Produced by F E H, MWS, Fay Dunn and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive)
Transcriber’s Note
Words in italics are marked with _underscores_.
Words in small capitals are shown in UPPER CASE.
Variant spelling, inconsistant hyphenation and inconsistant use of
ligatures, have been retained.
One missing full stop has been added, a duplicate word has been
deleted, but otherwise the book is as printed.
Descriptions of the diagrams, have been added by the transcriber, and
are enclosed in {braces}.
Other transcription changes are described in the note at the end of
this book.
[Illustration: PHYSICAL MAP OF HERTFORD
_George Philip & Son, Ltd. The London Geographical Institute._
]
CAMBRIDGE COUNTY GEOGRAPHIES
General Editor: F. H. H. GUILLEMARD, M.A., M.D.
HERTFORDSHIRE
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
London: FETTER LANE, E.C.
C. F. CLAY, MANAGER.
[Illustration: Publisher’s colophon]
Edinburgh: 100, PRINCES STREET.
Berlin: A. ASHER AND CO.
Leipzig: F. A. BROCKHAUS.
New York: G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS.
Bombay and Calcutta: MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD.
[_All Rights reserved._]
_Cambridge County Geographies_
HERTFORDSHIRE
by
R. LYDEKKER
With Maps, Diagrams and Illustrations
Cambridge:
at the University Press
1909
Cambridge:
PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A.
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
CONTENTS
PAGE
1. County and Shire. The Name _Hertfordshire_. Its
Origin and Meaning 1
2. General Characteristics of the County 4
3. Size. Shape. Boundaries 8
4. Surface and General Features 10
5. Watershed. Rivers 16
6. Geology and Soil 25
7. Natural History 38
8. Climate and Rainfall 50
9. People--Race, Dialect, Settlements, Population 57
10. Agriculture--Main Cultivations, Woodlands, Stock 62
11. Special Cultivations 67
12. Industries and Manufactures 70
13. Minerals--An Exhausted Industry 74
14. History of Hertfordshire 76
15. Antiquities--Prehistoric, Roman, Saxon 87
16. Architecture. (_a_) Ecclesiastical--Abbeys and Churches 97
17. Architecture. (_b_) Military--Castles 109
18. Architecture. (_c_) Domestic--Famous Seats, Manor
Houses, Cottages 114
19. Communications--Past and Present. Roads, Railways,
Canals 125
20. Administration and Divisions--Ancient and Modern 135
21. The Roll of Honour of the County 141
22. The Chief Towns and Villages of Hertfordshire 151
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Modern Hertfordshire: Station Road, Letchworth 4
Ancient Hertfordshire: Thatched Cottages, Harpenden 5
An Old Farm-House near Wheathampstead 7
A Typical Hertfordshire Village: Much Hadham 12
Bancroft, Hitchin 15
Netting the Gade, Cassiobury Park 21
Bishop’s Stortford 24
View on the Downs looking towards Wallington from
the Icknield Way 32
Six Hills, Stevenage (Danish Barrows) 39
Tring Park 46
French Row, St Albans 60
Ancient House at Welwyn, now the Police Station 62
A Hertfordshire Farm near Rickmansworth 64
A Lavender Field, Hitchin 69
Moor Park, near Rickmansworth 72
Canal and Lock, Rickmansworth 73
Monastery Gateway, St Albans 77
The Staircase, Hatfield House 83
Cassiobury 84
The Rye House: Portions of the Servants’ Quarters 86
Palaeolithic Flint Implement 89
Neolithic Celt of Greenstone 89
The Devil’s Dyke, Marford 92
Ancient Causeway, Verulam (St Albans) 93
Roman Wall in St Germans’ Meadow, Verulam 94
St Albans’ Abbey from the south side 95
St Peter’s, Tewin 99
St Mary’s, Cheshunt 100
St Helen’s, Wheathampstead 101
St Mary’s, Hemel Hempstead 102
St Albans’ Abbey 103
Ruins of Sopwell Nunnery, St Albans 106
The Priory, Hitchin 107
Courtyard in the Biggin Almshouses, Hitchin 108
The Priory, King’s Langley 109
Hatfield House, South Front 116
Knebworth House 117
Water End Farm near Wheathampstead 118
Christ’s Hospital School, Hertford 119
The Grammar School, Hitchin 120
An Old Malting House, Baldock 121
Chequer’s Yard, Watford 122
The “Fighting Cocks,” St Albans 123
Waltham Cross 124
The Ermine Street at Hertford Heath 126
The Icknield Way, showing a Ford between Ickleford and
Wilbury Hill 127
High Street, Stevenage 129
View on the Great North Road, Codicote Village 130
Watford 131
The Grand Junction Canal near Hemel Hempstead 133
Haileybury College 134
The Shire Hall, Hertford 139
The Salisbury Statue, Hatfield 143
Cecil Rhodes’s Birth-place, Bishop’s Stortford 144
Ruins of Verulam House, the Residence of Francis,
Viscount St Albans 145
Francis Bacon, Viscount St Albans 146
Charles Lamb 148
William Cowper 149
Bishop’s Stortford and the River Stort 155
The College Chapel, Haileybury 157
Letchworth, Open Air School 162
Shrine of St Amphibalus, St Albans’ Abbey 165
Diagrams 170
MAPS
Hertfordshire, Topographical _Front Cover_
” Geological _Back Cover_
England and Wales, showing Annual Rainfall 55
The illustrations on pp. 7, 32, 60, 62, 64, 83, 86, 92, 93, 94, 95,
100, 101, 102, 106, 108, 109, 116, 118, 119, 121, 122, 123, 124, 126,
127, 130, 133, 139, and 143 are reproduced from photographs by The
Homeland Association, Ltd.; and those on pp. 4, 12, 15, 24, 39, 46, 69,
72, 73, 77, 99, 103, 107, 117, 120, 129, 144, 145, 155, 161, and 165
are from photographs by Messrs F. Frith & Co., Ltd., Reigate. Messrs H.
