made on the same plan as the latter, but provided with a rampart and
a “fosse,” or ditch, and in some cases also with outer defences. Of
this type of earthwork three examples are definitely known to occur in
the county, namely one at Bygrave, a second at Whomerley Wood to the
south-east of Stevenage, and a third at Well Wood, Watton.
Yet another kind of defensive earthwork is to be found in the shape of
walls, ramparts, or ditches surrounding the sites of ancient villages.
Of this we have a local example in Kingsbury Castle, an old fortified
village lying to the south-west of the city of St Albans, and covering
an area of about 27½ acres. The village stood upon a hill, of which
the summit has been planed off and the material employed to form steep
banks or ramparts, one of which was partially thrown down to form the
present Verulam Road, while another portion persists in the shape of
a steep fall in the gardens or yards at the back of the houses on the
north side of Fishpool Street. The main structure of the castle was
demolished during the tenth century, and the remnant about the year
1152. It may be added that the clay-pits on the north side of Kingsbury
Castle are the reputed source of the material of the Roman bricks of
which Verulam is built.
The gigantic earthworks of the type of Beech Bottom and Grimm’s Dyke
have been mentioned in an earlier section.
18. Architecture. (_c_) Domestic--Famous Seats, Manor Houses, Cottages.
With the advent of less troublous times at the close of the Wars of
the Roses a marked change is noticeable in the plan and architecture
of the residences of the great noblemen and country gentlemen. The
need for castles or fortified houses ceased to exist; and attention
was consequently directed to comfort rather than strength in the
construction of country mansions. Fortunately a number of these fine
old Tudor residences have survived in different parts of the country;
but many have been replaced by other later structures built on the old
foundations.
These Tudor mansions usually took the form of a large house built round
a quadrangle, the hall occupying the middle portion of the building,
with flanking wings on both sides. The building material depended upon
the locality and on the taste and means of the owner; but in this
county brick was extensively employed by the Tudor, and still more so
by the Stuart builders.
In lordly country seats, as well as in mansions of a less pretentious
type, dating from the Tudor period downward, Hertfordshire, owing
doubtless to its well-wooded and picturesque scenery, its good soil,
bracing climate, and proximity to the metropolis, is especially rich,
and in this respect presents a marked contrast to the neighbouring
county of Essex. The majority of these houses, however, have been
either completely rebuilt or more or less extensively altered at later
epochs.
[Illustration: Hatfield House, South Front]
Among the few of these noble residences that can be mentioned here,
Hatfield House, which was built between the years 1605 and 1611 by
the first Earl of Salisbury, presents a magnificent specimen of
early Jacobean architecture in brick and stone, mellowed by time to
exquisitely soft tints. The original palace, where Edward VI lived,
and where Elizabeth was kept in captivity, now forms the stables.
The mention of the virgin queen naturally leads on to Ashridge, near
Berkhampstead, formerly the seat of the Dukes of Bridgewater, where
Elizabeth also spent a considerable time in her early days. Although
the present building, which stands partly in Hertfordshire and partly
in Buckinghamshire, is mostly modern Gothic, the fine vaulted cellar
is a remnant of the old monastery and college which formerly occupied
the site. Knebworth, near Stevenage, the home of the Earls of Lytton,
although now a comparatively modern Gothic building, was originally
a Tudor mansion, dating from the reign of Henry VII, the present
house occupying the position of one of the four wings of the original
building. Tittenhanger, between St Albans and Colney, occupies the
site of a royal residence dating from the fourteenth and early part of
the fifteenth century; the present mansion, notable for its grand oak
staircase, is stated to have been built in 1654, although the style of
the brickwork suggests the early part of the eighteenth century. Little
Hadham Hall, at the village of that name, is a splendid example of
Elizabethan architecture in red brick.
