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Medieval Cheshunt
Created 21 June, 2008
The abbey of Waltham must have had a considerable effect on the everyday life of the people of Cheshunt. The abbey held a large part of the manor of Wormley, granted to them in Saxon times and retained by them under Norman rule. It was then an establishment of secular canons who went out amongst the people. One of their particular ceremonies was the beating of the bounds, and as early as 1206 there was a serious dispute between the people of Waltham and the people of Cheshunt. On this occasion the curate of Cheshunt was thrown into a ditch called "Hokesditch'' and it was the first of many such altercations which went on until comparatively recent times.
Under Henry II the secular canons were suspended and the abbey transferred to the regular canons of the Augustinian order. In 1222 the abbot had a conduit built to bring fresh water from springs at Wormley to Waltham. It consisted of a series of cisterns joined together by ditches lined with flints, and lead pipes were used to cross obstacles such as that provided by Cheshunt mill. The cisterns acted as traps, enabling the water to be kept clean. A plan of this early piece of engineering is in the British Museum.
Together with the abbey of Waltham, a nunnery existed for many centuries at Cheshunt. The site of the nunnery was on the marshes at Turnford, about a quarter of a mile due east of Turnford Hall Club.
It is first mentioned in extant documents in 1183, when a papal bull exempted the nuns from the payment of tithes. There are frequent records of poverty in the establishment, sometimes caused by the fires which occurred there from time to time. A cartulary of the nunnery at the time of its dissolution gives an idea of its size. There was the church, consisting of the chancel, choir and belfry. The living quarters comprised the prioress' chamber a priest's chamber, for the chaplain, a hall, three rooms and a dormitory. The domestic quarters were a kitchen, a brewhouse, a buttery with milk and cheese lofts, a larder and an outhouse.
There is a mention of a hospital dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene here in the late fifteenth century, evidently run by the nuns of Cheshunt. The nunnery was dissolved in 1536 and the lands granted to Sir Anthony Denny. The site of the nunnery was obliterated by gravel working in 1955, a few fragments of the fabric being recovered and preserved at Lowewood Museum.
Little is known of Cheshunt in the fourteenth century. In 1331 a Chapter of the Augustinian Canons was held at Cheshunt Church.
It was to have been held at Waltham Abbey, but the abbot was rebellious and refused to accommodate it.
In 1348-9 the country was hit by the Black Death and the population of England was reduced by half. This must have had its effect locally. The labour shortage thus caused led to a considerable amount of unrest, particularly amongst the serfs who were tied to the land and heavily taxed. Matters came to a head in the Peasants Revolt of 1381, during which there were riots at Waltham Cross where a local man was beheaded. From this time onwards serfdom began to decline.
The early part of the fifteenth century was apparently more settled and between 1418 and 1448 the rector, Nicholas Dixon, rebuilt the Parish Church. There is evidence to suggest that there was a church here in 1086, when a priest is mentioned in the Domesday Book.
During restoration work in 1872 an inverted medieval stone coffin was found by the chancel door, having been used as a step; Chauncy in his History of Herlfordshire published in 1700 records epitaphs prior to 1418. These could, of course, then be read though now cannot be traced. The monumental brass to Nicholas Dixon lies beneath the wooden altar of the church, though the inscription has been refixed upside down and the customary figure is missing.
The inscription, however, is still in very good condition. Records of vicars, rectors and patrons of the Parish Church exist back to 1329 and it was this church which served the whole of our district until a chapel of ease, now Holy Trinity Church, was built at Waltham Cross in 1832. A glance at even a modern map shows the church almost geographically central and served by roads and footpaths from all areas of population within our boundaries.