BUNTINGFORD, a chapelry (formerly a market
town) in the parishes of ASPEDEN, LAYSTON, THROCKING,
and WYDDIALL, in the hundred of EDWINSTREE,
county of HERTFORD, 12 miles (N.N. B.) from Hertford.
The population is returned with the respective
parishes. This place takes its name from a ford on
the river Rib, near which a blacksmith, named Bunt,
or Bunting, had a forge. The town is pleasantly situated
on a gentle ascent between two hills, and consists
of one street, half a mile in length: the houses
are in general well built, and of respectable appearance,
and the inhabitants are amply supplied with
water. The trade is principally in leather and malt:
the market, granted by Henry VIII., has been discontinued:
the fairs, formerly on the 29th of June and the
30th of November, each for four days, are now irregularly
held. The county magistrates hold petty sessions
for the division at the George Inn, where also a septennial
court leet is held for the hundred. The living
is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry of Middlesex^
and diocese of London, endowed with a portion of the
tithes of Layston, and in the patronage of the Vicar of
that parish. The chapel, dedicated to St. Peter, is. a
commodious brick.building,.erected by subscription, and
completed in 1626, through the exertions of the Rev.
Alexander Strange, vicar of Layston, who is interred
an it; from its convenient situation, it is appropriated
to-the general use of the parishioners of Layston, the
parish church, half a mile distant, being resorted to
only for the solemnization of marriages. There are
places of worship for the Society .of Friends and Independents.
The free grammar school was founded also
through the exertions of the Rev. Mr. Strange, and
jendowed, in 1630, by Mrs. Elizabeth Freeman, with
lands producing £10. 10. per annum; the endowment
was augmented with a moiety of the produce
of lands left by Seth Ward; Bishop of Salisbury, to
Christ's College, Cambridge, the other being applied
to the endowment in that college of four scholarships,
.of £12 per annum each, for boys on this foundation,
ğr, in default of such, for the most deserving in the
-university, reserving one to Kitchen. A charity school
for forty .girls is supported by subscription. Eight almshouses,
for four aged men and four aged women, were
founded in 1668, and endowed with the rent of lands
in. Lincolnshire, by Bishop "Ward; but these are now
occupied by paupers of the parish. The bishop also gave
>&600 to purchase lands, the rental of which is applied
to the apprenticing of children: he was a native of this
town, and received the rudiments of his education in the
grammar school.