subsequent captivity at Hatfield up to the time of her accession (1558)
may be here mentioned, but the more casual visits of monarchs are
referred to as occasion requires.
The county was not the scene of any considerable engagement during the
great Rebellion; but the Parliamentary troops are held responsible for
much ecclesiastical sacrilege at St. Albans, Hitchin and elsewhere, and
it was from Theobalds that Charles I. set out to meet his army in 1642.
In 1647, when a prisoner in the care of Cornet Joyce, he was taken from
Leighton Buzzard to Baldock and from thence to Royston. The march of
Cromwell from Cambridge to St. Albans towards the end of the war is
recorded rather too literally on the interior of several churches.
Of importance in history was the Rye House Plot (1683), a carefully laid
but abortive scheme to murder Charles II. and James, Duke of York, on
their way to London from Newmarket. (See Rye House.)
IX. ANTIQUITIES
The antiquities of Hertfordshire have been carefully studied and well
repay the labour that has been bestowed upon them. A few words under
several heads will suffice to show that the subject is a large one.
1. _Prehistoric._--_Paleolithic_ man--in whom we are all so interested,
but of whom we know so little--must have dwelt in Hertfordshire for a
long period, a period to be measured by centuries rather than by years.
Perhaps, however, the word "dwelt" is hardly appropriate here; for
doubtless, for the most part, the rude flint-shaper and skin-clad hunter
roamed at random over this tract of land wherever necessity led him. It
is usual to speak of him as a troglodyte, or cave-dweller, but the caves
of Hertfordshire are, and probably _were_ few, and his life in such a
district would therefore be more than usually nomadic. As is often the
case, we find traces of him in the river-valleys more frequently than
elsewhere, and it is in beds of clay, conjectured to be of lacustrine
origin, that we find those rudely shapen flint nodules which served him
for tools. Such implements have been found in the Valley of the Gade by
Sir John Evans, K.C.B.; in more central neighbourhoods by Mr.
Worthington G. Smith; and many axes, knives, etc., were discovered only
a few years ago near Hitchin. Implements of the _Neolithic_ Age are
naturally more numerous and form in themselves an interesting study in
the evolution of manual skill. Flint axe-heads, wonderfully polished,
have been found at Albury, Abbot's Langley, Panshanger and Ware; chipped
flints of more fragmentary character have been found near St. Albans and
elsewhere; flint arrow-heads were discovered at Tring Grove nearly 170
years ago. The great number of natural flints found in the county make
it very difficult to recognise these archæological treasures, many of
which must thus escape detection and be destroyed. Some details of the
discovery of Prehistoric implements are given in the Gazetteer.
2. _Pre-Roman._--The earliest inhabitants of Hertfordshire in times more
or less "historic" were of Celtic blood; these, after a settlement of
considerable duration, were driven out by Belgic invaders, of whom the
Cassii, or Cateuchlani, seem to have been one of the most powerful
tribes. The Cassii, who shared at least a part of the district with the
Trinobantes, were numerous and war-like when Cæsar invaded Britain;
their chief, Cassivellaunus, is believed to have lived near what is now
St. Albans. He was chosen as leader by the British, and offered stout
resistance to the Romans, but was driven back and his capital--wherever
it was--stormed and captured. Earth works, supposed to have been erected
by these Pre-Roman inhabitants, still remain at Hexton, Ashwell, Great
Wymondley, Tingley Wood, and elsewhere, but are rapidly disappearing in
the general obliteration of ancient landmarks. Grymes-dyke, still to be
traced on Berkhampstead Common, is the most famous; but many others are
marked in a map prepared by Sir John Evans. Some of these are hardly
more than conjectural sites; a few will be mentioned in the Gazetteer.
Bronze Celts of many kinds are in the possession of Mr. W. Ransom,
F.S.A.; some of these were found at Cumberlow Green. Relics of the
Bronze Age in the county include two bracelets of gold found at Little
Amwell; and many narrow hatchets, or palstaves, from the neighbourhood
of Hitchin.
To the Late Celtic Period belong the imperfect iron sword-blade, in a
bronze sheath, discovered at Bourne End and now in the British Museum;
also the two bronze helmets, one from the neighbourhood of Hitchin, and
one from Tring. At Hitchin, too, was discovered some pottery of the same
period.
3. _Roman._--Hertfordshire formed a part of the Flavia Cæsariensis of
the Romans--the district E. of the Severn and N. of the Thames. Most
important of their stations was the municipium at Verulamium (W. of St.
