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A History of Preston in Hertfordshire
The Heath family of Preston (1625 - 1750)
The Heath family was integral to the history of Preston during the seventeenth century.
From a humble labouring background, they went on to own cottages that still stand in the village
today. They were also closely involved with Preston’s religious history,
both Anglican and Nonconformist.
As we are now examining events which occurred around four centuries ago, it is helpful to be
reminded of local events at this time. So firstly, we will consider the religious situation in the vicinity of
Preston and then describe the problems of constructing a family tree during the seventeenth century.
For many centuries most of Preston lay in Hitchin parish with its church, St Marys. This created a
logistical problem for Preston residents because the churches of Ippollitts, Kings Walden and St Pauls
Walden were closer than St Marys at Hitchin. This complication had been partially solved by the use
of Minsden Chapel as a chapel of ease to St Marys. Here, many folk from Preston were baptised,
married and buried and many of its church wardens lived in the hamlet. However, the condition of this
chapel was quickly deteriorating. Although the Preston’s parishioners had never paid a church rate to
St Mary’s and their own chapel was in desperate need of refurbishment, it was decreed that they
should pay a rate for repairs to the church at Hitchin. To enforce this order, in 1688, twenty-four
actions were brought against the dwellers in Preston and Langley. This created antipathy in the
hamlet towards Preston’s mother church, St Marys.
Besides Anglicanism, another religious movement was gathering momentum around Hitchin during
the seventeenth century. During the English Civil War (1642 - 1651) Hitchin manifested a rising
independent spirit and was determinedly allied with the Puritan cause which was at odds with the
established church, St Marys. When the war ended, deep roots of religious dissension had been
established and continued to flourish. From 1660, John Bunyan’s brand of Nonconformity found a
sympathetic ear in the district and covert meetings were often held around Hitchin, notably at Wain
Wood, Preston.
It was in 1672 when parliament passed the Declaration of Indulgence that Nonconformity was able to
emerge from the shadows and practice its religion openly, albeit in licensed cottages and barns. Yet
within this movement there was disagreement. The Congregationalists (or Independents) split from
the Baptist movement. As their name implies, the central issue was not so much doctrinal but centred
on how congregations should be administered. Lack of finance meant that it was 1690 when the first
Congregationalist chapel was built at Back Street, Hitchin and two years later the Baptists had
established their own Meeting House in the town. Both religions had several adherents who lived at
Preston and were so popular that, in 1704, Daniel Defoe wrote of Hitchin that it was ‘Whiggish and full
of dissenters’.
This then was the religious landscape at Preston in the second half of the seventeenth century. As we
will see, the Heath family was closely bound up with Minsden Chapel; St Marys, Hitchin; Baptists and
Congregationalists.
The Heath family lived in the Hertfordshire parishes of Ippollitts and Hitchin during most of the
seventeenth century. The so-called Commonwealth period of 1649 to 1660 permanently disrupted the
keeping of parish records which are so essential when creating family pedigrees. The Hitchin parish
ledger contains the note that ‘through the carelessness and neglect of the former Registrar is wholly
lost for the space of seventeen years’ from February 1648 to August 1665. As a result, it is a
challenge to attempt to construct a family pedigree during this time.
Additionally, during the second half of this century, it is obvious that the parish records of Hitchin were
copied from other documents - there are few errors and the entries are too orderly to have been
entered at the time of the event. Such transcriptions may result in mistakes.
Oddly, at Ippollitts the entries between 1650 and 1670 are only of the Papworth family (Edmund
Papworth’s wife was buried in the church ‘at the upper end of the middle space near the pulpit under
the planks’). A critical eye will spot that there are probably other gaps in the written record. For
example, over several years there is only one burial recorded during January, the most inclement of
months - while many more were interred in the parish during the months of the rest of the year.
