of the thirteenth century. Reginald de la Penne held land which adjoined that of Geoffrey Picot, of the abbot of Westminster. This was perhaps identical with land granted to him in the reign of Edward I by William son of Wydo de Husseburn. Reginald's sons Ralph and John both had holdings in Aldenham, some land there having been granted to Ralph by Geoffrey Picot. In 1323 a fine levied between William and Ralph de la Penne dealt with lands in Aldenham; as did a fine to which William de la Penne was a party in 1327. In 1349 Ralph de la Penne is mentioned in connexion with Aldenham, and in 1373 Thomas atte Penne of Aldenham acknowledged an obligation to pay 50s. sterling to Nicholas, abbot of Westminster. In John Penne, who took part in the levy of a fine in 1426, we recognize the husband of Alice Brayne and the father of Ralph, holder of Piggotts. Ralph died, in 1485, in possession of Penne's Place, which he left to his executors in trust for sale. Humphrey Coningsby, one of his executors, apparently purchased it, and at his death in 1535 it passed to his grandson Humphrey, who died in 1559, when Penne's Place descended to his son Edward, who died in 1561 and was succeeded by his brother Thomas.

In 1640 Fitz William, son of Thomas Coningsby, sold the site of Aldenham Hall or Penne's Place to Henry Coghill. Feet of F. Herts. Hil. 16 Chas. I. In 1569–70 Thomas Coningsby sold the capital messuage of Penne's Place to John Cade, whose son John sold it back to Sir Thomas in 1597–8. Fitz William leased the site in 1626 to Henry Coghill for twenty-one years, and the sale to Coghill in 1640 was completed in 1651 when Fitz William's son Humphrey came of age. (Inf. supplied by the late Lord Aldenham.) This property remained in the hands of the Coghills till Henry Coghill, great-grandson of the above Henry, died unmarried in 1728, when it went to his uncle Thomas, who also died without issue. The manor then passed to Henry's sister Sarah, wife of Robert Hucks of Great Russell Street, London. It passed with the estate of Aldenham House to their son Robert Hucks, who died unmarried in 1814, when it went to his niece Sarah Noyes. Sarah died unmarried in 1842 and was succeeded by her cousin George Henry Gibbs, from whose son Henry Hucks Gibbs, created Lord Aldenham in 1896, it passed in 1907 to the present Lord Aldenham.

Penne. Argent a fesse gules between three lapwings azure with a leopard or between two combs argent on the fesse.

Gibbs, Lord Aldenham. Argent three battle-axes crect in a border nebuly sable.

The double moat of the original Penne's Place now forms part of the garden of Aldenham House. The site of Penne's Place is occupied by the 'Poplar Avenue,' which runs between the waterfilled moats from the Radlett drive to Grubb's Lane, into which it opens by great iron gates, now being made.

The copyhold estate of WIGBOURNES was held of the capital manor, and was probably so called from the family of the same name. In 1355–6 John Wykebourne, reeve of the abbot of Westminster, was a tenant, and in 1497 Philip Wigbourne held lands in Aldenham which had belonged to William Wigbourne, and a William Wigbourne paid subsidy on lands in this parish in 1545. But already, in 1544, the messuage, land, and appurtenances called Wigbournes were not held by this family, but were in the tenancy of Henry Wrence, who settled the reversion of them, after his own death and that of his wife Isabella, on Hugh Mynors and Margaret his wife, and their heirs and assigns. In 1545 Hugh did fealty to the king, in his court at Aldenham, for these lands. Wigbournes was held in 1585 by John son and heir of Robert West, and conveyed by him to William Seres, printer of the 1549 Bible in English, who, in 1590, sold it to Thomas Sutton. From Thomas Sutton it passed to John his brother, at whose death in 1614 it was inherited by his daughter Faith, the wife of Henry Coghill, and thenceforward it had the same descent as Penne's Place. 'The fair house of brick' at Wigbournes mentioned by Chauncy as built by Henry Coghill in the time of Charles I probably forms a part of the present Aldenham House, which bears the Coghill arms in the pediment. The name was presumably changed after 1769, some time before which Aldenham Place and Aldenham Manor House, with which it might have been confused, had been demolished. By his will dated 20 August, 1423, John Dernewell left lands at Aldenham and bequeathed money to Aldenham church. He was probably the owner of the messuage and lands called DERNEWELLS or DARNELLS, now Darnhills. His property went through his daughter and heir Margaret to her son John Penne, from whom they apparently passed in the same way as Penne's Place, for in 1671 a messuage and land called Dernewells or Darnells in Radlett, on the road to Watford, was granted by Henry Coghill to John his son. A farm called Darnells or Watership belonged to Sarah Hucks in 1769, and Darnhills now belongs to Mr. R. C. Phillimore. WATERSHEPS or WATERSHIPPS in Radlett as early as 1235, and in 1671 Henry Coghill conveyed a messuage called Watershipps to John his son. This tenement appears subsequently to have become annexed to Darnhills.

