The land on which most of the homes surrounding Russell House stand was formerly owned by the Earls of Essex and lay close to their Cassiobury Estate. Russells Estate came to the Essex family in 1628 when Sir Charles Morrison, grandfather of the first Earl, purchased what was then known as Tooleys Farm.
However, there is one book (Cussons, 1881) where there is mention of a Robert Blackwell and Tooley’s Farm, called Tyler’s Farm, in the late 16th century.
The area was originally Caisho Hundred, which apparently comprised the parishes of Watford and Rickmansworth. Very little is known of it, and its jurisdictional powers seem to have ceased before the Dissolution, having perhaps become lost in those of the manor of Cassiobury, to which it was attached.
See BHO ‘The hundred of Cashio: Introduction’, in A History of the County of Hertford: Volume 2, ed. William Page (London, 1908), British History Online
John Humphry at Tooleys 1635
One of Morrison’s first tenants was John Humphry who had been born at Kings Walden, near Stevenage, and who died at Tooleys in 1635. In his will of that year he left ten pounds to “Richard Humphry, my dear and aged father dwelling at Kings Walden” and legacies of varying amounts to eight brothers and sisters. Six shillings and eight pence [33p] was to be distributed to the poor of the parish of Watford and, after a bequest of twenty shillings [£1-00] to his servant Mary, the residue of his estate went to his wife Elizabeth.1Information sourced from HALS – 77AW/13 Will of John Humphry of Tooleys, Watford, 1635, A25/ 3227 Inventory
Of greater interest to us is the inventory of John Humphry’s possessions compiled shortly after his death. The melancholy duty of the three men charged with this task was to move from room to room listing the contents of each and estimating their value. The crops stored in the barn, livestock and farm implements were similarly recorded. The total value of John Humphry’s estate was assessed at the considerable sum of £192 – 5s – 5d [£192 – 27p]. The naming of each room gives a tantalising glimpse of what Tooleys farm house and barn may have looked like. In order, the inventory described the objects in the hall, the room between the hall and the buttery, the buttery itself, the hall chamber, a further chamber near the hall, the kitchen and finally the barn.
Nothing remains of the buildings John Humphry would have known, nor can we be certain of their exact location.