W. Taunt & Co., of Oxford, supplied the views on pp. 21, 84 and 131; Mr
A. Elsden, of Hertford, those on pp. 134 and 157; and Mr H. Valentine,
of Harpenden, the one on p. 5.
1. County and Shire. The Name _Hertfordshire_. Its Origin and Meaning.
The only true and right way of learning geography (which in its
widest sense comprehends almost everything connected with the earth)
is to become acquainted with the geography--or, strictly speaking,
the topography--and history of the district in which we live.
Modern England is split up into a number of main divisions known as
_counties_, and in some instances also as _shires_; the word _shire_,
when it is used, being added at the end of the county name. Thus we
have the county of Essex or the county of Hertford; but whereas in
the former case the word _shire_ is never added, it may be in the
case of the latter. We then have either the county of Hertford, or
Hertfordshire, as the full designation of the territorial unit in
which we dwell. In official documents our area is always mentioned
under the title of the “County of Hertford”; but imperfectly educated
persons when filling in such documents frequently write the “County of
Hertfordshire.” This is wrong and superfluous; shire being equivalent
to county.
The word _county_ signifies an area of which a _count_ or _earl_ is
the titular head. Here it may be incidentally mentioned that the
title “Earl” is of Saxon origin, which it was attempted to replace
after the Conquest by the Norman-French “Count”; the attempt being
successful only in the case of an Earl’s consort, who is still known
as “Countess.” It also obtained in the case of “County,” which is thus
practically equivalent to “Earldom.”
It now remains to enquire why some counties are also known as shires,
while others are not thus designated. In Anglo-Saxon times England,
in place of being one great kingdom, was split up into a number of
petty kingdoms, each ruled by a separate sovereign. Essex was then a
kingdom by itself, situated in the east of the country; while Wessex
was a western kingdom, and Mercia a sovereignty more in the heart of
the country. Essex and Sussex, being small kingdoms, were constituted
counties by themselves when the country came under a single dominion,
and their names have consequently remained without addition or
alteration from Anglo-Saxon times to our own day. The larger kingdoms,
such as Wessex and Mercia, were, on the other hand, split up into
_shares_, or _shires_,--i.e. that which is shorn or cut off--and their
names have disappeared except as items in history. Hertfordshire, then,
is in great part a _share_ of the ancient kingdom of Mercia, of which,
indeed, it seems to have formed a centre, as the Mercian kings spent at
least a portion of their time at Berghamstedt (Berkhampstead). It is
however only the larger western portion of the county that belonged to
Mercia, a smaller area on the eastern side originally being included
in the kingdom of Essex.
As to the meaning of the name Hertford, there has been some difference
of opinion among archaeologists. In that extremely ancient chronicle,
“Domesday Book,” the name, it appears, is spelt Herudsford, which is
interpreted as meaning “the red ford.” The more general and obvious
interpretation is, however, that of “hart’s-ford,” from the Anglo-Saxon
_heort_, a hart, or stag; and this explanation is supported by the
occurrence in other parts of the country of such names as Oxford,
Horseford, Gatford (= goat’s-ford), Fairford (= sheep’s-ford),
and Swinford. Writing on this subject in a paper on Hertfordshire
place-names published in 1859, the Rev. Henry Hall, after alluding to
the custom of naming fords after animals, concluded as follows:--“At
all events, the custom is so prevalent, and the word hart so common for
Anglo-Saxon localities, as Hart’s-bath, Hartlepool (the Hart’s pool),
Hartly--that though several other derivations have been given for the
capital of the county, none seems so simple, or so satisfactory, as
that which interprets it to mean the hart’s ford.”
This interpretation has been adopted by that division of His Majesty’s
local forces formerly known as the H_a_rtfordshire Militia. Possibly it
is supported by the title of a neighbouring village, Hertingfordbury,
that is to say, the stronghold near Hertingford,--the ford at the
hart’s meadow. Whether or not it has anything to do with the matter, it
may be worthy of mention that red-deer antlers occur in considerable
abundance buried in the peat of Walthamstow, lower down the Lea valley,
in Essex.
2. General Characteristics of the County.
[Illustration: Modern Hertfordshire: Station Road, Letchworth]
Hertford is an inland county, situated in the south-eastern portion of
England, and cut off from the nearest sea by the whole width of Essex,
which forms the greater portion of its eastern border. Neither has it
any great river of its own communicating with the ocean; although the
Lea, which is navigable below Hertford, and falls into the Thames at
Barking in Essex, affords the means of transporting malt (the great
output of Ware) and other products to London and elsewhere by water. As
to canal communication, this will be discussed in a later section.
