AGNELLS MANOR

Claim

Historical names: Aynells (Manor) | Aignells (Manor) | Agnews (Manor) | Agnalls (Manor)

Location: Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire

Places / associated places: Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire

Location & Extent

GPS Location & Recorded Land Areas

Representative GPS point: 51.778835, -0.447814

Location / boundary notes:

Identity: confirmed — The supplied F246005 record, variant names, Hemel Hempstead location, associated St Agnells locality, and cited Agnells Manor records consistently identify the Hemel Hempstead manor, distinct from the separately recorded Agnells/Aynells manor in Redbourn.
Representative point: 51.778835, -0.447814
Basis: documented_manor_site — St Agnell's Farmhouse in Cupid Green Lane is the surviving named Agnell's/Aynells farmstead in the historical Agnells locality. Heritage evidence describes the site as a post-medieval farmstead with medieval origins, and the 1645 copy plan of Agnells Manor confirms the manor as an identifiable estate. The coordinate is the listed-building point for St Agnell's Farmhouse, corroborated by a geotagged survey photograph at approximately TL 0718 1004.
Point confidence: medium
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period:
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: The research confirms the manor's location around St Agnell's Farm/Cupid Green and the northern Hemel Hempstead area, but no accessible source provides a sufficiently legible or explicitly transcribed perimeter from the 1645 plan, the 1366 extent, rentals, or court material. The modern settlement, parish, ward, or development boundaries cannot safely substitute for the historical manorial extent.
Sources:
- The National Archives, Manorial Documents Register: Agnells Manor, F246005: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F246005 — Registry record identifying Agnells Manor as the Hemel Hempstead manor and recording its historical variants and subordinate status.
- Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies, copy plan of Agnells Manor, 1645, ref. 79703: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/N14307817 — Archive catalogue record confirming the existence of a plan specifically depicting Agnells Manor in Hemel Hempstead in 1645; the accessible catalogue entry does not expose the plan's perimeter.
- Hemel Garden Communities Heritage Impact Assessment, Appendix 1: https://www.stalbans.gov.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/Planning%20Policy/R19/Appendix_1_Hemel_Garden_Communities.pdf — Identifies St Agnell's Farm, Cupid Green Lane, as a post-medieval farmstead with medieval origins, known as Agnell's or Aynells until the twentieth century.
- Planning Data, St Agnell's Farmhouse, listed building 1078122: https://www.planning.data.gov.uk/entity/31535626 — Provides the official listed-building coordinate POINT (-0.447814 51.778835) for St Agnell's Farmhouse in the Hemel Hempstead/Grovehill locality.
- Geograph, Hemel Hempstead: St Agnell's Farmhouse: https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6710387 — Locates the surviving farmhouse in Cupid Green Lane and gives a geotagged position of approximately 51.77877, -0.44781; it also records the historic map name Agnell's Farm from 1878 to 1938.
- London Metropolitan Archives, transcript of the Agnells Manor court material: https://adrianfinchblog.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/london-metropolitan-archives-12-mar-2008.pdf — Transcribes the 23 September Philip and Mary 4&5 court heading for the Manor of Agnells in Hemel Hempstead, held by Sir William Dods and Elizabeth his wife, formerly wife of John Coningsby, deceased lord of the manor.
- Hertfordshire: A Landscape History: https://dokumen.pub/hertfordshire-a-landscape-history-9781909291003.html — References the 1645 copy plan of Agnells Manor, Hemel Hempstead, archive ref. 79703, within modern scholarly landscape research.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- The representative point is a defensible manorial-site proxy centred on St Agnell's Farmhouse, not proof that the surviving farmhouse is the exact medieval manor house.
- No reliable historical perimeter polygon was established. Do not inject a polygon based on the modern parish, Grovehill ward, St Agnells Lane, Cupid Green, or present-day estate boundaries.
- The Hemel Hempstead manor must not be conflated with St Agnells Farmhouse and the separate Agnells/Aynells manor in Redbourn.

About the Manor

Agnells Manor was a subordinate manor of the principal manor of Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire. The manor is recorded under variant forms including Aynells, Aignells, Agnews and Agnalls, and gave its name to the historic Agnells or St Agnells locality and farm in the northern part of Hemel Hempstead, around the modern St Agnells Lane and Cupid Green area. The surviving evidence indicates medieval origins: John de Aygnel held courts there during the reigns of Edward II and Edward III. A surviving court transcript for 23 September in the fourth and fifth regnal years of Philip and Mary, equivalent to 1556–1557, identifies Sir William Dods and Elizabeth his wife as holding the court baron; Elizabeth is described as the former wife of the deceased John Coningsby, knight, who had been lord of the manor. A copy plan of Agnells Manor dated 1645 is cited in modern county landscape research, confirming the continuing existence of the manor as an identifiable estate at that date. The manor should not be conflated with the separate Agnells or Aynells manor in Redbourn, Hertfordshire.

Ownership / Holder Account

The earliest securely located evidence is a court held by John de Aygnel in the nineteenth year of Edward II, followed by further courts from the second to the twenty-fourth years of Edward III. The source does not provide a documented conveyance into or out of the Aygnel family, so no intervening succession is asserted. By 23 September in the fourth and fifth years of Philip and Mary, the manor was in the hands of Sir William Dods and Elizabeth his wife; the court heading describes Elizabeth as formerly the wife of John Coningsby, knight, deceased lord of the manor. The precise conveyance from John Coningsby or his estate to Elizabeth and William Dods is not stated in the surviving evidence located. A 1645 plan demonstrates that Agnells Manor remained an identifiable estate, but the present research has not securely established its holder after the Dods and Elizabeth evidence. The descent is therefore partial, with a substantial documentary gap between the mid-sixteenth-century court and later estate evidence.

Manorial Rights & Privileges

Historic manorial rights / privileges (1)

Court baron

Provisional

The manor is expressly recorded as having a court baron, including the court held by Sir William Dods and Elizabeth his wife in 1556–1557.

Records & References

Sources and references mentioning this manor/title which are not necessarily conveyances or transfers.

11 records found · showing 1–8.