Hadham Ford (3 miles E. from Standon Station, G.E.R.) is on the river Ash, 1 mile S.W. from

Hadham (Little) formerly Hadham Parva. The parish enjoys considerable historic importance through its connection with the Capel family, Earls of Essex. The present earl owns large properties in the neighbourhood, and has the title of Baron of Hadham. The church stands between the village and the river, and is widely known for its fine S. porch of timber, which it possibly owes to the proximity of Essex, in which county such porches are comparatively common. The building is mostly E.E., probably late twelfth century, but the tower, embattled and pinnacled, is Perp. (circa 1380). Note (1) brass to Rd. Waren, a rector of Great Hadham (circa 1470); (2) brass to a knight, his wife and daughters (circa 1485); (3) Perp. chancel screen of oak; (4) on S. side of chancel, memorial stone to “Arthur Lord Capel, Baron of Hadham, who was murder’d for his loyalty to King Charles the First, March the 9th, 1648”. This was the Lord Capel whose heart was preserved in a silver box and given to Charles II. at the Restoration, the earl having wished his heart to be “buried with his master”. The chancel was restored by Sir A. W. Blomfield in 1885. Hadham Hall (½ mile E. from the church) is late Elizabethan, and has a magnificent corridor extending the entire length of the house (135 feet) with finely mullioned windows. Little Hadham Place (½ mile W. from the church) is prettily situated. The manor of Hadham Parva formed part of the revenue of Saxon Kings until King Edgar gave it to the monks of Ely.

Haileybury College (2 miles S.E. from Hertford) was founded at Hertford in 1805 as the training college of the East India Company. It is now one of our most famous public schools. The house, conspicuous from the S.E., stands on high ground, and commands beautiful views over the valley of the Lea, and, looking S.E., the neighbourhood of Epping Forest. Note (1) the noble chestnut avenue towards the W. entrance; (2) the great size of the quadrangle; (3) the beautifully decorated chapel (by A. W. Blomfield), surmounted by a lofty dome; (4) the library, containing some good portraits of former masters, one of which, Canon Bradby, was painted by Herkomer.

Hall’s Green (4 miles N.E. from Stevenage) is on the hillside, 1 mile S.E. from Weston church. A little farther S. note the fine view over Cromer and Cottered, with windmill to the left.

Hammond Street is between Cheshunt Common and Flamstead End. The nearest Station is Cheshunt, G.E.R., 2½ miles S.E.

Hammond’s End, on the outskirts of Rothamstead Park, is in the centre of the pleasant varied scenery between the M.R. and the St. Albans-Dunstable road. The nearest station is Redbourn, 1¼ mile S.W.

Handside (Upper and Lower) is the name of two hamlets in Lemsford parish, both near Brocket Hall Park. Hatfield (about 3 miles S.) is the nearest station, G.N.R.

Hare Street.—There are two places in the county bearing this name: (1) a small hamlet partly in Ardeley and partly in Cottered parish; (2) a large village on the Cambridge Road, 2 miles E. from Buntingford. The village has several quaint old cottages, and is by no means unpicturesque; but it contains little of historic importance. It affords, however, a good centre from which to visit several old and interesting churches (described elsewhere in these pages); Layston, Wyddial, Anstey, and Great and Little Hormead being all within a short walk.

Harmer Green (½ mile N.E. from Welwyn Station) is a small hamlet N. from the Maran Valley.

Harpenden is well worth a visit and may be easily reached from St. Pancras (24 miles), or from King’s Cross by changing at Hatfield. Visitors wishing to inspect the church, or to ramble through the large village, beautifully situated at the N. end of Harpenden Common, should be careful not to choose the day of the annual races, the Friday before Epsom week. The church was rebuilt (except the tower) in 1862, in E. Dec. style; prior to 1859 the old structure had been a chapel-of-ease to Wheathampstead (3 miles E.). It probably dated from say 1140 (temp. Stephen) and was originally cruciform and late Norman. The first tower is believed to have been destroyed by fire about 1470, after which the present W. tower was built. Many alterations were made during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; the original Norman clerestory, in particular, being superseded by one of Low Perp. Note (1) Norman font; (2) brass to William Cressye Esq. (d. 1558) and Grace (Johnson) his wife (d. 1571); (3) brass to William Annabull (d. 1456), and Isabella his wife. Chauncy quotes an inscription to one William Seabrooke (d. 1462) and Joanna his wife, which is of some interest from the fact that the name of Seabrooke is common to-day in this part of Herts; (4) E. window of stained Munich glass; (5) window in N. transept to the family of the late Sir J. B. Lawes of Rothamstead. Rothamstead (1 mile S.W.), formerly the seat of the above, is in a finely wooded park. Erected about 1470, it has been almost rebuilt at different times. From the grand entrance, under the clock tower, there is a fine view looking S. There is an annual Flower Show in the park. Harpenden Bury is 1 mile N.W. from Rothamstead, on the river Ver.