[Illustration: Ancient Hertfordshire: Thatched Cottages, Harpenden]
Originally Hertford was essentially an agricultural county, as it is
to a great extent at the present day; its northern three-quarters
being noted for its production of corn. The southern portion, on the
other hand, was partly a hay-growing and grazing country. Nowadays,
however, more especially on the great lines of railway, conditions have
materially altered; and large areas have become residential districts,
which in the more southern part are little more than suburbs of the
metropolis. Printing-establishments and factories--moved from London
for the sake of cheapness--have likewise been set up on the outskirts
of many of the larger towns, such as St Albans and Watford, or even in
some of the villages. On the other hand, the old-fashioned timbered and
tiled or thatched cottages formerly so characteristic of the county are
rapidly vanishing and giving place to the modern abominations in brick
and slate. Gone, too, is the old-fashioned and picturesque smock-frock
of the labourer and the shepherd, which was still much in evidence
some five and forty years ago, or even later; its disappearance being
accompanied by the loss of many characteristic local words and phrases,
to some of which reference will be made in a later section. The gangs
of Irish mowers and reapers which used to perambulate the county at hay
and harvest time are likewise a feature of the past.
The scenery of the southern portion of the county differs--owing to
its different geological formation--very markedly from that of the
northern two-thirds; the latter area representing what may be called
typical Hertfordshire. Although there is nothing grand or striking in
the scenery of this part, for quiet and picturesque beauty--whether
of the village with its ancient church nestling in the shelter of
the well-wooded valley, or the winding and tall-hedged lanes (where
they have been suffered to remain)--it would be hard to beat; and in
many instances is fully equal in charm to the much-vaunted Devonshire
scenery, although, it is true, the hedge-banks lack the abundant
growth of ferns characteristic of those of the latter county. Very
characteristic of this part of the county are its open gorse or heath
commons, like those of Harpenden, Gustard Wood, Bower’s Heath, and
Berkhampstead. From the higher chalk downs on the northern marches
of the county extensive views may be obtained over the flats of
Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire; while in like manner the southern
range of chalk hills in the neighbourhood of Elstree presents a
panoramic view over the low-lying clay plains of the southern portion
of the county and Middlesex.
[Illustration: An Old Farm-House near Wheathampstead]
In former days, it may be mentioned in this place, the inhabitants of
most, if not all, of the English counties had nicknames applied to them
by their neighbours; “Hertfordshire Hedgehogs” being the designation
applied to natives of this county, while their neighbours to the
eastward were dubbed “Essex Calves.”
3. Size. Shape. Boundaries.
The maximum length of Hertfordshire, along a line running in a
south-westerly and north-easterly direction, is about twenty-eight
miles; while its greatest breadth, along a line passing near its
centre from the neighbourhood of Tring to that of Bishop’s Stortford,
is very nearly the same. Owing to its extremely irregular outline,
the county has, for its size, a very large circumference, measuring
approximately 130 miles. Here it should be stated that the ancient area
of the county differs somewhat from that of what is now known as the
administrative county. According to the census of 1901, the area of the
ancient, or geographical county, included 406,157 acres, whereas that
of the administrative county is only 404,518 acres[1], or about 630
square miles. The difference in these numbers is due to the fact that
certain portions of the old county, such as that part of the parish of
Caddington originally included in Hertfordshire, have been transferred
to adjacent counties. The figures relating to population, etc. given
in the sequel refer to the administrative county.
[1] In the _Report_ of the Board of Agriculture published in 1905 the
number of acres is given as 402,856; and this is taken as the basis of
calculation in section 10 and in the diagrams.
In size Hertford may be reckoned a medium county, its acreage being
rather less than that of Surrey, and about half that of Essex.
To describe the shape of Hertfordshire is almost an impossibility, on
account of its extremely irregular contour; but as its two maximum
diameters are approximately equal, it may be said to lie in a square,
of which the four angles have been cut away to a greater or less extent
in a curiously irregular manner. The reason of this irregular outline,
seeing that only the eastern border is formed to any great extent by
a river-valley, is very difficult to guess. Where its south-eastern
boundary leaves the Lea valley in the neighbourhood of Waltham Abbey,
Middlesex gives off from Enfield Chase a kind of peninsula running in
a north-westerly direction into Hertfordshire; while, in its turn,
Hertfordshire, a short distance to the south, sends a better-marked and
irregular peninsula (in which stands Chipping Barnet) jutting far into
Middlesex. In consequence of this interlocking arrangement, a portion
of Hertfordshire actually lies to the south of a part of Middlesex,
although, as a whole, the former county is due north of the latter.
Another, but narrower, projection runs from the south-western corner of
the county in the neighbourhood of Rickmansworth so as to cut off the
north-western corner of Middlesex from Buckinghamshire; while a third
prominence, in which Tring is situated, is wedged into Buckinghamshire
from the western side of the county. Other minor projections occur on
the north-western and northern border, of which the most pronounced
is the one north of Baldock, jutting in between Bedfordshire and
Cambridgeshire.
As regards boundaries, Hertfordshire is bordered on the east by Essex,
by Middlesex on the south, by Buckinghamshire on the south-west,
by Bedfordshire on the north-west, and, to a small extent, by
Cambridgeshire on the north. From a short distance below the Rye
House to Waltham Abbey the boundary between Hertfordshire and Essex
is a natural one, formed by the rivers Stort and Lea; but the other
boundaries of our county are, for the most part at any rate, purely
artificial.
