The owners of Bernards Heath

8th century796 The Heath is gifted to the Abbey of St

Albans by King Egfrith (son of Offa)

1521 Wolsey is appointed to be Abbot of St Albans (later became Cardinal)

16th century

16th century1539 Dissolution of the Abbey and sale of its

assets

1541 Ralph Rowlatt is made Lord of the Manor of Sandridge, including Bernards Heath

From Rowlatt to Marlborough

1660 Birth of Sarah, ninth child of Richard Jennings, descendant-by-marriage of Ralph Rowlatt

1679 Sarah (now owner of a large share of the Sandridge estates) marries Colonel John Churchill

1685 Churchill is made Baron of Sandridge and buys the rest of the Sandridge estates from Sarah’s sisters

1702 Churchill becomes 1st Duke of Marlborough

17th-18th centuries:

The Duke and Duchess of Marlborough

From Marlborough to Spencer

1699 Charles Spencer (1675-1722) marries Anne, daughter of the 1st Duke and Duchess of Marlborough.

1733 Charles Spencer (1706-1758), 5th Earl Spencer, becomes 3rd Duke of Marlborough, and his brother John inherits the Althorp estate; he is made Earl Spencer in 1765.

(1992 Charles, Viscount Althorp, brother of Diana, becomes the 9th Earl Spencer.)

From Spencer to HCC

• The Ariston Works site and the Lower field are owned by Hertfordshire County Council.

• The rest of the Heath is owned by the Spencer family (the Althorp estate) but is registered as common land and subject to a management plan dating from 1915.