The abbot of Westminster held the tithing of Tidburst as parcel of his manor of Wheathampstead, which is about nine miles distant and quite distinct from his manor of Aldenham, to which the tithing adjoins. This tithing was only a small part of the district of Tidburst before referred to. The tenants owed suit at the abbot's court of Wheathampstead, and there the head-borough, tithing men, aletaster, and other officers of the tithing were appointed, till about the time of the Commonwealth, when the manorial customs fell into disuse. Wheathampstead village and parish are in the hundred of Dacorum; the village is 24 miles N.N.W. from London, 5 N. from St. Albans, rather more than 4 miles W.S.W. from Welwyn, and 8 S.S.E. from Luton, in Bedfordshire - situated upon the navigable river Lea. Although at the present day the place presents little worthy of description, yet its name is connected with an occurrence of some importance in the fourteenth century here it was that, in 1311, the barons confederating against Edward II concentrated their followers. Brewing and Malting are the most prominent branches of business carried out in the village, and a paper mill gives employment to some hands. The parish church, dedicated to St Helen, is an antique cruciform fabric, with a tower springing from the intersection of the transept and the nave; the living is a rectory, in the gift of the Bishop of Lincoln. Castle Farm was probably built about 1620, and is a substantial example of a two room house with a central chimney, of the early seventeenth century.

There are no less than six holdings in Tidburst in Domesday, one held by the bishop of Bayeux, which it is difficult now to identify; one by the abbot of Westminster, which was the tithing of Tidburst, parcel of the manor of Wheathampstead, and which lay northward and eastward of the road from Radlett to Boreham Wood; one by Geoffrey de Mandeville, which he held of the abbot of Westminster; another by the same Geoffrey, which may be identified as the manor of Weld; one by Geoffrey de Bech, which may possibly be identified as the manor of Tidburst and Kendals; and another by the same Geoffrey, which may be the strip of the parish of Ridge, between Aldenham and Shenley. The tithing of Tidburst held by the abbot and convent, and later by the dean and chapter of Westminster, followed the descent of the manor of Wheathampstead, and within it were exercised all the privileges which belonged to that manor. The tithing is frequently referred to as a separate manor, and is so described in the charter of 1542 to the dean and chapter of Westminster, the charter of 1556 to the refounded abbey of Westminster, and the re-grant to the dean and chapter in 1560. This tithing included the manors of Tidburst and Kendals, Sherlands alias Randolphs, Charings, and the property called Porters in Shenley.

The manor of SHERLANDS, RANDOLPHS or RANDOLLE, in the tithing of Tidburst, was held of the abbot of Westminster as of his manor of Wheathampstead by the rent of 18s. 4d., suit of court, the payment of a heriot, and a relief. There occur mentions of the family of Tidburst in connexion with Aldenham from the middle of the thirteenth century. In 1267–8 and 1268–9 John son of John de Tidburst conveyed to Adam de Stratton, clerk, various pieces of land in Tidburst, and the services of several tenants, which included, at least in some instances, suit of court. This conveyance appears to have been of the nature of commendation, for John, as well as his apparent successor, Hugh son of Alan de Tidburst, agreed to do service to Adam at his court of Shenley. Adam also acquired land in Tidburst from other persons. Thus in 1198 Thomas de Waldo or de Bosco held land in Tidburst. In the first half of the thirteenth century Adam de Bosco had a considerable lordship in Tidburst, and was succeeded by his son Ralph. In 1275 Alan de Waldis or De Wauz bound himself to pay half a mark yearly to Adam de Stratton in Adam's court at Shenley, for all his lands and rights in Tidburst. The manor of Adam in Tidburst must have been forfeited to the crown, with his other possessions, in 1290, and the effect of such confiscation appears to have been to deprive the manor of one mesne lord, to break its connexion with Shenley, and probably to destroy its integrity. Among Adam's tenants in Tidburst were Thomas de la Ford and Ralph de Mimmes.

