Historical Notes regarding the Hamels Estate: 1564-2001
provided by Tom Morley of Hertfordshire, England
(N.B. In the following I have tried to follow the spelling in my source 
documents, which is not always consistent, even line to line)

1564 ... a tenement called Milkeley-Hamells

About 1580 Sir John Brograve bought several parcels of land......joined the 
Manor of Milkleys to the Mannor of Masters, and held courts for both together 
under the name of Hamels alias Milkly and Hamels cum Masters.......
Sir J descended from the lord of Manor of Kelseys in Beckenham, Kent

1608 Sir John Brograve Will: my dwelling house called Milkeley alias Mylkley 
Hamelles

1639 inquest Manor of Hamlettes alias Mylkley Hamlettes

1675 Hamels House, Braughing referred to in Ogilby (Itinerarium Angliae)

1688 John Gale of Standon gaoled for abetting in the killing of a buck in the 
park of Sir John Brograve, bart. at Hamells in the parish of Braughing

1699 Sir Thomas Brograve of Hamills, Baronet

1700 The earliest illustration of house and landscape (in thesis below) 

1818 William King of Braughing labourer indicted for poaching in a wood 
called The Old Plantation and in Hamells Park. Prison 12 months.

1974 Hamels Park became the HQ of East Herts Golf Club, which is how I know 
it, from the sign as I go past.

In August 1997 Linda Ann Rowe wrote a thesis at Cambridge for Master of Studies in Local History on "Hamels: The Evolution of a Hertfordshire House and its Landscape" She lists the occupants, starting with the Brograves from 1580 - 1713 but does not make any reference to the origin of the name.

I was interested to see that, not only is the name at Hamels itself, but Hamels Lane in the village of Westmill, a couple of miles north and Hamels Drive in the county town of Hertford, about 7 miles south.

Another couple of points: I looked at the origins of Hemel Hempstead in west Hertfordshire and found there was a tribe called "Haemele" in about 705 AD, although some sources said it came from "frugal homestead" as "heamol" was (I think) Old English for frugal or thrifty but "hamel" is the Old English for "scarred, mutilated" More on the subject from Tom Morley (as of 1/13/01).... My friend John Pearson at Hertfordshire F&PHS has sent me the following note which should interest you (I have asked if he has any more information about "The Frenchman"): As to the specific Hamels question: Jane Pearson has a copy of "The Place-Names of Hertfordshire", pub. by the English Place-name Society 1938, which gives a short entry for Hamels (quoted from Ogilby - Hamels House 1675) as being associated with the family of Richard Amwell (1511 Harleian Charter Brit. Museum). He in turn may be connected with Great Amwell to the south of Ware. This, as you probably know, is derived from "Emma's Well" which has many published histories. The Braughing Society has published some useful booklets on their area. I have a copy of "The Story of Braughing" by David Rushworth-Smith (1971), bought at the village hall tea room on one of our summer invitation rides. This gives a different derivation of Hamels. The owners were at various times Lords of the Manor. There are monuments (including the Hamels pew, see footnote #1. below) in the parish church of St Mary the Virgin to the Brograve, Freman and Shepherd-Cross families who held the manor in the 16-17th, 18th and 19-20th centuries, respectively. However, David R-Smith suggests the name derives from around the time of King Stephen and Queen Matilda (12th c). "There was a house and farm, in those days by the River Rib between here (the hill to the west of Braughing) and the A10 (Ermine Street as it then was), with a few cottages alongside. The Frenchman who rented it from the Queen always called the place 'her village' or 'hamelle'." This is later referred to as Hammells farm and then, as other dwellings were built around it, Hamel village. John Brograve (later Sir John), attorney at Grays Inn, London, came to the area in the 1580s to buy an estate to suit his new standing with the Duchy of Lancaster. He bought Hamels and rebuilt the manor house, but he kept the name ... "allowing the original Hamel village to be called by its locally pronounced name of 'Hull' (this is probably a complication you don't want! - TM). On maps drawn after this date, therefore, the old Hamel village is designated 'Hull Magna' and the smaller Hamel village 'Hull Parva', whilst the hamlet on the old north road, at the bottom of Hull Road (now called Hay Lane) was Hull Street (I think this is now Hay Street, at the end of the (cycling - TM) road race course). The locals had never been happy about pronouncing French words properly and Hamelle was no exception!" So it would seem from this that the place name is just that, the name of a place. It does not necessarily relate to a family name. But I will not be surprised to hear that the Braughing LHS has come up with yet another derivation.

