Hertfordshire

In 1881 the population of the county was 203,069; in 1891 it had increased by about one-eleventh to 220,162; in 1921 it was 333,236.

In the days of William I. the whole of the possessions and estates of Hertfordshire belonged to the King and forty-four persons who shared his favour, amongst whom may be mentioned the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops of London, Winchester, Chester, Bayeux and Liseux, and the Abbots of Westminster, Ely, St. Albans, Charteris and Ramsey.

To go as far back as the Heptarchy, we find the land mostly owned by Mercians, East Saxons and by the Kings of Kent, and thus there gradually sprang up that “Middle English” population which for so long formed a large proportion of the inhabitants of Hertfordshire, Middlesex and Essex. How thoroughly such persons separated into small communities and settled down in every part of the county may be ascertained by the many “buries” found at a little distance from the town or village—Redbourn-bury, Ardeley-bury, Bayford-bury, Langley-bury, Harpenden-bury, etc.

VI. Communications

1. Roads.—Hertfordshire, as one of the home-counties, is crossed by many fine roads from the N.E., E. and N.W., as they gradually converge towards their common goal—London. Among them may be mentioned the Old North Road, from Royston through Buntingford and Ware to Waltham Cross; the Great North Road from Baldock through Stevenage, Welwyn and Hatfield to Barnet; and the Dunstable Road through Market Street, Redbourn and St. Albans, which meets the last-mentioned road at Barnet.[1] We may contrast these roads at the present day with the rough paths infested with robbers existing in the days when the country between Barnet and St. Albans was little better than a continuous, tangled forest; or even with the same roads in the days when Evelyn and Pepys frequently rode along them—and found them exceedingly bad. The cyclist wishing to ride northwards through Hertfordshire has comparatively stiff hills to mount at Elstree, High Barnet, Ridge, near South Mimms, and at St. Albans. He should also beware of the descent into Wheathampstead, of the dip between Bushey and Watford, and of the gritty roadways in the neighbourhood of Baldock. Most of the roads are well kept, particularly since they have been cared for by the County Council, and the traveller’s book at the inn usually contains fewer anathemas touching the state of the highways than in some other counties which might be named.

Railways.—Few counties in England are so well served with railroad communications; the London and North Western, Midland, Great Northern and Great Eastern running well across its face.

The London and North Western enters the county ½ mile N.W. of Pinner, and has stations on its main route at Bushey, Watford, King’s Langley, Boxmoor, Berkhampstead and Tring. It crosses the Bedfordshire border near Ivinghoe. From Watford it has a branch to Rickmansworth; and to Bricket Wood, Park Street and St. Albans; it has also a station at Marston Gate, on its branch line to Aylesbury.

The Midland enters the county during its passage through the Elstree tunnel and runs nearly due N., having stations at Elstree, Radlett, St. Albans and Harpenden. It has also a branch with stations at Hemel Hempstead and Redbourn.

The Great Northern main line crosses a small tongue of the county upon which it has stations at Oakleigh Park and New Barnet. It then traverses the Hadley Wood district of Middlesex, entering Hertfordshire again at Warren Gate, and has stations at Hatfield, Welwyn, Knebworth, Stevenage and Hitchin. From Hatfield it has three branches: (1) to Smallford and St. Albans; (2) to Ayot, Wheathampstead and Harpenden; (3) to Cole Green, Hertingfordbury and Hertford. At Hitchin it has a branch to Baldock, Ashwell and Royston.

The Great Eastern enters the county at Waltham Cross and skirts the whole of the S.E. quarter, running on Essex soil from near the Rye House almost to Sawbridgeworth. It has stations in Hertfordshire at Waltham Cross, Cheshunt, Broxbourne, Sawbridgeworth and Bishop’s Stortford. It enters Essex again near the last-named station. It has also important branches, (1) from Broxbourne to Rye House, St. Margaret’s, Ware, and Hertford; (2) from St. Margaret’s to Mardock, Widford, Hadham, Standon, Braughing, West Mill and Buntingford.

In addition, the Metropolitan Railway has an extension which crosses the S.W. extremity of the county, having stations at Rickmansworth and Chorley Wood. The Great Northern Railway has a branch from Finsbury Park to High Barnet, with a station at Totteridge.

VII. Industries

1. Agriculture.—Charles Lamb used no mere haphazard expression when he wrote of Hertfordshire as “that fine corn county”. Forty years ago the county contained 339,187 acres under arable cultivation, of which considerably more than half were utilised for corn; and the proportion thus used is still much larger than might be supposed. (In 1897 it amounted to about 125,000 acres.) At the same period there were about 60,000 acres under wheat alone; for this grain, of which a large white variety is much cultivated, the county has long been famous. To this circumstance the village of Wheathampstead is indebted for its name. Barley and oats are also staple crops. The first Swede turnips ever produced in England were grown on a farm near Berkhampstead. Watercress is extensively cultivated, enormous quantities being sent into London from St. Albans, Hemel Hempstead, Berkhampstead, Welwyn and many other districts. Much manure is brought to the farms from the London stables, and by its aid large second crops of vegetables are frequently obtained. Clover, turnips and tares may be mentioned among other crops prominently cultivated. Fruit is also sent to London, particularly from the district lying between Tring, Watford and St. Albans, but none of the orchards are large.

The number of pigs reared in the county is—or was quite recently—rather above the average (per 100 acres under cultivation) for all England; the number of cattle rather below, and of sheep much below, this average.

2. Manufactures are fairly numerous.

(a) Straw Plait has for over 200 years been extensively made by hand for the Luton dealers. The wages earned by peasant girls and women in this employment were formerly high; 100 years ago a woman, if dexterous, might earn as much as £1 a week, but the increase in machinery and the competition from foreign plait has almost destroyed this cottage industry in some districts. During the last four decades several large straw hat manufactories have been erected in St. Albans, and the trade enlarged, although the conditions of production are altered.

(b) Malting is still extensively carried on at Ware, which has been the centre of the industry for many years; it is said, indeed, to be the largest malting town in England. There are nearly 100 malting houses, many of them being beside the River Lea, navigable from this town for barges W. to Hertford and S. to London. There are extensive Breweries at St. Albans, Watford, Hertford, High Barnet, Baldock, Hitchin, Hatfield, Tring, Berkhampstead, and other places.

(c) Brick Fields are worked at Watford, St. Albans, Hemel Hempstead, Broxbourne, Bishop’s Stortford, Hitchin and elsewhere.

(d) Brushes of many kinds are manufactured at St. Albans and Berkhampstead.

(e) Hurdles are made at Barkway, Croxley Green, Breachwood Green, Chorley Wood, Albury, and at one or two other places.

(f) Iron Foundries are at Hertford, Ippollitts, Royston, Colne Valley (Watford), Hitchin and Puckeridge.

(g) Paper is made at Croxley Mills, King’s Langley, and Nash Mills.

(h) Silk is made at the large mill on the River Ver, St. Albans, and at Redbourn.

(i) Photographic plates, paper, etc., are made at Watford, Boreham Wood and Barnet.

(j) Lavender Water is made at Hitchin, from lavender grown in fields close by.

Gravel abounds in many districts, and pits are extensively worked at Rickmansworth, Hertford and at Heath, Wheathampstead, Watford and Harpenden.

There are windmills at Cromer, Albury, Goff’s Oak, Anstey, Arkley, Much Hadham, Weston, Tring and Bushey Heath. Water mills are too numerous to specify, there being several on many of the small rivers named in Section II.

VIII. History

Hertfordshire was formerly a part of Mercia and of Essex. Its share in what is usually called “History” can hardly be called great; but many interesting details of its story are recorded in the histories of Chauncy, Salmon, Clutterbuck, and Cussans. Among smaller works the following will be found useful: Cobb’s Berkhampstead; Gibbs’ Historical Records of St. Albans; Nicholson’s Abbey of St. Albans; Bishop’s Hitchin and Neighbourhood, and Bygone Hertfordshire by various writers.

The story of Hertfordshire may be said to commence with the sack of the great Roman city of Verulamium by the followers of Boadicea, Queen of the Iceni (A.D. 61). Our knowledge of the event is largely drawn from Tacitus, and Dion Cassius, who give revolting details of the torture of the inhabitants by the Britons. The martyrdom of St. Alban (circa A.D. 304) the Synod of Verulam (429), the second destruction of that city by the Saxons towards the end of the sixth century and the siege of Hertford by the Danes in 896, when Alfred the Great grounded their vessels by cutting the river banks, are some of the more prominent episodes of pre-Conquest times. William I., entering the county from the direction of Wallingford, met the Saxon nobles in council at Berkhampstead immediately before his coronation at Westminster. The castles of Hertford and Berkhampstead were captured by the revolted barons.

There was a dangerous insurrection of the peasantry in the days of Richard II. Three important battles were fought in Hertfordshire, during the Wars of the Roses: (1) At St. Albans on 23rd (?) May, 1455; (2) on Bernard’s Heath, St. Albans, 17th February, 1461; (3) near Chipping Barnet, 14th April, 1471; these battles are mentioned more fully in the Sections on St. Albans and Barnet.

The residence of the Princess Elizabeth at Ashridge Park and her subsequent captivity at Hatfield up to the time of her accession (1558) may be here mentioned, but the more casual visits of monarchs are referred to as occasion requires.

The county was not the scene of any considerable engagement during the great Rebellion; but the Parliamentary troops are held responsible for much ecclesiastical sacrilege at St. Albans, Hitchin and elsewhere, and it was from Theobalds that Charles I. set out to meet his army in 1642. In 1647, when a prisoner in the care of Cornet Joyce, he was taken from Leighton Buzzard to Baldock and from thence to Royston. The march of Cromwell from Cambridge to St. Albans towards the end of the war is recorded rather too literally on the interior of several churches.

Of importance in history was the Rye House Plot (1683), a carefully laid but abortive scheme to murder Charles II. and James, Duke of York, on their way to London from Newmarket. (See Rye House.)

IX. Antiquities

1. Prehistoric.—Paleolithic man—in whom we are all so interested, but of whom we know so little—must have dwelt in Hertfordshire for a long period, a period to be measured by centuries rather than by years. Perhaps, however, the word “dwelt” is hardly appropriate here; for doubtless, for the most part, the rude flint-shaper and skin-clad hunter roamed at random over this tract of land wherever necessity led him. It is usual to speak of him as a troglodyte, or cave-dweller, but the caves of Hertfordshire are, and probably were few, and his life in such a district would therefore be more than usually nomadic. As is often the case, we find traces of him in the river-valleys more frequently than elsewhere, and it is in beds of clay, conjectured to be of lacustrine origin, that we find those rudely shapen flint nodules which served him for tools. Such implements have been found in the Valley of the Gade by Sir John Evans, K.C.B.; in more central neighbourhoods by Mr. Worthington G. Smith; and many axes, knives, etc., were discovered only a few years ago near Hitchin. Implements of the Neolithic Age are naturally more numerous and form in themselves an interesting study in the evolution of manual skill. Flint axe-heads, wonderfully polished, have been found at Albury, Abbot’s Langley, Panshanger and Ware; chipped flints of more fragmentary character have been found near St. Albans and elsewhere; flint arrow-heads were discovered at Tring Grove nearly 170 years ago. The great number of natural flints found in the county make it very difficult to recognise these archæological treasures, many of which must thus escape detection and be destroyed. Some details of the discovery of Prehistoric implements are given in the Gazetteer.

2. Pre-Roman.—The earliest inhabitants of Hertfordshire in times more or less “historic” were of Celtic blood; these, after a settlement of considerable duration, were driven out by Belgic invaders, of whom the Cassii, or Cateuchlani, seem to have been one of the most powerful tribes. The Cassii, who shared at least a part of the district with the Trinobantes, were numerous and war-like when Cæsar invaded Britain; their chief, Cassivellaunus, is believed to have lived near what is now St. Albans. He was chosen as leader by the British, and offered stout resistance to the Romans, but was driven back and his capital—wherever it was—stormed and captured. Earth works, supposed to have been erected by these Pre-Roman inhabitants, still remain at Hexton, Ashwell, Great Wymondley, Tingley Wood, and elsewhere, but are rapidly disappearing in the general obliteration of ancient landmarks. Grymes-dyke, still to be traced on Berkhampstead Common, is the most famous; but many others are marked in a map prepared by Sir John Evans. Some of these are hardly more than conjectural sites; a few will be mentioned in the Gazetteer. Bronze Celts of many kinds are in the possession of Mr. W. Ransom, F.S.A.; some of these were found at Cumberlow Green. Relics of the Bronze Age in the county include two bracelets of gold found at Little Amwell; and many narrow hatchets, or palstaves, from the neighbourhood of Hitchin.

To the Late Celtic Period belong the imperfect iron sword-blade, in a bronze sheath, discovered at Bourne End and now in the British Museum; also the two bronze helmets, one from the neighbourhood of Hitchin, and one from Tring. At Hitchin, too, was discovered some pottery of the same period.

3. Roman.—Hertfordshire formed a part of the Flavia Cæsariensis of the Romans—the district E. of the Severn and N. of the Thames. Most important of their stations was the municipium at Verulamium (W. of St. Albans) of which some fragments of wall yet remain in the neighbourhood of the River Ver and the Verulam Woods; here, too, is the site of the only Roman theatre known in Britain (of amphitheatres there are many remains). There were also stations at Cheshunt (Ceaster), at Braughing (ad Fines), at Berkhampstead (Durocobrivis?), at Ashwell, Wilbury Hill, etc.; there was a cemetery at Sarratt; a sepulchre at Royston. Roman villas have been unearthed at Purwell Mill, Abbots Langley and Boxmoor. The Roman coins found in the county would, if brought together, form an exceedingly valuable collection. They have been found in considerable numbers at St. Albans, Ware, Hoddesdon, Hitchin, Willian, Ashwell, Caldecote, Boxmoor, and many other places. Small bronze coins, known as minimi, have been recently found at St. Albans, and are now in the city museum. They date from after the year 345, when the earliest specimens of this type were struck, and are conjectured to be copies of coins issued under Constantius II. (337-61) and Julian the Apostate (361-3). On the obverse is the “Imperial Head”; on the reverse a soldier striking with his spear at a man on horseback. The coins, however, are assigned by at least one numismatist to a later date. They may have issued from a Romano-British mint at Verulamium. The famous Watling Street entered the county at Elstree and crossed it by way of St. Albans and Redbourn to Dunstable (Beds); the Icknield Way ran N.W. through Ickleford, Baldock and Royston; Akeman Street passed through Watford, Berkhampstead and Tring; Ermine Street, entering Hertfordshire at Waltham, passed through Ware and Braughing to Royston.

4. Saxon.—A few fragmentary remains at Berkhampstead, Bennington, Offley and Hitchin have been thought to mark the sites of the palaces of Mercian kings; but genuine Saxon remains are scarcely found except, perhaps, among the foundations of a few churches, e.g., St. Michael’s at St. Albans, Standon and Wheathampstead.

Mention must however be made of the story, narrated in Archæologia, of the discovery of the sepulchre of St. Amphibalus at a spot near Redbourn called the “Hills of the Banners”. St. Alban himself appeared to a layman in a vision and told him where the saint’s bones were to be found,—indeed, he is said to have himself gone thither to point out the spot. This was during the abbacy of Symon (1167-83). We learn from Roger of Wendover that the remains of St. Amphibalus were found lying between those of two other men; the bones of seven others were also lying close by. Among the relics found with the bones of the saint were two large knives, one of which was in his skull. We know that the holy relics were deemed worthy of solemn removal to the Abbey of St. Albans; his shrine there is mentioned in the Gazetteer.

In the Antiquary (vol. xi.) mention is made of the supposed discovery of an Anglo-Saxon burial ground in a field near Sandridge. Many bones and some implements were unearthed, and pronounced by local experts to date from Saxon times. They were buried again by some ignorant person.

A bronze brooch, discovered at Boxmoor, has been assigned to “the latest period of true Anglo-Saxon art”. A gold ornament, resembling an armlet, was found at the village of Park Street, near St. Albans; it is thought to date from A.D. 700-1000.

5. Churches.—These will be separately mentioned in due order, especially St. Albans Abbey, the unique meeting ground of all Styles; but a few sentences touching the predominant periods may be permissible here:—

Norman work is found in many places; Anstey, Bengeo, Barley, East Barnet, Graveley, Hemel Hempstead, Little Hormead, and Ickleford are largely of this period, and Norman features are mingled with later work at Abbots Langley, Baldock, Weston, Great Munden, Great Wymondley, Knebworth, Redbourn, Sarratt, and the churches of SS. Michael and Stephen at St. Albans. There are Norman fonts at Broxbourne, Bishop’s Stortford (found beneath the flooring in 1869) Anstey, Buckland, Harpenden, Great Wymondley and Standon.

Early English churches are at Ashwell, Brent Pelham, Digswell, Furneaux Pelham, Great Munden (Norman doorway), Knebworth, Royston, Stevenage and Wheathampstead. Some of these, e.g., Digswell and Knebworth, are pleasantly situated and others contain features of great interest, but on the whole they can hardly boast of much architectural beauty.

Decorated churches are rarely found without prominent transitional features, the purest structures dating from that period being those at Flamstead, Hatfield, North Mimms, Standon, and Ware. Early Decorated portions are noticeable among Norman surroundings at Hemel Hempstead, and among Early English at Wheathampstead; Late Decorated is found with Perpendicular at Hitchin. Standon is the only W. porch in the county. Flamstead and Wheathampstead are the only churches in the county that have retained their original vestries, N. of the chancel.

Perpendicular churches are fairly numerous in Hertfordshire. Almost purely Perpendicular structures are those at Bishop’s Stortford, Bennington, Broxbourne, Clothall, Hunsdon, King’s Langley, Sandon, St. Peters (St. Albans), Tring and Watford. Churches later than Perpendicular cannot be mentioned as antiquities.

A characteristic feature of Hertfordshire churches—rare elsewhere—is the narrow tapering flèche, or leaded spire; a feature almost wholly absent is the apse, which is, I believe, present only at Bengeo, Great Wymondley, and Amwell.

X. Celebrated Men

1. Men of Letters.—Chaucer was clerk of the works at Berkhampstead Castle in the time of Richard II.; Matthew Paris, the chronicler, lived and wrote in the great Benedictine monastery at St. Albans; Sir John Maundeville, once called the “father of English prose,” was, according to his own narrative, born at St. Albans and, if we may trust an old inscription, was buried in the abbey;[2] Dr. Cotton, the poet, lived and died in the same town, where the poet Cowper lodged with him at the “Collegium Insanorum”. Bacon lived at Gorhambury and was buried in the neighbouring church of St. Michael. Bulwer Lytton lived and wrote at Knebworth, where he was visited by Forster, Dickens and others. George Chapman translated much of Homer at Hitchin, and is believed to have been born in that town. Young, the author of the Night Thoughts, was for many years Rector of Welwyn; his son was visited there by Boswell and Dr. Johnson. Macaulay was at school at Aspenden. John Scott, the Quaker poet, lived at Amwell; Lee, the dramatist, was born at Hatfield. Skelton probably stayed at Ashridge just before the Dissolution of the Monasteries; Sir Thomas More lived awhile at Gobions, North Mimms. Cowper was born at Berkhampstead. The county has been immortalised by Walton and Lamb in writings known to all.

2. Divines.—Bunyan laboured and preached much in Hitchin and its neighbourhood; Baxter preached at Sarratt and elsewhere, and lived awhile at Totteridge; Isaac Watts lived for many years at Theobalds near Cheshunt; Philip Doddridge was at school at St. Albans. Fox, in his Journal, mentions visiting Hitchin, Baldock and other places. Tillotson was a curate at Cheshunt; Ken was born at Little Berkhampstead; Nathaniel Field, a man of prodigious learning, chaplain to James I., was born at Hemel Hempstead. William Penn, whom many considered a divine indeed, lived with his beautiful wife at Basing House, Rickmansworth; Godwin was an Independent minister at Ware. Ridley and Bonner were much in the county. Fleetwood, afterwards Bishop of Worcester, was Rector of Anstey; Cudworth was Vicar of Ashwell; Warham was Rector of Barley; Horsley was Rector of Thorley. The two Sherlocks, respectively Master of the Temple and Bishop of London, were Rectors of Therfield. Lightfoot, the Great Hebraist, was Rector of Great Munden.

To classify other celebrities connected with the county would require almost as many headings as names. Henry Bessemer was born at Charlton near Hitchin; Cardinal Wolsey lived at Delamere House, Great Wymondley; the munificent Somers lived at North Mimms; Nicholas Breakspeare, who became Pope Adrian IV., was born at Abbots Langley; Piers Gaveston was much at Berkhampstead and was buried in the priory church at King’s Langley; Sir Robert Cecil, first Earl of Salisbury, lived at Theobalds and is buried at Hatfield; Lords Melbourne and Palmerston lived much at Brocket Hall, where the latter died; Sir Ralph Sadleir, statesman and ambassador to Scotland, who is said to have rallied the English at Pinkie, lived at Standon and is buried in the church.

Many noble or illustrious families have resided in Hertfordshire. Some of the owners of old manors are mentioned in the Gazetteer; but a few prominent families may be here named. The Cecils have been Lords of Hatfield since James I. gave the manor to the first Earl of Salisbury in exchange for that at Theobalds. The Cowpers have resided at Panshanger since the erection of their castellated mansion in the Park a century ago by the fifth earl. The Egertons, Dukes and Earls of Bridgewater, lived at Ashridge; one of them, Francis, third duke, is known in history as “the father of British inland navigation,” and another was the projector of the famous Bridgewater Treatises. The Capells, Earls of Essex, have owned the beautiful estate at Cassiobury Park since the father of the first earl obtained it by marriage during the reign of Charles I. The Rothschild family have an estate at Tring; Lord Ebury is the owner of Moor Park; Lord Lytton still owns the grand old house of the great novelist at Knebworth, founded nearly 350 years ago. The Earl of Cavan has a house at Wheathampstead; Viscount Hampden at Kimpton Hoo; Earl Strathmore at St. Paul’s Walden Bury; the Earl of Clarenden (Lord Lieut. of Herts) at the Grove, Leavesden; Lord Grimthorpe lived at St. Albans. Gorhambury, near St. Albans, is the home of the Earl of Verulam. Mgr. Robert Hugh Benson lived and wrote many novels at Hare Street House, near Buntingford.

DESCRIPTION OF PLACES IN HERTFORDSHIRE ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY

Abbots Langley (1½ mile S.E. of King’s Langley Station) is a village on prettily wooded high ground near the river Gade. It is famous as the birthplace of Nicholas Breakspeare, who, having vainly endeavoured to be admitted as a monk in the great Benedictine monastery at St. Albans, studied at Paris and eventually became Pope Adrian IV. He died in 1158 at Anagni; tradition states that he was choked with a fly whilst drinking. The village probably owes its name, first, to its length, “Langley” signifying a long land; second, to the fact that in the days of Edward the Confessor it was given to the Abbots of St. Albans by Egelwine the Black and Wincelfled his wife. An entry in Domesday records that there were two mills on this manor, yielding 30s. rent yearly, and wood to feed 300 hogs. The Church of St. Lawrence has nave, aisles and clerestory; a chancel with S. aisle, and square embattled tower. The windows are mostly Perp., but those of the S. aisle are Dec. Note (1) the monument to Lord Chief Justice Raymond, died 1732; (2) the brasses in nave to Thos. Cogdell and his two wives, 1607, and to Ralph Horwode and family, 1478. Late in the reign of Henry VIII. the vicarage was rated at £10 per annum. An inscription in the chancel, copied in Chauncy, reads “Here lieth Robert Nevil and Elizabeth his wife, which Robert deceased the 28th of April in the year of our Lord God 1475. This World is but a Vanity, to Day a man, to Morrow none.” Prince Charles held a Court at Abbots Langley during the Reign of James I.

Albury (3½ miles E. of Braughing Station) is a village near the river Ash. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, dates from the fourteenth century; it was recently restored. There was an earlier structure so far back as the days of Stephen, in whose reign Robert de Sigillo gave the profits of the church at Eldeberei to Geoffery, first Treasurer of St. Paul’s Church, London. An interesting will, dated 4th November, 1589, records that Marmaduke Bickerdy, Vicar of Aldebury, gave an acre of land in the neighbourhood to provide a sum for distribution among the poor on every Good Friday. In the chancel the mutilated effigies of a man and woman are said to represent Sir Walter de la Lee and his wife. Sir Walter sat in nine Parliaments in the interests of the county—at Westminster, Northampton and Cambridge, and was Sheriff of Herts and Essex. He died during the reign of Richard II. Albury Hall, close by, is a fine old mansion, where the “Religeous, Just and Charitable” Sir Edward Atkins, Knight, and Baron of the Exchequer, died in 1669. The village is usually a quiet spot, with little business, but it is pleasantly situated; the proximity of the river and some scattered cottages and farms enhance its attractiveness.

Albury End is a small hamlet about 1 mile S.W. of Albury.

Aldbury (1½ mile E. from Tring Station) is a village on the Buckinghamshire border, nestled in a beautiful valley close to Ashridge Park (q.v.). It is the “Clinton Magna” of Bessie Costrell, and the author of that story, Mrs. Humphrey Ward, lived at Stocks, a few minutes’ walk from the village. On the Tring side Aldbury is sheltered by swelling fields and to the E. beech woods cover the hillside, which is topped by the “Aldbury Monument,” a granite column about 100 feet high erected to the memory of Francis, third Duke of Bridgewater, whose labours and enterprise for the extension of canals earned for him the well-known title “the father of inland navigation”. As a village of the Old English type Aldbury has perhaps no equal in the county. In the centre is the green and pond, under the shadow of an enormous elm; close by stand the stocks and whipping-post, recently in excellent preservation. The Church of St. John the Baptist is E.E.; it was restored in 1867. Visitors should notice the old sundial on a pedestal in the churchyard, and the Verney Chapel, which is separated from the nave by a screen of stone, and contains a monument to Sir Robert Whittingham, who was slain at the battle of Tewkesbury. The church also contains memorials of the Hides and Harcourts, families who left several charities to the poor of the parish. In the days of Edward the Confessor the manor of Aldeberie was held by one Alwin, the king’s thane. The ascent of the wooded slope towards the Bridgewater monument takes the visitor through one of the most beautiful districts in the county, and a noble prospect stretches before him as he looks back through the beeches towards the village in the valley beneath.

Aldenham (2 miles S.W. from Radlett Station M.R.) is a village pleasantly situated near the river Colne, reached by way of Berry Grove at the W. end of the village. The churchyard is locally famous for the tombs of a man and woman named Hutchinson, which, singularly enough, have been riven apart and almost destroyed by three sycamore trees about a century old. The Church of St. John the Baptist is largely Perp. with earlier portions, and is worth a visit, if only for the oaken nave-roof, believed to date from about 1480, and for the font of Purbeck marble, probably 750 years old. An object of greater interest in some eyes is the fine parish chest, formed from one massive piece of oak nearly ten feet in length, and furnished with iron clamps and hinges of great size; there are few finer old parish chests in England. Note also (1) the triple sedilia in chancel; (2) the many brasses dating from 1450, several of which are to the Cary family; (3) two palimpsest brasses in the vestry, one of which bears a portion of a mutilated inscription to one Long, an alderman of London, who died in 1536. The church was restored in 1882 by Sir A. W. Blomfield, F.S.A. Aldenham House, property of Lord Aldenham, dates from the days of Charles II., and stands in a park of about 300 acres.

Aldenham Abbey, once known as Wall Hall, stands close to the parish church; it is about a century old, and belongs to the Stuart family.

Aldwick Farm is 1 mile N.E. from Marston Gate Station, L.&N.W.R.

Allen’s Green, a hamlet 2 miles N.W. from Sawbridgeworth, contains little of interest.

Almshoebury (1½ mile W. of Stevenage Station, G.N.R.) is about fifteen minutes’ walk from the ruins of Minsden Chapel (q.v.).

Amwell is a tiny hamlet 1 mile S.W. of Wheathampstead Station, G.N.R.

Amwell, Great, a parish and village 1½ mile S.E. of Ware Station, G.E.R., is very prettily situated near the New River, and is known by name to many who have never visited the neighbourhood, for the village is frequently mentioned in the essays and letters of Charles Lamb. The church stands on a wooded slope; near by are the village stocks, the tiny island upon which stands a monument to Sir Hugh Myddelton, the projector of the New River, and the stone bearing some lines written by John Scott, the Quaker. The grotto constructed by the poet may still be seen near the railway station at Ware. The church is an architectural conglomeration, with several stained windows, one of which was contributed by the children of the parish as an Easter offering nearly seventy years ago. The structure was restored in 1866. There is a piscina in the chancel, and one in the S. wall of the nave; there are also two hagioscopes. “The chancel arch,” writes Canon Benham, “seems to me Anglo-Saxon, and the chancel is a most curious apse.” Thomas Warner, a friend of Shakespeare, and Isaac Reed, a Shakespearian commentator, were both buried here.

Amwell End, once at the N.W. extremity of the parish of Great Amwell, is now a part of Ware (q.v.).

Amwell, Little (about 1½ mile S.W. from Great Amwell), was formerly a liberty in the parish of All Saints, Hertford; it has formed a separate civil and ecclesiastical parish since 1864. The Church of Holy Trinity is E.E. in style; it was erected in 1863. The district is now usually called Hertford Heath. An interesting, pleasant ramble may be enjoyed by walking from Hertford to Little Amwell, Great Amwell, and thence to Ware, or vice versa.

Anstey (about 4½ miles N.E. from Buntingford Station, G.E.R.) has a cruciform church of mixed styles: the nave is Dec., the transepts E.E., the S. porch Perp. The tower rests upon four Norman arches; the font also is Norman. The church was restored in 1871; many features of architectural interest being wisely retained. The recumbent effigy in the recess in S. transept is thought to be that of Richard de Anestie, who founded the church in the fourteenth century. We learn from Domesday Book that at the time of the Great Survey there was “pannage” (i.e. acorn woods) at Anestie sufficient to feed fifty hogs, and that the manor was worth fourteen pounds a year. There was once a castle here, built soon after the Conquest, the site of which is supposed to be marked by the remains of a moat still to be traced in the grounds of Anstey Hall. The churchyard is entered by a covered lich-gate.

Appleby Street is a hamlet 3 miles N.W. from Cheshunt Station, S.E.R., and about 2 miles N.W. from the village.

Apsley End (about 1½ mile S. from Hemel Hempstead Station, M.R., and 1¼ mile S.E. from Boxmoor Station, L.&N.W.R.) is an ecclesiastical parish near the river Gade. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, was built in E. Dec. style in 1871, and is well furnished and decorated. One of the prettiest prospects in the neighbourhood is that from Abbot’s Hill, a fine private residence, flanked by woods. The Gade and Bulbourne Rivers unite, a little N.W. from the village, at a place called Two Waters (q.v.).

Archer’s Green is on the river Maran, about ½ a mile S.E. from Tewin Church and 1¾ mile N.W. from Cole Green Station, G.N.R. It adjoins Panshanger Park (q.v.).

Ardeley, otherwise Yardley (6 miles S.W. from Buntingford Station, G.E.R.), is a village and parish in a purely agricultural district. It is famous through its connection with the Chauncy family, who resided at Ardeley Bury for many generations; one of them, Sir Henry Chauncy, was the author of a well-known history of Hertfordshire. The family monument is outside of the church of St. Lawrence, some existing portions of which date from the thirteenth century. The roofs of nave and aisles are noticeable for the angels which they bear, of Tudor character; visitors should observe, too, the early window in the restored chancel. Ardeley Bury, in the days of Sir Henry Chauncy, was an Elizabethan manor-house dating from about the year 1580, surrounded by a moat; it was almost entirely rebuilt of brick in 1815-20, when it became a castellated, imposing mansion. The manor of Erdeley was owned by a succession of Saxon kings until Athelstan bestowed it upon the church of St. Paul, London, as recorded in Dugdale’s Monasticon Anglicanum; it was of the Dean and Chapter that the Chauncys rented their estate. The river Beane rises near here. A stroll around Ardeley and Ardeley Bury leads the visitor into some of the quietest spots to be found in the county. The windmill on the hill above Cromer, near by, is useful as a landmark when threading the many winding lanes in the neighbourhood.

Arkley (1 mile W. from High Barnet) consists chiefly of a few small houses at a spot once called Barnet Common. The view is extensive in every direction, the village (strictly speaking the chapelry) lying on high ground. The chapel of St. Peter was erected in 1840, the style being a variety of Low Gothic; a chancel (E.E.) was added in 1898, and has a good groined roof.

Ash, river; see Introduction, Section VI.

Ashbrook consists of a few cottages and a beer-shop, 1 mile N.E. from St. Ippollit’s village, and midway between Hitchin and Stevenage Stations, G.N.R.

Ashridge is in a beautifully undulating district, immediately N. of Berkhampstead Common, 1 mile E. from Aldbury Church and about 2 miles E. from Tring Station, L.&N.W.R. The present house, the seat of Earl Brownlow, stands in a park of about 1,000 acres, well known for the deer which are kept there; it was built by the first Earl of Bridgewater, or rather by his architect, Wyatt, in 1808-14. It is a huge structure, its greatest width being 1,000 feet; conspicuous portions are the turreted centre, some good arched doorways and the large Gothic porch. The site was formerly occupied by the palace of Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Cornwall, and by the monastery which he built, adjoining the palace, for the monks of the Order of Bonhommes, an Order which he himself brought to this country from France. The earl died here, but his bones were subsequently removed to Hailes Abbey in Gloucestershire. The house contains some fine pictures, including, in addition to works by modern masters, Rubens’ “Death of Hippolytus,” Luini’s “Holy Family” and Titian’s “Three Cæsars”. In the chapel is a fine brass to John Swynstede, Prebendary of Lincoln, 1395. It was brought here from Edlesborough Church.

Ashwell is a village of considerable size on the Cambridgeshire border. The village is 2½ miles N.W. from Ashwell Station, G.N.R. The parish is very ancient, and is believed to have been the site of a British settlement and of a Roman station. The former theory is considered proved by the existing entrenchments, S.W. from the village, called Arbury Banks; the latter theory is supported by the fact that very many Roman relics, especially coins, have been discovered in the neighbourhood. That it was formerly a place of importance has been mentioned in the Introduction (Section V.); it was a town in Norman times, and held four fairs each year. The Rhee, a tributary of the Cam, rises in this village, at a spot surrounded by ash trees, and to this fact the parish is thought to owe its name. When Sir H. Rider Haggard was at Ashwell recently he was unable to say much for its agricultural prosperity and outlook; but in Chauncy’s day the district produced “all sorts of excellent Grain, especially Barley, which has greatly encouraged the trade of Malting in this Borrough”. The same writer mentions the stone quarry, from which he tells as that several neighbouring churches had been built or repaired. The Church of St. Mary the Virgin is mostly E.E. and is conspicuous for its spire-topped western tower, 176 feet high, being equal to the length of the church. Note (1) the large ambry in the S. aisle, once the lady-chapel, where is also a fragmentary reredos; (2) the curious inscriptions on the inner side of the tower walls, mostly undecipherable, one of which refers to the plague that attacked the town in the fourteenth century; (3) the really fine oaken pulpit, dating from the year 1627. There was formerly a small monastic house in the town, a cell to Westminster Abbey. From the village it is an open, breezy walk N. to Ashwell Common or S.E. to Ashwell Field, between the village and the station.

Aspenden (1 mile S.W. from Buntingford Station, G.E.R.) may be reached from the Old North Road by turning to the left before entering Buntingford. It is a small, quiet, unimportant village; but much of it is picturesque and interesting. Readers will remember that Macaulay was at school here, and that it was the birthplace of Seth Ward, mathematician and bishop, a contemporary and antagonist of Thomas Hobbes. The church is a flint structure,—a conglomeration of many styles. Notable features are the Easter sepulchre in the N. wall of chancel, the Norman window close to it, the piscina, ambry and credence table, discovered during the restoration of the church by Sir A. W. Blomfield in 1873. There are also memorial windows to members of the Lushington family, and an altar tomb, under a canopy of marble, to “Sir Robert Clyfford” (d. 1508), who built the church porch in 1500, and to his wife Elizabeth. The tomb bears brass effigies of these worthies, which were once in the Church of St. Michael, Cornhill, but were brought to Aspenden at the time of the fire of London. The aisle (S.) was built by Sir Ralph Jocelyn in 1478. This Sir Ralph was lord of the manor; he is remembered in history for his sally against Thomas Nevill, when that adventurer attempted to rescue Henry VI. from the Tower. He was twice Lord Mayor of London (1464 and 1476). He died in 1478 and was buried at Sawbridgeworth.

Aston (2¼ miles N.E. from Knebworth Station, G.N.R.) has an ancient church restored in 1883. There is E.E. work in parts of nave and chancel, but other portions are largely Perp., especially the tower, which is embattled. The alabaster reredos and several memorial windows are worth notice; nor should visitors overlook the brass at the foot of the chancel steps to one John Kent, his wife and ten children. This worthy died in 1592; he was a servant of Edward VI., Mary and Elizabeth. The village is scattered upon a hill a little W. from the river Beane, and dates from Saxon times. The manor was once owned by three men under the protection of Archbishop Stigand; afterwards by the Abbot of Reading. It fell to the Crown at the Dissolution, like so many other properties.

Aston Bury is a fine manor house of red brick, about ¾ mile S. from the village, formerly the property of the Boteler family. The prospect from the N. windows is a noble one, the district being varied and undulating.

Aston End, a hamlet 1 mile N.W. from Aston, may be reached from Stevenage Station, G.N.R., about 2½ miles. There is little here of interest, but the neighbourhood is very pleasant and largely agricultural.

Astrope Hamlet (½ mile E. from Puttenham) is midway between the village of Long Marston and the Aylesbury Canal. It is close to the Bucks border.

Astwick Farm is 2 miles N.W. from Hatfield Station, G.N.R.

Attimore Hall is 1½ mile S.W. from Welwyn Station, G.N.R.

Aubrey Camp (¾ mile S.W. from Redbourn) is conjectured to be the site of an early British encampment.

Austage End lies in the parish of King’s Walden, in a purely agricultural district.

Ayot Green is about ½ mile S.E. from and in the parish of Ayot St. Peter’s (q.v.).

Ayot St. Lawrence (2½ miles N.E. from Wheathampstead Station and about the same distance N.W. from Ayot Station, G.N.R.) has a new and an old church. The former is in Ayot Park, and was designed by Revett in a classical style. Note (1) the Eastern portico, with colonnade on either side; (2) the memorial to Sir Lionel Lyde, Bart. (d. 1791), and to the architect of the church (d. 1804). The earlier structure, still in ruins near the middle of the village, was Dec. of an early period, with several singular features; the tower, however, was Perp. “The Windows ... have been adorn’d with curious Pictures, in stained and painted Glass, beyond many other Churches.” The village has at different times been styled Eye, Aiot, Great Aiot, and Ayot St. Lawrence, and was a parcel of the property of Harold Godwin. Ayot House, standing in a beautiful park of 200 acres, was once the property and residence of Sir William Parr, brother to Catherine Parr, Queen of Henry VIII. A room in an older building in the rear of the present mansion was once, according to local tradition, the prison of Catherine Parr. There are shoes at Ayot House which belonged to Anne Boleyn and a hat of Henry VIII.

Ayot St. Peter’s (¼ mile N. from Ayot Station, G.N.R.) lies in a pretty district watered by the rivers Maran and Lea. The village is small, but has a commodious Parish Room, containing a small library. There was a mill here in the time of the Great Survey, the rent of which was three shillings and 200 eels from the mill-pool per annum. A church, bearing “a short spire erected upon the tower,” stood on the hill-top in Chauncy’s day; in 1751 an octagonal structure of red brick was built by the rector (Dr. Freeman) some distance from the village. This church was demolished in 1862 and a new one built upon its site; in 1874 this was in turn destroyed by lightning, and in 1875 the present church of St. Peter, E.E. in style, was erected much nearer to the village. It contains a very fine pulpit, carved by Miss Bonham, of Norwood, upon which the figures of SS. Alban and Helen are conspicuous among others. There are several memorial windows, tastefully designed, one of which, to the memory of Mrs. I. A. Robinson, was designed by the architect (J. P. Seddon). A delightful stroll may be taken from the village, westwards to Wheathampstead or Lamer Park, or northwards to Codicote or Kimpton. Nightingales are plentiful in the neighbourhood; the numerous thickets, dense and secluded, affording excellent shelter to this shy songster.

Baas Hill is ¾ mile W. from Broxbourne Station, G.E.R.

Babb’s Green (nearly midway between Mardock and Widford Station, G.E.R.) is a small hamlet.

Baker’s Grove is 1½ miles S.W. from Stevenage Station, G.N.R.