In 1296 Sir Alexander Cheyne died in possession of a manor of Tidburst, which he had acquired from John de Mimmes and John de la Ford, and which therefore is sometimes called Tidburst and Forde. It consisted of a messuage and a carucate of land, and descended to William son of Sir Alexander Cheyne, who married Margaret daughter and heir of Sir Robert Sherland. Probably by some settlement this manor passed to Sir Robert Sherland for life, for we find he was holding it of William Cheyne in 1308, and in 1314. At his death it reverted to Robert son of Sir William Cheyne, who conveyed it to Sir Robert Redeswell, and he, in 1358, granted it to John de Somersham. It afterwards passed, at the close of the fourteenth century, to William Asshe his son-in-law, and then apparently to John Turvile, who held it for a time. Elizabeth daughter of William Asshe married Thomas Frowick, and in 1416 and in 1443 we find this manor, under the name of 'Shyrlandes,' in the possession of the same Thomas.

In 1503 his great-grandson, Henry Frowick, owed suit of court to the manor of Wheathampstead for this manor, and at his death, in 1527, it passed to his daughter Elizabeth, then the wife of John Coningsby son of Sir Humphrey Coningsby, who held it in 1544. From this date the manor, under the name of Randolphs or Randolls, became incorporated with and followed the descent of the manor of Weld in Shenley parish, and it remained in the hands of the Coningsby family till Genevieve daughter of Thomas Coningsby died in 1707 and left the property to her husband Thomas Aram, whose devisees sold it to the trustees of Hon. Robert Byng. In 1748 it was bought from the Byng trustees by John Mason, maltster, of Greenwich, who married a daughter of Field-marshal Wade. He died in 1750, leaving two sons, John and George, to the latter of whom apparently this property went, for George Mason sold the Porters Estate, which he also held, to Lord Howe in 1772, and went himself to live upon this property, the name of which seems about this time to have been changed to Aldenham Lodge. George Mason died in 1806, and left the estate to his nephew Bryant, who with his son Frank was drowned on his return from India in 1809. He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son John Finch Mason, whose son sold the property in 1870 to Mr. Thomas Part (who died in 1885), father of Mr. C. T. Part, who was sheriff of the county in 1898, and formerly joint master of the Hertfordshire Hounds. It was sold by the latter in 1902 to Mr. Horace Slade of St. Albans, who is now developing the property as a building estate.

The manor of Tidburst and KENDALS lies to the south-east of the parish, and was held of the abbot of St. Albans. It was probably formed by a union of two or more holdings on the east of Watling Street; which union must have taken place before 1237, when the manor under its present name was granted to Richard earl of Poitou and Cornwall. The lordship of the abbot, however, persisted; and therefore it may be concluded that the grant was one of his service. In 1299 the manor was held of the prioress of Markyate, presumably an instance of the liberality of St. Albans to this priory. From the middle of the twelfth century members of the family of Tailboys are known to have held lands in Tidburst and Aldenham of the abbot of St. Albans. At that time Laurence abbot of Westminster claimed part of the service which Robert Tailboys and his brothers Roger and Simon owed for holdings in Aldenham. The abbot did not suffer the dispute to be settled in the public courts, but made a private agreement, in virtue of which he, with the consent of Robert abbot of St. Albans, gave twenty-three silver marks to the brothers, and conceded to them the right of pannage in the woods of Aldenham for twenty pigs every year. In 1194 Richard son of Robert Tailboys paid one mark when he was put into possession of a knight's fee in Aldenham which he held of the abbot of St. Albans. Ralph de Bosco made a grant to the monks of Westminster in the first half of the thirteenth century for the obit of Robert Tailboys; and a certain John Tailboys lived in 1260–1. One or other of these may have been succeeded by Guy Tailboys, the witness to many deeds. In 1291–2 John Tailboys of Tidburst released to Walter abbot of Westminster all his right of common pasture in the woods of the abbot at Aldenham Frith and elsewhere; thus the obligation to Westminster, incurred to Abbot Laurence, must have ceased. In 1303 John held a quarter and a fortieth part of a knight's fee in Tidburst of Emericus de St. Edmund, who held of John Wake, who was a tenant of the abbot of St. Albans. This family had therefore lost its original importance in Aldenham. Much of its property was probably included in the manor of Tidburst and Kendals, with which Henry de Flaxtino enfeoffed Jordan de Kendale and his wife Cicely and their heirs. In 1288 Jordan granted it to Master Thomas Sodington, who conveyed it to John de Sodington his brother, and his kinsman Laurance de Tresham, and died in 1299.