Hatching Green is a hamlet on Harpenden Common, 1 mile S.W. from the station, M.R.

HATFIELD may be visited by fast train from King’s Cross, G.N.R. (17 miles), the station being opposite the W. gates of the park. The older parts of the town lie on the western slope of a hill close to the railway; at the top stand the church and portions of the old palace, beyond which, in the park, stands the fine mansion of the Cecils. The town is of great antiquity; the Saxon Kings, who called it Heathfield (the Hetfelle of Domesday Book), owned the manor until it was given by Edgar to the monks of Ely. After Ely had been converted into a bishopric by Henry I., the bishops made Hatfield one of their several residences, which gave rise to its former name of Bishop’s Hatfield. Their palace became a royal home during the reign of Henry VIII., and was at one time occupied by his children Edward, Mary and Elizabeth. It was to this old palace that Elizabeth was brought from the Tower soon after her removal from Ashridge; whilst here she was in the custody of Sir Thomas Pope, who treated her with kindness not always shown even to royal prisoners. The story of her reception of the news that she was Queen, of her first Council, held here in the palace, and of her subsequent journey to London, has been too often narrated to need repetition. Immediately after her death James I. paid a visit to Theobalds Park, and had an interview with Sir Robert Cecil, a younger son of Lord Burleigh, whom he presently created first Earl of Salisbury. The exchange by the King of his manor of Hatfield for that of Theobalds has been mentioned in the Introduction (Section X). The King promised to build for Sir Robert a new house at Hatfield; the work was carried out on a magnificent scale, and was completed sometime in 1611. The new house stood a little E. from the old palace. To this house James paid an early visit; one of its most stately apartments is called “King James’s Room”.

Hatfield House is still a fine example of early Jacobean architecture. To be appreciated it must certainly be seen: any adequate account of its architecture, its history and its treasures would fill such a volume as this. In shape it is a parallelogram, about 280 feet long by 70 feet wide, with two wings on the S. front. The centre between the two wings is Italian Renaissance in style; the central tower, pierced by the great gate, being of rich Elizabethan design. On the face of the third storey of the tower are the armorial bearings of the Earl of Salisbury. This S. front and the two wings enclose on three sides a quadrangle about 130 feet wide by 100 feet deep, beautifully laid out with flower beds and lawns. The extremities of each wing take the shape of square, three storeyed towers, surmounted by cupolas 20 feet high. Between the wings runs a basement arcade, of eight arches on Doric pilasters, four on each side of the gateway below the armorial bearings. The entire floor above the arcade is occupied by the long gallery, 160 feet by 20 feet, and 16 feet high. At the W. end of this gallery is the library, at the E. end is King James’s Room. The aspect of the house from the N. is not so imposing; but there is a noble view over the grounds from the N. terrace, and the central clock tower is a conspicuous object from the most distant spots in the park. The library, graced by Zucchero’s portrait of Robert, Earl of Salisbury, contains one of the most valuable collections of MSS. in the country, but the State Papers have recently been lodged in a room of greater security. A few of the treasures of these two rooms may be mentioned: (1) more than 12,000 autograph letters of the early Cecils; (2) the Diary of the “great Lord Burleigh”; (3) the forty-two articles of Edward VI. with his autograph attached; (4) a vellum MS. with miniature of Henry VII.; (5) the Norfolk correspondence; (6) the Council Book of Mary Tudor; (7) early MS. of the Chronicle of William of Malmesbury; (8) autograph MS. by Ascham.

