BENINGTON
Belintone (xi cent.); Beninton (xii cent.); Beniton
(xiv cent.).
The parish of Benington has an area of 3,060
acres, of which 1,769 acres are arable land, 838½ acres
permanent grass, and 129½ acres wood. (fn. 1) The greater
part of the parish is over 300 ft. above the ordnance
datum, and rises at two points in the north at the upper
end of the village, and in the east where Benington
Lodge is situated, to over 400 ft. The River Beane
forms the western boundary of the parish and the
road from Walkern to Watton runs parallel to it. The
road from Aston to Benington crosses this, and in
the centre of the latter village divides, turning north
to meet another branch from the Walkern road, and
south towards Hebing End and Whempstead. No
railway passes through the parish, the nearest station
being Knebworth, 4½ miles south-west. The subsoil
is chalk and clay.
There are many chalk-pits in the parish, six of
which are still in use, and two gravel-pits in the southwest. The village stands upon a hill, with St. Peter's
Church, the manor-house called the Lordship, and
the remains of the castle surrounded by a moat standing in a park on the western side of the road. On
the south side of the village green is a row of 16th-century timber and plaster and tiled cottages. One
of them, known as the Priest's House, has the timber
work exposed. The rectory, which stands to the north
of the church, is an interesting brick house of two
stories with attics. Over the main entrance is the
date 1637, which probably indicates the date of
building. Towards the end of the 17th century a
wing was added at the back and further additions have
been made in more recent years. It contains original
staircases with square newels and turned balusters and
some good 18th-century panelling. Attached to the
rooms on the first floor are 'powder closets.'
Beyond the village to the north the road rises to
Box Hall, with Cabbage Green a short distance to the
east. Along the road turning south-east from the
centre of the village is Benington Place, surrounded
by a large park, the residence of Mr. Richard Hargreaves, J.P., and south of it the hamlet of Hebing
End, in which is Benington House, the residence of
Mrs. Parker, widow of the late Rev. James Dunne
Parker, LL.D., D.C.L. To the west of Hebing
End is Burn's Green, and to the south Cutting
Hill. Great Brookfield Common, Lamsden Common, and Leatherfield Common lie in the south of
the parish, with Small Hopes Wood and Stocking
Spring to the north of the last. Moon Leys Spring
is on the south-eastern border. Slipes Farm is
situated a little to the west of the Lordship Park.
The inclosure award made in 1858 is in the
custody of the rector. (fn. 2)
Field-names mentioned in 1638 are Dane Field,
Peate Croft, Puckellshedge Field, Great and Little
Brooke Field, Lether Field, Popp-hill Field, Baddmeads, Paddocks Penn, Ox Shott Hill, Stocking Corner
Shott, Chisill Hill, Beaddales Bush, Langdale Shott,
Stowdale and Rowdale Shott. (fn. 3)
CASTLE
Nothing is known of the history of
BENINGTON CASTLE. The earthworks may have been thrown up by Peter
de Valognes, when Benington became the head of
the Valognes barony. (fn. 4) They were in all probability
defended in the usual way by a timber tower on
top of the mound or 'motte,' which was surrounded
by a moat. There was a bailey to the east and
within an outer ward on the south the church
may have been included. (fn. 5) Roger de Valognes, son
of Peter, was a partisan of Geoffrey de Mandeville
during the period of anarchy in Stephen's reign. He
was present with Mandeville at Stephen's celebrated
Easter court in 1136, and died in 1141 or 1142. It
was this Roger who probably built the masonry works
of the castle, upon the earthworks possibly thrown up
by his father, for had the earthworks been made in
his time they would not have settled sufficiently
to carry the masonry walls in Stephen's reign. The
keep (turris) of the castle was destroyed by Henry II
as an adulterine or unlicensed castle in 1177, the
charge for the 100 picks used in its demolition being
rendered in the Exchequer accounts. (fn. 6) The castle,
which as a masonry building can only have had an
existence for some forty years, was never rebuilt. (fn. 7) The
ruins, which yet remain above the ground, consist of
the bottom courses of the 12th-century keep, destroyed
in 1177, rising only to a height of about 2 ft. 6 in.
above the ground. It measures about 44 ft. by
41 ft. externally, the walls, which are of flint rubble
with ashlar dressings, being from 7 ft. to 8 ft. in
thickness with two pilaster buttresses about 4 ft. wide
projecting 2 ft. at each angle and one in the middle
of each wall. The bailey was surrounded by a curtain
wall, fragments of which have been found.
