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Volumes

Volume summaries
Volume XVI
Volume XVII
Volume XVIII
Volume XIX
Volume XX
Volume XXI
Volume XXII
Volume XXIII
New! Volume XXIV

Planned future volumes

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Publications

The publications of the Hertfordshire Record Society to date:

Volume I Tudor Churchwardens' Accounts
For Ashwell (1563-1603); Baldock (c.1540-1553); Knebworth (1598-1609); St Peter's Parish, St Albans (1573-1603) and Stevenage (1575-1576). This book throws light on the daily running of the five parishes in the period following the break with Rome by Henry VIII.
Edited and with an Introduction by Anthony Palmer.
xiii + 216pp, fully indexed ISBN 0-9510728-0-3
Out of print
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Volume II Early Stuart Household Accounts
From the households of two noblemen resident in Hertfordshire during the period 1634-1639, William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury, at Hatfield House and Edward Radcliffe, 6th Earl of Sussex, at Gorhambury.
Edited and with an Introduction by Lionel Munby.
xxix + 210pp ISBN 0-9510728-11
Out of print
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Volume III A Professional Hertfordshire Tramp
Selected extracts from county historian J E Cussans' own grangerised copy of his famous History of Hertfordshire. These notes offer pithy comments on people and places that he encountered on his travels through the county, some are amusing, others are interesting social of historical observations: collectively they form a unique view of the county about 120 years ago.
Edited and with an Introduction by Audrey Deacon and Peter Walne.
xiv + 127pp, fully indexed ISBN 0-9510728-2X
Out of print
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Volume IV The Salisbury-Balfour Correspondence
This volume charts the developing relationship between the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury and his nephew, A J Balfour, during a period in which the latter rose from being private secretary to the Secretary of State for Scotland to Chief Secretary for Ireland and Leader of the House of Commons.
Introduction by Hugh Cecil. Edited by Robin Harcourt Williams.
xxviii + 455pp, fully indexed ISBN 0-9510728-3-8
Out of print
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Volume V The Parish Register and Tithing Book of Thomas Hassall of Amwell - OUT OF PRINT
The register contains material on women, children, illegitimacy, migrants, chancel burials and seasonality of marriages, births and deaths. In the Tithing Book, Hassall sets down the tithing customs of his parish. This publication sheds light on many aspects of 17th century social and religious life.
Edited and with an Introduction by Stephen Doree
xlvii + 281pp, fully indexed ISBN 0-9510728-4-6
Price: £6.00 + £3 p&p
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Volume VI Cheshunt College: The Early Years
The College was founded at Trevecca, near Brecon, in 1768, to provide training for evangelical ministers of all Protestant denominations. In 1791 it was taken over by the Apostolic Society and moved to Cheshunt in Hertfordshire. The volume details the problems of re-location, local hostilities encountered and the difficulties of raising income to maintain the students.
Edited and with an Introduction by Edwin Welch.
xviii + 245pp, fully indexed ISBN 0-9510728-5-4
Out of print
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Volume VII St Albans Quarter Sessions Rolls 1784-1820
The Rolls are the working papers of the General Court of Quarter Sessions for the old Borough of St Alban. They provide a fascinating glimpse of life in a small market town of about 4000 inhabitants at the turn of the 18th century. Trials at St Albans were for non-capital minor offences, however punishments could be quite severe including transportation to the colonies.
Edited and with an Introduction by David Dean.
xx + 197pp, fully indexed ISBN 0-9510728-6-2
Out of print
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Volume VIII The Accounts of Thomas Green 1742-1790
Thomas Green served as parish organist at Cheshunt and Hertford, but made his living from teaching music and tuning musical instruments. These accounts reveal the life of a prosperous professional man and provide a valuable source for the social life of East Hertfordshire for almost half a century. Over 400 families are mentioned, ranging form the nobility down to tradesmen.
Edited and with an Introduction by Gillian Sheldrick
xxix + 167pp, fully indexed ISBN 0-9510728-7-0
Price: £6 + £3 p&p
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Volume IX St Albans Wills 1471-1500
This is a collection of 303 medieval wills made by the inhabitants of St Albans and the surrounding parishes of St Michael, St Peter and St Stephen. Wills are among the most interesting and revealing of all local records and it is believed that this volume, packed with human interest, will appeal to local and family historians, teachers, students and the general reader.