Mason of Greenwich. Party fessewise ermine and azure a lion with two heads countercoloured.

The manor appears to have returned to the family of Kendale, as we find that Robert Kendale, constable of Dover Castle, had a grant of free warren over it in 1318, and died seised of lands in Aldenham and Elstree in 1330, leaving Edward his son and heir. This Edward leased the manor to Robert Turk, husband of his daughter Beatrice, for thirteen years, and in 1366 it was settled upon Sir William Crosier and Elizabeth his daughter, who was apparently about to become the wife of Edward Kendale, son of the before-mentioned Edward. In 1373 this manor was again conveyed by Edward Kendale to Sir William Crosier and others for the purposes of a settlement. Edward Kendale the younger died in 1375, but before his death he apparently conveyed the reversion of the manor after the death of Elizabeth his wife to Sir William Crosier. In 1376 Sir William Crosier and Elizabeth his daughter conveyed the manor to Robert Turk and Beatrice, probably for life. Elizabeth wife of Edward Kendale the younger afterwards married Sir Thomas Barre, and in 1391 John Grey and Elizabeth his wife, who was the widow of the late William Crosier, conveyed the reversion of the manor after the death of Elizabeth wife of Sir Thomas Barre to Sir Thomas Percy, Master William de Assheton, clerk, Thomas de Hungerford, knight, and Robert de Whitby, clerk, and the heirs of Robert.

In 1408 Robert de Whitby conveyed the reversion to Thomas Beaufort, duke of Exeter, son of John of Gaunt, with remainder to John, earl of Somerset, his brother. Upon the death of Thomas Beaufort without issue in 1426, the manor passed to his nephew John, earl of Somerset, who died in 1444, leaving an only daughter Margaret, who married Edmund Tudor, by whom she had a son Henry, earl of Richmond, afterwards Henry VII. This manor was assigned in 1485 as dower to Margaret upon her marriage with her third husband Thomas, earl of Derby. At her death it reverted to the crown, and so came to the hands of Henry VIII, who in 1530 granted it towards the support of his natural son Henry, duke of Richmond and Somerset. This duke died in 1536 without issue, when his lands reverted to the crown. The manor was leased as the manor of Tidburst and Kendals to John Cooke for twenty-one years, and again in January 1557–8 the reversion was let for twenty-one years to Thomas Hughes, the queen's physician. In the same yeare also it was annexed to the duchy of Lancaster. It was leased in 1577 for forty-one years to William Cade. On 15 December, 1607, James I granted it to Robert earl of Salisbury and his heirs, and it continued in the hands of the earls of Salisbury till 1739, when James, the sixth earl, sold it to William Jephson, who bequeathed it at his death in 1766 to his nephew, William Phillimore, whose descendant William Brough Phillimore dying without issue in 1887 left the estate to his cousin, Sir Walter George Frank Phillimore, judge of the Court of Queen's Bench, the present baronet. The estate is now held by his son Robert Charles Phillimore.

Kendale. Argent a bend vert and a label gules.

Beaufort. France quartered with England is a border gobony argent and azure.

Phillimore. Sable three bars indented erminois with an anchor between two cinquefoils or in the chief.

There is an interesting survey of this manor, taken in 1276, at which time there were nineteen free tenants holding at a rent for all services, and two customary tenants holding at a rent and the payment of two hens, one cock, two capons, and thirty eggs, who had to mow for eight days with two men at the food of the lord of the manor, to weed, to raise the hay, to harrow, &c. The lands called MEDBURN and GREAT WESTERLIES were held in the later part of the sixteenth century by Thomas Briscoe, and in the early part of the seventeenth by Edward Briscoe, and before that by Margaret countess of Richmond, of the earl of Salisbury as of his manor of Kendals. At the death of Edward Briscoe in 1638 he was succeeded by his son of the same name. Nothing further is known of this estate. 'Great Medbourn, with Chesylls and Shipcott, and Medbourn Mead with Millfield and le Bourn,' were held about 1589 by John Cocks of Aldenham and Mary his wife. They passed to John Sutton, and from him in the same way as Wigbournes to Lord Aldenham.

