Thrale history

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Ralph Thrale, who lived from 1564 to 1648, has already been mentioned and could be considered as founder of the No Mans Land family. He inherited Batchwood from his uncle William in 1589 and was at Astwick Manor in 1605. This Manor has now been mentioned so frequently that a short account could be given. Sir Nicholas Hare was at Astwick during the time of Henry VIII by whom he was imprisoned in the Tower of London for a time. Later he was Master of the Rolls under Queen Mary, and acted for the Crown in various prosecutions, one against Sir Nicholas Throckmorton for 'imagining the Queen's death'. He died in 1557 and the second son Robert became a noted antiquary, although often having to skirt round trouble as a suspected papist. Having no direct descendent, Astwick was conveyed by Trustee to Ralph Thrale, after whom the next owner was William Grunwyn, and Ralph Thrale as reported earlier had married Elizabeth Grunwyn. Grunwyn sold to an ironmonger of Luton called Deyes, whose son sold it to Sir Henry Tulse, a Lord Mayor of London in 1684. At his death he was succeeded by his daughter Elizabeth, the wife of Sir Richard Onslow, created Lord Onslow in 1716 by George I, and yet again a family previously involved in Thrale affairs. From the Onslow family the Manor passed into the hands of the Marlboroughs, Salmon, one of the County historians reporting that Duchess Sarah was holding Astwick in 1721, and thus yet another family with great influence on Thrale fortunes came into the picture. The present house, built about 1600, is now used as an aeronautical technical school.¹

Ralph Thrale is mentioned twice in depositions. In 1620, when he was 55, he stated that he had agreed to buy two closes of land from William Grunwyn, which had belonged to the latter's father William; and given information on the Bardolphe family, the defendants.² In 1623 he gave evidence in the case of John Brockett of Wheathampstead against William Preston of Childwickbury, gentleman (who later sold to the Lomaxes) and others.³

At this point, we have to rely upon the Sandridge register for details of the family, although we know that Ralph was farming 180 acres in No Mans Land in 1630.⁴ He had married Elizabeth Grunwyn in 1605. They had two children, William, baptised in 1607, and Elizabeth in 1610.

Footnotes

1. Frank Ballin: Hertfordshire Countryside.↩︎
2. Bernau's Index 15 C21/W29/6.↩︎
3. Bernau's Index C21/B35/6.↩︎
4. Sandridge Deeds Bill I 1600-1699. Althorp.↩︎