SACOMBE
Suevecampe, Sevechampe, Stuochampe (xi cent.);
Savecampe, Sawecampe, Sevechaumpe (xiii cent.);
Savecampe (xiv cent.); Savecome, Sawcompe (xv
cent.).
The parish of Sacombe has an area of 1,534 acres,
of which 405½ acres are arable land, 683½ acres
permanent grass, and 123½ acres wood. (fn. 1) The
general elevation of the parish is a little over 200 ft.,
sinking to below 200 ft. along the banks of a small
stream which runs through the centre of the parish
into the River Beane. In the north-west Sacombe
Hill rises to over 300 ft., and in the north-east at
Sacombe Green the land reaches a height of 362 ft.
In the west the parish takes in a large portion of
Woodhall Park, and the River Beane flowing out of
this passes through the south of Sacombe parish for a
short distance. The road from Benington to Ware
runs through the parish from north-west to southeast, having Woodhall Park on its western side.
About the centre of the parish a branch road turns
off from it and runs north-east to Little Munden,
passing through Sacombe Pound. A road turns
east from Sacombe Pound, leading up the hill to the
hamlet of Sacombe Green and branching off to
Sacombe Church, rectory, and school, which compose all the village that there is. Sacombe House,
surrounded by a park of 150 acres, lies south-east
from the church. It was rebuilt by Mr. George
Caswall early in the 19th century, and was recently
the scene of a destructive fire. Burr's Green is a
hamlet in the south of the parish. The subsoil of
the parish is chalk in the west and north and
Woolwich and Reading Beds in the east. There is
a chalk-pit beside the road to Sacombe Green, a
disused one north of Woodhall Park, and another
disused one, with an old kiln, on the west side of
Sacombe Park. The nearest stations are Hertford,
4 miles south, and Ware, the same distance southeast, both on a branch line of the Great Eastern
railway.
The inclosure award was made in 1852, and is
in the custody of the clerk of the peace. (fn. 2)
Place-names which occur in the parish are
Reddinges, Blindman's Hill, Crossefield, Great Emdell
Field, Emden Spring, Charden, and Mobsden.
MANOR
In the time of Edward the Confessor
there were two manors in Sacombe. The
larger, held by Ælmer of Benington, was
assessed at 4 hides. Besides the manor there were
1 hide and 1 virgate held by four of Ælmer's sokemen,
and 5 virgates held by a certain woman under Anschil
of Ware, one of which was mortgaged to Ælmer. The
other manor, consisting of 1 hide 3 virgates, was held
by Lewin, a thegn of King Harold. Both these
manors were granted by William the Conqueror to
Peter de Valognes, who held them as one manor
assessed at 8¾ hides, (fn. 3) the assessment having seemingly
increased half a hide. Half a virgate held by Aluric
Blac of Stigand, and in 1086 by Anschil of Stigand's
successor, (fn. 4) and another half-virgate held in 1086 and
before by a sokeman of the king (fn. 5) were probably
absorbed in the manor of Sacombe.
The manor, held of the king in chief by knight
service, passed to the descendants of Peter de Valognes
in the same way as his chief manor of Benington
(q.v.) until the death of Christiane de Valognes and
her husband William de Mandeville. The Valognes'
estates were then divided between the three heirs:
Lora, the wife of Henry de Balliol, Christiane, wife
of Peter de Maune, and Isabel, who was married
to David Comyn. Sacombe was apportioned to
Isabel, the youngest, and passed upon her death,
about 1253, to her son William Comyn. (fn. 6) William
died about 1283, (fn. 7) and his son John being a minor,
custody of two thirds of the manor was granted to
Matthew de Columbars, and shortly after, at the
request of the latter, to John de Gisorz, citizen of
London, for four years. (fn. 8) In 1284 the remaining
third was confirmed to William Comyn's widow
Eufemia in dower, on her taking an oath not to
marry again without the king's licence. (fn. 9) She broke
her oath, however, and the king took the third part
of the manor back into his hands before her death,
which occurred about 1289. (fn. 10) Her son John Comyn
came of age in 1286–7, (fn. 11) and probably held the
manor, but he died soon after and Sacombe passed
to Edmund Comyn, said to have been his brother, (fn. 12)
who died seised of it about 1314. (fn. 13) The latter left
two infant daughters and a widow Mary, who held a
third of the manor in dower. (fn. 14) She afterwards
forfeited it. (fn. 15) Sacombe was eventually divided between