Although the castle was abandoned, the lords of
Benington continued to have a residence here probably
on the site of the existing house.
MANOR
BENINGTON was the head of a Saxon
lordship of some importance, which extended apparently into Sacombe, Layston,
Ashwell, Hinxworth and Radwell. (fn. 8) It was held in the
time of Edward the Confessor by Ælmar or Æthelmar, and before him possibly by Æfric of Benington. (fn. 9) William the Conqueror granted the lands
of Ælmar to Peter de Valognes, who was sheriff of the
county in 1086. (fn. 10) Peter de Valognes, as successor to
Ælmar, made Benington the head of the Valognes
barony, which was sometimes styled later the honour
of Benington. Here we find he had 6½ hides in
demesne and a park for beasts of the chase, and here
either Peter or his son Roger (fn. 11) built the castle. (fn. 12)
Roger, who probably died in 1141 or 1142, (fn. 13) had
two sons, Peter, who died
about 1158, (fn. 14) and whose wife's
name was Gundrea, (fn. 15) and
Robert, who held the barony
of Valognes during the reign
of Henry II, (fn. 16) and who died
about 1194. (fn. 17) Robert de
Valognes was succeeded by
Gunnora, his daughter. She
married Robert Fitz Walter,
but kept the name of
Valognes, (fn. 18) and died before
1238. The estates next came
to Christiana de Valognes,
Gunnora's daughter, (fn. 19) who married William de
Mandeville. Christiana died without issue in 1233, (fn. 20)
when her estates were divided between three heiresses—Lora, who married Henry de Balliol, Christiana
the wife of Peter de Maugne, (fn. 21) and Isabel, who
married David Comyn. (fn. 22) Benington was apportioned
to Lora and her husband, (fn. 23) who died some time
before 1272, (fn. 24) and whose son Alexander de Balliol
held it in 1278. (fn. 25)
Valognes. Paly wavy argent and gules.
In 1303 Alexander de Balliol conveyed the
manor to John de Benstede and his heirs. (fn. 26) This
John was king's clerk at the time of the grant,
and in 1307 keeper of the wardrobe. (fn. 27) In 1309
he was appointed one of the six justices for
the Common Bench, and held this appointment
until 1320. (fn. 28) In 1311 he received leave of
absence to go to Rome on the king's business. (fn. 29) In
1315 he was again sent abroad with Thomas de
Cantebrugge to carry the king's instructions to Almaric
de Craon, Seneschal of Gascony, Amaneus Lord
of Lebret, and other officials in Gascony and Aquitaine. (fn. 30) In 1317 he was appointed one of the two
commissioners of array for Hertfordshire. (fn. 31) In 1319
he was again sent ' beyond seas,' (fn. 32) and died in
1323. (fn. 33) His widow Parnel held Benington in dower
during her life, (fn. 34) outliving their son Edmund, who
apparently died about 1338, (fn. 35) her own death occurring before April 1342. (fn. 36) The custody of John, her
grandson, Edmund's son and heir, aged ten, was
granted to Walter de Mauny. (fn. 37) John died in 1359, (fn. 38)
his widow Parnel retaining a third of the manor
in dower until her death in 1378. (fn. 39) The remainder
of the manor passed meanwhile from John's eldest son
John, who died in 1376, to his brother Edward, (fn. 40) to
whom Parnel's portion reverted after her death in
1378. (fn. 41) The manor was held at this time as a third
of two knights' fees. (fn. 42) Edward died in 1432, (fn. 43) and
Benington was held by his widow Joan during her
life, the reversion being settled on their son Edmund. (fn. 44)
Edmund died in 1439, his heir being his grandson
John, (fn. 45) to whom the whole manor reverted on the
death of Joan in 1449. (fn. 46) John's son William, who
succeeded his father in 1471, being then a minor, (fn. 47)
evidently fought on the Yorkist side against Henry VII,
for he received a pardon 'for all offences' in 1485. (fn. 48)
Before this he had sold the reversion of the manor,