[Illustration: Knebworth]
A very interesting mansion is Salisbury House, Shenley, built some time
before 1669; much of the original brick building still remaining as
an excellent example of Stuart architecture. The house is surrounded
by a broad moat, and is approached by a bridge. Mackery End, near
Wheathampstead, contains some fine examples of sixteenth century
architecture; and Rothamsted, near Harpenden, is in the main a
seventeenth century brick mansion, dating from between 1630 and 1650,
although it has older portions, and the hall belonged to a house
constructed of timber on a flint base.
Of fine old houses now forming farm-homesteads there are many examples
on the western side of the county. Among these is Turner’s Hall, to the
north-west of Harpenden, now considerably modernised.
[Illustration: Water End Farm near Wheathampstead
(_Elizabethan Manor-House_)]
Another very interesting building of this type is Water End Farm, in
the parish of Sandridge, situated on the banks of the Lea about two
miles from Wheathampstead, and stated to have been built about 1610.
It is constructed of brick and has the straight-gabled, mullioned
style characteristic of the later part of the reign of Elizabeth
and the commencement of that of James I. Like many other houses of
Elizabethan times it is constructed in the form of the letter E, and
its three stacks of brick chimneys, with octagonal shafts and moulded
brick caps and bases, are especially characteristic of the style of
this period.
[Illustration: Christ’s Hospital School, Hertford]
Of later date are the Marlborough Buildings, or Almshouses, St Albans,
erected by Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough in 1736, and affording a fine
example of the brick architecture of that period in an excellent state
of preservation. Here also may be mentioned the Blue-Coat School at
Hertford, and the Boys’ Grammar School at Hitchin.
[Illustration: The Grammar School, Hitchin]
Forty years ago the county abounded in picturesque brick-and-timber
cottages, roofed with either tiles or thatch; but these are
disappearing yearly under the hand of the speculative builder, to
be replaced by hideous box-like buildings of brick and slate. Some,
however, still survive, either in the towns or the smaller hamlets,
such as picturesque Amswell, near Wheathampstead, which may be cited as
an ideal example of one of the smaller Hertfordshire villages.
As has been well remarked in another volume of the present series, the
great difference between these ancient cottages and houses and the
great majority of their modern successors is that while the former
harmonise with their surroundings, reflect not a little of the spirit
of the builder, and improve, like good wine, with age, the latter are
altogether out of keeping, and are likely to become, if possible, still
more offensive and objectionable with the advance of time.
[Illustration: An Old Malting House, Baldock]
While most of the old Hertfordshire cottages were of brick and timber,
others were built of flint with brick facings, or more rarely of
rounded pebbles from the Woolwich and Reading beds, or with brick
courses and window-mullions; some were of feather-edge boarding, and
others again of rubble and plaster.
[Illustration: Chequer’s Yard, Watford]
In Hemel Hempstead High Street is a building, now converted into
cottages, which contains above the fireplaces on the ground and first
floors the Tudor rose and fleur-de-lys in plaster-work; while the back
of a neighbouring building probably dates from the time of Henry VIII.
Excellent examples of the old brick-and-timber cottages are to be seen
in the village of Northchurch, and also at Aldbury, east of Tring,
where the old parish stocks are likewise preserved. Most of these
Aldbury cottages are tiled, although a few are covered with thatch, a
style of roofing much less common in that district than in many parts
of the county. Watford has still a number of old cottages, notably
in Farthing Lane and Chequer’s Yard, and in St Albans, especially in
the market-place and French Row, there are several dating from the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. There is also a very remarkable
old hexagonal wooden house near the ford across the Ver at St Michael’s
silk-mills, said to be one of the oldest licensed houses in England.
[Illustration: The “Fighting Cocks,” St Albans
(_Ancient Inn near the Ford across the Ver_)]
Did space permit, reference might be made to old houses in Hertford,
Berkhampstead, and other towns and villages, but the facts mentioned
are sufficient to indicate the interest of the county to antiquarians
in the matter of ancient buildings, and before concluding this
section we must not omit to mention what is certainly not the least
interesting of all Hertfordshire antiquities--the Cross at Waltham
which Edward erected to his beloved Queen Eleanor; the last before
arriving in London of the fifteen commemorating the resting-place of
her body on its journey from Grantham to Westminster Abbey in 1290.
