The Incents are a family of high standing in the Great Berkhamsted Parish. Berkhamsted Castle is still a royal residence in the late 15th century and Robert Incent is employed there as private secretary to Cicely, Duchess of York, wife of the Duke of York and mother of two Kings of England. Robert’s wife, Katherine, is noted for her charity and funds the adornment of the St John Chantry in St Peter’s Church. Their house on the High Street opposite the church is known today as “Dean Incent’s House”, named after their son John, born in 1480, who later becomes Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in London. Robert dies in 1485 in a mysterious epidemic called “the Great Sweating Sickness”. Two brass memorials in St Peter’s Church commemorate Robert and Katherine.
