Stanstead Abbotts Local History Society

    During the reign of Henry III, the abbey was involved in a number of disputes with the townspeople of Waltham and with the lord of the manor of Cheshunt. During the altercations the monks were accused by their opponents of much affectionate consolation from the holy sisters in the nunnery at Cheshunt”, in other words, a bit of medieval hanky-panky!!

In 1279, during the reign of Henry’s successor Edward I, the abbot of Westminster complained that his mill and tenements in Amwell in Hertfordshire had been flooded and damaged by the raising of sluices belonging to the abbot of Waltham at Amwell and Stanstead. A commission was appointed to settle the dispute, and the abbot of Waltham was required to repair the damage to the mill. Arbitrators were sent in 1283 to see whether this had been properly done. We know that, in addition to other privileges such as “free warren” which was the right to hunt all kinds of animals on the estate, the abbey was granted the right to free fishing in the Lea thoughout their demesne lands. However, we do not know what they were doing raising the sluices and accidentally flooding neighbouring land. “Whoops! Sorry!”

    Certainly the abbey paid a good deal of attention to the river over the years. In AD 1190- 1191 the abbey was allowed to divert the river to improve navigation. There were four channels, the Cornmill Stream which drove the abbey’s mill, the Old River Lea, which was used for navigation until 1770; the Millhead Stream, and the Small River Lea, which formed the boundary with Cheshunt. The abbey was frequently in dispute with the lord of Cheshunt over boundary disputes as the meadows were valuable for pasture and produce, so it is possible the abbey was manipulating the changes for their own advantage. In 1482 the Abbot of Waltham was charged with enlarging his mill-head to the detriment of navigation, and for narrowing a lock to the danger of bargemen. We are obviously not to think of unworldly “heavenly-minded” churchmen in all this, but hard- headed, ruthless businessmen!

    In 1220 the canons of Waltham constructed a conduit for carrying water from Wormley to the monastery, which seems strange as they had access to the River Lea itself. Perhaps it was pure water that they needed, which was probably for use in the abbey brewing-house. Which brings us back to Stanstead Abbotts, although a further digression (not of the river, but on the subject of monastic drinking habits [!]) is necessary at this point.

Ale production and consumption in medieval monasteries

    Waltham abbey was among the largest, wealthiest and most important abbeys in medieval England, especially of the Augustinian order. It seems impossible to get accurate figures for numbers of monks, lay brothers, servants and corrodians in any abbey, including Waltham. (A corrodian was usually a wealthy merchant or some such person who had donated all his property to the abbey in his old age and from then on till his death had a daily allowance of food and drink and adequate, albeit rather Spartan, accommodation in the abbey precinct).

    The Black Death of 1348-9 killed an estimated 40% of the whole population in England as in other countries and monasteries were particularly hard hit as they cared for those infected when the rest of the population rejected them. The number of monks at

Waltham and elsewhere suffered a decline in numbers, but both before and after the catastrophe, when they had recovered they might well have numbered around one hundred, together with the servants etc.

     Reliable evidence suggests that the daily allowance of ale in monasteries was a staggering gallon (eight pints) of conventual ale (the best) per monk and corrodian, and the same amount of “meyne” i.e. inferior ale, for the servants and lay brothers. As has been suggested, it is surprising that they fell on their knees rather than on their faces! So, to provide a daily supply of around 125-150 gallons of ale throughout the year would have been quite an undertaking! Surely the brewing house in Waltham abbey must have been stretched to its limits and beyond with such a challenge.

Maybe this is where Stanstead Abbotts came to the rescue!

The River Lea and its vital importance

The river had been used for communication and transport from Hertford, Ware and Stanstead Abbotts to London and all points on the way for centuries. At times it had to be cleared of obstacles, not supermarket trolleys, old prams and bikes (!), but “many sandbanks, fishing kiddles, and one enclosure” in 1355 and “weirs, mills, pools, stakes and kiddles” in 1382 (a kiddle was“A dam, weir or barrier in a river, having an opening fitted with nets etc for catching fish” (Oxford Dictionary of English 2007)). Also illegal tolls were sometimes being charged. At one time the problem was so great that goods had to be carted or hauled from Ware to Enfield by road (narrow dusty tracks at times and a muddy quagmire at others), where the bargemen of Enfield had a lucrative trade in carrying everything from there to London. When the river was cleared and traffic resumed, the bargemen, angry with their loss of revenue, sabotaged the locks!

When the river was clear and useable it provided a quick and reliable route for transporting wheat, grain, fish, game etc. The monks of Waltham abbey would

undoubtedly have used to it transport such things from their manor at Stanstead Abbotts to the abbey seven or so miles south. They could also have used it to transport barrels of ale to supplement supplies from their own brewing house!

Let us explore this a little further!

A Monastery in Stanstead Abbotts, continued……