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A patch of beauty on a now busy highway, it has a few picturesque houses, a Hall in a park, and a brook winding to Scropton, where the hamlet people go to church.
But is has given England a distinguished antiquary. Its present house took the place of the old hall burned down last century, the home of the Agards, who had lived here from the 14th century until the time of Charles II.
Arthur Agard, who was born here in 1540, spent most of his time in London, a patient searcher among old documents in the chapter house at Westminster. He made a wonderful collection of writings, some of them still used by students. A friend of Camden, Stow, and Cotton, he loved nothing better than ancient manuscripts on law and heraldry. He died in 1615 and was buried in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey, close to the marvellous old chapter house in which he had spent the happiest hours of his life, doing things that would have been tedious to most men. He was one of the first members of the Society of Antiquaries.
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