Albans) of which some fragments of wall yet remain in the neighbourhood
of the River Ver and the Verulam Woods; here, too, is the site of the
only Roman theatre known in Britain (of _amphitheatres_ there are many
remains). There were also stations at Cheshunt (Ceaster), at Braughing
(ad Fines), at Berkhampstead (Durocobrivis?), at Ashwell, Wilbury Hill,
etc.; there was a cemetery at Sarratt; a sepulchre at Royston. Roman
villas have been unearthed at Purwell Mill, Abbots Langley and Boxmoor.
The Roman coins found in the county would, if brought together, form an
exceedingly valuable collection. They have been found in considerable
numbers at St. Albans, Ware, Hoddesdon, Hitchin, Willian, Ashwell,
Caldecote, Boxmoor, and many other places. Small bronze coins, known as
_minimi_, have been recently found at St. Albans, and are now in the
city museum. They date from after the year 345, when the earliest
specimens of this type were struck, and are conjectured to be copies of
coins issued under Constantius II. (337-61) and Julian the Apostate
(361-3). On the obverse is the "Imperial Head"; on the reverse a soldier
striking with his spear at a man on horseback. The coins, however, are
assigned by at least one numismatist to a later date. They may have
issued from a Romano-British mint at Verulamium. The famous Watling
Street entered the county at Elstree and crossed it by way of St. Albans
and Redbourn to Dunstable (Beds); the Icknield Way ran N.W. through
Ickleford, Baldock and Royston; Akeman Street passed through Watford,
Berkhampstead and Tring; Ermine Street, entering Hertfordshire at
Waltham, passed through Ware and Braughing to Royston.
4. _Saxon._--A few fragmentary remains at Berkhampstead, Bennington,
Offley and Hitchin have been thought to mark the sites of the palaces of
Mercian kings; but genuine Saxon remains are scarcely found except,
perhaps, among the foundations of a few churches, _e.g._, St. Michael's
at St. Albans, Standon and Wheathampstead.
Mention must however be made of the story, narrated in _Archæologia_, of
the discovery of the sepulchre of St. Amphibalus at a spot near Redbourn
called the "Hills of the Banners". St. Alban himself appeared to a
layman in a vision and told him where the saint's bones were to be
found,--indeed, he is said to have himself gone thither to point out the
spot. This was during the abbacy of Symon (1167-83). We learn from Roger
of Wendover that the remains of St. Amphibalus were found lying between
those of two other men; the bones of seven others were also lying close
by. Among the relics found with the bones of the saint were two large
knives, one of which was in his skull. We know that the holy relics were
deemed worthy of solemn removal to the Abbey of St. Albans; his shrine
there is mentioned in the Gazetteer.
In the _Antiquary_ (vol. xi.) mention is made of the supposed discovery
of an Anglo-Saxon burial ground in a field near Sandridge. Many bones
and some implements were unearthed, and pronounced by local experts to
date from Saxon times. They were buried again by some ignorant person.
A bronze brooch, discovered at Boxmoor, has been assigned to "the
latest period of true Anglo-Saxon art". A gold ornament, resembling an
armlet, was found at the village of Park Street, near St. Albans; it is
thought to date from A.D. 700-1000.
5. _Churches._--These will be separately mentioned in due order,
especially St. Albans Abbey, the unique meeting ground of all Styles;
but a few sentences touching the predominant periods may be permissible
here:--
_Norman_ work is found in many places; Anstey, Bengeo, Barley, East
Barnet, Graveley, Hemel Hempstead, Little Hormead, and Ickleford are
largely of this period, and Norman features are mingled with later work
at Abbots Langley, Baldock, Weston, Great Munden, Great Wymondley,
Knebworth, Redbourn, Sarratt, and the churches of SS. Michael and
Stephen at St. Albans. There are Norman fonts at Broxbourne, Bishop's
Stortford (found beneath the flooring in 1869) Anstey, Buckland,
Harpenden, Great Wymondley and Standon.
_Early English_ churches are at Ashwell, Brent Pelham, Digswell,
Furneaux Pelham, Great Munden (Norman doorway), Knebworth, Royston,
Stevenage and Wheathampstead. Some of these, _e.g._, Digswell and
Knebworth, are pleasantly situated and others contain features of great
interest, but on the whole they can hardly boast of much architectural
beauty.
_Decorated_ churches are rarely found without prominent transitional
features, the purest structures dating from that period being those at
Flamstead, Hatfield, North Mimms, Standon, and Ware. Early Decorated
portions are noticeable among Norman surroundings at Hemel Hempstead,
and among Early English at Wheathampstead; Late Decorated is found with
Perpendicular at Hitchin. Standon is the only W. porch in the county.