The manor of NEWBERRIES, NEWBURY, or BONESBUSHES, in Tidburst, to the north of the parish on the east side of Watling Street, was parcel of the possessions of the monastery of St. Albans, and the profits from it were appointed to the maintenance of the office of the sacrist till the fourteenth century, when they were allotted to that of the infirmarer of the abbey. Geoffrey de Childewike in the time of John de Hertford (1235–60) extorted the manor from the abbey, but it was restored by his brother Richard to the succeeding abbot Roger de Norton (1260–90). Robert Louthe seems to have died seised of this manor at the end of the fifteenth century, and left his three sisters, Christine the wife of John Parowe, Alice the wife of William Morell, and Egidia the wife of — Gryme, his heirs. Between 1496 and 1514 each of these three ladies conveyed her share to Humphrey Coningsby and others. In 1548 Humphrey Coningsby conveyed the manor to Richard Hewes, and in 1620 it was sold by Thomas Harmer to Sir Thomas Puckering, bart. Shortly after this date it must have passed to Edward Briscoe, who died seised of it in 1638, leaving a son and heir Edward, who succeeded to it. In 1670 Edward Briscoe settled it upon himself for life with remainder to his son George. The manor remained in the family of Briscoe till 1709, when Edward Briscoe conveyed it to Jonathan Winder, and in 1739 we find it was conveyed by John Paddey to Hutton Perkyns. Newberries subsequently passed into the possession of Mr. William Robert Phillimore, who died in 1846. It afterwards became the property of Mr. H. J. Lubbock, who sold it some years ago to Mr. George Miller, and the latter now resides there.

The manor of CHARRYNGES in the tithing of Tidburst is parcel of the manor of Wheathampstead. This manor in the fifteenth century belonged to the Penne family, and in 1485 Ralph Penne died seised of it, leaving John Roberts or Robarth, a kinsman, his heir. Between 1541 and 1546 John Coningsby appears to have purchased the four parts of the manor of Charings from the four daughters and coheirs of John Roberts. The manor remained in the family of Coningsby till the end of the sixteenth century, and probably followed the descent of the manor of Weld. In 1579 Sir Nicholas Bacon received a rent of £13 6s. 8d. from the farm of Charings. A property called AYDENS or EYDENS probably received its name from the family of Roger de Heyden or Eyden, a tenant of John de Tidburst, whose service was transferred to Adam de Stratton in 1268; and who was probably connected with Joan Eyden, who in 1415 made a bequest for the upkeep of four lights in the parish church of Aldenham. Eydens was held by Ralph Penne when he died in 1486, and was bequeathed by him to the chantry which he desired his executors to build in the parish church of Aldenham. Such provision did not apparently take effect, for Aydens passed with one-fourth of the manor of Charings to Dionisia daughter of John Roberts and wife of Thomas Mannok, who conveyed it with her share of Charings to John Coningsby in 1546; from which time its history was that of the manor of Charings.

The manor of MARCHANTES in Tidburst, parcel of the manor of Wheathampstead, is mentioned in 1446. It was possibly the same as the manor of Charings. There appear to have been two properties of the name of ORGAN or ORGAR HALL, one in the tithing of Tidburst, parcel of the manor of Wheathampstead, which was held in 1311 by Alice Magot, and in 1388 by Thomas Edmund. The other property of the same name was held of the abbot of St. Albans, as parcel of the manor of Newberries. It was early in the seventeenth century in the hands of the Briscoe family, and was held by Edward Briscoe in 1608. In 1702 Edward Briscoe of Organ Hall and Edward his son and heir apparent, joined in mortgaging Organ Hall. It is now the property of Mr. R. C. Phillimore. Some closes of land, parcel of 'Orgall Hall' formed part of the endowment of the chantry of Copthorne Hill founded by Sir Humphrey Coningsby.

CALDECOTE HILL (Kerricott, Carricot, Curicut, Catcothill) lies to the south of the parish. In 1630 Philip Smith conveyed a messuage called Collys here to John Edlyn; and in 1641 John died seised of a messuage in 'Codicott Hill,' part of which was held of Edward Briscoe as of his manor of Piggotts. John left a son John his heir, aged five years. On 31 May, 1656, we find that Anne and John Huley conveyed a messuage and lands here to Thomas Marshe, who conveyed them to Francis Duke. After the death of Francis Duke in 1666 the property went to Francis Marsh, and from him to Henry Cowsey, in whose family it remained till Henry Cowsey and John Nabls assigned their interest to Elizabeth, countess of Essex, on 22 March, 1748. Caldecote Towers is now a ladies' private school, under the direction of Miss Griffiths, and stands in extensive grounds from which fine views of the Colne valley may be obtained. The part of Aldenham parish called KEMPROW (Keneprowe xiii cent.) was the site of a gallows erected by the abbots of Westminster and St. Albans. Kemprow House is now the residence of Mrs. Rickards, and the property of Lord Aldenham. ALDENHAM ABBEY or WALL HALL was a manor the lands of which extended into Aldenham parish, but as the house lies in the parish of St. Stephen its history will be taken under that parish.

