CODICOTE, a parish in the hundred of CASHIO,
or liberty of ST-ALBANS, though locally in the hundred
of Broadwater, county of HERTFORD, 2 miles
(N. N.W.) from Welwyn, containing 795 inhabitants.
The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry
of St. Albans, and diocese of London, rated in the
king's books at. £7. 5. 10., and in the patronage of the
Bishop of Ely. At the general dissolution, the advowson
was granted to the Bishop of Ely, one of whose
successors gave an augmentation of £30 per annum
out of the great tithes. The church, dedicated to St
Giles, is a small building, with a chapel attached, and
has an embattled tower surmounted by a spire. There
is a place of worship for Baptists. A market on Friday,
and a fair on St. James' day, were granted by
Henry III.; they are both disused, but a small market,
for the sale of straw-plat, is held on Thursday, and a
pleasure' fair on Whit-Monday. Thirty girls are clothed
and educated at the joint expense of the Hon. Mrs.
Leesom and Mrs. Staple, and there is a charitable fund,
out of which one boy is apprenticed every seven years.
On Codicote heath " are the remains of a lioman
fortification.