More information on the Parish of Ardeley (Yardeley)

Ardeley Village Green

As part of my archive policy I have upgraded the pages on the village of 

Ardeley

including new post card images and higher resolution pictures (if you click om the smaller image.)

I have updated the information on the booklet describing the history of the parish school and included a list of the vicars and school masters. A new page has been added about the Old Bell and the New Bell inns, and the Ardely Bury page has been extended.

St Lawrence, Ardeley

In theory (if the computer keeps working) I plan to upgrade all the village pages (the bigger towns are more of a challenge) and if you would like me to include the village where your ancestors came from why not let me know and it can be moved up the "To Do" queue.

What do you think happened when a Magistrate assaulted a passerby on a footpath in 1846?

In early Victorian times the punishments were often severe and one can imagine what would happen if a gang of people assaulted a rich local magistrate and his friends on a public footpath. The police would be quickly involved and the miscreants would find themselves in the dock at the next magistrates court - and they could well find themselves in prison for a long stay.

However on the 23rd July 1846 a group of  local people were walking along a public footpath between Walkern and Ardeley minding their own business when they were set on by Sir Robert Murray, J.P., and two of Sir Robert's staff. 

Were the police involved - of course not.They were unlikely to arrest a powerful local magistrate and parade him before the criminal court. However the events were not forgotten by the victims and led to a number of cases appearing in the civil courts.

Start of exceptionally detailed report published in the Herts Mercury on 17th July, 1847

When the case appeared in court it was not held before a normal jury but instead a Special Jury of rich Hertfordshire gentlemen was called. After all you couldn't have a baronet and magistrate appearing before a common jury as it was important that such an important person should be judged by his "equals." In the above case the jury heard the evidence - and as the evidence for the assault was very clear they really had no option but to find for the victim. To prove that they were acting "fairly" to both sides they then awarded damages of one farthing (then the smallest coin and equal to 1/960th of £1) against Sir Robert Murray.

Originally I had planned a detail write-up of this case and I discovered my outline notes while preparing my web site for eventual archiving. While I do not have time to write a detail report I have added outline details from my draft on the web page for Sir Robert's House -

Ardeley Bury

Wanted: A picture of the Chapel at Cromer when it was still a chapel.

Cromer is a hamlet in Ardeley and in 1890 the Rev. F. Fox-Talbot, of the adjacent parish of Clothall erected a chapel to seat 50 people at a cost of £200. In 1957 it was converted to a rather conventional looking house.

Elizabeth has asked if I knew of any pictures of the chapel beforn the rather dramatic conversion. I have nothing - can you help?

The Holes brothers of Ardeley in the First World War

Five years ago I posted a note about a possible bomb being dropped somewhere near Walkern by a Zeppelin (DETAILS)  - and I am still waiting for someone to be able to tell me where it fell.

The evidence that something happened came from a postcard between members of the Holes family of Ardeley, and Nick has just contacted me to say that Albert (mentioned on the card) had been killed in the First World War. As a result I have added the following note to the bottom of the page referring to the Zeppelin raid.

Alfred's father, George Holes (1857-1914) died at Ardeley in April 1914 and Alfred married Ethel Maude Baker (1890-1956) in theSouth Stoneham area of Wiltshire in 1915, their only daughter Ivy M Holes (1916-2004?) being born in Wiltshire the following year.Alfred joined the 9th Battalion, London Regiment (419016), as a rifleman and was killed in action on 25 April, 1918, having only arrived in France on 10th April. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Poziers Memorial. He was posthumously awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal

During the war three of his brothers were also involved. George joined the Machine Gun Corps (39922) in 1916. James was a Private in the Berks Yeomanry (33929) and later in the Labour Corps (360192). Bertie joined the 6th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment (14144) and died of wounds in France 29 July 1916.

February Report - Stats and additional updates

There has been a lot of email correspondence and other activities related to the site during February, complicated by the fact that I have moved all correspondence onto my newest computer - while the master web site has had to remain (due to software incompatibility) on my old system. The following is a summary of the more important activities that have not already been covered in this Newsletter.

Statistics

Activity on the main site and the newsletter have been comparable with recent years, but the number of emails I have received appears to have gone up. The only disappointing thing is that while there have been over 230 visits to the "Donations" page there has not been a single donation into the online collecting box for the mentally ill in Hertfordshire. 

Major Update of Ardeley Pages

Terry sent me some modern pictures of Ardeley Bury and I have used this as an excuse for an update to the Ardeley pages.

• The "Home" page has now a proper menu, with extensive links to both relevant internal and external pages.
• There is a new page for St Lawrence Church, including a description from 1880.
• There is a new page for Ardeley Bury (which was the come of the famous Hertfordshire historian, Sir Henry Chauncy). There is now a old post card image from the early 20th century, a history and description from 1880, a list of some of the owners/occupiers from trade directories, an external link to a description of the moat, and of course Terry's photographs.
• The page for the hamlet of Cromer (famous for its windmill) is now properly part of the village pages.