provided that he died without issue, to Edward IV;
but after the change of dynasty he conveyed it to
trustees to uses unspecified in his inquisition. In
1485 he died childless and his aunt and heir Ellen
succeeded. (fn. 49) One Edmund or Edward Benstede, presumably the nearest male heir, claimed the manor,
having seized the deed of entail, which was locked in
a chest at the time of William's death. (fn. 50) Joyce
daughter of Sir Edmund Dudley also put in a claim,
stating that William Benstede had left the manor to
her for life by will, with remainder to Edward
Benstede, but the trustees of William Benstede refused
to surrender the manor to her. (fn. 51) In 1486 Edward
Benstede released all his right in the manor to
Sir William Say. (fn. 52) Next year Ellen Benstede, who
was actually in possession, conveyed the manor to
Sir William Say, (fn. 53) who, on account of William
Benstede's sale of the reversion, had to obtain a
pardon for acquiring the manor in 1488. (fn. 54) In 1486,
the year previous to the actual conveyance of the
manor, Ellen Benstede and Sir William Say seem to
have held alternate courts there, (fn. 55) probably because
the transaction was in progress.
Benstede. Gules three gimel bars or.
Moyne, Azure a fesse dancetty between six crosslets argent.
In 1506 Sir William Say settled Benington on
William Blount Lord Mountjoy, (fn. 56) the husband of his
daughter Elizabeth, but Sir William outlived them,
and upon his death in 1530 (fn. 57) the manor passed to
Henry Earl of Essex, the husband of his second daughter
Mary. In 1539 it was delivered to their daughter
Anne and her husband, Sir William Parr, (fn. 58) from
whom she was divorced in 1543. (fn. 59) In 1553 Sir
William Parr Marquess of Northampton was attainted
for doing homage to Lady Jane Grey and his lands were
forfeited to the Crown (fn. 60) ; however, as the manor had
been settled on him with remainder to his wife, Anne's
interests (fn. 61) were safeguarded by a grant made to Robert
Rochester and Edward Walgrave for a term of forty
years. (fn. 62) After her death in January 1570–1 (fn. 63) Benington
was granted to Walter Viscount Hereford, (fn. 64) who
became Earl of Essex in 1572, and was her cousin
and nearest heir. (fn. 65) Walter died in 1576, bequeathing
the manor as a jointure to his wife Lettice, (fn. 66) who
afterwards married Sir Christopher Blount. She outlived Robert, her son, whose widow Frances married
Richard Earl of Clanricarde (fn. 67) and seems to have held
the manor in dower. (fn. 68) She joined with her son
Robert Earl of Essex in conveying it to Sir Charles
Adelmare or Caesar in 1614. (fn. 69) Charles was the third
son of Sir Julius Caesar, who took the surname of
Caesar from his father Caesare Adelmare, an Italian
physician of Treviso, near
Venice, who settled in England about 1550. (fn. 70) Sir Charles
Caesar and his eldest son Julius
both died of smallpox in
1642, and the manor passed
to the second son Henry, (fn. 71)
who was succeeded by his son
Charles. (fn. 72) Charles died in
1694, (fn. 73) and his son Charles
in 1741, (fn. 74) after whose death
the manor was sold by trustees
to Sir John Chesshyre in
1744. From him it passed
to his nephew John Chesshyre, (fn. 75) who held it in
1774 (fn. 76) and was succeeded by his son, (fn. 77) also named
John, before 1786. (fn. 78) In 1826 the last John Chesshyre sold Benington to George Proctor, who was
succeeded by his son Leonard in 1840. (fn. 79) Leonard was
still holding it in 1894, but before 1899 was succeeded by Arthur Procter Pickering, who died in
1902. In 1905 Mr. Arthur F. Bott, the present
lord of the manor, acquired it by purchase from
Mr. Pickering's successor. (fn. 80)
Caesar. Gules a chief argent with six roses countercoloured.