King James’s Room has three fine oriel windows and is profusely decorated. The great chimney-piece of marble mosaic, 12 feet wide, is supported on black Doric columns, and surmounted by a statue in bronze of James. Note the costly candelabra and gilt-framed furniture.

The Grand Staircase is hung with portraits of many Cecils, by Lely, Vandyck, Kneller, Reynolds and other masters. Note the huge dimensions of the carved balustrade; the strange rustic figures portrayed thereon; and the lions grasping shields bearing heraldic devices. There are five landings.

Among other apartments the following should be visited: (1) The Chapel, with its fine Flemish windows representing scriptural stories, marble altar-piece, and open stalls; (2) the Winter Dining Room, looking out upon the N. terrace, about 30 feet square; this room contains many valuable pictures, including Wilkie’s Duke of Wellington, Van Somer’s James I. and Charles I., and Kneller’s Peter the Great; (3) Great Banqueting Hall; (4) Summer Dining Room, near the foot of the great staircase; the bust of Burleigh, in white marble, is above the door; (5) the Armoury, full of treasures “rich and rare,” suits of armour, relics of the Spanish Armada, various arms, etc. Other pictures in various parts of the house include (1) William III., and Lady Ranelagh, by Kneller; (2) half-length of Elizabeth with jewelled head-dress and grotesquely embroidered gown; Mildred Coke, mother of the first earl; Thomas Cecil, Earl of Exeter: all by Zucchero; (3) fine whole-length of Mary, first Marchioness of Salisbury, by Reynolds.

The Park is the largest in the county, being about 9 miles in circumference; it is undulating and beautifully wooded. There are some superb avenues. Of Queen Elizabeth’s oak, N.E. from the N. terrace, little is left saving a portion of trunk, railed round; but the Lion Oak, between the house and the great W. gates, still puts forth leaves in its season. The maze close to the house is only less famous than that at Hampton Court.

The Church of St. Ethelreda is cruciform, largely Dec. and one of the largest in the county. A Norman arch in the S. transept is thought to be a portion of the original structure. It was completely restored, indeed almost rebuilt, in 1872. The nave is 102 feet by 20 feet; the chancel about 40 feet by 20 feet. There are N. and S. porches; the former looks almost directly upon the great gate-house of the old palace. The most important among many features of interest is the—

Salisbury Chapel, N. side of chancel, from which it is divided by an arcade of three arches on Ionic granite columns. The whole is enclosed by beautifully designed iron gates, the work, probably, of an unknown Italian. Note the marble wainscotting, and the finely conceived and executed allegorical paintings and mosaics on walls and roof. At the E. side, on a slab of black marble supported by four kneeling figures in white marble (representing the cardinal virtues) lies the recumbent effigy of Sir Robert Cecil, first Earl of Salisbury, Lord High Treasurer of England (d. 1612). The effigy is in robes, with official staff in hand. Beneath the slab is a skeleton in white marble. Note also in this chapel mezzo-relievo effigy to William Curll, Esq. (d. 1617), with inscription, almost illegible, to the effect that he was a most Christian knight who died in hope of a joyful resurrection.

On the opposite (S.) side of the chancel is the Brockett Chapel, containing monuments to the Reades and Brocketts of Brocket Hall (see below). Among them note (1) two recumbent female figures, above them the arms of the Brockett family and beneath an inscription to Dame Elizabeth Brockett (d. 1612) and an epitaph to Dame Agnes Saunders (d. 1588); (2) medallion of a female by Rysbrack (1760); (3) bust of Sir James Reade, Bart. (d. 1701), and of Sir John Reade, Bart. (d. 1711); (4) helmet of Sir John Brockett on wall. There are piscinæ in the chancel and N. transept, both discovered during restoration. The reredos, alabaster and mosaic, has a fine crucifixion group, with SS. Alban and Etheldreda on either side, carved by Earp, who also carved the pulpit of Caen stone. Note the beautiful clustered shafts of marble on the font of Tisbury stone, the gift of the late Marchioness of Salisbury.