It should be added that these boundaries at the present day do not
everywhere accord with those of half a century ago. The parish of
Caddington was, for instance, in former days partly in Hertfordshire
and partly in Bedfordshire, but under the provisions of the Local
Government Act of 1888, confirmed in 1897, the whole of it was included
in the latter county. Certain other alterations were made about the
same time in the boundary.
4. Surface and General Features.
The contours of a district depend almost entirely upon the nature of
its geological formations, and the action of rain, rivers, and frost
upon the rocks of which they are composed. These formations in the case
of this county are briefly described in a later section. Here it must
suffice to state that hard slaty rocks form jagged mountain ranges,
while soft limestones like our Hertfordshire chalk weather into
rounded dome-like hills and ridges, and heavy clays form flat plains.
As the bed-rock, or, as we may say, foundation, of Hertfordshire, is
constituted either by chalk or clay, it is the two latter types of
scenery that mainly characterise this county. It is only, however, on
the north-western and northern borders of the county, as at Ivinghoe
in Bucks, or between Sandon and Pirton, that we find typical chalk
scenery, where the downs forming the north-easterly continuation of the
Chiltern Hills of Buckinghamshire enter our own area. Here we find the
rounded downs and hollow combes characteristic of the South and North
Downs of the south-eastern counties; and the same absence of woods,
except where artificial foresting has been attempted. Some approach
to true chalk scenery is likewise shown on the line of hills on the
London side of Elstree, where they overlook the clay plain forming this
part of northern Middlesex. There is, however, a difference in the
scenery of this part as compared with that of the downs to the north
in that these hills are partially covered with a capping of clay or
gravel, while the beds or layers of which the chalk is composed slope
towards the plains at the base of the ridge instead of in the opposite
direction (see section on GEOLOGY).
Elsewhere the chalk is covered over to a greater or less degree, alike
on the hills and in the valleys, with thick deposits of clay, sand,
and gravel. These communicate to the hills and valleys a contour quite
different from that of chalk downs; and in many parts of the county we
have a series of more or less nearly parallel lines of low undulating
hills separated by wide, open valleys. Examples of this type of scenery
are conspicuous in walking from the valley of the Ver at Redbourn
across the hill on which Rothamsted stands, then descending into the
riverless valley of Harpenden, again crossing the hill to the east of
the latter, and then descending into the valley of the Lea near the
Great Northern railway station.
[Illustration: A Typical Hertfordshire Village: Much Hadham]
This capping of clay permits the growth of forest on the hills, as
do the alluvial deposits in the valleys; so that in its well-wooded
character the scenery of the greater part of the county is altogether
different from that characterising the bare North and South Downs and
the Chiltern Hills. Where the chalk comes near the surface there is
a marked tendency to the growth of beech-trees, splendid examples of
which may be seen in Beechwood Park. Elsewhere in the chalk districts
the elm is the commonest timber-tree; although it should be said that
this species of tree was originally introduced into England from abroad.
Reference has already been made to the numerous open commons dotted
over the chalk area of Hertfordshire. These appear to have been left
as open spaces at the time the country was enclosed, owing to the
sterility of their soil, which is unsuited for growing good crops of
either corn or grass. Many of these commons, as in the neighbourhood
of Harpenden, were enclosed some time previous to the battle of
Waterloo, when corn in this country was so dear, and every available
piece of land capable of growing wheat consequently of great value. It
may be presumed that the commons with the best soil were selected for
enclosure; but most of such enclosed commons produce inferior crops,
partly, it may be, owing to the plan on which they are cultivated.
Till twenty years ago or thereabouts all such commons in the writer’s
own neighbourhood were divided into a number of parallel strips,
separated by grass “baulks”; these strips representing the respective
shares of the copyholders of the district, who had the right of grazing
on the original common. The absence of hedges rendered it necessary
that the same kind of crop should be grown each year on every plot.
This made it not worth the while of the occupiers to spend money on
high cultivation. Of late years many of these enclosed commons have
either been built over, or come under a single ownership, thereby
obliterating one more interesting page in the history of the county.
To the south of the Elstree range of chalk hills the scenery suddenly
changes, and on emerging into Middlesex from the tunnel through
these hills on the Midland Railway we enter an extensive grassy
plain, characterised by its abundance of oak trees, the scarcity of
elms, and the total absence of ash. Parts of this plain, which is
continued through Middlesex to London, form the great grass-growing and
hay-producing district of Eastern Hertfordshire.
A plain very similar in character to that south of Elstree is entered
upon to the northward of Baldock, just after leaving the line of chalk
hills, although the greater portion of this northern plain is situated
in Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire. When travelling northward from
London by the Great Northern Railway, observant persons, after passing
through the tunnels traversing the chalk hills north of Hitchin, cannot
fail to notice the general flatness of the country as this great plain
is entered. Although so like the southern plain in general appearance,
this northern plain, as is noticed in the section on Geology, is
composed of much older rocks.
[Illustration: Bancroft, Hitchin]
The heights of some portions of the chalk area above mean sea-level
are, for this part of England, considerable. Thus Great Offley Church
is 554 feet, St Peter’s Church, St Albans, 402 feet, Stevenage 306
feet, Hitchin Church 216 feet, while a hill near Therfield attains the
height of 525 feet. Hastoe Hill near Tring is 709 feet.