In 1278 Alexander de Balliol claimed in his manor
of Benington sac and soc, toll, team and infangentheof,
gallows, tumbrel, view of frankpledge, free warren,
and amendment of the assize of bread and ale. (fn. 81)
View of frankpledge in the 15th century was held
on the Monday in Pentecost week. (fn. 82)
In 1304 John de Benstede was granted a weekly
market on Wednesday and a yearly fair on the vigil,
feast and morrow of St. Peter and St. Paul. (fn. 83)
This grant was confirmed by Richard II in 1380, (fn. 84)
and again by Henry VIII in 1531, the original grant
having been lost. (fn. 85) The market has long been discontinued. The fair is still held on 10 July, the
festival of St. Peter before the alteration of the
calendar. (fn. 86)
CHURCH
The parish church (fn. 87) of ST. PETER,
which stands to the west of the village,
is built of flint with stone dressings.
The nave, which is covered with ivy, is plastered
externally.
The chancel and south porch are roofed with tiles
and the nave with lead. The tower, which is of two
stages, has an embattled parapet and a pyramidal roof.
The present church, which dates from the end of
the 13th or the beginning of the 14th century,
originally consisted of a chancel and nave only, built,
it would appear from the shields of arms that decorate
them, by Sir John de Benstede (ob. 1323). The
north chapel and the south porch were added about
1330, apparently by his widow, Parnel Moyne,
and early in the 15th century the west tower was
built by Edward Benstede (ob. 1432), and an additional arch was inserted with his monument below it
between the chancel and the north chapel. The
raising of the clearstory dates from somewhat later in
the 15th century. The modern work upon the fabric
consists of the rebuilding in 1889 of the south and
east walls of the chancel and the recent restoration
of the tower.
The chancel has a modern east window of five
lights with tracery in a high two-centred head. In
the south wall are three windows. The easternmost
has three cinquefoiled lights in a square external head
of the 15th century, but mostly of new stonework,
only a few old stones remaining. The middle window
in the south wall, also of the 15th century, has a four-centred head, and is of three cinquefoiled lights with
tracery above. The stonework is all modern. The
westernmost window is modern, of three trefoiled lights
with 'geometric' tracery. Between the two easternmost
windows is a small doorway of the late 13th century,
having a slightly ogee-shaped, straight-sided arch
moulded externally. The jambs are renewed, but
there are a few of the original arch stones remaining.
The north wall of the chancel is pierced by three
arches, the two westernmost dating from the erection
of the north chapel and the easternmost from about
1430. This last is four-centred, under a square
head, with tracery and shields in the spandrels. The
soffit and the inner faces of the jambs are panelled,
and in the apex of the soffit is carved an angel holding
small figures of a knight and a lady, of whose altartomb the arch forms the canopy.
The middle and western arches on the north side
are of extremely rich 14th-century detail. The
middle pier and the responds have engaged shafts
with rolls between, and moulded bases and capitals.
The arches are of a single order, slightly ogee-shaped
and very richly moulded. Both have labels with
mask or grotesque stops on the chancel side, that in
the centre being the bust of a knight wearing ailettes.
The eastern of these two arches has the added enrichment of very closely set and luxuriant crockets on
the label, a heavy finial at the apex, and flanking
pinnacles, panelled, crocketed and furnished with
finials. The gables of the pinnacles are supported
by minute mask stops, and that at the east side
descends to an independent mask side by side with
that at the termination of the label. The twocentred chancel arch was widened and rebuilt early
in the 15th century. The responds are cut back to
admit a screen. The present screen is modern.