Three miles N.N.W. is Brocket Hall. The Great North Road skirts the park on the E. and the river Lea flows past the house from N.W. to S.E. The present edifice was designed by Paine for Sir Matthew Lamb, Bart., whose son, Sir Peniston Lamb, Bart., became Viscount Melbourne in 1780. By this nobleman the Prince Regent was sometimes entertained here, and here, as stated in the Introduction, Lord Palmerston died in 1865. The drawing-room and grand staircase have always been admired, but, as a whole, the house is large and stately rather than beautiful. Elizabeth is said to have visited here before she became Queen, and in the park, as at Hatfield, an oak is shown as the one under which she loved to sit. From the Hall the most charming walks may be taken in any direction; e.g., through the park S.E. to Lemsford Mill, or S.W. to Cromer Hyde, N.W. to Water End, or N.E. to Ayot Green. More charming still is the ramble—permission should be requested—beside the winding Lea towards Old Marford and Wheathampstead.

Hatfield Hyde (1¾ mile N.E. from Hatfield) is a hamlet in a pretty district, with the river Lea and Hatfield Park a little S.

Haultwick lies 3 miles W. from the Old North Road; it is a hamlet 1 mile N. from Little Munden. The nearest station is Braughing, G.E.R. (about 3½ miles E.), passing the S. side of Hamel’s Park.

Heavensgate (2 miles W. from Redbourn Station, M.R.) consists of a few cottages in the centre of a district of small hamlets. The walk (2 miles N.) to Flamstead through Trowley Bottom is pleasant.

HEMEL HEMPSTEAD.—Visitors from London should book to Boxmoor (L.&N.W.R.) and walk N.E. over the little common or take the motor-bus through Marlowes to the town (1½ mile). From St. Albans it is a pleasant walk by way of Gorhambury and the village of Leverstock Green; from Redbourn it is but a few minutes’ journey (M.R.). The town, until recently an old “Bailiwick,” is on a hill, with central market place, town hall and corn exchange. The church is very ancient; it is cruciform, of flint and clunch stone. The oldest portions can hardly be less than 750 years old; the nave, arcade and W. doorway are fine examples of the period. Note (1) groined roof and Dec. windows S. side of chancel; (2) transept roof, fourteenth century, restored in 1880; (3) nave roof, fifteenth century, restored 1885; (4) great height of octagonal, leaded spire, conspicuous for miles round (see illustration). Among monuments note (1) figured brass, representing an armed man, to Robert Albyn and Margaret his wife (1480); the inscription I transcribe from Chauncy:—

Hemel Hempstead, according to Norden, owed its name (Heanhamsted) to the high hemp-land on the E. side of the town. Offa, King of the Mercians, gave six houses at Hemelhamstede to the Abbey of St. Albans; but the remainder of the vill remained in the hands of Saxon Kings until it was given to Earl Moreton by William I. The entry in Domesday Book is in this case unusually interesting; the property held by Earl Moreton is thus described: “Earl Moreton held Hamelhamstede in Treung hundred, it was rated for 10 hides ... there are two Frenchmen born, with thirteen Bordars, ... there are eight Servants, and four Mills of seven and thirty Shillings and four Pence Rent by the Year, and three hundred Eels wanting five and twenty, Meadow four Carucates, Common of Pasture for the Cattle, and two Shillings Rent by the Year, Wood to feed one thousand and two hundred Hogs; in the whole value it is worth two and twenty Pounds, when he received it five and twenty Pounds, and Rent in the time of King Edward (the Confessor). Two were Brethren, Men of Earl Lewin, they held this mannor.” From Priory Hill, W. from the church, a fine view may be obtained of the town below and the cornfields beyond. Bury Mill is on the river Gade, at the foot of the hill. Gadesbridge Park is on the left as you pass from High Street to Piccott’s End; the House is on a beautifully wooded slope, W. from the Gade; it is the residence of Sir Astley Paston Paston Cooper, Bart., J.P., etc. A good deal of straw plait is still made by the women of this neighbourhood.

Heronsgate (3 miles W. from Rickmansworth) is a hamlet on the Bucks border, with a small chapel-of-ease to St. Peter’s, Mill End, 1¼ mile E. The building is modern, with one window of stained glass.