5. Watershed. Rivers.
In commencing this section it will be well to devote a few lines to
the proper meaning of the frequently misunderstood term “watershed.”
It means the line of water-division, or water-parting; that is to say
the line along a range of hills from which the streams flow in one
direction on one side, and in the opposite direction on the other. The
ridge-tiles on a roof form an excellent illustration of a watershed.
Every local stream is separated from the one nearest to it by
a watershed; while a river-system, such as that of the Thames,
is separated by a much more important watershed from the other
river-systems which take their origin near its source. Such
river-systems, each enclosed by a single watershed which it shares with
its neighbours, are known as drainage-areas, or catchment-basins.
Practically the whole of Hertfordshire lies in the Thames
drainage-area. At first sight it would be natural to suppose that the
summit of the line of chalk downs forming the continuation of the
Chiltern Hills in the neighbourhood of Tring and continuing thence to
Dunstable would constitute the watershed between two river-systems. But
this is not the case, for the Thames cuts through the Chiltern Hills
between Wallingford and Pangbourne, and thus receives the drainage of
both the northern and the southern flanks of that range. The watershed
formed by the continuation of the Chilterns in the Tring district is
therefore one of second-rate importance.
On the other hand, in the chalk hills near Hitchin we have a
watershed of first class, or primary rank, for it divides the Thames
catchment-area from that of the Great or Bedfordshire Ouse, which flows
into the North Sea miles away from the estuary of the Thames. Only
four comparatively small streams flowing into the Ouse basin lie for
part or the whole of their course within the limits of the county. The
first of these is the Pirre, or Purwell, a small brook which rises in
the parish of Ippolits, and, after passing Much Wymondley, flows into
the Hiz near Ickleford. The Hiz itself rises in a spring at Wellhead,
a short distance southward of Hitchin (formerly also called Hiz), and
after receiving the Purwell, flows to Ickleford, where it leaves the
county, being joined in Bedfordshire by the Ivel, which rises not far
from Baldock, passing Biggleswade to join the Ouse. Below Biggleswade
it flows through Tempsford, where it unites with the Ouse. The last of
the four streams belonging to the Ouse system is the Rhee (a Saxon term
signifying a water-course or river), which springs strongly from the
chalk a short distance west of Ashwell, and after passing Accrington
Bridge and crossing the Ermine Street, eventually falls into the Cam.
The whole of the remaining rivers of the county belong to the Thames
catchment-area. With the exception of the Thame, to be mentioned
immediately in a separate paragraph, these form two main systems,
namely that of the Colne draining the western and that of the Lea the
northern and eastern part of the county; the watershed between these
two systems running in a north-westerly and south-easterly direction
between St Albans and Hatfield, and thence to the north of Chipping
Barnet.
The Thame is almost entirely a Buckinghamshire river, but it rises in
our county and runs on the north side of the great watershed formed by
the continuation of the Chiltern Hills; this watershed constituting a
broad, nearly waterless belt separating the catchment-area of the upper
Thame from that of the Lea. The Thame itself springs from three heads
in the parish of Tring; the first of these rising near the vicarage,
the second at a spot called Dundell, and the third in a spring known as
Bulbourne. The three become united at New Mill, whence, after passing
through Puttenham, the Thame flows by Aylesbury, in Buckinghamshire,
and from there continues its course till it eventually joins the Thames
near the village of Dorchester, a considerable distance below Oxford.
Of the tributaries of the Colne system, the most important is the Ver
(or Verlume), which rises some distance to the east of Cheverell’s
Green, on the Watling Street, and passes through the village of
Flamstead, and thence near the line of the high road to Redbourn,
where it is joined by an intermittent stream, or “bourne,” known as
the Wenmer, or Womer. The latter crosses the road from Harpenden to
Redbourn at the foot of a steep descent; and in the old days its
appearance as a running stream was believed to forbode a death, or
“some extremity of dangerous import.” From Redbourn the Ver continues
its course by way of Shafford Mill, at which place it crosses the high
road, to St Albans, where it passes between the present city and
the ruined walls of ancient Verulam, to which latter it is generally
believed to have given its name. Thence its course is continued
through the old nunnery of Sopwell (of which it supplied the extensive
fish-ponds), and from that point it flows through Park Street to join
the Colne near Colney Street; the latter stream giving the name to
the united rivers, although the Ver is considerably the larger of
the two constituents. The Colne itself rises in the neighbourhood of
Tittenhanger, between St Albans and Hatfield, and passes through London
Colney on its way to join the Ver. Near Watford the Colne receives an
important tributary in the shape of the Gade, which issues from the
chalk in the meadows of Great Gaddesden (to which and Gadebridge it
gives the name), and after passing through Hemel Hempstead and Nash
Mills, is joined at Two Waters by the Bulbourne. The latter rises at
Tring very close to the Bulbourne source of the Thame (the watershed
being here very narrow), and runs by way of the Frith, Dagnalls,
Aldbury Meads, Dudswell Bottom, and North Church to the north-east
side of Berkhampstead, where its volume is increased by two important
springs, and thence to Two Waters. There is also an intermittent stream
known as the Hertfordshire Bourne, which, when running, flows into
the Bulbourne about halfway between Berkhampstead and Boxmoor. It is
reported--and apparently correctly--to flow on the average once in
every seven years; the point from which it flows may be higher up or
lower down in the valley according to the amount of water discharged.