Under the easternmost window of the south wall
of the chancel are three sedilia with detached shafts
in the jambs. They are of the 13th century, but
the two-centred heads and labels date from about
1330. To the east of them is a piscina of the 14th
century, with a head similar to, but at a slightly
higher level than, those of the sedilia; the sill is
modern.
The north chapel has a 15th-century east window
of three cinquefoiled lights in a depressed two-centred
head. The stonework is original. There are two
single-light 14th-century windows, trefoiled, with
tracery above in a two-centred head, with labels and
mask stops. One is in the north and one in the
west wall. There is also a small 15th-century doorway in the north wall, with a four-centred head. It
is moulded externally, and has a much mutilated
external label with stops.
Behind the organ in this chapel is a communion
table of the late 17th century. A piscina of the
14th century in the south end of the east wall has
an ogee cinquefoiled head, with a crocketed label,
much broken. The sill is also broken and decayed.
The nave is lighted by two two-light windows on
either side, of early 14th-century date. They have
two-centred heads with tracery, and internal and
external labels with carved stops. The clearstory
windows, three on each side, are large, of two cinquefoiled lights in a four-centred head. They are of
the 15th century, and the stonework is much decayed.
In the north-east corner of the nave, where the
window recess is brought down to the ground for half
its width, is a doorway to the rood-loft stair, with a
four-centred head. At the head of the stair is a
similar door facing diagonally to the south-west and
opening to the former rood-loft at a high level. The
14th-century north doorway of the nave is blocked
and the outer stonework is defaced. The south doorway leading to the south porch is of the late 14th
century, and has a pointed arch in a square head.
The oak door is of the 15th century. The porch
has a similar entrance archway, with shafted jambs
and foliated capitals, and in a canopied niche over
the archway is a mutilated figure of St. George and
the Dragon. On the east and west sides of the porch
are windows of two cinquefoiled lights under a square
dripstone, and to the east of the inner doorway is a
broken stoup. The tower arch opening to the nave
is of the 15th century, and has been restored. It is
two-centred with chamfered jambs. The windows
and doorway of the tower are modern. In the
north-west buttress of the tower is a niche with a
shield bearing the arms of Benstede and Moyne.
The truss roof of the nave is of the 15th century,
and rests upon carved mask corbels of that date. At
the intersection of some of the beams are bosses
bearing the arms of Benstede and Moyne.
In the east jamb of the south-east window of the
nave is a bracket carved with angels, roses, a shield
with horseshoes impaling a bell. To the west of the
same window is another bracket carved with a grotesque
figure. There is a plain piscina with a trefoiled head
under the window. In the south-east corner of the
nave behind the pulpit are the remains of a niche.
The canopied head has been broken away, but the
carved bracket remains.
The monuments in the chancel include two fine
altar tombs under the two eastern arches of the north
arcade. That under the middle 14th-century arch
is evidently to John de Benstede (d. 1323) and Parnel
Moyne, his second wife. It represents the recumbent
effigies of a knight and a lady, their heads resting
on cushions and their feet upon lions. The knight
wears armour of the time of Edward I, and has a long
surcoat with a narrow girdle. His legs are crossed
below the knee. The lady wears a long head veil
and close-fitting dress. The hands of both are
broken off at the wrist. In the gable-headed cusped
panels, which have shields between them with the
arms of Benstede and Moyne, are small figures of
'weepers' all defaced. A much mutilated battlement runs round the edge of the tomb.
The altar tomb under the 15th-century easternmost arch also has recumbent figures of a knight and
a lady, possibly Edward de Benstede (d. 1432) and
Joan Thornbury his wife, who survived him. The
knight, whose feet rest on a lion facing outwards, is
clad in plate armour with a finely enriched basinet.
The elbow and knee-cops are fluted. He wears
plate gauntlets and has a misericorde attached to an
enriched baldric on the right side. His head rests
on a helm crested with a wolf's head. The sides of
the tomb have a series of niches with ogee-shaped
crocketed heads with foliated finials and a small
battlement around the edge. The niches are all
empty.
In the wall between the two arches is a brass, the
upper half of a figure of a priest in a cope, probably
of the 15th century.
