Butlers Farm

In 1564, the manor of Butlers was passed from Richard West and Elizabeth Lyon to Thomas Andrews and Edmund Wiseman. By 1569, it was held by Thomas Peacock from Sir Nicholas Bacon of Gorhambury.  It was sold in 1603 to Henry Axtell for £640. It consisted of 158 acres then, but it was quickly bought back, in 1618. It was in John Underhill’s hands by 1641 (husband of Lady Bacon). Money must have been in short supply, for in 1647 he sold it to James Nicholl of Welwyn for £1,000.  By 1669, the estate was in the hands of Sir Harbottle Grimston and reunited with the rest of the Gorhambury estate. In the 1851 Census it is described as having between 140 and 150 acres.