Flamstead and Wheathampstead are the only churches in the county that
have retained their original vestries, N. of the chancel.
_Perpendicular_ churches are fairly numerous in Hertfordshire. Almost
purely Perpendicular structures are those at Bishop's Stortford,
Bennington, Broxbourne, Clothall, Hunsdon, King's Langley, Sandon, St.
Peters (St. Albans), Tring and Watford. Churches later than
Perpendicular cannot be mentioned as antiquities.
A characteristic feature of Hertfordshire churches--rare elsewhere--is
the narrow tapering _flèche_, or leaded spire; a feature almost wholly
absent is the apse, which is, I believe, present only at Bengeo, Great
Wymondley, and Amwell.
X. CELEBRATED MEN
Comparatively few really famous men have been born in Hertfordshire, but
very many have resided in the county, or have at least been associated
with it sufficiently to justify the mention of their names here.
1. _Men of Letters._--Chaucer was clerk of the works at Berkhampstead
Castle in the time of Richard II.; Matthew Paris, the chronicler, lived
and wrote in the great Benedictine monastery at St. Albans; Sir John
Maundeville, once called the "father of English prose," was, according
to his own narrative, born at St. Albans and, if we may trust an old
inscription, was buried in the abbey;[2] Dr. Cotton, the poet, lived and
died in the same town, where the poet Cowper lodged with him at the
"Collegium Insanorum". Bacon lived at Gorhambury and was buried in the
neighbouring church of St. Michael. Bulwer Lytton lived and wrote at
Knebworth, where he was visited by Forster, Dickens and others. George
Chapman translated much of Homer at Hitchin, and is believed to have
been born in that town. Young, the author of the _Night Thoughts_, was
for many years Rector of Welwyn; his son was visited there by Boswell
and Dr. Johnson. Macaulay was at school at Aspenden. John Scott, the
Quaker poet, lived at Amwell; Lee, the dramatist, was born at Hatfield.
Skelton probably stayed at Ashridge just before the Dissolution of the
Monasteries; Sir Thomas More lived awhile at Gobions, North Mimms.
Cowper was born at Berkhampstead. The county has been immortalised by
Walton and Lamb in writings known to all.
[Footnote 2: As most readers are aware, it is now, to say the least,
gravely questioned whether "Sir John Maundeville" was ever more than a
name.]
2. _Divines._--Bunyan laboured and preached much in Hitchin and its
neighbourhood; Baxter preached at Sarratt and elsewhere, and lived
awhile at Totteridge; Isaac Watts lived for many years at Theobalds near
Cheshunt; Philip Doddridge was at school at St. Albans. Fox, in his
_Journal_, mentions visiting Hitchin, Baldock and other places.
Tillotson was a curate at Cheshunt; Ken was born at Little
Berkhampstead; Nathaniel Field, a man of prodigious learning, chaplain
to James I., was born at Hemel Hempstead. William Penn, whom many
considered a divine indeed, lived with his beautiful wife at Basing
House, Rickmansworth; Godwin was an Independent minister at Ware. Ridley
and Bonner were much in the county. Fleetwood, afterwards Bishop of
Worcester, was Rector of Anstey; Cudworth was Vicar of Ashwell; Warham
was Rector of Barley; Horsley was Rector of Thorley. The two Sherlocks,
respectively Master of the Temple and Bishop of London, were Rectors of
Therfield. Lightfoot, the Great Hebraist, was Rector of Great Munden.
To classify other celebrities connected with the county would require
almost as many headings as names. Henry Bessemer was born at Charlton
near Hitchin; Cardinal Wolsey lived at Delamere House, Great Wymondley;
the munificent Somers lived at North Mimms; Nicholas Breakspeare, who
became Pope Adrian IV., was born at Abbots Langley; Piers Gaveston was
much at Berkhampstead and was buried in the priory church at King's
Langley; Sir Robert Cecil, first Earl of Salisbury, lived at Theobalds
and is buried at Hatfield; Lords Melbourne and Palmerston lived much at
Brocket Hall, where the latter died; Sir Ralph Sadleir, statesman and
ambassador to Scotland, who is said to have rallied the English at
Pinkie, lived at Standon and is buried in the church.
