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Lilley |
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About one mile from the Village [of Offley] is a Manor House called LITTLE OFFLEY, which is a pretty residence in a pleasant Park. A Hamlet called MANGROVE is also near, but is partly in the Parish of Lilley. About two miles from Offley, on the borders of Bedfordshire, is the pleasant Village of LILLEY, or Lilley Hoo. Chauncy says "it received the latter addition because it formerly belonged to the Hoos," an ancient family which resided at Kimpton, and held several Manors in this County; but Clutterbuck, in his history, shows that this is totally unfounded, and that the Hoos never at any time had possession of this Manor. It stands on the road from Hitchin to Luton. There is a small Church, dedicated to St. Peter, with a tower and six bells, which has been rebuilt in the Geometrical or Early Decorated style, it contains several old monuments, with long inscriptions, commemorating the virtues and high connections of members of the Docwra family, who lived at Putteridge, in this Parish, for many years. The living is a Rectory, of the value of £420 per annum, with a handsome residence, in the patronage of St. John's College, Cambridge; 26 acres of glebe are attached to the living. There is a good National School. The Wesleyans have a place of worship here. The population of the Parish is 520; the number of acres, 1822. PUTTERIDGE BURY, about half a mile distant, is a handsome residence situate in a very pleasant Park. It was certified in the reign of Henry VI. that the Manor of Putteridge Bury was held by Eliza Darrell at the yearly rent of "one pound of pepper :and one pound of. cinnamon." The co-heirs of Sir B. Rawlings, who afterwards possessed it, sold it to John Sowerby, Esq., who purchased Lilley of the Docwra family before-mentioned. Guide to Hertfordshire, 1880
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Books on Lilley |
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| Between the Hills: the story of Lilley, a Chiltern Village | |||||
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Rupert Brook knew it well and brings it into one of his poems; here he would walk when he was a Cambridge University, by
A rampant lion raises its head on cottage wall and gatepost, the crest of the Docwra family who lived in the fine park of Putteridge Bury generations ago. All that is left of the church they knew is the Norman chancel arch which has been reset in the chancel wall, the linen-folds panels and the old oak of the pulpit, the piscina, and the 15th century font at which were baptised a 17th century curate's two sons, John and James Janeway. John was a mathematical genius; James seemed at one time something like a rival to John Bunyan. They built a chapel for him in Jamaica Row, Rotherhithe, and there he preached while plague and persecution were rife, escaping both to die of consumption in 1674. ... Arthur Mee, Hertfordshire |