The records of baptisms, marriages and burials of Preston folk during the latter part of the
seventeenth century was also affected by the poor relations between the residents and St Marys,
Hitchin. As a result they were more likely to have used the services of Kings Walden, St Pauls
Walden, Ippollitts and Minsden, So, between 1670 and 1698 there are only five marriages of Preston
people at St Marys, Hitchin and ten burials.
After this lengthy preamble, we can focus on the family tree of the Heaths of Preston. Where
births/baptisms cannot be found, it is assumed that a birth took place approximately twenty-five years
before a marriage. Much of the following information is derived from the wills of John Heath, who died
in 1661 and Susannah Heath, who passed away in 1736. Looking at the likely dates when John and
Elizabeth Heath’s children were born or baptised, it is probable that the Heaths moved to Ippollitts
parish (and probably Preston) between 1616 and 1625. It may be that John Heath was baptised at
Hertford on 16 October 1612, being the son of John Heath. Finally, there is a marriage of Agnes
Heath to Thomas Browne at St Marys, Hitchin on 8 November 1632 and also Alice Heath to John
Burwell at Minsden Chapel on 24 June 1635. These women may be part of John Heath’s family.
Note: there is a marriage between a John Heath and Hannah Saunders at Ippollitts on 7 April 1652.
There is no note of a burial of Elizabeth, but Hannah may be John’s second wife (One of John’s
granddaughters was christened ‘Hannah).
John Heath 1585c - 1661
Much of what we know about John Heath is gleaned from his short will made on 20 December 1655:
John was a labourer living at Preston in the Ippollitts parish. He was ‘sickly’. He bequeathed to John
Heath and Edward Heath his oldest sons and his daughter Sarah, wife of Thomas Guteridge (sic),
ten shillings each. The residue of his estate was given to his son, Richard Heath. The will was proved
in September 1661, (so John likely probably died around this time) and was marked by John,
indicating that he was illiterate. As his wife was not mentioned, it is probable that she pre-deceased
her husband.
A map of the parish boundary at Preston helps to pinpoint the location of John’s home:
It is therefore likely that John’s home was between Hitchin Road and the entire north side of
Chequers Lane (which included the Chequers Inn and Sadleirs End).
John Heath 1612c - pre1672
John Heath was born in around 1612c. He married Elizabeth Bibswell at Ippollitts in 1637.
They had a daughter, Sarah Heath, who was baptised at Ippollitts on 11 November 1638 and
buried there on 5 February 1639.
There is a transcription record that John also had a daughter, Mary, baptised at Minsden Chapel in
1640:
However, Mary was buried at Ippollitts on 3 May 1643:
There is a notable piece of information which features John: he was described as a church warden at
Minsden Chapel from March 1640 until March 1641. It is likely that he and not his father (who was
illiterate) is being referred to here:
As we will see, it is probable that John and Elizabeth also had a son, John Heath. This is based on
the description of him as John Heath, junior in two records, which implies that both were alive at the
time of the event (see later).
Sarah Heath married Thomas Gutteridge at Ippollitts on 1 June 1640:
Sarah Heath born 1615c
They had a daughter, Sarah, who was baptised at Ippollitts on 8 July 1841:
It may be that the couple had other children as a Mary Gutteridge (with no note of her parents) was baptised
at Ippollitts on 2 February 1646 and Benjamin Gutteridge (father, Thomas) was baptised at Hitchin on
3 September 1652.
Edward Heath 1616c -1661
Edward Heath was born in around 1616. He married Elizabeth Bray at Ippollitts on 24 June 1641:
Edward and Elizabeth had a daughter, Elizabeth who was baptised at Ippollitts on 17 December 1642:
One of the couple’s daughters (who was living at Preston) was buried at Ippollitts in April 1660:
Edward himself, (who was also noted as living at Preston) was buried at Ippollitts during August 1661:
Richard Heath 1625 -
Richard Heath was baptised at Ippollitts on 5 January 1625, which confirms that the Heath family were
living at this parish before 1625:
He married Sarah Godfrey at Offley, Herts on 22 October 1663:
It may be noted that two of John Heath children’s marriage partners were from established Preston
families at the time, Gutteridge/Gootheridge and Godfrey.
