Sir Henry Chauncy (1632-1719) the topographer, was born in London and went to Caius College, Cambridge, in 1647. Two years afterwards he entered the Middle Temple and was called to the bar in 1656. In 1661 he was made justice of the peace for the county of Hertford, and in 1673 justice of the peace and chief burgess for the borough of Hertford. In 1681 he was made reader of the Middle Temple, and in the same year was knighted at Windsor Castle by Charles II. After his father’s death in 1681 he succeeded to the family estates. He compiled the history of his ancestral county, Hertfordshire, which he published in a large folio volume entitled ‘The Historical Antiquities of Hertfordshire’. This work shows indefatigable research, although pedantic in style. Only five hundred copies were printed, the engravings having a lot of character. Chauncy died at Yardley Bury (now called Ardeley) on 21 May 1719, and is buried in the church there. Several books upon witchcraft which appeared in 1712 were occasioned by the apprehension, under Chauncy’s warrant, of an old woman, Jane Wenham of Walkern, for bewitching sheep and servant girls. She was found guilty at Hertford assizes and sentenced to death, but the queen granted her a free pardon. ESTC R6200; Upcott (1968) 333.