Below Two Waters the Gade (as the united stream is now called) passes
through Kings Langley, Hunton Bridge, and Cassiobury Park to join
the Colne between that park and Watford. After skirting the north
side of Moor Park immediately below the last-named town, the Colne
receives the Chess (giving the name to Chesham, in Buckinghamshire),
which passes through Sarratt in our own county. The Colne then reaches
Rickmansworth, where it forms the boundary between Buckinghamshire
and Middlesex, and thence flowing by way of Uxbridge and Colnbrook,
discharges itself into the Thames above Staines, after a course of
about thirty-five miles.
[Illustration: Netting the Gade, Cassiobury Park]
We pass next to the basin of the Lea or Luy, the Logodunum or
Logrodunum of the ancient Britons, and the largest river in the county.
The Lea itself takes origin in a marsh at Leagrave, or Luigrave, a
little north of Luton (= Lea-town), in Bedfordshire, and after passing
through Luton Hoo, in that county, where it is expanded into a large
artificial lake, enters Hertfordshire at East Hyde, in the valley north
of Harpenden, and flows thence by way of Wheathampstead and Brocket
(where it again expands into another artificial lake) to Hatfield,
whence its course is continued by way of Essendon and the north side
of Bayfordbury Park to Hertford. Just before entering the county town
the Lea receives the Mimram, or Marran, which rises in the parish of
Kings Walden, to the north-west of the Bury, and flows to the eastward
of Kimpton Hoo, and thence by way of Codicote, Welwyn, Digswell (with
added supplies from local springs), Tewin Water, and Hertingfordbury
to its junction with the Lea close to Hertford. In the upper part of
its course the Mimram receives the small brook known as the Kime, from
which Kimpton and Kimpton Hoo take their names.
In Hertford the Lea is divided into two channels, one of which runs
through the eastern portion of the town to cross Great Hertham common,
while the other, which is navigable, passes along the western side to
join its fellow at the aforesaid common.
At about one-third the distance between Hertford and Ware the Lea is
largely augmented by the waters of the Beane (Benefician) and the
Rib, which join close to their union with the main river. The Beane
rises from a ditch in the parish of Ardeley (between Stevenage and
Buntingford), and thence flows in a southward direction by way of
Walkern, Aston, Frogmore, Watton, and Stapleford, passing on its way
through Woodhall Park, at the entrance to which it is reinforced by
several strong springs. Between Watton and Stapleford it also receives
a small brook flowing from Bragbury End.
Starting in an easterly direction from Ardeley or Walkern, we shall
cross the low watershed dividing the valley of the Beane from that of
the Rib; which latter takes its rise near Reed, and after crossing the
Ermine Street at the south end of Buntingford, flows by way of West
Mill and New Bridge to Braughing, where it is joined by the Quin, which
issues from a spring at Barkway, and passing by Hormead and Quinbury
(to which it lends its name), reaches Braughing Priory. Below Braughing
the Rib, as it is now called, flows by way of Hammels, Standon,
Barwick, Thundridge, to cross the Ermine Street at Wade’s Mill, and
thence _viâ_ Ware Westmill and Ware Park to join the Lea with the Beane.
From Luton to Hatfield the course of the Lea pursues a generally
south-easterly direction; at Hatfield it becomes for a short distance
due east, and then trends to the north-east through Hertford to Ware.
Here it takes a sudden bend, so that the remainder of its course
through the county and the adjacent portion of Essex is almost due
south. A direct line from Luton to the Lea near Waltham Abbey measures
about 40 miles; but, owing to its great north-easterly bend, the course
of the Lea between these two points is something like 45 miles.
[Illustration: Bishop’s Stortford (showing the Plain Country)]
The last two rivers on our list are the Ash and the Stort, both of
which in the upper part of their courses run from north to south
nearly parallel with the Beane and the Quin. The Ash rises near Brent
Pelham and thence flowing by Much Hadham and through the parish
of Widford, falls into the Lea above Stanstead Abbots. The Stort,
which is the most easterly tributary of the Lea in the county, is
of Essex origin, taking its rise at the very border of the county,
near Meesdon, and entering it again close to Bishop’s Stortford. Some
distance above Stortford it receives one tributary from the Essex and
a second from the Hertfordshire side, the latter forming for a short
distance the boundary between the two counties. At Stortford the
Stort is wholly within Hertfordshire, but a little below the town it
forms the county boundary for a considerable distance, passing by
way of Sawbridgeworth on the Hertfordshire, and Harlow on the Essex
side, to join the Lea a short distance below the Rye House. From this
point and Hoddesdon nearly to Waltham Abbey the Lea forms the boundary
between Hertfordshire and Essex, finally leaving the former county
near Waltham. The river now constitutes the line of division between
Middlesex and Essex, finally joining the Thames below Bow Bridge, at
Barking, after a course of 45 miles.
Here may conveniently be mentioned the celebrated Chadwell spring, near
Hertford, which after supplying London with a large amount of water
by way of the New River (of which more in a later chapter) for three
hundred years, failed temporarily in 1897, so that water began to flow
into, instead of out of its basin. Previous to this failure the amount
of water discharged daily by the Chadwell spring was estimated at not
less than 2,600,000 gallons. In addition to the temporary failure of
Chadwell, a spring in Woolmers Park, near Hertford, has of late years
completely dried up; both these failures being attributed mainly, if
not entirely, to the tapping of the Hertfordshire water-supply by the
deep borings in London.
