After the Norman conquest Britain was divided up amongst the Norman lords, although the divisions of the kingdom established by King Alfred were largely retained. These were the shires, divided into hundreds, and each hundred into its towns and villages. The manor became the unit around and in which the life of the people revolved.
In the Domesday Book, which until the establishment of the Central Land Registry after the second World War was the only national record of land ownership, Cheshunt appears as Cestrehunt.
There were 41 villains and a priest, the manor being one of many that were granted to Earl Alan. The manor was rated at twenty hides, the hide being an arbitrary rating symbol calculated in multiples of five. Twelve borders are mentioned, these being farmers with a cottage on the lord’s demesne; here also were ten merchants-the only merchants mentioned in the whole of the county. There were eight cottagers also on the demesne, and six servants whose status was that of slaves. There was a mill, probably a water mill on the River Lea, and passage to feed twelve hundred hogs-which indicates a preponderance of oak. A reasonable estimate of the population in 1086 would be three hundred people.
The manorial system was to last in Cheshunt until the enclosure of the common fields in 1804, and was to a lesser extent exercised in controlling the common pasturage until 1955, when these rights were transferred to the Urban District Council following a special Act of Parliament. The real power of the manor over rights of land and property ceased after the Law of Property Act of 1925.
This control of land and property was exercised by the lord of the manor through the Court Baron. When a person died, the heir would plead his case at the Court to inherit the property. If successful, he would pay a fine to the lord of the manor for the privilege thus granted. Land and property were either copyhold or freehold. If freehold held in “fee simple” it was the absolute property of the person in possession. If freehold and held in “fee tail” there were certain restrictions as to the owners’ heirs and assigns. In the case of copyhold property, tenants were only admitted through the courts.
There was a secondary court known as the Court Leet which met annually to appoint headboroughs, aleconners, constables, a reeve and a beadle for each of the three wards-Cheshunt Street, Waltham Cross, and Woodside. Two pinders were also appointed for the manor. Headboroughs were persons representing the people; in earliest times they were responsible for the frankpledge, that is to say the loyalty of the people to the lord of the manor. Aleconners were responsible for sampling the ale which was the staple drink of medieval times. The constables were responsible for law and order -this duty later being taken over by the Parish Vestry-and their duties were supervised by the reeve. They were assisted by the beadle. Pinders were responsible for controlling the gates leading to the marshes and lived in the pinders’ cottages, two of which survived until very recently-one at Trinity Lane and one at Windmill Lane, the latter having been replaced by a modern house for the present marshwarden, a paid official of the District Council. The pinder was responsible to the marshwardens, who controlled the grazing.
Cattle were only turned on to the marshes between May and September, the grass being allowed to recover between October and April.
The Night Leys at Turnford was used for draught animals at night.
The former Cheshunt Common as seen from Cuffley Hill, 1970.
A very large proportion of Cheshunt was common fields cultivated in the medieval strip system right up to 1804 when the Enclosure Act of 1799 was engrossed. The names of many of these fields are well preserved Albury, Brookfield, Churchseld, Rowlands Field, Halfhide, Holdbrook. Some are less well known-Sickles Field, Black Dole, and Downfield. The free common was at Goffs Oak and by the end of the eighteenth century was little used.
There has been much speculation about a medieval earthwork which runs from north to south through the district. This was known as the Boundary Bank and divided the manor into two unequal parts roughly in the proportions of two thirds to one third. It is my contention that this was deliberately constructed to settle inheritance problems. It became a custom of the manor that the youngest son should inherit the larger and better part which was “below bank” and the eldest son the poorer part which was “above bank” or “west of the baseline”. Perhaps this custom was based on that known as “Borough English”, which ensured that the best part of an estate should go to the youngest son. Several reasons may be put forward for this: firstly that the eldest son might be illegitimate, secondly that the youngest son would have more chance to carry on the family name longer, and thirdly it might be that the younger son was not so well established in the world as the eldest son by the time of the father’s decease. Boundary Bank passes through the western parts of Theobalds, joining Barrow Lane at a point near Elm Lodge.
It follows Barrow Lane northward and up Halstead Hill to Burton Lane. Along Burton Lane to Rags Lane, when it follows the foot- path to Hammond Street. It crosses Hammond Street and passes through Appleby Street Farm, where it can easily be identified as a field division just south of Thunderbolt Grove. From here it runs due north to the manorial, parish and district boundary.
The boundaries of the manor of Cheshunt were identical with the modern Urban District boundaries, with minor exceptions. Within the manor paramount of Cheshunt, whose manor house stood on a site now occupied by St Mary’s High School, were smaller (or “petit”) manors. These were the manors of Theobalds and Andrews, which in the fifteenth century amalgamated with the manor of Half- Moat. Half-Moat manor house stood on a site now included in the grounds of St Mary’s High School, off Dark Lane, and although no buildings now remain, the splendid moat is still well preserved. The manor of Darcy’s alias Cresbrokes stood just north of the junction of Russells Ride and Crossbrook Street, on the east side of the highway. The manor of Perriors occupied another moated site in Cheshunt Park, and the present Beaumont Manor replaced a moated house sited a few yards further north in 1806.
The manor house of Cheshunt appears to have fallen out of use in about 1554, when the manor passed to the Cock family of Broxbourne. They began building Broxbournebury in that year and it is reasonable to assume that, as this became their residence, the Cheshunt manor house had no useful purpose for the lord thereafter.
By 1782 it had become known as Manor Farm, and in the nineteenth century a house known as The Lordship was built on the site. This in turn was demolished in the l930s, and the site was used for the building of St Mary’s High School in 1957.