In the nave on the east wall, to the north of the
chancel arch, are two brasses, with inscriptions to
William Clarke, 1591, and John Clarke, 1604.
The font has a mid-14th-century octagonal bowl
of Barnack stone, the alternate sides having engaged
shafts resting on carved heads, which have been
defaced. The stem is of the 15th century and has
panelled sides and base.
There are a few fragments of ancient glass. In
the window over the sedilia are three shields: the
first is Benstede impaling Or a lion azure with two
bends gules over all, for Thornbury; the second is
now plain glass; the third is Benstede. In the nave
windows are shields of Benstede and Moyne. Part
of the seating of the nave consists of 16th-century
benches, and there is a chair in the sanctuary of
about 1600.
There are eight bells: (1), (2) and (4) by Mears,
1853; (3) by John Briant of Hertford, 1792; (5)
by Miles Graye, 1630; (6) by Pack & Chapman,
1777; (7) by an unknown founder, dated 1626;
(8) by John Waylett, 1724.
The plate includes a cup and paten of 1639.
The registers are in three books: (i) all entries
from 1538 to 1722; (ii) baptisms and burials from
1723 to 1812 and marriages from 1725 to 1752;
(iii) marriages from 1754 to 1812.
ADVOWSON
A priest is mentioned at Benington in the Domesday Survey, (fn. 88) so
there was probably a church there
before the Conquest. The advowson of the church
follows the descent of the manor until the time of
Charles Caesar, junior. (fn. 89) In 1718 the king presented, (fn. 90) in 1719 Charles Caesar, in 1736 Rebecca
Knight, widow, and in 1755 Edward Page for one
turn, (fn. 91) though he still held the advowson in 1817. (fn. 92)
J. Clarke and others presented in 1822, but the
advowson apparently continued to belong to the lord
of the manor (fn. 93) until John Chesshyre sold it to
George Proctor some time before 1836. (fn. 94) The latter
presented until 1850, after which it was held by the
Rev. F. B. Pryor (fn. 95) until 1864, after which it passed
to the Rev. John Eade Pryor, who continued patron
until 1881. Since then it has been in the gift of
the trustees of the Rev. William Mills, the present
rector. (fn. 96)
In 1638 the following closes belonged to and
adjoined the rectory: Barne Close, Stable Croft,
Washers' Close, Dockcroft, 'the Woode' and 'the
litle Spring.' (fn. 97)
Various places of meeting for Protestant Dissenters
were certified in Benington between 1810 and
1851. (fn. 98) There is now a Primitive Methodist
chapel in the parish.
CHARITIES
The eleemosynary charities are
regulated by scheme of the Charity
Commissioners 8 May 1891. They
comprise the charities of:—
1. George Clerke, will dated in 1556, being a
rent-charge of £2 10s. issuing out of Boxbury Tithe,
Walkern, now vested in Mrs. Brand.
2. Hugh Dodd and others, consisting of two
closes called Moor's Closes, containing 10 acres, let at
£12 a year, purchased with £140 previous to 1681;
and £41 16s. 2d. consols, with the official trustees,
producing £1 0s. 8d. arising from sale of timber in
1814.
3. Rev. Nathaniel Dodd, a former rector, consisting of 2 acres known as Creedman's Mead, devised
by a codicil to will dated in 1661, and let at £4 a
year.
4. John Kent, consisting of £20 17s. 4d. consols,
with the official trustees, producing 10s. 4d. yearly,
representing a legacy by will about 1665.
In 1909 clothing to the value of 2s. 6d. was distributed among ten widows, and the balance in
bonuses to depositors of the coal club.
Henry Dixon, by his will dated in 1693, devised
certain lands and hereditaments in Benington
and Munden in the county of Hertford, and at
Enfield in Middlesex and in St. Mildred's, London,
to the Drapers' Company, the rents and profits to be
applied in apprenticing (among others) poor boys of
Benington. A sum of £20 is given annually by the
Drapers' Company for an apprenticeship under the
terms of his will.