Hormead, Great (St. Nicholas)

HORMEAD, GREAT (St. Nicholas), a parish, in the union of Buntingford, hundred of Edwinstree, county of Hertford, 3 miles (E.) from Buntingford; containing 595 inhabitants. The parish was inclosed in 1823, and comprises by admeasurement 1705 acres, about 1480 of which are arable, 150 pasture, and 75 woodland; the soil is chiefly clay and marl, and the surface is hilly. Sandstone and granite are found, and large quantities of amygdaloid; also a great variety of fossils, comprising shells, bones, &c. There are two small pleasure-fairs. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £6. 3. 9.; net income, £121; patrons, the Master and Fellows of St. John's College, Cambridge; impropriators, the families of Stables and Eyre. The tithes were commuted for land and a money payment in 1814.