6. Geology and Soil.
By Geology we mean the study of the rocks, and we must at the outset
explain that the term _rock_ is used by the geologist without any
reference to the hardness or compactness of the material to which the
name is applied; thus he speaks of loose sand as a rock equally with a
hard substance like granite.
Rocks are of two kinds, (1) those laid down mostly under water, (2)
those due to the action of fire.
The first kind may be compared to sheets of paper one over the other.
These sheets are called _beds_, and such beds are usually formed of
sand (often containing pebbles), mud or clay, and limestone or mixtures
of these materials. They are laid down as flat or nearly flat sheets,
but may afterwards be tilted as the result of movement of the earth’s
crust, just as you may tilt sheets of paper, folding them into arches
and troughs, by pressing them at either end. Again, we may find the
tops of the folds so produced worn away as the result of the wearing
action of rivers, glaciers, and sea-waves upon them, as you might cut
off the tops of the folds of the paper with a pair of shears. This has
happened with the ancient beds forming parts of the earth’s crust, and
we therefore often find them tilted, with the upper parts removed.
The other kinds of rocks are known as igneous rocks, which have been
molten under the action of heat and become solid on cooling. When in
the molten state they have been poured out at the surface as the lava
of volcanoes, or have been forced into other rocks and cooled in the
cracks and other places of weakness. Much material is also thrown out
of volcanoes as volcanic ash and dust, and is piled up on the sides of
the volcano. Such ashy material may be arranged in beds, so that it
partakes to some extent of the qualities of the two great rock groups.
The relations of such beds are of great importance to geologists, for
by means of these beds we can classify the rocks according to age. If
we take two sheets of paper, and lay one on the top of the other on a
table, the upper one has been laid down after the other. Similarly with
two beds, the upper is also the newer, and the newer will remain on the
top after earth-movements, save in very exceptional cases which need
not be regarded here, and for general purposes we may look upon any bed
or set of beds resting on any other in our own country as being the
newer bed or set.
The movements which affect beds may occur at different times. One set
of beds may be laid down flat, then thrown into folds by movement, the
tops of the beds worn off, and another set of beds laid down upon the
worn surface of the older beds, the edges of which will abut against
the oldest of the new set of flatly deposited beds, which latter may in
turn undergo disturbance and renewal of their upper portions.
Again, after the formation of the beds many changes may occur in them.
They may become hardened, pebble-beds being changed into conglomerates,
sands into sandstones, muds and clays into mudstones and shales,
soft deposits of lime into limestone, and loose volcanic ashes into
exceedingly hard rocks. They may also become cracked, and the cracks
are often very regular, running in two directions at right angles one
to the other. Such cracks are known as _joints_, and the joints are
very important in affecting the physical geography of a district. Then,
as the result of great pressure applied sideways, the rocks may be so
changed that they can be split into thin slabs, which usually, though
not necessarily, split along planes standing at high angles to the
horizontal. Rocks affected in this way are known as _slates_.
NAMES OF SYSTEMS CHARACTERS OF ROCKS
{ Recent & Pleistocene+------+
{ Pliocene +------+ sands, superficial deposits
TERTIARY { Eocene +------+
{ | | clays and sands chiefly
+------+
{ Cretaceous | | chalk at top
{ | | sandstones, mud and clays below
{ +------+
SECONDARY{ Jurassic | | shales, sandstones and
{ | | oolitic limestones
{ +------+
{ Triassic | | red sandstones and marls,
{ | | gypsum and salt
+------+
{ Permian | | red sandstones & magnesian
{ +------+ limestone
{ | |
{ | | sandstones, shales and coals
{ Carboniferous | | at top
{ | | sandstones in middle
{ | | limestone and shales below
{ +------+
{ | |
{ Devonian | | red sandstones,
{ | | shales, slates and limestones
{ +------+
{ | |
{ Silurian | | sandstones and shales
{ | | thin limestones
PRIMARY { +------+
{ | | shales, slates,
{ Ordovician | | sandstones and
{ | | thin limestones
{ | |
{ +------+
{ | |
{ Cambrian | | slates and
{ | | sandstones
{ | |
{ | |
{ +------+
{ | |
{ | |
{ | | sandstones,
{ Pre-Cambrian | | slates and
{ | | volcanic rocks
{ +------+
If we could flatten out all the beds of England, and arrange them one
over the other and bore a shaft through them, we should see them on
the sides of the shaft, the newest appearing at the top and the oldest
at the bottom, as shown in the figure. Such a shaft would have a depth
of between 10,000 and 20,000 feet. The strata are divided into three
great groups called Primary or Palaeozoic, Secondary or Mesozoic, and
Tertiary or Cainozoic, and the lowest of the Primary rocks are the
oldest rocks of Britain, which form as it were the foundation stones on
which the other rocks rest. These may be spoken of as the Pre-Cambrian
rocks. The three great groups are divided into minor divisions known
as systems. The names of these systems are arranged in order in the
table with a very rough indication of their relative importance, though
the divisions above the Eocene have their thickness exaggerated, as
otherwise they would hardly show in the figure. On the right hand side,
the general characters of the rocks of each system are stated.
With these preliminary remarks we may now proceed to a brief account of
the geology of the county.
