WEST-MILL-BURY, (Hertfordshire) on the r. Rib, 2 m. N. of Braughing. When Will. the Conq. made that great survey, which we
find in that, called domesday-book, it had 3 mills on its r. lett at 21 s. and 8 d. and the whole estate was valued in
Edw. the Confessor's time at 20 l. tho' at the time of the survey but at 17 l. a year. K, Edw. III. granted this manor to
the abbey of St. Mary de Grace near the Tower of London; but at the Diss. Hen. VIII. granted it to Sir Tho. Audley, Ld.-
Chancellor; and from him it passed to the Ld. Tho. Howard, who sold it in the R. of Q. Eliz. to Sir John Brograve; from
whom it descended to Sir Tho. Brograve, Bt. Upon his death, without issue, the manor came to Mrs. Stevenson, his sister;
and upon her death to Tho. Brograve, heir to the family of Brograve. At last the manor was purchased, in chancery, by
Ralph Freeman. Westmill-Bury-Farm pays 10 l. a year, as a sort of modus in lieu of tithes. In its Ch. are 8 tunable bells.
In this village lives, or did very lately, one William Hammond, a maltman, descended from one of the same name and trade,
who was one of the 79 persons returned in Hen. VIth's list of this Co. that could spend 10 l. a year. Here is a small ch.
sc.