the two daughters, the elder of whom, Eufemia, was
holding it in 1320 (then aged fourteen years), at
which time she was the wife of William de la Beche. (fn. 16)
The moiety was settled in 1330 on William and
Eufemia for their lives and the heirs of Eufemia. (fn. 17)
William died in 1333, leaving a son John. (fn. 18)
Eufemia continued to hold the moiety, and in 1334
received licence to have an oratory in her house at
Sacombe. (fn. 19) She married secondly John de Walkefare,
who died abroad in 1345, leaving a son John. (fn. 20)
Apparently, however, both these sons died young, for
upon Eufemia's death in 1361 her lands passed to her
daughter Elizabeth, the wife of Roger de Elmerugge
(Elmbridge). (fn. 21)
Eufemia's sister Mary Comyn, who received the
other moiety of Sacombe Manor, was married by
licence of the king to Edmund de Pakenham while
she was still under age. He died in 1351, (fn. 22) leaving
a son Thomas. Mary conveyed her moiety of the
manor to her sister Eufemia in 1355, (fn. 23) so that the
whole manor came to Eufemia's daughter Elizabeth
and Roger de Elmerugge in 1361. (fn. 24) Roger died in
1375, (fn. 25) and in the next year Elizabeth sold Sacombe
to John de Holt and Alice his wife. (fn. 26) Sir John Holt
was involved on the king's side in the rebellion of
1387, when the royal army under Robert Duke
of Ireland was defeated. He was among the
five judges sentenced by Parliament to be hanged,
but, the sentence being remitted, he with the rest
was banished to Ireland and his estates forfeited. (fn. 27)
Sacombe thus came into the king's hands in 1388. (fn. 28)
Upon Sir John Holt's death, however, in 1419, or
perhaps before, it was restored to his son Hugh. (fn. 29)
Hugh Holt died in 1420 and Sacombe passed to his
brother Richard, (fn. 30) who sold it in the same year to
Robert Babthorpe. (fn. 31) The manor-house at that time
contained a hall, 'five chambers high and low, and a
house for the making of tiles.' (fn. 32) Robert Babthorpe
died in 1436, and the manor came to his son Ralph. (fn. 33)
From Ralph Babthorpe it passed to his son Robert in
1455, (fn. 34) and to Robert's son Ralph in 1466. (fn. 35) Ralph
died in 1490, leaving a daughter Isabel, who was
married to Sir John Hastings, (fn. 36) and died in 1495. (fn. 37)
Her heir was her 'kinswoman' Isabel Plompton,
daughter of Robert Babthorpe, who seems most probably to have been her first cousin, but was possibly
her aunt. (fn. 38) This Isabel was married to William
Plompton, and was holding the manor as his widow
in 1547. (fn. 39) She died in 1552, (fn. 40) and Sacombe passed
to her grandson William Plompton, who in 1593
conveyed the manor to Sir Philip Boteler of Watton
Woodhall. (fn. 41) At Sir Philip's death in 1607 Sacombe
came to his widow Jane, (fn. 42) and after her death to his
grandson Robert Boteler, (fn. 43) from whom it passed in
1623 to his daughter Jane, (fn. 44) who married John, afterwards Lord Belasyse of Worlaby. (fn. 45) The latter is
said to have sold Sacombe, owing to pecuniary
embarrassment, to Sir John Gore, (fn. 46) who seems to have
been in possession of it in 1669. (fn. 47) In 1688 it was
purchased from him with the manor of Temple
Chelsin by Sir Thomas Rolt, (fn. 48) formerly president
of the East India Company and Governor of
Bombay, from whom it passed to his son Edward (fn. 49)
in 1710. (fn. 50) Edward Rolt, who was M.P. for Chippenham, was succeeded by his son Thomas, who was
holding the manor in 1728 (fn. 51) and died in 1754,
leaving a son Thomas, of the 1st Guards, who was
killed in action in 1758, when Sacombe seems to
have come to his youngest sister Mary Constantia
Rolt, (fn. 52) who married Timothy Caswall of the Guards,
M.P. for Brackley. He was a personal friend of Pitt,
who used to visit him at Sacombe, and was there with
Dundas, his Home Secretary, at the critical time
when Lord Gower, ambassador in Paris, fleeing from
the French Revolution, hastened to them (2 September 1792), before proceeding to the king. (fn. 53) The
bust of Pitt presented to Mr. Caswall is now in
possession of his great-great-grandson, Mr. J. H.
Round, LL.D. He died in 1802 and was succeeded
by his son George Caswall, (fn. 54) after whose death in
1825 (fn. 55) the manor was sold to Samuel Smith of
Watton Woodhall, (fn. 56) with which manor it has since
descended.
Rolt. Argent a bend sable with three dolphins argent thereon having golden crowns.
Caswall. Argent three gimel bars sable.