Edited and with an Introduction by Susan Flood.
xiv + 197pp, fully indexed ISBN 0-9510728-8-9
Out of Print
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Volume X The Early Churchwardens' Accounts of Bishops Stortford 1431-1558
Here is a glimpse of behind-the-scenes life in a medieval parish church. These accounts, unique for this period in Hertfordshire, are not merely local records: they are national records which give, as no other source can, an insight into the religious world, not of clerics or theologians, but of ordinary people. This volume will go a long way to complement the first volume published by the Society, Tudor Churchwardens' Accounts.
Edited and with an Introduction by Stephen Doree.
xxv + 365pp, fully indexed ISBN 0-9510728-9-7
Price: £6 + £3 p&p
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Volume XI Religion in Hertfordshire 1847-51
The aim of both the 1851 Religious Census and William Upton's 1847 Survey was to ascertain the quantity of accommodation for worship and what proportion of the population attended Church or Chapel. Additionally, the Survey evaluated the quality of preaching in each community. Comments from the clergy and officers cover a multitude of subjects including finance, pews, weather and illness.
Edited and with an Introduction by Judith Burg.
xxxviii + 226pp, fully indexed ISBN 0-9523779-0-X
Price: £6 (+ £3.00 p&p)
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Volume XII Muster Books 1580-1605
The Muster Books present a wide and vivid picture of the organisation and administration at local level of the militia units required for the defence of the realm. The names of several thousand men trained for service are recorded. Other information includes: rules and regulations; lists of available manpower, levies for armour, weapons, horses and carts; fund raising from landowners and business men.
Edited and with an Introduction by Ann King.
xxxv + 269pp, fully indexed ISBN 0-9523779-1-8
Price: £6 (+ £3.00 p&p)
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Volume XIII Hertford Wills and Inventories 1660-1725
Seventy-six inventories, forty-four wills and details of relevant administration bonds form the parishes of Hertford St Andrew and All Saints between 1660 and 1725 are transcribed in this volume. Using the information contained in these probate records, the Introduction considers the extent to which changes in consumer behaviour filtered down the social hierarchy in the post-Restoration period and it also examines the wills to uncover the contemporary social and religious context.
Edited and with an Introduction by Beverly Adams.
lii + 166pp, fully indexed ISBN 0-9523779-2-6
Price: £6 + £3 p&p
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Volume XIV Lay Subsidy Rolls for Hertfordshire 1307-8 & 1334
This transcript of the 1307-8 lay subsidy roll for Hertfordshire makes available information concerning all communities and classes of people in the county; e.g., the comprehensive list of locative and occupational by-names supplies details about population mobility and occupations. As a tax listing, it allows a snapshot of wealth at the peak of medieval economic activity. The Introduction provides a firm basis for understanding the document and offers an overview of the state of Hertfordshire's economy in the early fourteenth century.
Edited by Janice Brooker and Susan Flood, with an Introduction by Dr Mark Bailey.
xxxi + 206pp, fully indexed ISBN 0-9523779-3-4
Price: Non-members £18.50 (plus £3 p&p); members £15.00
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Volume XV "Observations of Weather": the Weather Diary of Sir John Wittewronge of Rothamsted 1684-89
Sir John Wittewronge (1618-93) was squire of Rothamsted. The Introduction covers his family history, political career and other aspects of seventeenth century Hertfordshire life. The diary gives a picture of the climate in a small part of the county at a time when Europe was experiencing the Little Ice Age, including the winter of 1683/4, the coldest on record, together with some details of crops and household matters.
Edited and with an Introduction by Dr John Stevenson and Mrs Margaret Harcourt Williams.
lvii + 79pp, fully indexed ISBN 0-9523779-4-2
Price: Non-members £19.00 (plus £3 p&p); members £15.00
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Volume XVI Survey of the Royal Manor of Hitchin, 1676
The text of the survey, taken ten years after the manor was restored to the Crown, details both the land holdings in the common fields, pastures and meadows, acre by acre, and the houses, yards, shops, bulks, stallages, porches, breweries, tile kilns and mills in the town centre. It describes the holdings of 189 freeholders and 154 copyholders, frequently stating the previous tenant's relationship to the present one. It also includes a description of the customs of the manor. The Introduction sets the survey in the context of seventeenth-century Hitchin, correcting previous interpretations of the manor's history.