The Godfreys were associated with Pond Farm, Preston for many years, so it is unsurprising that, in early
1681, Richard bought property from Robert Ship: a message and three acres (which comprised three fields)
which had a manorial annual rent of 1/4d. From the manorial records it is possible to identify Richard’s
property as the Ponds farm house and three nearby fields. This holding had been sold to Alice Joyner before
1714.
Also, in the 1680s, Richard together with a John Heath (probably his nephew) was one of the Preston
inhabitants of whom it was decreed that they should pay a rate for repairs to the church at Hitchin. To
enforce this order, in 1688, twenty-four actions were brought against the dwellers in Preston and Langley.
This was despite the fact that they had never paid a church rate to St Mary’s at Hitchin and their own
chapel at Minsden was in desperate need of refurbishment. Richard Heath’s annual rates were assessed at
1s 2d while John Heath was required to pay 9d. In the face of the overwhelming power and influence of St
Marys, Hitchin, the people of Preston and Langley bowed to the inevitable and paid their dues, but under
protest.
John Heath buried 1720
Mary’s father, John Carrington, had been a church warden at Minsden Chapel in 1642. When he died in
1705, he left a cottage in the parish of Stotfold, Beds. to John Heath of Preston and appointed him as his
executor. John had also owned a small cottage at Preston Green (on the north side) which (via a son)
passed to his daughter, Mary Heath in 1695.
John Heath’s religious commitments may also be assessed as he, together with his uncle, Richard Heath,
was forced to pay a rate for the upkeep of St Mary’s, Hitchin in 1688 as has already been explained.
The surviving children of John and Mary can be identified because one, the spinster Susannah Heath,
mentions them in her will dated 1736. Her sister, Hannah (born 1702), was baptised on 25 May 1713 at
Hitchin and she also had two other sisters: Sarah, and Ann (who married the Knebworth, Herts labourer,
William Brown, in 1731).
The manorial record shows John Heath junior purchasing a message, cottage and part of an orchard at
Preston Green from John Joyner on 6 May 1685. Comparisons of the records reveals that this property was
what we know today as Fig Tree Cottage and that he relinquished this sometime before 1714.
The Tilehouse Street Baptist Church, Hitchin’s reference book “Come Wind; Come Weather” (1969) makes
this comment:
Thus, it is reported that there was an old barn at the rear of Preston's Post Office which had been used for
religious meetings from the time of the Bedford tinker, John Bunyan. However, the barn had been
dismantled and moved to the garden of Mr E Hallam where it stood 'for many years', until it finally was
demolished in 1964. Can this be corroborated?
Today, ‘Preston’s Post Office’ is known as Vine Cottage. A detailed map from 1898 shows Vine Cottage
(3767) and its neighbour, Fig Tree Cottage (3765): - their position at Preston Green is clearly shown in
relation to the well:
This map has a key which provides a description of each property as at 1910:
There is no shed associated with Vine Cottage, but Fig Tree Cottage had a ‘corrugated (shed) now a
stable’. This is significant because I have been informed that the shed used for worship was a ‘tin shed’.
In the light of this information, it is probable that the barn used for Nonconformist religious meetings at
Preston was that ringed above - and although it was not actually on the property of the cottage which
became Preston’s Post Office, it might be described as being ‘at the rear of the present Post Office’ in 1969.
This barn was standing in 1811 when the Tithe Map was drawn and so had some antiquity:
John had also been closely involved in the deep-rooted issue of payments of rates to St Marys, Hitchin in
1688, together with his uncle, Richard Heath (see earlier). Then, as church warden of Minsden Chapel, he
was involved in still more controversy with St Marys, Reginald Hine describes what happened in History of
Hitchin Vol 2:
In the eyes of Bragge, Skingle was a ‘notorious Dissenter…seduced by a Malignant Spirit (who had)
infringed the liberties of the church and brought great scandal to the Reformed Religion’, He was
hauled before the St Marys, Hitchin church authorities and forced to confess his sins. Next, it was
John Heath who was forced to apologise in St Marys:
.