Many noble or illustrious families have resided in Hertfordshire. Some
of the owners of old manors are mentioned in the Gazetteer; but a few
prominent families may be here named. The Cecils have been Lords of
Hatfield since James I. gave the manor to the first Earl of Salisbury in
exchange for that at Theobalds. The Cowpers have resided at Panshanger
since the erection of their castellated mansion in the Park a century
ago by the fifth earl. The Egertons, Dukes and Earls of Bridgewater,
lived at Ashridge; one of them, Francis, third duke, is known in history
as "the father of British inland navigation," and another was the
projector of the famous _Bridgewater Treatises_. The Capells, Earls of
Essex, have owned the beautiful estate at Cassiobury Park since the
father of the first earl obtained it by marriage during the reign of
Charles I. The Rothschild family have an estate at Tring; Lord Ebury is
the owner of Moor Park; Lord Lytton still owns the grand old house of
the great novelist at Knebworth, founded nearly 350 years ago. The Earl
of Cavan has a house at Wheathampstead; Viscount Hampden at Kimpton Hoo;
Earl Strathmore at St. Paul's Walden Bury; the Earl of Clarenden (Lord
Lieut. of Herts) at the Grove, Leavesden; Lord Grimthorpe lived at St.
Albans. Gorhambury, near St. Albans, is the home of the Earl of Verulam.
Mgr. Robert Hugh Benson lived and wrote many novels at Hare Street
House, near Buntingford.
DESCRIPTION OF PLACES IN HERTFORDSHIRE ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY
Abbreviations of architectural terms:--
E.E. = Early English.
Dec. = Decorated.
Perp. = Perpendicular.
ABBOTS LANGLEY (1½ mile S.E. of King's Langley Station) is a village on
prettily wooded high ground near the river Gade. It is famous as the
birthplace of Nicholas Breakspeare, who, having vainly endeavoured to be
admitted as a monk in the great Benedictine monastery at St. Albans,
studied at Paris and eventually became Pope Adrian IV. He died in 1158
at Anagni; tradition states that he was choked with a fly whilst
drinking. The village probably owes its name, first, to its length,
"Langley" signifying a long land; second, to the fact that in the days
of Edward the Confessor it was given to the Abbots of St. Albans by
Egelwine the Black and Wincelfled[f] his wife. An entry in _Domesday_
records that there were two mills on this manor, yielding 30s. rent
yearly, and wood to feed 300 hogs. The Church of St. Lawrence has nave,
aisles and clerestory; a chancel with S. aisle, and square embattled
tower. The windows are mostly Perp., but those of the S. aisle are Dec.
Note (1) the monument to Lord Chief Justice Raymond, died 1732; (2) the
brasses in nave to Thos. Cogdell and his two wives, 1607, and to Ralph
Horwode and family, 1478. Late in the reign of Henry VIII. the vicarage
was rated at £10 per annum. An inscription in the chancel, copied in
Chauncy, reads "Here lieth Robert Nevil and Elizabeth his wife, which
Robert deceased the 28th of April in the year of our Lord God 1475. This
World is but a Vanity, to Day a man, to Morrow none." Prince Charles
held a Court at Abbots Langley during the Reign of James I.
ALBURY (3½ miles E. of Braughing Station) is a village near the river
Ash. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, dates from the fourteenth
century; it was recently restored. There was an earlier structure so far
back as the days of Stephen, in whose reign Robert de Sigillo gave the
profits of the church at _Eldeberei_ to Geoffery, first Treasurer of St.
Paul's Church, London. An interesting will, dated 4th November, 1589,
records that Marmaduke Bickerdy, Vicar of Aldebury, gave an acre of land
in the neighbourhood to provide a sum for distribution among the poor on
every Good Friday. In the chancel the mutilated effigies of a man and
woman are said to represent Sir Walter de la Lee and his wife. Sir
Walter sat in nine Parliaments in the interests of the county--at
Westminster, Northampton and Cambridge, and was Sheriff of Herts and
Essex. He died during the reign of Richard II. _Albury Hall_, close by,
is a fine old mansion, where the "Religeous, Just and Charitable" Sir
Edward Atkins, Knight, and Baron of the Exchequer, died in 1669. The
village is usually a quiet spot, with little business, but it is
pleasantly situated; the proximity of the river and some scattered
cottages and farms enhance its attractiveness.
_Albury End_ is a small hamlet about 1 mile S.W. of Albury.
