Pendley Manor

A village of Pendley (or Penley, Pendele, or Pentlai) is recorded from the 4th century AD, held in the honour of Berkhampstead. The manor of Pendley pre-dates the Norman Conquest of 1066, after which it was confiscated by William the Conqueror and passed to his brother-in-law, Robert, Count of Mortain, who became one of the greatest landholders in the newly conquered Kingdom of England. A later owner was John de Angle, an early Member of Parliament.

The present building was erected c.1874 near the site of the old manor house. It was designed in a neo-Jacobean style by the architect Walter F K Ryan and built in red brick with Bath stone dressings. Architectural features include a half-timbered jettied top floor; tall decorated brick chimney pots; a square tower with an ogee-shaped lead roof; ornamental herringbone brickwork, carved Jacobean-style Ionic pilasters and stucco panels. The date 1875 is carved in stone above the porch.

By the 15th century, Pendley was a small town. In 1440 the county sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire Sir Robert Whittingham (or Whytingham) and his wife Agnes received a grant of free warren from King Henry VI at Pendley manor; Sir Robert enclosed 200 acres and tore down the buildings on the land, returning the estate to pasture. Whittingham subsequently obtained a papal licence to build a chapel at the manor house and engage a priest to hold services there when the roads became impassable in winter. On the accession of King Edward IV, Whittingham's fortunes changed; the king attainded Whittingham for his loyalty to Henry and in 1461 he granted Pendley manor to George Neville, Bishop of…