Sarratt

Sarratt is not mentioned by name in the Domesday Survey. The manor was granted to St Albans Abbey by King Offa, a grant conformed by King John in 1199. Abbot Paul (1077-93) granted the manor to Robert the Mason, gave it to the monks shortly thereafter. Abbot Richard d’Aubeney (1097-1119) gave it to his nephew Peter, butler of William Count of Mortain, against the wishes of the convent. Under the next abbot, Geoffrey of Dunstable, rent paid by Peter de Syret was paid to the newly-founded Hospital of St Julian, In the middle of the century it was given by Abbbot Robert de Gorham (1151–1166) to his brother Ralph, again without the consent of the convent. It remained with the abbey until the Dissolution in 1539, as did the advowson of the church.

“There are indications of Nonconformity in this parish at an early date. Thomas Hemingforth, to whom the vicarage was given in 1479, was ejected in 1485 for ‘apostacy,’ by which term we may probably understand Lollardism.”