So, immediately after the Declaration of Indulgence (which allowed nonconformists to congregate for
religious purposes) was on the statute book, the house of Widow Heath was licensed as a meeting
place. This was a national landmark moment and is cited by several Nonconformist and
Congregationalist history books. It should be underlined that the building was a house and not a barn
and that this was to be a place of worship not for Baptists but Congregationalists. A caution might
also be added that other reference books recording this information state that Widow Heath lived in
‘Preston (parish of Hitchin)’. This additional statement which not occur in the original record may be
an incorrect assumption on the part of the writer, as we will see.
Where was Widow Heath’s house? It is a convoluted exercise to answer this question. The response
hinges on researching Edward Swain’s occupation of Spindle Cottage on the Hitchin Road. The only
other available references to ‘Widow Heath’ are in the manorial records of Temple Dinsley. However,
they is instructive because they describe the chain of owners of Widow Heath’s cottage. In 1715,
there was a survey of manor holdings which includes the following:
When John was buried at St Marys on 24 September 1720, he was described as a ‘husbandman’.
This reflected his property holding as described earlier and that he was no mere labourer.
John’s wife, Mary, was also buried at St Marys on 3 February 1748:
Of Susannah Heath - buried 1736
The spinster, Susannah Heath, died in 1736. She left a will which fills in some of the gaps in the
Heath family tree. This is an epitome of her will:
Susannah Heath was of Preston in the parish of Hitchin, singlewoman. Dated 14 February 1736.
I give the copyhold house in Preston in the manor of Temple Dinsley and all the other property I
possess to my two sisters, Ann Brown, wife of William of Knebworth (labourer) and Hannah
Heath, single-woman. Ann and Hannah were also appointed her executors. Susannah marked.
Witnesses: Edward Swain, Daniel Joyner and Charles (?) Proved 29 March. 1757
How Susannah and her sisters link to the Heath family tree is revealed by Family Search when it
records the baptism of both Susannah and Hannah on 25 April 1713 at Hitchin. They were the
daughters of John and Mary Heath.
The cottage of Widow Heath and Nonconformity at Preston
This establishes that before 1715, there had been a transfer of property between Widow Heath and
Stephen Swain. It had a manorial rent of 6d. Unusually, a thorough trawl through the manorial records
before 1715 reveals that there is no other mention of either Stephen Swain or Widow Swain or a
record of the transaction.
This property was then passed on to Edward Swain, as noted in the next manorial survey in 1761:
Again, there is no record of a transaction of this property, although this record identifies Edward
Swain as the owner of The Red Lion (rent 18/-) and some of his other holdings.
Edward Swain’s will: Edward was a blacksmith of Preston in the parish of Hitchin. Made 17
May 1748. To my wife Mary - all my property in the parishes of Hitchin and Ippollitts. After her
death or re-marriage: to my son, James Swayne (sic) my freehold cottage at Ippollitts occupied
by William Child and the copyhold field in Ippollitts in my occupation. To my son, John Swayne,
my freehold cottage at Ippollitts occupied by Henry Merritt; the freehold field of arable land
called, “Three Cornered Close” and the one acre of copyhold field called “Todds Close”.
Thus, Edward’s property portfolio included Todds Close (one acre of land to the south of Chequers
Lane), Three Cornered Close (which was probably near St Albans Highway). Bundled with this was a
freehold cottage in Ippollitts parish which was occupied by Henry Merritt, who was a woodman in
nearby Wain Wood.
This cottage is easily identified as Edward’s initials are still attached to its wall:
The cottage is Spindle Cottage which is
beside the entrance to Preston’s cricket
ground. 1717 does not necessarily refer to
when it was built. Perhaps, it is the date
from which the Swains began residing at
the property.
