Part 20

Newsell, a hamlet 1 mile N. from Barkway, lies a little W. from the Cambridge Road. The nearest station is Royston, G.N.R., 31/2 miles N.W. Newsell Park is a modern mansion S. from the hamlet.

No Man's Land is a large tract of common, partly covered by furze, stretching left from the road between Sandridge and Wheathampstead. Some years ago a farmer close by collected quite a museum of stuffed birds, etc., shot in the neighbourhood, which many persons visited, but I understand the collection is now dispersed.

In 1884 Sir John Evans showed to Mr. W. G. Smith "a good white ovate palaeolithic implement," one of two found on No Man's Land Common. In December, 1886, Mr. Smith visited the gravel pits there and found a somewhat similar implement in situ; this latter is engraved in his Man the Primaeval Savage. At the same time Mr. Smith found two neolithic celts on the common.

Nobland Green (11/4 mile N.W. from Widford Station, G.E.R.) is little more than a farm and a few cottages.

NORTHAW (2 miles E. from Potter's Bar Station, G.N.R.) is a village on the Middlesex border, near the source of the river Colne, and a place of considerable interest. In the wood N. from the village there lived a hermit named Sigar, the subject of some monkish legends. He lived about the time of Henry I., and was buried beside Roger the Monk (see Markyate Street) in the S. aisle of the Baptistery of St. Alban's Abbey. There was originally a small church close to the village, E.E. or perhaps late Norman; this was replaced by the cruciform church of St. Thomas Becket, a pseudo-Perp. structure, destroyed by fire in 1881; the present cruciform building of Ancaster stone is Dec. with a conspicuous W. tower carrying four pinnacles. Note the piscina, three sedilia and credence table in chancel; also the finely carved font of Ancaster stone, on marble pillars, presented by the children of the parish. There are several memorial windows, of only local interest; but the pulpit and reredos are both good, the former showing the four Evangelists in canopied recesses. Unfortunately, only a portion of the old registers were saved from the fire of 1881.

NORTHCHURCH, or Berkhampstead St. Mary, forms one long street with Great Berkhampstead, but is a separate village, 1 mile W. from Berkhampstead Station, L.&N.W.R. The cruciform church is Dec.; it stands in a small graveyard close to the high road to Tring. The most curious memorial is the brass near the porch to Peter the Wild Boy, who was found wild in a forest in Hanover in 1725 and brought to England at the desire of Queen Caroline. He lived at a farm at Broadway (q.v.) and died in 1785. There is also a curious sentence about this church in Chauncy: "Henry Axtil, a rich Man starved himself, and was buried here April 12, 1625, 1 Car. I." The church was entirely restored in 1883, when the present N. aisle was added.

Northfield, a small hamlet, is a little S. from Ivinghoe (Bucks).

NORTON, near the tiny river Ivel and the Roman Icknield Way, is 1 mile W. from Baldock. The large building on the hill-top close by is the Three Counties Asylum. The manor belonged to the Abbot of St. Albans at the time of the Conquest; and in the year 1260 Roger de Norton, who took his name from this village, became the twenty-fourth abbot of that monastery. The church, E.E., is of great antiquity, some parts of it having been little altered; it is of flint, and stands at the N.E. end of the village. It contains two or three old memorials, but none of historic interest. A pretty walk from the church leads through Norton Bury and beside the Ivel to Radwell Mill.

Norton Green, between Knebworth Park and Stevenage, is 1/2 mile W. from the Great North Road. It is a small hamlet.

Nup End (11/2 mile W. from Knebworth Station, G.N.R.) is almost one with Knebworth Green. Codicote church is 1 mile S.W.

Nuthampstead (about 5 miles N.E. from Buntingford Station, G.E.R.) is a large hamlet on the Essex border. The parish churches of Barkway (W.), Anstey (S.W.), and Meesdon (S.E.) may all be reached within a short walk.

OFFLEY or OFFLEY ST. LEGER (3 miles S.W. from Hitchin) is a village at the meeting of the ways from Hitchin, Temple Dinsley, and Lilley. It owes its name to Offa, King of the Mercians, who had a palace here, as we learn from his life by Matthew Paris, and its adjunct to the St. Legiers, who became Lords of the Manor soon after the Conquest. Miss Hester Salusbury, who became Mrs. Thrale, and afterwards Mrs. Piozzi, used as a child to visit at Offley Place, in the park close to the church. The old mansion was built by Sir Richard Spencer in 1600, and in part rebuilt early last century, when its style was changed from Jacobean to a form of Gothic.

The church (restored Perp.) stands in the park, close to the road. Note (1) monument in chancel to Sir H. Penrice, Kt. (d. 1752); a figure of Truth standing on a sarcophagus of black marble, the whole finely executed; (2) monument in white marble, by Nollekens, to Sir Thomas Salusbury, Kt. (d. 1773), and Sarah his wife (d. 1804); (3) brass with effigy, to John Samwell (d. 1529), and his wives Elizabeth and Joan; (4) brass to a civilian and his family (circa 1530); (5) well carved Perp. font.

