STANSTEAD (ABBOTS'), a parish in the hundred of BRAUGHIN, county of HERTFORD, 2 miles (N.EbyE.) from Hoddesdon, containing 950 inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Middler sex, and diocese of London, rated in the king's books at £10, and in the patronage of the Rev. T. Feilde. The church, dedicated to St. James, situated on an eminence one mile south-east from the village, was built, in 15? 8, by Ralph Baesh, Esq. The parish is bounded on the west by the navigable river Lea, on the north by the Ashe, and on the east and south-east by the navigable river Stort, being nearly insulated. The Rye House, noted for the plot laid there, in 1683, against the lives of Charles II. and James, Duke of York, was built, in the reign of Henry VI., by Andrew Ogard. It was formerly surrounded by a moat, but the only remains of the structure now existing is an embattled gate-house of brick, with a handsome stone doorway, long since converted into a workhouse for the parish. Almshouses for six poor widows were founded, in 1636, by Sir Edward Baesh, who endowed them with certain lands and a rent-charge of £25, for the payment of two shillings per week to each; the residue to be applied for apprenticing poor children. He also founded a free grammar school, with an endowment of £20 per annum, and gave a small cottage for the use of the parish clerk.