[Illustration: THE PARISH CHURCH, ALDBURY]
ALDBURY (1½ mile E. from Tring Station) is a village on the
Buckinghamshire border, nestled in a beautiful valley close to Ashridge
Park (_q.v._). It is the "Clinton Magna" of _Bessie Costrell_, and the
author of that story, Mrs. Humphrey Ward, lived at _Stocks_, a few
minutes' walk from the village. On the Tring side Aldbury is sheltered
by swelling fields and to the E. beech woods cover the hillside, which
is topped by the "Aldbury Monument," a granite column about 100 feet
high erected to the memory of Francis, third Duke of Bridgewater, whose
labours and enterprise for the extension of canals earned for him the
well-known title "the father of inland navigation". As a village of the
Old English type Aldbury has perhaps no equal in the county. In the
centre is the green and pond, under the shadow of an enormous elm; close
by stand the stocks and whipping-post, recently in excellent
preservation. The Church of St. John the Baptist is E.E.; it was
restored in 1867. Visitors should notice the old sundial on a pedestal
in the churchyard, and the Verney Chapel, which is separated from the
nave by a screen of stone, and contains a monument to Sir Robert
Whittingham, who was slain at the battle of Tewkesbury. The church also
contains memorials of the Hides and Harcourts, families who left several
charities to the poor of the parish. In the days of Edward the Confessor
the manor of _Aldeberie_[g] was held by one Alwin, the king's thane. The
ascent of the wooded slope towards the Bridgewater monument takes the
visitor through one of the most beautiful districts in the county, and a
noble prospect stretches before him as he looks back through the beeches
towards the village in the valley beneath.
ALDENHAM (2 miles S.W. from Radlett Station M.R.) is a village
pleasantly situated near the river Colne, reached by way of Berry Grove
at the W. end of the village. The churchyard is locally famous for the
tombs of a man and woman named Hutchinson, which, singularly enough,
have been riven apart and almost destroyed by three sycamore trees about
a century old. The Church of St. John the Baptist is largely Perp. with
earlier portions, and is worth a visit, if only for the oaken nave-roof,
believed to date from about 1480, and for the font of Purbeck marble,
probably 750 years old. An object of greater interest in some eyes is
the fine parish chest, formed from one massive piece of oak nearly ten
feet in length, and furnished with iron clamps and hinges of great
size; there are few finer old parish chests in England. Note also (1)
the triple sedilia in chancel; (2) the many brasses dating from 1450,
several of which are to the Cary family; (3) two palimpsest brasses in
the vestry, one of which bears a portion of a mutilated inscription to
one Long, an alderman of London, who died in 1536. The church was
restored in 1882 by Sir A. W. Blomfield, F.S.A. _Aldenham House_,
property of Lord Aldenham, dates from the days of Charles II., and
stands in a park of about 300 acres.
_Aldenham Abbey_, once known as Wall Hall, stands close to the parish
church; it is about a century old, and belongs to the Stuart family.
_Aldwick Farm_ is 1 mile N.E. from Marston Gate Station, L.&N.W.R.
_Allen's Green_, a hamlet 2 miles N.W. from Sawbridgeworth, contains
little of interest.
_Almshoebury_ (1½ mile W. of Stevenage Station, G.N.R.) is about fifteen
minutes' walk from the ruins of _Minsden Chapel_ (_q.v._).
AMWELL is a tiny hamlet 1 mile S.W. of Wheathampstead Station, G.N.R.
AMWELL, GREAT, a parish and village 1½ mile S.E. of Ware Station,
G.E.R., is very prettily situated near the New River, and is known by
name to many who have never visited the neighbourhood, for the village
is frequently mentioned in the essays and letters of Charles Lamb. The
church stands on a wooded slope; near by are the village stocks, the
tiny island upon which stands a monument to Sir Hugh Myddelton, the
projector of the New River, and the stone bearing some lines written by
John Scott, the Quaker. The grotto constructed by the poet may still be
seen near the railway station at Ware. The church is an architectural
conglomeration, with several stained windows, one of which was
contributed by the children of the parish as an Easter offering nearly
seventy years ago. The structure was restored in 1866. There is a
piscina in the chancel, and one in the S. wall of the nave; there are
also two hagioscopes. "The chancel arch," writes Canon Benham, "seems to
me Anglo-Saxon, and the chancel is a most curious apse." Thomas Warner,
a friend of Shakespeare, and Isaac Reed, a Shakespearian commentator,
were both buried here.
_Amwell End_, once at the N.W. extremity of the parish of Great Amwell,
is now a part of Ware (_q.v._).
_Amwell, Little_ (about 1½ mile S.W. from Great Amwell), was formerly a
liberty in the parish of All Saints, Hertford; it has formed a separate
civil and ecclesiastical parish since 1864. The Church of Holy Trinity
is E.E. in style; it was erected in 1863. The district is now usually
called Hertford Heath. An interesting, pleasant ramble may be enjoyed by
walking from Hertford to Little Amwell, Great Amwell, and thence to
Ware, or _vice versa_.