Offley, Little, is a hamlet 11/4 mile N.W. from the above.

Offley Green is 4 miles N.W. from Buntingford Station, G.E.R. The walk beside Julians Park to Rushden, 1 mile S.W., is very pleasant.

Offley Holes (21/2 miles S.W. from Hitchin) is a small hamlet. Offley Grange, Offley Hoo, Offley Cross and Offley Bottom are all in the immediate neighbourhood, W. and N.W.

Old Hall Green (11/2 mile W. from Standon Station, G.E.R.) lies W. from the Old North Road. It is a small hamlet.

OXHEY (2 miles S. from Watford) is a hamlet on the Middlesex border. It has a good modern church, E.E. in style. N. lies Oxhey Place, on the site of the old home of the Heydon family, rebuilt by Sir William Bucknall in 1668, and again by Hon. William Bucknall in 1799. The chapel, close to the old mansions, was spared by both those renovators, but has since been repeatedly restored. It contains many interesting monuments, conspicuous among which is that on the S. wall to Sir James Altham (d. 1617) who had built the chapel on the site of an earlier structure in 1612. The old judge is represented kneeling in his robes between two pillars, beneath a canopy of alabaster; behind him is the effigy of his third wife Helen (Saunderson). Note the carved oak seventeenth century reredos, occupying the whole of the E. end of the chapel. It is divided into three compartments by two columns, massive and twisted, with Corinthian capitals; these support a frieze, with cornice and pediment. Note also the oak ceiling, and the five Tudor windows (replaced). Oxhey Hall, N.W. from the chapel, is now a farm; but can still show the wonderful ceiling of carved oak, in sixteen panels, which must be very ancient.

PANSHANGER PARK, Lord Desborough, K.C.V.O, should be visited by all who love an historic home surrounded by beautiful scenery. It lies almost midway between Hatfield and Ware Parks; the house itself is 11/2 mile N. from Cole Green Station, G.N.R. The park is very extensive (about 900 acres); the river Maran flows through it from W. to S.E., opening into a lake S. from the house. It is famous for its splendid timber; the wonderful "Panshanger Oak," one of the very largest in England, stands W. from the house.

Panshanger is not a "correct" structure from an architectural standpoint; the writer of Murray's Handbook describes it well as "a stucco-fronted, semi-castellated Gothic mansion of the Walpole-Wyatt type". Most ramblers, however, are not architects, and the grey stone mansion and its surroundings are, as a whole, as picturesque as they can well be. The greater part of it was built by Peter, fifth Earl Cowper, in 1801; but the picture gallery, overlooking the terrace and gardens, was a later addition. The house was partially burnt in 1855. The older home of the family stood at Cole Green--then called Colne Green.

The famous Cowper Collection is largely the result of the taste and perseverance of the third earl, who resided for some years at Florence. Only a few of the pictures can be named here: Madonna, by Raphael (1508); Holy Family, by Fra Bartolommeo; Mountainous Coast (fishermen in foreground), by Salvator Rosa; Nativity, by Carlo Dolce; Virgin Enthroned, by Paul Veronese; Third Earl Cowper and His Family; First Earl Cowper, by Sir Godfrey Kneller; Francis Bacon, by Van Somer; Turenne, by Rembrandt; Charles Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, by Janssens. The whole collection is worth careful study. Permission to view may be obtained when the family are away.

PARK STREET, a large hamlet with station 1/3 mile W. (L.&N.W.R.), is on the river Colne, 2 miles S. from St. Albans. The parish church is at Frogmore (q.v.).

Parker's Green (4 miles S.W. from Westmill Station, G.E.R.) is a hamlet adjoining Wood End.

Patient End may be reached from Braughing Station, G.E.R., 4 miles S.E., the road being more direct than that from Westmill Station, about the same distance as the crow flies. The hamlet lies between Albury and Furneaux Pelham.

Patmore Heath is 1 mile S.E. from the above.

Pepperstock, a hamlet on the Beds border, is a little W. from the Harpenden-Luton road, and close to Luton Hoo Park.

Perry Green (11/4 mile S.E. from Hadham Station, G.E.R.) is a small scattered hamlet.

Peter's Green, on the Beds border, lies at the meeting of several roads; the Half Moon and Rising Star with a few cottages comprise the hamlet. The descent W. towards Chiltern Green Station, M.R., commands a fine view, looking towards Luton Hoo Park. The several ways (one is hardly more than a lane) lead S.E. to Kimpton, S. to Harpenden, N. to Lawrence End Park, and N.E. to Breachwood Green and Bendish.