In 1275 the lord of Sacombe was said to have view
of frankpledge, gallows and assize of bread and ale. (fn. 57)
In 1278 William Comyn claimed in his manor of
Sacombe all liberties formerly pertaining to the
Valognes' lands, viz. soc and sac, toll, team and
infangentheof by charter of Henry I, and view of
frankpledge, tumbrel and amendment of the assize of
bread and ale 'of ancient custom.' (fn. 58) In 1287 gallows
and free warren were claimed in addition. (fn. 59) In
1361 court leet was held at Whitsuntide. (fn. 60) Free
fishery in the River Benwith (Beane) was said to
pertain to the manor in 1590, (fn. 61) 1609 (fn. 62) and 1688. (fn. 63)
Sacombe possessed a water mill in 1086, (fn. 64) which is
frequently mentioned in connexion with the manor, (fn. 65)
and was presumably situated on the River Beane at
Mill End.
In the 13th century the Knights Templars held
some lands in Sacombe, Rocelin, master of the order,
receiving a grant of free warren there in 1253. (fn. 66)
A reminiscence of their holding is found, perhaps, in
1698, when Sir Thomas Holt, lord of the manor, was
presented for not keeping the 'Temple pound' in
order. (fn. 67)
There was a hide in Sacombe held before the
Conquest by three sokemen, two of them men of
Anschil of Ware and the third a man of Aluric
Blac. This land in 1086 belonged to Hardwin de
Scales, (fn. 68) and was perhaps later annexed to Little
Munden.
Half a virgate held in 1086 by Derman, and
formerly belonging to Alwin Horne, (fn. 69) would naturally
become absorbed in Derman's neighbouring manor of
Watton.
Sacombe Church from the South-east
CHURCH
The church of ST. CATHERINE
stands on high ground in the middle of
the parish. The walls are faced with flint
and the roofs are tiled. (fn. 70) The church consists of a
chancel, nave, north vestry and south tower. The
original plan of the 14th-century church was the same as
that of the present building, and the chancel and nave
are of that date. The tower was rebuilt in 1855–6,
and the north vestry was added at the same time, when
the whole church was restored, faced with flint and
re-roofed. A great part of the stonework of this
church was brought from the demolished church of
Thundridge.
All the doors and windows of the chancel and
nave are modern. They have two-centred heads,
the east and west windows being of three and the
north and south windows of two lights with 'decorated' tracery. The responds of the chancel arch
are of the 14th century with wave mouldings on
both sides. The sub-arches are also original.
In the chancel is a piscina with a modern recess,
with a cinquefoiled ogee head and a sexfoiled bowl,
probably of the 14th century.
In the chancel are brasses of Eleanor Dodington,
1537, and John Dodington, her husband, 1544,
which consist of inscriptions only. On the north
wall of the chancel is a monument to the Rev. John
Meriton, vicar, who died in 1669; and on the west
wall of the vestry is a reset tablet to Sir Thomas
Rolt, 'Agent of Persia and President of India,' 1710,
and his wife, 1716. There is also in the vestry a
17th-century hour-glass stand of iron.
There are three bells, of which the first is by John
Waylett, dated 1722, and the third by James Bartlett,
1683.
The plate includes a cup of 1688 and a flagon of
1715.
The registers begin in 1726 and are contained in
four books: (i) baptisms 1726 to 1773, burials 1726
to 1773, marriages 1726 to 1754; (ii) baptisms
1773 to 1812; (iii) burials 1773 to 1812; (iv)
marriages 1754 to 1811.
ADVOWSON
In 1086 there was a clerk among
the tenants of the manor, (fn. 71) so that
there was probably then a church
there. The advowson has always belonged to the
lord of the manor. (fn. 72) The church is now generally
known as the church of St. Catherine, but the earlier
invocation seems to have been St. Mary. (fn. 73) In 1638
the rectory possessed two barns, a yard, orchard and
garden adjoining the house, and about 15 acres of
glebe. (fn. 74)
In 1819 a dwelling-house was registered for
Protestant Dissenters under the Toleration Act. (fn. 75)
CHARITIES
The charity of Rev. John Meriton,
a former vicar, for apprenticing, now
consists of £260 6s. 7d. consols, and
£251 15s. 7d. Natal 3½ per cent. stock with the
official trustees, arising respectively from the sale in
1906 of land purchased in 1699 with £100 given by
the donor and from accumulations of income, and producing £156s. 4d. in annual dividends. The charity
is regulated by schemes of the Charity Commissioners,
1881 and 1910.
By an order of 9 March 1905 made under the Board
of Education Act the stock arising from accumulations
of income and all net income not applied within the
year for apprenticing under clause 23 of the principal
scheme constitute the Meriton educational foundation.
The Parish Clerk's land consists of 3 r. 26 p. of the
annual letting value of 5s.