Edited and with an Introduction by Mrs Bridget Howlett.
xxviii + 123pp, fully indexed ISBN 0-953779-5-0
Price: Non-members £18.75 (plus £3 p&p); members £15.00
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Volume XVII Garden-Making and the Freman Family: A Memoir of Hamels 1713-1733
The Memoir, written by the Reverend George Smith, vicar of Braughing, records the creation of elaborate formal gardens at Hamels for Ralph Freman MP. It contains much information relating to estate management, including the renovation of buildings, the exploitation of local resources, and pond management, and it also names numerous craftsmen who worked at Hamels and describes extreme weather events. The Introduction provides a history of the Hamels estate, considers the gardens in the context of other early eighteenth-century gardens in Hertfordshire, analyses the Memoir's contents and describes the surviving evidence of Freman's gardens.
Edited and with an Introduction by Mrs Anne Rowe
Price: Non-members £18.50 (plus £3 P&P); members £15.00
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Volume XVIII Two Nineteenth Century Hertfordshire Diaries
This volume contains the text of two contrasting diaires: one kept by Henry Lomas, a plumber and decorator who lived in Watford and the other kept by Thomas Newcome, rector of Shenley. Both diaries, written in the first half of the nineteenth century, offer fascinating insights of the life and work of two very different men; however, they both expressed an interest in national as well as local events. Happenings in parliament and stories from newpapers are also summarised by the diarists. The Introductions describe their lives and families and set the diaries in context.
Edited and with Introductions by Susan Flood, Judith Knight and Frank
Kilvington
x + 303pp, fully indexed ISBN 0-9523779-7-7
Price: Non-members £19.50 (plus £3.00 p&p); members £15.00
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Volume XIX: "This little commonwealth": Layston parish memorandum book 1607-1650 & 1704 - 1747
The memorandum book of the Layston clergymen, Alexander Strange and Thomas Heton, is a remarkable source for historians of the social, economic and cultural experience of the inhabitants of an English local community from the early 17th to the mid-18th century. Historians of Hertfordshire will find much of local interest here in the intimate disclosure of detail on life in the market town of Buntingford and in its contiguous parishes of Layston, Aspenden, Throcking and Wyddial, but the book is of far wider significance as it provides details of poor relief, the setting of parish rates, educational provision and the like which enables a full analysis of the politics of the parish. Appendices include lists of all baptisms, marriages and burials in the parish between 1604 and 1650 and a transcript of Strange’s Assize sermon preached at Hertford in March 1608.
Edited and with Introductions by Heather Falvey and Steve Hindle; also a contribution by Philip Plumb on the origins of the parish and a foreword by Mark Bailey.
lxxiv + 296 pages; 12 illustrations including 2 in colour; 2 maps
fully indexed ISBN 0-9523779-9-3
Price: Non-members £21.00 (plus £3.00 p&p); members £15.00
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Volume XX, Julian Grenfell, soldier and poet: letters and diaries, 1910-1915
Julian Henry Francis Grenfell was the eldest son of William Henry Grenfell, first Baron Desborough, and his wife, Ethel (Ettie) Anne Priscilla Grenfell. Their home was at Taplow Court, Buckinghamshire, but in 1913 Ettie inherited Panshanger, near Hertingfordbury, Hertfordshire. Standing over six feet in height and with ‘an immense enjoyment of life’, Julian joined the army in 1910, having been educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford. He served with his regiment in India and South Africa, until, on the outbreak of war in 1914, he was sent to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force. He appeared to love war and not to fear death. He became noted for his courage and was posthumously awarded the DSO. At Ypres, in late May 1915, he was wounded by a shell splinter which penetrated his brain. Despite two operations, he did not survive. He is buried in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in Boulogne. A minor First World War poet, his best known poem ‘Into Battle’ was published in The Times on the day after his death. Throughout his army service Julian wrote long, descriptive letters to his family and friends. These letters, which are published here in their entirety, add immeasurably to the body of knowledge of the First World War, a conflict that continues to fascinate and appal in equal measure. One of the appendices contains extracts from Julian’s and Ettie’s diaries.

