aken S. to Bedwell Park, or N.W. to the mill
on the Lea, Rye Croft, and Mill Green.

HUNSDON (2 miles N.E. from Roydon Station, Essex) is a very ancient
village. The E. Perp. church of flint is thought to date from 1400, and
the N. porch of oak is probably coeval with the main structure. Note the
finely carved Jacobean screen which divides the Cary Chapel in the S.
transept from the nave, and, in the chapel, the imposing monument and
alabaster effigies to Sir John Cary (d. 1617) and his wife. The monument
is built into the wall; behind it is a rather long, but historically
important inscription:--"Here resteth in Peace Sir John Cary, Knight,
Baron of Hunsdon (being the fourth Son to the Right Honorable Henry
Baron of Hunsdon) and the Lady Mary Hunsdon his Wife, Daughter to
Leonard Hide of Throcking in the county of Hertford, Esq.; The Said Sir
John Cary was sent to Barwick by the late Queen Elizabeth of Famous
Memory, in the Year of our Lord, 1593, to be Marshall of the Town of
Barwick, and Captain of Norham; afterwards he was made Governor of the
said Town and Garrison of Barwick, and Lord Warden of the East Marches
of England,... Scotland, and so he remained until he returned into
England with the most famous King James, where he entered into the
Possession of the Crown of England; and so having two Sons and two
Daughters ended this transitory Life, in an assured Hope to rise again
in Christ." In the chancel windows are some white roses, and a badge of
the House of York; note also the canopies in these windows, and the
figures of Apostles in the W. window. On the N. wall of nave is a fine
brass to James Gray, showing a man shooting at deer with a crossbow;
this Gray was gamekeeper for thirty-five years at _Hunsdon House_.
Bishop Ridley preached from the pulpit on several occasions.

_Hunsdon House_ stands between the church and Gilston Park. During the
reign of Edward IV., Sir John Oldhall "built here a fair House after the
mode of a Castle ... which building, 'tis said, cost L7,222". This would
be an enormous sum of money in those days. The original structure had a
high tower and large courtyard. Henry VIII. made the house a palace, and
in so doing appears to have almost rebuilt it; it is known that his
children were often here, as the King had a high opinion of
Hertfordshire air. Queen Elizabeth gave the estate to Sir Henry Cary,
Kt., her cousin, and created him Baron Hunsdon. The "palace" was
surrounded by a moat,