In Hertfordshire, apart from the soil and the superficial accumulations
of gravel, sand, and clay, only the lower beds or strata of the
Tertiary and the uppermost formations of the Secondary period are
represented.
As the greater portion of the subjacent rocks of the county is formed
by the Chalk, it will be convenient to commence with this formation.
The Chalk extends, or “strikes,” across all but the south-eastern
portion of the county in a broad belt, with a general south-westerly
or north-easterly direction, reaching on the northern side, with a
few exceptions, to the border of the county and beyond, while to the
southward its boundary runs approximately through Bushey, South Mims,
Hertford, and Bishop’s Stortford. At Dunstable the Chalk forms what is
called an “escarpment,” that is to say a high and somewhat precipitous
(although rounded) cliff overlooking the great plain formed by the
marls and clays of the underlying strata. As in all true escarpments,
the beds, or strata of the Chalk, which are somewhat tilted by
earth-movements out of their originally horizontal plane, incline, or
“dip” away from the main face of the cliff, that is to say, towards the
south-east; and this south-easterly dip of the Chalk, apart from local
interruptions and folds, continues to its southerly boundary. Now since
the Chalk is a porous formation admirably fitted to collect and retain
the rain-water falling upon it, while it is underlain, as we shall see
shortly, by the impervious Gault Clay of the Bedfordshire plain, and
overlain along its southern boundary by the equally impervious London
Clay, it is obvious that it will hold all the water thus collected,
and that this water will tend to run deep down in the rock in a
south-easterly direction. Hence the northern part of the Chalk zone
forms an almost perfect water-collecting area, which can be tapped
along the southern side of the county by boring through the overlying
London Clay.
The Chalk comprises several main divisions, of which the highest is
known as the Upper Chalk, or the Chalk with flints; this when fully
developed being about 300 feet thick. It is a soft white limestone
traversed by nearly horizontal layers of black, white-coated flint,
which have originated by a process of “segregation” in the rock
subsequent to its deposition as ooze on the old sea-bed. Usually these
layers consist of irregular nodular masses; but there is sometimes a
continuous thin layer of scarcely more than half-an-inch in thickness,
locally known as “chimney-flint.” The south-easterly dip of the Chalk
is shown by the layers of flint to be not more, as a rule, than three
or four degrees. The Upper Chalk extends from the summits of the
hills as far down as Rickmansworth, Watford, Hatfield, and Hertford,
thus forming the bed-rock of the greater portion of the county. By
the wearing away of the overlying Tertiary strata, a small cone, or
“inlier,” of Chalk is exposed at Northaw.
Next comes a bed of about four feet thick known as the Chalk-rock.
It is a hard cream-coloured rock, containing layers of green-coated
nodules, is traversed by numerous vertical joints, and rings to the
stroke of the hammer. Owing to its hardness, it resists the action of
the weather, and is therefore in evidence at or near the summits of
the hills, where it can be traced from close to Berkhampstead Castle
by Boxmoor and Apsley, and thence to the south-west of Dunstable,
Kensworth, the south of Baldock, and so in a north-easterly direction
to Lannock Farm.
[Illustration: View on the Downs looking towards Wallington from the
Icknield Way]
Below the Chalk-rock we come to the Middle Chalk, or Chalk without
flints, which may be so much as 350 feet in thickness, and rises in
a rather steep slope or “step” from the underlying beds to be next
mentioned. Flints are few and far between in the Middle Chalk, which
forms the western slope of the Downs at Royston, as well as beyond
the limits of the county at Luton, and so on to the Chiltern Hills.
Fossils are much more numerous in the Middle than in the Upper Chalk.
The lowest bed of the former is the Melbourn Rock, a hard, nodular
band about 10 feet thick. Next comes the grey and white Lower Chalk,
from 65 to 90 feet thick, after which we reach the Totternhoe Stone.
Although only six feet in thickness, this Totternhoe Stone, which
forms the escarpment of Royston Downs, is of importance as having been
largely employed in the construction of churches and other buildings on
the northern side of the county. It is a sandy grey limestone, which
used to be largely quarried at Totternhoe, with special precautions
in drying. It can be traced from Tring by way of Miswell, Marsworth,
Pirton, and Radwell to Ashwell.
The Totternhoe Stone really forms the top of the Chalk-marl, which is
some 80 feet thick, and consists of buff crumbling marly limestones. It
forms a strip of low ground at the base of the Chalk escarpment. At the
bottom of the Chalk occurs the so-called coprolite-bed, which contains
large quantities of phosphate nodules. Forty years ago these beds were
extensively worked between Hitchin and Cambridge for the sake of the
nodules.
Only on the northern border of the county, between Hitchin and Baldock,
and also near Tring and then merely to a very small extent, are any
of the beds underlying the Chalk exposed. These comprise, firstly the
Upper Greensand, which is either a sandy marl or a sandstone with green
grains, and secondly, a dark blue impervious clay known as the Gault.
These formations constitute the plain at the foot of the Chalk hills
in Bedfordshire, the scenery of which is very similar to that of the
London Clay plain in eastern Hertfordshire and Middlesex.
It is important to add that, at a gradually increasing depth as we
proceed south, the Gault underlies the whole of the Hertfordshire
Chalk, and renders the latter such an excellent water-bearing
formation. If the Gault be perforated we come upon the Lower Greensand,
another excellent water-bearing stratum, which comes to the surface in
the neighbourhood of Silsoe, in Bedfordshire.