[Illustration: Waltham Cross]
19. Communications--Past and Present. Roads, Railways, Canals.
Lying as it does on the direct route from the metropolis to the north
and north-west of England, and containing in its western portion
the formerly important city of Verulam, Hertfordshire, as might
be expected, is traversed by several trunk roads leading in those
directions, two of which date from Roman times. What these lines of
communication were in pre-Roman days we have no means of knowing,
although it is probable that they were little more than rude tracks
through the great forest, or “weald,” which in those days extended some
forty miles to the north of London, and afforded shelter to the great
wild ox, red deer, wild boars, bears, and wolves. Road-making was a
special attribute of the ancient Romans; and after they had constructed
highways from their early stations in Kent, they probably set to work
on those in the counties to the northward of London. So well made and
so straight were these ancient Roman roads that many of them (with in
some cases a certain amount of local deviation) have remained the main
highways of the country down to the present day. Immediately before
the introduction of railways, when the coaching traffic was brought
to its highest pitch of development, these main trunk roads--thanks to
the invention of Macadam--were maintained in superb condition, though
with the extension of the railway system some of them were allowed to
deteriorate.
[Illustration: The Ermine Street at Hertford Heath]
There are three great Roman roads traversing Hertfordshire--Watling
Street, the Icknield Way, and Ermine Street. Watling Street starts
from Dover, and after passing through London, enters the county to the
south of Elstree, whence it is continued through Colney Street, Park
Street and St Stephens to St Albans, and thence on through Redbourn
and Markyate Street, and so to Dunstable whence it eventually reached
Chester and Holyhead. Although frequently miscalled the North Road,
the modern representative of Watling Street is known as the Chester and
Holyhead road. Originally the Roman road in the neighbourhood of St
Albans ran altogether to the west of the Ver, from Gorham Block to the
Pondyards; this section of the modern road, which crosses the river to
enter the city, having been constructed during the years 1826–1834.
[Illustration: The Icknield Way, showing a Ford between Ickleford and
Wilbury Hill]
The Icknield Way (taking its name apparently from the British tribe of
the Iceni) may be the oldest of the three great tracks, and originally
of pre-Roman age, as, like the Pilgrims’ Way in Kent, it mainly follows
the line of the chalk downs. It may be called a cross-country road
from the west of England, cutting the Watling Street at Dunstable, and
thence extending in a north-easterly direction across Hertfordshire
through Little Offley, Ickleford, and Baldock, and thence by way of
Royston, where it crosses the Ermine Street, to Newmarket and Yarmouth.
The Ermine Street, the third great Roman road, takes, on the other
hand, a northern direction, passing through Cheshunt, Wormley,
Broxbourne, and Wadesmill, and so by way of Buntingford to Royston.
There is however some difference of opinion about its course.
[Illustration: High Street, Stevenage]
Of modern roads, the Chester and Holyhead road has been already
mentioned as following in the main the line of the Old Watling
Street. Of equal importance is the Great North Road to York, passing
through Barnet, Hatfield, Welwyn, Codicote, Stevenage, and Hitchin.
Of other highways it must suffice to mention that the Bedford road
branches off from the Chester and Holyhead at St Albans to run through
Harpenden, and so on to Luton, in Bedfordshire; while the main road
from London to Cambridge and Norwich takes the line of the Lea valley
on the eastern side of the county, which it leaves a short distance to
the northward of Bishop’s Stortford.
[Illustration: View on the ‘Great North Road,’ Codicote Village]
In coaching days St Albans was a far more bustling and busy town than
it is at the present day; a very large number of coaches passing daily
through the city each way, the majority running on the Holyhead and
Chester road, but a certain number taking the Bedford line. The two
chief coaching and posting inns were the Peahen and the White Hart,
both of which are still in existence.
The speed and smartness with which the mail-coaches were run in
the days immediately preceding their abolition was little short of
marvellous.
