A History of Preston
in Hertfordshire
FIVE GENERATIONS OF DARTONS AT TEMPLE DINSLEY
Notes re: the Darton family tree-
None of the principal Darton men lived to see their fiftieth birthday.
Joseph snr’s children were all baptised at St Luke’s, Chelsea.
The following year, 1795, Joseph was dead. The copy of his will is somewhat difficult to read, but he appears to leave an annuity of £200 to his wife Elizabeth (from his estates at Hertfordshire and Middlesex), legacies of £1,000 to his children,Thomas, Edmund, Michael and Betty and the residue of his estate to his son, Joseph Darton. Elizabeth was to be allowed to remain in Temple Dinsley. Joseph’s executors were Edward Kitchener (Preston farmer) and Edward Evans who were given £100 each ‘for their trouble’.
JOSEPH DARTON Snr AT TEMPLE DINSLEY -
JOSEPH DARTON Jnr at TEMPLE DINSLEY -
Joseph was eighteen when he inherited Temple Dinsley and his tenure lasted a mere
twenty-
In his will (dated 16 June 1807 and witnessed by Robert Harwood, John Young and Samuel Peete, constable) Joseph firstly expressed his wish to be buried in the family vault at St Mary’s Church, Hitchin where his father already lay. A memorial was erected to him therein (shown right).
Joseph’s property in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Middlesex was left to his widow,
Elizabeth, who was also bequeathed Joseph’s personal property. Each of their children
who survived to the age of twenty-
After Elizabeth died, trustees (Edward Cobb, supervisor of excise, and John Marshall, liquor merchant, both of Hitchin) were to distribute the rents and profits after debts had been paid in equal amounts to Joseph’s surviving children who inherited his estate in equal shares.
However, as Thomas Harwood Darton was the only child to survive Elizabeth’s death, he was in effect Joseph’s sole heir.
ELIZABETH DARTON -
Soon after Joseph’s death (and probably in 1818), perhaps due to economic necessity or simply because the mansion was too big, Elizabeth let Temple Dinsley to the young Hitchin brewer, Henry Crabbe (born 1796).
Henry and Fanny Crabbe (nee Ellis) had seven children, at least six of whom were born when the family were at Temple Dinsley. Fanny was the daughter of Thomas Flower Ellis who owned land around Preston.
Henry owned malt houses at Bull Corner, Hitchin and four fields in Ippollitts. He
was also in partnership with Joseph Margotts Pierson (brewer) of a property at Cock
Street, Hitchin and with John Marshall (brewer) of a house and brew-
However, Henry died on 19 June 1830 and the process of trying to let Temple Dinsley began again. In May 1832, the house was advertised in The Times. It was described as a family mansion in an elevated and airy situation, delightfully sheltered by timber. On the ground floor was a breakfast parlour, dining and drawing room, gentleman’s dressing room with adjoining bathroom. On the first floor were three large bedrooms, each of which had its own dressing room. There were six large attics.
In the grounds there were two double coach-
Temple Farm with its 234 acres was also available to let, either with the mansion or separately.
The additional appeal of the rights to shooting on the Temple Dinsley manor’s 200 acres of woodland was highlighted.
It was about this time that the two views of Temple Dinsley shown below were drawn. The stables and dovecote are clearly to be seen.
A year later and no tenant for the mansion had been found, so more advertisements
appeared in May 1833 with a hint of desperation: ‘to be let and entered upon immediately’.
This time, the hunting aspect of the area was highlighted as the property was near
the Sebright hounds, the meets of Lord Petre’s hounds and only three miles from the
harriers of F P Delme-
Temple Dinsley was unoccupied in 1837 but had been let probably by mid-
However, the Halseys didn’t stay long and had probably moved out in the mid-
In 1841, Elizabeth Darton was living at Bunyan’s Cottage in Wainwood and Thomas Darton and his young wife were at Offley. Ten years later, Thomas and Maria Darton and their five young children were back at Temple Dinsley and Elizabeth was living either at The Cottage or Bunyan’s Cottage.
Elizabeth Darton died on 11 November 1852.
By 1871, retired builder John Weeks and his wife, Lucy were living in the mansion and Thomas and Maria were at The Cottage. Clearly the Darton’s could not afford to keep the estate so in 1873, the entire estate was advertised, not to be let, but to be sold.
The sale particulars provided a wonderful description of the estate and its various parts (even allowing for the agent’s enthusiasm). Illustrating the way in which Temple Dinsley dominated Preston is the statement that for sale was ‘nearly the entire village...about forty cottages and The Chequers Inn public house’. The estate occupied 560 acres of ‘very fertile land’ nearly all of which was freehold and tithe free.
The estate included three farms:
Temple Farm (in the grounds of Temple Dinsley)
Poynders End Farm (90 acres)
Austage End Farm (41 acres)
The house was described as a ‘fine, old mansion’. It had a spacious hall, drawing
room, billiard room, dining room, morning room, study and gun room on the ground
floor -
When the sale of Temple Dinsley was advertised, its agricultural potential was not promoted. The selling point was the opportunity for field sports such as the hunting and shooting of foxes, pheasants,partridges, rabbits and hares. ‘It is in a favourite hunting district....the sporting capabilities are of a high character and afford excellent partridge and pheasant shooting’.
This emphasis on hunting helps us to understand why the woods around Preston survived.
