Z937/15

The Brotherhood House, Hitchin

1647 - 1778

From: 1724 To: 1763

The first deeds in this collection relating to the Brotherhood House are dated 1724. But its history can be traced back further using the schedule of 1749 (ref: Z937/4/24) which lists deeds going back to 1552, when the Brotherhood House was first sold. The house stood in Bancroft, the main road through Hitchin leading from London to Bedford, and part of the site consisted of a malt-house. Before the dissolution of the monasteries, the building must have belonged to the Hitchin Fraternity whose members used it to hold their feasts. For these, the women would have brewed ale for religious festivals in the maltings. Soon after the dissolution the house was acquired by Ralph Burghe & Robert Beverley with letters patent in 1552. By 1657 it had passed through a series of families - Bowyer, Docwra, Cony or Conny, Edwards, Harmor, and John Temple, a gentleman. The following year John Temple admitted John Nodes, gentleman, to the "posts and rails belonging to the Brotherhood House", and in 1661 John Nodes sold these and the house to Robert Papworth. Robert Papworth immediately took out a loan of 265 from Thomas Papworth, gentleman, with the house as security. The loan was transferred to Charles Nicholls senior in May 1674 and he soon owned the property - whether by foreclosure or purchase is not clear. In 1692 Papworth surrendered the "posts and rails" to Charles Nicholls the younger, Charles Nicholls senior having died the previous year. This is the point at which the deeds in this collection begin in 1724. Charles Nicholls held the property until his death in 1746, at which time it was known as his "capital messuage in Bancroft Street". He is said to have left no will, and it was only later discovered that much of the wealth he'd created had been kept in hand rather than invested. His heir was his oldest nephew, Thomas Field, then 52 years old. When Thomas inherited, he didn't take out letters of administration, keep any record of his inheritance or make an inventory, and he spent all the personal estate. This only came to light after he and his only son died in the same year and the property decended to his nephew in 1759. This nephew was Carolus Nicholls Field, a nineteen year old draper's apprentice in Ampthill. In 1761 his apprenticeship finished and he embarked on renovations on the Brotherhood House with his new-found and perhaps unexpected wealth. It's from his careful notetaking, measurements and accounting - presumably learned during his apprenticeship - that we have a detailed description of the house and its refurbishment between 1762 and 1764. As Carolus married in 1763 Martha Wyles, the Ampthill apothecary's daughter, he may have been improving the house for himself and his new bride. Thanks to Carolus' meticulous records we know what fronting the house had, the colour of the walls inside and out, the colour of the doors, the number of rooms, their size, and the lie of the garden with its ponds and ornaments. We also know that he leased or rented the house and maltings next door to Ann Field, his uncle Thomas Field's widow. Sadly, Carolus died after only a year of marriage, and was working on the refurbishments right up to his death. He left no children so the house came to his younger brother John Field of New Inn, Silsoe. By 1778 part of it was leased to Peter Capreol for 14 years. This lease makes it clear that the house was part of the brewing site, and that John Field did not live in any part of it himself. The rent was recorded in the account book up till 1815, and about that time the house was sold to a Mr Beaver by private contract [see Z937/33/1].

sub-fonds

Hitchin, Hitchin Brotherhood House