Implied confirmation of the conclusion that Spindle Cottage was owned by Edward Swain is its
occupant in 1748 according to Edward’s will - Henry Merritt. The following is the record of Henry’s
marriage at Lilley, Herts on 9 December 1732:
Hannah Heath was John and Mary Heath’s daughter and Susannah Heath’s sister, to whom she had
bequeathed some of her property. It’s worth noting that Edward Swain was a witness to Susannah
Heath’s will as shown above, because this indicates a connection between the two.
Historically, it is a matter of record that the Merritt family were Congregationalists. They had strong
connections to Hitchin’s Back Street Independent Chapel.
Further positive proof of the Swain family’s association with Spindle Cottage is provided by the
Ippollitts Tithe Map of 1816 which shows the cottage and barn beside the Hitchin Road:
Lyon H Turner in Original Records of Early Nonconformity Under Persecution and Indulgence notes:
Reasons to conclude that Edward Swain (who died in 1752) owned Spindle Cottage, Preston
Historic England does not suggest when Spindle Cottage was built - although the date of origin of
most other listed buildings at Preston is included in its catalogue. It merely states,
However, there is a barn associated with Spindle Cottage which is also a listed building. There is a
date suggested by Historic England noted:
It may be reasonable to conclude that the house
with which the cottage is associated (see right)
was also built in the seventeenth century - ie
before 1717.
Finally, we refer to the Heath Tax Records of both Preston in Hitchin Parish and the parish of Ippollitts
for 1670, two years before the Widow Heath was granted her indulgence.
Hearth Tax return for Preston in Hitchin parish - 27 June 1670.
Five widows are included, but there is no mention of the Heath family.
Hearth Tax return for the entire parish of Ippollitts, Herts - 2 May 1674
John Heath is included, and his home had two hearths! The earliest photographs we
have of Spindle Cottage shows two chimneys (see below). Nowadays, there is only one.
Having pinpointed the location of Widow Heath’s cottage, we now address the question, who was
Widow Heath? Although, as has been illustrated earlier, the record of marriages and burials in the
mid-seventeenth century is patchy, the most obvious candidates are Sarah (nee Godfrey), the wife
of Richard Heath (born c1616) or Elizabeth, Edward Heath’s (baptised 1625) wife.
Perhaps this is a record of her burial at St Pauls Walden on 29 April 1702:
Although we have been examining records which are around four hundred years old, and which are
incomplete, a unique picture of the Heath family at Preston has emerged.
The Heaths arrived at Ippolltts before 1625. Then, John Heath, was living at Preston probably to the
north of Chequers Lane or the west of the Hitchin Road. His sons and grandsons prospered,
gradually acquiring property in the hamlet and some married into established Preston families.
They had strong connections to Minsden Chapel, Hitchin’s Baptist and Congregationalist communities
and were touched by the controversy with St Mary’s, Hitchin at the end of the seventeenth century.
The family name quickly faded from Preston history, partly due to the number of daughters they
produced. However, if the case suggested for the location of Widow Heath’s cottage is accepted,
perhaps the Heaths may be remembered when next we pass Spindle Cottage.
Conclusion
There is no firm evidence of who the parents of John Heath (who died in 1720) were, but there are two
indicators that his father was John Heath who was born in around 1612. As mentioned earlier, there are
two records that he was ‘John Heath, junior’ as we will see. There are also significant signs that he
was related to some of the Heaths mentioned above.
John junior married Mary Carrington at Hitchin on 22 December 1685:
So, the barn that was used as stabling in 1910 had stood for more than two centuries and was associated
with John Bunyan and John and Mary Heath. Although just a barn, in the eyes of local Baptists, it was a
notable reminder of Preston’s Nonconformist history and would have been visible to anyone using the
footpath that linked Preston Green and Back Lane.
Postcript: In Transactions of the Congregationalists Society, the following suggestion is made:
