the western side of the county connected with the main line of the
North-Western Railway at Boxmoor, and also served by a branch joining
the main line of the Midland at Harpenden. In addition to a mayor,
Hempstead has a borough official known as the high bailiff[4]. The
town, which is situated in the Gade valley, and formerly returned
members of its own to Parliament, is remarkable for the length of its
main street--part of which is known as Marlowes. Its market-day is
Thursday, and there is an annual wool-sale. Corn and cattle are its
chief trade, the straw-plait industry having nearly died out; but near
by is Nash Mills, the site of a large paper factory. The church, which
stands to the west of the main street, is a fine example of a cruciform
twelfth-century parish church; it was commenced about 1140 and finished
some 40 years later. There is no evidence of any earlier building on
the site. (pp. 43, 47, 101, 102, 122, 131, 132, 133, 138, 147.)
[4] The office of high bailiff of Hemel Hempstead is held by the mayor.
Hertford (9322), although by no means the largest town as regards
the number of its population, occupies the first place, as being the
county-town, and the only one in Hertfordshire where assizes are held.
It is also a market-town and borough (with a mayor and corporation),
and formerly returned members of its own to Parliament, although now
it is only the centre of a parliamentary division of the county. In
addition to the assizes for the whole county, quarter-sessions for
the eastern division of Hertfordshire are held in the Shire Hall.
The site of Hertford Castle--a building of great antiquity--is now
used as the Judges’ lodgings in assize time. Hertford has branches
of Christ’s Hospital, for both boys and girls; and within a short
distance is Haileybury College, now a public school, but formerly the
training-place for the civil service of the old East India Company.
Hertford is served by branches of both the Great Eastern and Great
Northern Railways, and has also water communication with London by
way of the Lea. It is a centre of the waning malting industry. The old
church was burnt down some years ago. (pp. 3, 20, 31, 34, 79, 81, 84,
92, 94, 111, 126, 134, 136, 138, 139, 141, 147.)
[Illustration: The College Chapel, Haileybury]
Hertingfordbury (733), a village on the railway to the west of
Hertford, dating from Norman times. The manor of Roxford was granted by
William the Conqueror to Goisfrede de Beck for good service rendered.
Hexton (155), a village in a small parish of Cassio Hundred on the
north border of the county jutting into Bedfordshire. Ancient coins
have been found in the parish, which includes the old earthwork known
as Ravensburgh Castle. Hexton seems to have been granted on two
occasions to the monastery of St Alban.
Hitchin (10,072) is one of the most ancient towns in the county, and
is now an important railway centre, as it is the starting point of the
Royston and Cambridge branch of the Great Northern Railway, on the
main line of which the town itself is situated. Hitchin is one of the
four parliamentary centres of the county, and is noted for its corn
and cattle market, and also as being one of the few places in England
where lavender is cultivated for commercial purposes. Hitchin preserves
the remnant of an ancient monastery in the almshouses known as the
Biggin, and teems with buildings and sites of antiquarian interest.
Petty sessions are held in the town. The parish church is one of great
beauty and interest, mainly of the Decorated and Perpendicular styles.
A picture of the Adoration of the Magi presented in 1774 is believed to
be by Rubens. (pp. 14, 68, 69, 74, 105, 106, 108, 120, 128, 136, 141,
142, 145, 149.)
Hoddesdon (4711), an ancient market-town on the eastern border of the
county, approached from either the Broxbourne or Rye House stations of
the Great Eastern Railway. It is intimately connected with the story of
the Rye House Plot (see page 85). It may be mentioned here that the
“great bed of Ware” is now preserved at the Rye House. (pp. 85, 86.)
The Hormeads--Great Hormead (376), Little Hormead (128)--two villages,
near the Quin about two miles east of Buntingford, while the latter is
about half a mile south of the same. Both date from the time of the
Conqueror.
Ippolits or Hippolits (840), a village in the Hundred of Hitchin,
dedicated to St Hippolytus patron saint of horses. Travellers used to
take their horses to the high altar, where miracles were performed on
untamed colts.
Kensworth (516), a small and ancient village in Dacorum Hundred dating
from the time of Edward the Confessor, and formerly belonging to St
Paul’s Cathedral. The small church dates from about the year 1100,
although the tower is later. (pp. 88, 90, 98.)
King’s Langley (1579), a village on the North-Western Railway notable
as the site of the ancient Tudor Palace of Langley, and of a friary of
which portions still remain. The royal palace and park date at least
from 1299. The friary belonged to the Dominican order. (pp. 81, 82,
107, 141.)
Layston (983); the original village is now represented only by the
ruined church of St Bartholomew, situated a short distance from
Buntingford, and of great antiquity.
Letchworth, till recently a very small village on the Great Northern
Railway a little north of Hitchin, has now sprung into importance as
the site of the “Garden City”; an endeavour to aid in bringing the
population back to the land.
[Illustration: Letchworth, Open Air School]
North Mimms (1112), a village on the North road, situated some distance
to the south-east of St Albans. A manor of North Mimms was in existence
at the Conquest. The parish includes three large parks, Brookman’s,
Potterells, and North Mimms. The church, which is rich in monuments,
dates from the fourteenth century.
Offley (1001), or Great Offley, which lies on the Bedfordshire border
of the county, between Luton and Hitchin, takes its name from Offa II,
king of Mercia, who died there in his palace. The church of St Mary
Magdalene is built in the Perpendicular style, with an apsidal chancel.
Mrs Thrale, the friend of Dr Johnson, lived as a girl at Offley Place.
(pp. 14, 105, 128, 141, 147.)
Redbourn (1932), a village on the Chester and Holyhead road, in the
valley of the Ver, about four miles north-west of St Albans; it has
a station on the Harpenden and Hemel Hempstead branch of the Midland
Railway. The manor of Redbourn was given to St Albans’ Abbey in the
reign of Edward the Confessor. The church, which is some distance from
the main street, was dedicated between 1094 and 1109, but the chancel
appears to have been rebuilt about 1340. Near Church End are the
ancient earthworks known as the Aubreys. (pp. 12, 67, 72, 126.)
Rickmansworth (5627), at the junction of the Colne, Gade, and Chess
rivers, is a town in the south-western corner of the county, close to
the Bucks and Middlesex borders. It has several ancient almshouses,
of which one dates from 1680. Immediately to the south-east is Moor
Park, the seat of Lord Ebury, where Lord Anson formerly lived. This
once belonged to the abbots of St Albans, but was given by Henry VII to
the Earl of Oxford, and in the reign of Henry VIII was the property of
Cardinal Wolsey. The present house is of comparatively modern date. The
Bury is an excellent specimen of an early seventeenth century mansion.
The church appears to have been rebuilt in the fifteenth century.
Rickmeresworth was the old name of the town. There are a number of
manors in the parish. (pp. 20, 31, 71, 73, 131, 132.)
Royston (3517) is situated on the Icknield Way, actually on the
Cambridgeshire border, and is served by a station on the Cambridge
branch of the Great Northern. The town, which has a market, stands just
at the foot of the chalk downs; it has the honour of giving the name
to one of the species, or races, of British birds, to wit, the Royston
crow. The church is that of an Augustinian priory now demolished. James
I had a hunting seat here. (pp. 32, 33, 45, 93, 128.)
St Albans (16,019), situated about twenty miles north-west of London by
rail, enjoys the distinction of being the only town in Hertfordshire
entitled to style itself a “city.” It is the direct modern successor of
the Roman city of Verulamium, lying on the opposite side of the Ver,
and itself dates from Saxon times, its ancient monastery having been
founded by the Mercian king Offa II in 793, in memory of Alban, the
first English Christian martyr. The city has a mayor and corporation,
and was formerly a parliamentary borough in its own right, although
at the present day it forms the centre of an electoral district
returning one member to the House of Commons. It is also the centre of
the western division of Hertfordshire;--a division corresponding in
the main to the old Liberty of St Albans, the area lying within the
jurisdiction of the abbot. Quarter-sessions for the western division of
the county are held in the Court House, and likewise petty-sessions for
the St Albans division of the county, as well as city petty-sessions
for St Albans itself. At these last the city magistrates sit; the cases
being brought before them by the local police force, which is distinct
from that of the county. The city is the see of the bishopric of St
Albans, and its crowning glory is its Abbey, now raised to the dignity
of a cathedral. Offa’s abbey was attacked and plundered by the Danes,
and a rebuilding of the monastic church was contemplated by Ealdred,
the eighth abbot, who collected building materials from Verulam. The
long-deferred work, on a new site, was however not undertaken till the
time of Paul of Caen, the first Norman abbot (1077–93). This abbot
rebuilt the church and nearly all the monastic buildings with the
materials collected by his predecessor; and apparently made a clean
sweep of the original structures. Although the fabric appears to have
been completed by Abbot Paul, the consecration did not take place till
1115. Between 1195 and 1214 Abbot John de Cella commenced a new west
front, but only part of the original design was carried out. In 1257
the eastern end was in a dangerous condition, and the two easternmost
bays were pulled down; and eventually a presbytery and a Lady Chapel
with vestibule were added. Extensive alterations and rebuilding were
carried out previous to 1326, and again between 1335 and 1340. Other
works were carried out by John de Wheathampstead between 1451 and
1484, including the rebuilding of St Andrew’s chapel. In 1553 the
abbey was sold to the Mayor and Burgesses as a parish church, when
the Lady Chapel was cut off from the rest of the building by a public
passage and used as a grammar school. This passage remained till
about 1870, when the Lady Chapel was once more rejoined to the main
fabric. About this time a restoration of portions of the building was
undertaken by a county committee, when the low-pitched roof of the
nave was replaced by a high-pitched one on the lines of a much earlier
structure. Soon after, the tower was in danger of collapsing, owing
to crush in the supporting pillars, and the whole structure had to be
shored up previous to underpinning. Finally, the late Lord Grimthorpe
undertook the completion of the “restoration,” which was carried out
in substantial but drastic style. His most notable work comprised
the complete rebuilding of the west front in a peculiar style, the
repointing of the tower, and the replacing of its brick turrets by
stone “pepper-pots.”
[Illustration: Shrine of St Amphibalus, St Albans’ Abbey]
The clock-tower in the centre of the city, from which the curfew was
rung till the sixties, is another interesting building, as is also the
old gateway of the monastery, now used as a grammar school. Near by the
city are the ruins of Sopwell nunnery. The city has three parishes,
those of the Abbey, St Peter, and St Michael, but it is also extending
into the parish of Sandridge. On the further side of the Ver is
situated St Stephen’s. St Albans is rapidly increasing as a residential
district, and also as a manufacturing centre, a number of industrial
establishments from London having been recently set up in its environs.
Straw-plait still remains, however, the chief trade, although the
actual plaiting of the straw has been killed by foreign competition. A
market is held every Saturday. St Albans has a museum, unfortunately
not restricted to local antiquities and natural history objects. There
are three railway stations, one on the Midland, the second the terminus
of a branch line from the North-Western at Watford, and the third that
of a branch of the Great Northern from Hatfield. St Peter’s church
stands on the site of a Saxon church built in the latter half of the
tenth century; this was replaced in less than 200 years by a Norman
edifice, remains of which were found during the alterations carried out
by the late Lord Grimthorpe. St Michael’s church contains Bacon’s tomb.
Two notable battles were fought at St Albans during the Wars of
the Roses. In 1455 the Yorkists and in 1461 the Lancastrians were
victorious. (pp. 14, 18, 35, 57, 59, 60, 61, 71, 72, 75, 80, 81, 82,
84, 94, 98, 102, 103, 104, 105, 107, 123, 124, 126, 128, 130, 137, 138,
140, 141, 142, 149.)
Sawbridgeworth (2085), pronounced Satsworth, is a town on the eastern
border of the county, to the south of Bishop’s Stortford, with a
station on the Great Eastern Railway. It was originally known as
Sabricstworth, being the seat of the family of Say, or de Say. It has a
history dating from the Conquest. (pp. 113, 132.)
Shenley (1120) a village about four miles to the southward of St
Albans; the manor in the time of Stephen belonged to the de Mandeviles,
who had also the church.
Standon (1577), a village and manor, with a station on the Great
Eastern Railway about midway between Buntingford and Stanstead Abbots.
Standon Lordship was the seat of the Lords Aston of Forfar, who
inherited it from the Sadler family. The living originally belonged to
the Knights Templars.
Stanstead Abbots (1484), now a parish and manor, but formerly a
borough, is a village lying east of Hertford, near St Margaret’s
station on the Great Eastern Railway.
Stevenage (3957), a market-town on the Great North Road and Great
Northern Railway, between Welwyn and Hitchin. The town originally stood
near to the church of St Nicholas, now half-a-mile distant; but after a
disastrous fire, a new settlement sprang up on each side of the North
Road, which runs to the south-west of the old church. The fortieth,
and last, abbot of St Albans was Richard Boreham de Stevenage, elected
in 1538, and dismissed the following year on the dissolution of the
monasteries. Elmwood House, now pulled down, was the home of Lucas, the
Hertfordshire hermit. (pp. 14, 39, 116, 128, 129.)
Tring (4349) forms the extreme western outpost of Hertfordshire, being
situated in the peninsula projecting from this part of the county into
the heart of Buckinghamshire. It has a station on the North-Western
Railway some considerable distance from the town itself; and of late
years has become well-known in the scientific world on account of
the private natural history museum established by the Hon. Walter
Rothschild in Tring Park, the seat of Lord Rothschild. Tring was
formerly one of the centres of the straw-plait industry. (pp. 18, 42,
46, 47, 54, 72, 90, 99, 105.)
Waltham Cross (5291), a town on the Essex border of the county, with a
station on the Great Eastern Railway, which takes its name from one of
the crosses erected at the resting-places on the funeral route of Queen
Eleanor from Grantham. (pp. 124, 125.)
Ware (5573), an ancient town to the north-east of Hertford, situated on
the river Lea (which is here navigable), and on a branch of the Great
Eastern Railway. Ware, which is associated with the story of “John
Gilpin,” is the chief centre of the malting industry in the county; the
grant of a market was made by King Henry III in the year 1254. (pp. 5,
44, 70, 80.)
Watford (29,327) is by far the largest town in the county, being the
only one with a population which exceeded 20,000 at the census of
1901. It is situated in the south-western corner of the county, and is
traversed by the Colne; it has a station on the North-Western Railway,
from which a branch line runs to St Albans. A market has existed since
the time of Henry II, and is stated to have been granted by Henry I.
Watford played an important part in Wat Tyler’s rising. The Grove, the
seat of the Earls of Clarendon, and Cassiobury, that of the Earls of
Essex, are situated in the vicinity of the town. Watford is the centre
of the West Herts parliamentary division and has numerous mills and
factories. The parish church contains some magnificent monuments by
Nicholas Stone. (pp. 6, 31, 34, 44, 99, 122, 123, 131, 132, 141.)
Watton or Watton-at-Stone (710), a village in the valley of the Beane,
near the centre of the county, taking its name from the number of
springs in the neighbourhood--_Wat_, in Saxon, signifying a moist
place. Watton, which was in existence as a manor in the time of the
Conqueror, was the home of the ancient family of Boteler, whose seat
was the present Woodhall Park, now the property of the Abel Smith
family. Near by is the manor house of Aston Bury, a fine example of
a sixteenth century house, also once belonging to the Botelers, with
tall, twisted chimneys, a magnificent staircase, and an upper room
occupying the whole width of the building. (p. 113.)
Welwyn (1660), a village on the Great Northern Railway between Hatfield
and Stevenage. Young, who was born near Bishop’s Waltham in Hampshire,
became Rector of the place, wrote his _Night Thoughts_ here, and is
buried in the churchyard. Two centuries ago Welwyn was celebrated for
its chalybeate springs. (pp. 62, 128, 149.)
Wheathampstead (2405), a village in the valley of the Lea, between
Luton and Hatfield, with a station on the Luton and Dunstable branch of
the Great Northern Railway. The parish originally included Harpenden,
which was separated about 1860. One of the oldest buildings is
Wheathampstead Place, or Place Farm, which dates back to the time of
Queen Elizabeth, and has some fine Tudor chimneys; it was formerly the
property of the Brockett family, whose monuments are in the church. The
church itself, which is a cruciform edifice with a central tower, is
dedicated to St Helen, and was judiciously restored in the sixties; the
chancel with its three beautiful lancet windows was built about 1230,
the tower was rebuilt towards the close of the thirteenth century, and
the north transept between 1330–40. The parish includes the manors of
Mackery End and Lamer; the latter taking its name from the de la Mare
family, by whom it was held in the fourteenth century. Lamer House was
rebuilt about 1761. (pp. 38, 67, 90, 97, 101.)
[Illustration: {Stack of rectangles with areas proportional to
population.}
173,280 1861
192,226 1871
203,140 1881
220,162 1891
250,152 1901
Fig. 1. Diagram showing the increase in the population of Hertfordshire
from 1861 to 1901]
[Illustration: {Squares with density represented by dots.}
England and Wales 558
Herts 409
Lancashire 2347
Fig. 2. Comparative density of the population of Hertfordshire to the
sq. mile in 1901. Each dot represents 10 persons]
[Illustration: {rectangular chart}
ENGLAND & WALES _Total 32,527,843_
HERTS
Fig. 3. The population of Herts (258,423) as compared with that of
England and Wales]
[Illustration: {rectangular chart}
ENGLAND & WALES _Total 37,327,479 acres_
HERTS
Fig. 4. The area of Herts (404,518 acres) as compared with that of
England and Wales]
[Illustration: {Pie chart}
_Permanent Pasture 125,267_
_Area not under Permanent Pasture 277,589_
Fig. 5. Proportionate area of Permanent Pasture to total area of
County]
[Illustration: {Pie chart}
_Area not under Corn Crops 286,156_
_Corn Crops 116,700_
Fig. 6. Proportionate acreage of Corn Crops to total area of County]
[Illustration: {Pie chart}
_Barley 27,960_
_Wheat 51,691_
_Oats 36,946_
Fig. 7. Proportionate acreage of Oats, Wheat, and Barley in Herts]
[Illustration: {Pie chart}
_Meadows and Permanent Pasture 125,267_
_Green Crops and Rotation Grasses 72,848_
_Corn Crops 116,700_
_Woodlands 26,568_
_Bare Fallow, Fruits 16,736_
_Remaining area of Herts 44,737_
Fig. 8. Proportionate acreage of land under Cultivation and Not under
Cultivation in the County]
[Illustration: {Pie chart}
_Horses 15,070_
_Pigs 25,338_
_other Cattle 38,636_
_Sheep 94,461_
Fig. 9. Comparative numbers of Live Stock in Herts]
Cambridge:
PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A.
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
[Illustration:
GEOLOGICAL MAP OF HERTFORD
_George Philip & Son, Ltd._ _The London Geographical Institute._
]
Transcriber’s Note
On page 43, in the diagram of geological systems, the Names of Systems
were originally printed in bold.
In the last chapter, the Names of Towns and Villages were originally
printed in bold and in a large font.
Under each map, “Ltd.” or “LTD.”, in the name of the printer was
originally printed with the “td” or “TD” raised above the line with a
dot underneath.
The errata listed on a slip bound into this book have been applied to
this text. It reads:
_Hertfordshire_
ERRATA
Page 33, line 12 from bottom, _after_ Baldock, _add_ and also near
Tring.
” 61, line 6 from top, _for_ Great Western _read_ North-Western.
” 132, line 13 from top, _for_ Stortford, _read_ St Margaret’s.
” 144, line 2, _for_ The late Viscount Peel _read_ The first
Viscount Hampden.
” 153, line 5 from top, _dele_ has a castle and.
” 154. The market at Berkhampstead has been discontinued for
many years.
” 159. The office of high bailiff of Hemel Hempstead is held by the
mayor.
The changes to pages 154 and 159 have been made by adding footnotes.
Figures have been moved to be near the text they illustrate. The page
numbers in the Table of Illustrations refer to the page number of their
original position in the printed book.