Edited and with an Introduction by Kate Thompson

xxiv + 362 pages; 8 illustrations + various sketches by Julian
fully indexed; ISBN 978-0-9547561-1-6
Price: Non-members £22.00 (plus £3.00 p&p); members £15.00
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Volume XXI: The Hellard Almshouses and other Stevenage Charities, 1482-2005
Records relating to the Stevenage Almshouse Trust begin in 1482, when a covenant was drawn up by which three local men transferred land called Gleviscroft, at Woollenwick Green, to Stephen Hellard, rector of Stevenage, and two others. The purpose of the gift was to provide a rental income that would be used towards building and maintaining almshouses. When Hellard died in 1506 he bequeathed to the town 'All Christian Souls House, which house I have built for the habitation of three poor folk without any rent therefore to be paid so long as the said house does or shall endure'. The Almshouse Trust has operated continuously since that time.
The records of the almshouses and other charities provide a previously untapped source for research in to the lives of people in the Stevenage district and further afield. They include the names and occupations of trustees, the poor and others, together with financial records and details of land holdings. The latter are particularly important in Stevenage, where development had obliterated so much of the ancient landscape and connections with the past.

Edited and with an Introduction by Margaret Ashby; also a preface by Evelyn Lord.
xviii + 267 pages; 12 illustrations including 1 in colour; 2 maps
fully indexed; ISBN 0-9547561-2-6
Price: Non-members £21.00 (+ £3.00 p&p); members £15.00
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Volume XXII: The Diary of Lady Adela Capel of Cassiobury, 1841-1842
This diary provides fascinating insights into one year in the life of a thirteen/fourteen year old girl growing up in Cassiobury House, the elegant Gothic mansion near Watford. The diary describes gender roles and the education and socialisation of a sensitive, caring girl as she moves towards womanhood.
Hertfordshire historians with a special interest in Cassiobury and the social life of early Victorian Watford will find references to families overlooked by the 1841 Census, and details of Cassiobury House, grounds and staff that are only to be found in the diary. Historians generally will find a very different perspective on Victorian social history. In particular the invaluable, sometimes humorous, portrayal of children’s everyday lives in an unusually liberal Victorian aristocratic household. The content and style of the diary provide an accessible, personal and informative resource for those involved in teaching or studying the Victorian Period for the National Curriculum.

Edited and with an Introduction by Marian Strachan
xliv + 90 pages; 11 illustrations including 3 in colour; 2 maps; fully indexed
Hardback: ISBN 0-9547561-3-4  SOLD OUT!
Paperback: ISBN 978-0-9547561-4-7
Price: Non-members & Members £9.99 (+ £3.00 p&p)
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Special Paper: Editorial Conventions for the Preparation of Manuscripts
This pamphlet, written by the Society's current and previous General Editors, provides helpful guidelines for anyone in the process of preparing historical documents for publication. It includes sections on punctuation, abbreviations, layout, spelling, indexes, numbers, money, dates, insertions/deletions, illustrations, tables and charts, bibliographical citations, glossaries and submitting text on disk.
Written by Susan Flood and Richard Busby.
Price: £2.50 (including p&p)
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Volume XXIII: The Impact of the First Civil War on Hertfordshire, 1642-47
Most of the documents in this volume are taken from papers deposited by a local sub-committee of the Committee for Taking the Accounts of the Kingdom, which had been set up to audit income and expenditure by wartime committees controlled by parliament in each county. The introduction puts the sources in their national and local context. ‘Fighting the war’ covers the men involved, including officers, volunteers, the militia & impressed soldiers; the provision of uniforms, weapons, ammunition & supplies; the purchase, commandeering and use of horses; the committees and wartime administration; the secretariat and communications; the fortification of Newport Pagnell, St Albans and Hertford. ‘Paying for the war’ includes the propositions, loans & contributions; assessment and local rating; the collection of rates, loans, taxes & contributions; allocation of, opposition to, and repayment of, monies raised; and payments to troops. ‘The impact of the war on communities and individuals’ covers the effects on communities of free quarter; the effects of war on central-local relations, on parishes, on individuals. It also covers sequestration, its organization and effects on royalists and clerics, the sale of sequestered and concealed goods. Also included are several appendices, brief biographies of key people and indexes of person, place and subject. The volume is essential for historians of Hertfordshire and of the civil war in general, and also for family historians researching the period.

Planned future volumes

Volume XXIV (2008):
Barnet Workhouse Papers, edited by Gillian Gear

Volume XXV (2009):
The Diary of Mary, Countess Cowper, edited by Stephen Taylor

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