FLAMSTED, (Hertfordshire) 2 m. from Market-Street, and 5 from St. Albans and Dunstable, stands on the r. Verlam, and was of old called Verlamstede. Edw. I. granted it a charter for a Mt. on Th. and a Fair on St. Leonard's and 5 days after; but they are both long since disused. The manor bel. formerly to the Beauchamps Es. of Warwick, then to the Nevils Es. of Salisbury, and then was settled on K. Hen. VII. whose son, Hen. VIII. gave it to the Ferrars; whose female heir, marrying the Ld. Visc. Fanshaw, sold it to serjeant Pecke; whose descendant, William, had it in 1720. The land hereabouts is a clay mixed with flints, so thick spread, that, after a shower, nothing appears but a heap of stones; and yet it bears very good corn, even in dry summers; which fertility is imputed to a warmth in the flint, which preserves it from cold in the winter, and to its closeness, which keeps it from the scorching rays of the sun in summer. In this p. was formerly a nunnery, called St. Giles in the Wood; which, at the Diss. K. Hen. VIII. granted to Sir Rich. Page, in whose time Edw. VI. was brought hither for his health; and tho' the convent is demolished, yet, it is said, the bedstead he lay on, which is curiously wrought, is still preserved in the manor-house just by. This manor passed from Sir Richard, by his daughter, to the Skipwiths of Lincolnshire, who sold it to Mr. Saunders of Puttenham; whose descendant Tho. Saunders, Esq; a member of Lincoln's-Inn society, made the manor-house a fine seat; which, by his only daughter, came to Sir Edw. Seabright, the father of the present Ld. of it, Sir Tho.-Saunders Seabright, Bt. This is that called Beech-wood manor; which see in its place. Flamsted-Hill is near Redbourn.