While there was some revenue from the sale of rights to coppice trees, the woods
were mainly preserved as the haunt of wild-
Temple Dinsley was sold to Major Henry Pryor of Clifton, Beds. His sons, Ralston de Vins (RDV) and Geoffrey Pryor (GIE) were later involved in the running of the estate and collecting rents.
It is interesting that according to the 1871 census, Major Pryor’s household at Clifton included a visitor, William H. Darton, who was born at Kings Walden, Herts. Henry Pryor (31) and William (28) were serving as Captain and Lieutenant in the 7th Bedfordshire regiment. Two years later, Henry had purchased Temple Dinsley from William’s brother, Captain Thomas Darton.
It was Thomas Harwood Darton who, in 1849, ordered the building of Preston School which doubled as a church on Sundays.
Links: Education
NEW OWNERS OF TEMPLE DINSLEY FROM 1874 -
Although the Pryors now owned the estate, they didn’t live at Temple Dinsley -
In 1881,Thomas Darton and his family rented The Cottage from the Pryors.
FIRE. Early on Wednesday morning the brigade was called to a fire at Temple Dinsley, the residence of the Hon. H. Brand. On their arrival they found the coachman’s residence, stabling, coach house, fowl house and other extensive outbuildings, one mass of fire. The brigade quickly set to work with their steam machine to prevent the fire extending to the house, which they succeeded in doing. It appeared there had been a fire in the chimney of the building the previous afternoon and it is supposed this was the cause of the outbreak. Six horses were saved but the fire spread with so much rapidity that it was impossible to save anything else. The furniture in the coachman’s house was all destroyed with a large quantity of hay, straw, harness, a stack of hay and several carts.
FIRE DESTROYS THE STABLES AND THE TEMPLE CLOCK AT TEMPLE DINSLEY
The new residents in 1881 were Henry Brand (39) (shown right), his wife, Susan and their five children. Henry was a magistrate and a liberal Member of Parliament, serving as Speaker in the Commons between 1872 and 1884. Following the death of his father, he became Lord Hampden. He served as governor of New South Wales and was the greatx2 grandfather of Sarah Ferguson.
Views of Temple Dinsley and stables with ‘Temple Clock’ pre-
The ‘Temple Clock’ (as it was known) regulated the lives of the villagers. During
the Preston Hill Robbery case of 1864 there were no less than three references to
the clock, which helped to establish time frames. From these comments, we learn that
the clock could be seen from Preston Green -
Meanwhile in the village, a new religious building was consecrated in April 1877
-
Bunyan’s Chapel.
It’s story can be read at this link: Bunyan’s Chapel
In 1891, the lease of Temple Dinsley had expired and the mansion was unoccupied,
although probably the Brands had left earlier -
Mrs Macmilan often visited Preston School. (She was an American. One wonders how the children responded to her accent). In July 1896, the school children were invited to their home for tea and a treat. In December of that year, they gave the infants and orange and a basket of sweets while the older pupils received threepence and an orange. In a hint as to the possible reason for the Macmillans leaving Preston, it was noted in the school logbook that Mr Macmillan visited the school on 14 December 1899 to tell the pupils that they would have the Christmas Tree after the holidays, ‘owing to his wife’s illness’. The Macmillans were not present at the consecration of the Church on 11 July 1900.
In 1901, Temple Dinsley was again vacant.
Temple Dinsley was let to Mr and Mrs Frederick Macmillan -
St Martins Church was consecrated at Preston on 11 July 1900.
Information about its building and consecration can be seen at these links:
JAMES BARRINGTON WHITE -
Details of James and his tenure at Temple Dinsley can be read at this link: James
Barrington-
HERBERT FENWICK at TEMPLE DINSLEY (1908 -
The enterprise of Herbert Fenwick, who employed Edwin Lutyens to embellish Temple Dinsley and build several houses around Preston is celebrated at this link:
1903 HUGH E. SEEBOHM PURCHASES POYNDERS END
To read of this family’s fortunes at Preston in the twentieth century, use this link:
As a result, Thomas Harwood Darton snr was Lord of the Manor. He held this position for just five years until his death on 12 February 1858. Almost immediately, Temple Dinsley was advertised to be let on 11 May 1858. But, in 1861, Thomas’ widow, Maria, was still in residence there.
The summer of 1872 was unusually hot. The ponds around the village, which were used for drinking water, dried up. Thomas Harwood Darton jnr had a well dug at Preston Green (shown right). It was 211 feet deep (64½m).Two people operated the winding mechanism and they toiled for five minutes to raise the water.
The new incarnation of Temple Dinsley and some of the workforce employed in its reconstruction
This history is to be continued...
There is much more to be added to this history: events in the village during the twentieth century; the cottages of Preston and the people of the village, glimpsed in historical documents.
These will be up-
There is evidence that Joseph did not reside during all this period at Temple Dinsley
-
On 28 January 1799, there was a development in the religious life of Joseph’s widow, Elizabeth. She was a Quaker having been recommended to the Hitchin meeting by their brethren at Westminster. But Elizabeth had become ‘very slack in attendance’ and ‘despite caution and counsel’ which had not produced ‘the desired effect’ and as she did not show ‘ a disposition to change’ she was disowned from the faith. The decision was recorded by William Lucas jnr.
For the story of the Pryor’s and their purchase and occupation of Temple Dinsley, click this link: Pryor family
The story and background of the Fenwick and Perkins families is told at this link: Fenwicks at Temple Dinsley