Michel's thoughts on the English connection...

As pointed out, "the "Hamels pew" indicates a personal connotation (a house or village doesn't sit on a pew, does it?). At first,it may have been a local habit of calling the "people who live in the Hamels house" by the name of the house itself. Such a transfer was common in earlier centuries as our "Frankish Connection" hypothesis puts forward. The question is: did this "catachresis" happen with the inhabitants of Hamels in Braughing? The most probable occasion, I think, could have been the change of residence -- perhaps to continental Europe -- of one of the Hamels house dwellers: the local people of the new residence would then have had the opportunity to rename the person by using the name of the place he came from in stead of his family name, which for instance could have been difficult to pronounce." - Michel

An update as of 1/28/01 from Anne Rowe of Hamels via Tom Morley:

Dear Mr Morley

Your letter about Hamels has been passed to me by Val High of the Braughing Local History Society. I live at Hamels and am the author of the thesis you mention.

I have been unable to find a convincing explanation of the origin of the name. The earliest documentary reference I have found is in Cussans' History of Hertfordshire, vol. 1, p.187 where he records 'a tenement called Milkeley-Hamells' in a document of 1564. There is another reference in the will of Sir John Brograve in 1608 to 'Milkley Hamelles', and another in 1639 (Inq.p.m. of his son, Simeon) to 'the Manor of Hamlettes alias Milkley Hamlettes'.

The Hamels Lane in Westmill is a lane which was created in 1808 to replace the public footpath which crossed Hamels Park and which the then owners wanted to close. The lane became the 'tradesmans' route to Hamels and the Home Farm and is the only approach to the house today since the park (and the former carriage drive) became the East Herts Golf Course in the 1970s. I do not know the origin of the name of Hamels Drive in Hertford.

One explanation is given in an article in Hertfordshire's Past No.34 by my neighbour Leonard Howett, quoting the Braughing historian David R Smith: '.... the name Hamels derives from the property in the Braughing area owned, like most of the surrounding country, by Matilda, who was the granddaughter of one of the Conqueror's captains at Hastings, and who contested the throne of England with Stephen in the 12th century. A Frenchman who rented these houses from Matilda spoke of them as her 'village' or 'hamelle'. When the mansion was built the owner chose to keep the name Hamel for the whole estate, the original group of cottages being called by its locally pronounced name of Hull.'

The sites of the two former hamlets of Great and Little Hull are however over half a mile away on the far side of the River Rib and I have come across nothing to link them with the Hamels estate.

With best wishes, Anne Rowe John asked Anne Rowe about the possibility if individuals, who may have lived at Hamels, may have later referred to themselves as von Hamels, van Hamels or de Hamels. Here is her response: "I don't know enough about languages to know whether van, von or de would have been used - wouldn't it depend on the region in which they settled? In any case, for the 16th century - the earliest time that evidence has so far been found for a place bearing the name of Hamels - surnames were already well established, so anyone moving abroad would already have a surname and would not feel a need to identify themselves with somewhere as insignificant as a small manor in Hertfordshire. If we could find evidence for somewhere called Hamels back into the medieval period (I live in hope!) then it would be a possibility but still not very likely. They would be more likely to call themselves 'John de England/Angleterre'." AR Another question that was posed to Anne: "Were there any population or census records available?" Her response: "The earliest useful census records date from the mid 19th century - much too late for your purpose. There are lists of various tax payers going back to the medieval period - I will check with a colleague - who has spent years collecting all records relating to Braughing - that he has not come across a Hamels surname. I've just checked the published list of tax payers for the Lay Subsidy of 1307 for the whole county. It includes a John de Hamelee who lived in Marston which is c.50 miles away on the far west of the county. The next closest name is Richard Hamer in Cheshunt c.20 miles to the south. There are no Hamels-type names in the 1334 Lay Subsidy published in the same volume. The closest name recorded in the Muster Books published for north and east Herts (1580-1605) is Hammon." AR Footnote #1. Regarding Hamels Pew: The 'Hamels Pew' would have been the pew used by the family living at Hamels. As far as I know, there have been no families in Braughing with the name of Hamels. Somewhere in my files is a reference to the pew (I think at Westmill church rather than Braughing) which came with ownership of the estate either in the 17th or 18th century. The house was originally built astride the parish boundary dividing Westmill and Braughing - I think quite deliberately - perhaps John Brograve, the founder of the estate, wanted a pew in both churches! A.R. 2/7/01

More to follow as this interesting mystery unravels!!! - John