[Illustration: Watford]
The first half of the nineteenth century saw the introduction
of railways, which gradually but surely killed the old coaching
traffic. One of the first lines to be opened was the London and
North-Western--in 1838--which traverses the south-western side of
the county, passing through Watford, Boxmoor, Berkhampstead, and the
outskirts of Tring. In 1853 a branch line was opened from Watford
to St Albans, and another to Rickmansworth in 1862. With a short
break between Boxmoor and Hemel Hempstead, the North-Western system
is connected with the Midland by means of a branch line from the
last-named town to Harpenden. The main line of the Midland, which
traverses the western half of the county by way of Elstree, St Albans,
and Harpenden, was opened in 1868. Both St Albans and Harpenden
have branches of the Great Northern Railway to Hatfield, which is
on the main line; the latter continuing through Welwyn, Stevenage,
and Hitchin. By means of a branch line of the Great Northern from
Hatfield to Hertford, we reach the Great Eastern, the fourth great
railway in the county, the main line of which runs through Broxbourne,
Sawbridgeworth, and Bishop’s Stortford, but connected also with Ware
and Hertford, and having a branch from St Margaret’s to Buntingford.
With such a multiplicity of lines, it might well be imagined that
railway communication between nearly all parts of the county would be
well-nigh perfect. As a matter of fact, this is by no means the case;
and the journey by rail from the western to the eastern side, owing to
changes and delays, is so slow and tedious, that it is frequently found
convenient to hold important Hertfordshire meetings, like those of the
County Council, in London.
As regards water-communication, the western side of the county is
served by the Grand Junction Canal, which, after leaving Leighton
Buzzard, enters the county near Tring, and thence runs by way of
Berkhampstead, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead, Runton Bridge, Watford and
Rickmansworth in a south-easterly and southerly direction to London. A
considerable amount of barge-traffic is still carried on this canal,
although nothing approaching that in pre-railway times. In those days
the whole of the coal-supply for north-western Herts came by canal
to Boxmoor, whence it had to be carted for long distances--some 14
miles to Harpenden, for instance. As there are at least two very steep
hills--which become impossible for heavily laden teams when the roads
are slippery--between Boxmoor and Harpenden, the inhabitants of the
latter picturesque village were apt to run short of firing at Christmas.
[Illustration: The Grand Junction Canal near Hemel Hempstead]
On the other side of the county the Lea is navigable for barges as far
up as Ware and Hertford; and here too a considerable amount of heavy
traffic is still carried on by water.
[Illustration: Haileybury College]
In this place mention may conveniently be made of the New River,
running from the valley of the Lea near the Rye House, at a gradually
increasing distance from that river, to the metropolis. The New River,
or Middleton’s Waters, as it used also to be called, was constructed in
the reign of James I, at first almost entirely by Sir Hugh Middleton,
but later on by a company with a special charter, for the purpose of
supplying north London with drinking-water. The chief sources of the
New River are the springs at Chadwell and Amwell. At the present time
an original £100 share in the New River Company is worth an almost
fabulous price.
20. Administration and Divisions--Ancient and Modern.
The present administration and administrative divisions of
Hertfordshire, like those of other English counties, have been
gradually evolved and developed from those of our Saxon forefathers;
each alteration in the form of local government and of local
administrative boundaries being based on the previously existing
system. By the Saxons each county was divided into a number of
main divisions known as hundreds, or wapentakes, each governed
by a hundreder, or centenary (the equivalent of the Old German
_Zentgrafen_), and each having a name of its own. Hertfordshire is
now divided into eight hundreds, the names of which, commencing on
the western side of the county, are as follows: Dacorum (including
Tring), Cassio (with the important towns of St Albans, Watford, and
Rickmansworth), Hertford, Braughing, Broadwater (occupying nearly
the centre), Hitchin and Pirton (on the north-west corner), Odsey (in
the extreme north), and Edwinstree (on the north-east). Originally
they were more numerous, Cassio, for instance, being much smaller
than at present, while the Hitchin division was reckoned only as a
half-hundred. The origin of the names of most of the hundreds are
self-apparent; but that of Cassio (originally Kayso) appears to be
unknown, while that of Dacorum has some connection with the Danes,
perhaps referring to a Danish settlement.