EDGE GROVE is a large three-storied house, standing in a park on the north side of the river. It was probably built during the eighteenth century, and has been added to at various times. The house is of red brick now covered with rough-cast, and has a slate roof. In the grant to Ralph Stepneth of Aldenham manor in 1546, we have mention of 'les Hedgerowes' containing 11 acres, and in 1618 Sir Edward Carey, lord of the manor of Aldenham, died seised of a farm at Hennyhatch Grove or Hedgegrove in Aldenham, to which his son Henry, afterwards created Viscount Falkland, succeeded. During the first half of the eighteenth century the property came into the possession of John Skey, shortly after whose death, in 1782, Colonel Skey appears to have sold the property to Mr. Hake, who made considerable alterations to the house. He did not, however, keep the property for long, but sold it to Sir John Nicholl, who procured leave in 1803 to close the public road which ran in front of this house from High Cross to Aldenham church. From him it appears to have been leased by Joseph Fawcett, a dissenting minister and poet, who died there in 1804. It was purchased early in the nineteenth century of Sir John by the Thellusson trustees. It descended from this time in the same way as the manor of Aldenham, and is now the property of Lord Rendlesham. It has been let to various persons; William Marsden, D.C.L., F.R.S., held it under leases made in 1810 and 1817. It is now the residence of Mr. Charles Edward Barnett, who has enlarged the house.

DELROW HOUSE is a gabled two-storied house of plastered brickwork, standing in the hamlet of Delrow, on the road to Stanmore. A house was built here by William Hutchinson, in 1666, about which time John Jesson seems to have lived here, and later Mrs. Hutchinson, a member of his family. In the rate books, John Jesson, esq. is rated at £30 in 1666; this seems to be a new rating. In the next rate John Jesson, esq. and Mrs. Hutchinson, are rated together, and afterwards Mrs. Hutchinson alone. Mrs. William Hutchinson is described on her tomb (1706) as a member of the Jesson family, so no doubt John Jesson was a relation of hers. Her heir was Mr. John Wilson, great-grandson of her sister; another John Wilson of Delrow, probably his son, died in 1786. Twenty years later, Delrow House was in the possession of General Sir Hew Dalrymple, bart. Leighton Cathcart Dalrymple, second son of Sir Hew, was a lieutenant-colonel of the 15th King's Hussars, at the head of which regiment he highly distinguished himself at the battle of Waterloo, where he had three horses killed under him, and had his left leg carried off by a cannon ball. He died at Delrow House in 1820. Sir Hew was succeeded in 1830 by his brother, General Sir Adolphus Dalrymple, bart.; he left it in 1866 to Admiral Edward Fanshawe, who sold it in 1876 to Mr. Charles Ashton. In 1889 it was sold by Mr. Ashton to Mr. John Larkin who died 7 August, 1897. The estate was sold about two years later to Mr. John Swallow Brierly, who died 17 December, 1903, and the house has since been the residence of his widow. On the opposite side of the road to Delrow House is a good specimen of late sixteenth-century building, which appears to have formed part of a larger house. It has a fine chimney stack at the back, an oriel window on the north-west side, and a good original door.

HILFIELD HOUSE was built about 1795 by the Hon. George Villiets, brother of the earl of Clarendon. The house was then called Sly's Castle, being on or near Sly's Hill. It was sold in 1818 by Villiers to John Fam Timins, who died in 1843, when he was succeeded by his son William Raikes Timins. He died in 1866, and was succeeded by his nephew the Rev. Douglas Cartwright Timins, who died in 1872, when Hilfield passed to his son Douglas Theodore, who sold the house and park in 1906 to the late Lord Aldenham. Mr. Timins still holds some of the property, and the house is unoccupied. OTERS POOLELAND was assessed in 1694, and is entered as Otterspoole House and land in 1709. Some years later it became for a time the fashion of people to stay here in order to drink the waters of the pool, which, however, had no medicinal qualities. Otterspool is now the residence of Mr. Stephen Taprell Holland, J.P.