Holywell House, Hertfordshire

Holywell House was a house in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England.

The manor house was originally called Hallywell (the later known spelling, Holywell, is probably a corruption of this original spelling). Another possibility as to the origin of the name is the legend of St Alban: Running into St Albans from the south is Holywell Hill (generally pronounced "holly-well hill"), its name taken from the story of Saint Alban's death: legend has it that his severed head rolled down the hill from the execution site and into a well at the bottom (some versions have a well springing from the site at which the head stopped). The manor was in possession of Sir Ralph Rowlett in 1571, and after his death, it passed to his nephew Robert Jenyns (or Jennings). It passed through the Jennings family line, and Sarah Churchill ("née" Jenyns), Duchess of Marlborough was born here in 1660. After their father Richard's death, the house was jointly owned by Sarah and her sister Frances, until Sarah bought the house outright. She and her husband, John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough often stayed here. ['Parishes: Sandhurst', A History of the County of Berkshire: volume 3 (1923), pp. 206-10. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=43207&strquery=Sandhurst. Date accessed: 07 August 2007.] [James Falkner, ‘Churchill , Sarah, duchess of Marlborough (1660–1744)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/5405, accessed 7 Aug 2007] ] The house was demolished in 1827.

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