One of the most remarkable facts connected with the hundreds of
Hertfordshire is that three of them do not lie within what farmers call
a ring-fence. Dacorum, for instance, has two outlying areas in the
south-eastern corner of Cassio, and a third wedged in between Cassio on
the west, Broadwater on the north, and an outlying portion of Cassio
on the east. Broadwater, again, has a small outlier on the Middlesex
border of the south-eastern “peninsula” of Cassio; while Cassio itself,
inclusive of the one already mentioned, has no less than eight of these
curious outliers, one situated in the extreme north in the hundred of
Odsey.
Each hundred originally had its own court, or “hundred-mote,” which
met monthly; and it was divided, as at present, into townships, or
parishes. The parish, in turn, had its own council, or _gemot_, where
every freeman had a right to appear. This assembly or council made its
own local by-laws, to enforce which it had a reeve, a bailiff, and a
tithingman, with the powers of a constable. The reeve was chairman of
the township _gemot_, and could summon that assembly at pleasure.
Passing on to more modern times, we find Hertfordshire occupying a
peculiar position in regard to local government and administration in
that it possessed a kind of _imperium in imperio_ in the shape of what
was known as the Liberty of St Alban; in other words, a large area
on the western side of the county originally under the jurisdiction
of the abbots of St Albans, who had the power of inflicting the
death-penalty. Originally there was a separate Commission of the Peace
for the Liberty, so that a Justice for the County had no jurisdiction
in the former unless he had been specially inducted. This arrangement
was found, however, to be inconvenient, and the Liberty, as such, was
abolished, although it was taken as a basis for the splitting of the
county into a western and an eastern division for judicial purposes.
The chief officers of the county are the Lord Lieutenant and the High
Sheriff; the former (who in Hertfordshire is always a nobleman) being
the direct local representative of the sovereign, and having the
appointment of magistrates and the officers of the territorial forces,
while the latter (who is a commoner) is the head of the executive
department in the administration of justice. The Lord Lieutenant holds
office for life, or during the sovereign’s pleasure, but the Sheriff
is appointed annually by the Crown. Deputy Lieutenants are supposed to
act, in case of need, for the Lord Lieutenant.
Formerly the greater part of the business of the county was conducted
by the Justices of the Peace, or Magistrates, at Quarter Sessions,
but most of this is now transferred to the County Council, which, as
previously stated, often meets in London. This County Council, which
was first established in 1888, is composed of Aldermen and Councillors;
the latter of whom are elected, while the former are what is called
“co-opted,” that is to say, selected by the Council itself, either
from its own body, or from the general public. The duties of the
County Council include the maintenance of high roads and bridges; the
appointment and control, in conjunction with the magistrates, of the
police; the management of reformatories and lunatic asylums; and, in a
word, the general carrying out of the laws enacted by Parliament.
According to a scheme elaborated in an Act of Parliament passed in
1894, the more important minor local bodies are denominated District
Councils, and those whose function is less Parish Councils; the former
having control of the more populous towns and villages, other than
cities and boroughs, and the latter those with fewer inhabitants. For
this purpose many parishes are divided into a more populous Urban and
a less populous Rural District. Certain towns in the county rank,
however, as cities, or boroughs, and have larger powers and different
forms of government; being ruled by a Mayor and Corporation, and having
magistrates and a police force distinct from those of the county. Among
these privileged towns, St Albans ranks as a city, while Hertford
and Hemel Hempstead are boroughs. Hemel Hempstead is a very ancient
borough, and has, in addition to its Mayor, an official known as the
High Bailiff.
The county is likewise divided into a number of Poor Law Unions, each
with a Board of Guardians, whose duty it is to manage the workhouses,
and appoint officers to carry out the work of relieving the poor and
those incapacitated by age or other cause from earning their own living.
[Illustration: The Shire Hall, Hertford]