HERTFORD, the county town, is of immemorial antiquity. The origin of the name has elicited much learned conjecture, and Hertford is one of several places held to be the Durocobrivis mentioned by Antonine. It is the Herudsford (i.e. red ford) of the Venerable Bede. That it was a town of some importance on the river Lea even in the days of the Trinobantes seems indisputable. Norden conjectured that the true name of the town was Hartford, so called because in Saxon times, when the surrounding country was densely wooded, the harts crossed the river by a natural ford at this spot. However this may be, the old borough seal, three or four centuries ago, bore as a device a hart in shallow water. The rivers Rib, Beane, and Maran all unite with the Lea in the immediate neighbourhood. Some reference may be here made to the doings of Alfred the Great in this neighbourhood. By putting together what is recorded by William of Malmesbury, Henry of Huntingdon, Asser and others we learn that in the twenty-third year of Alfred’s reign the Danes infested the Thames with their ships, sailed up the Lea in the lighter of their crafts, and built a fort about 20 miles from London, at or near what is now the town of Ware. Presently, in the course of their many foraging excursions, they sailed farther up the river towards Hertford, stripped the people in the town and burnt down many houses. They afterwards established a garrison near the town. Alfred brought his army down to the river side the following year and made a careful survey of the Danish fort and of the character and position of their ships. He is said to have passed from place to place in a boat, drawn by a horse, and to have carefully ascertained the depth of the water at different points. The precise nature of his subsequent operations is not well known, but he is said to have diverted the course of the river, to have erected a dam (Shass) at Blackwall, and by these means to have grounded the Danish fleet. The Danes held a treaty, and eventually withdrew into Cambridgeshire and Gloucestershire; the Londoners came down to the scene of Alfred’s ingenuity and destroyed or appropriated the Danish ships.

Of the castle, built by Edward the Elder in 905, there still remain several large fragments of an embattled wall, partly Norman, and a postern gate. Of its history only a few leading facts can be mentioned here. William I. entrusted it to the keeping of Peter de Valoignes; it was besieged by Louis the Dauphin, and capitulated on the Feast of St. Nicholas in 1216; it was granted, together with the town, to John of Gaunt, Earl of Richmond, in whose time Kings John of France and David of Scotland were prisoners within its walls, and after the Earl had been created Duke of Lancaster he held a court in the castle for three weeks. It was the last prison house of Isabella, widow of Edward II. Henry IV. gave the castle to his wife Joan; Henry V. to his wife Katherine of France; and Henry VI. to his wife Margaret of Anjou. Elizabeth and James I. are both said to have visited this castle. Charles I., on 3rd May, in the sixth year of his reign, transferred it to William Earl of Salisbury. It was seized by the Parliament during the Great Rebellion.

The Roman Catholic Church in St. John Street stands on or near the site of the old Priory, founded during the reign of William I. by Ralph Limesy and by him conveyed to the Abbot of St. Albans, who placed here six Benedictine monks under Ralph, who became their first prior. The Priory was dissolved in the twenty-sixth year of Henry VIII.; but the church was rebuilt by Thomas Willis in 1629. It was “demolisht by order of the Bishop of Lincoln” towards the end of the seventeenth century. The church of All Saints, on high ground E. from the town, was destroyed by fire in 1891, when almost everything perished. It was immediately rebuilt as a Perp. structure of Runcorn stone, and consecrated in 1895. In the main, the plan of the old church has been followed, but the aisles are longer than formerly; note the fine clerestoried nave of five bays, and hexagonal N. porch. The old building contained monuments to Sir John Harrison, Kt., Farmer of Customs to Charles I. (d. 1669);[4] to Isabel Newmarch, maid of honour to Isabella, daughter of Charles VI. of France and second wife to Richard II.; and to Johannes Prest, “porter” (janitor) to Katherine, wife of Henry V. The two latter monuments were removed more than 200 years ago. Note the beautiful chestnut trees in the avenue near the church, and the many quaint epitaphs on the tombstones in the extensive graveyard. The Church of St. Andrew is modern; it occupies the site of an older Perp. edifice, originally founded before the Conquest. Close by in the market place is the Shire Hall, a large brick building of “questionable shape” erected towards the close of the eighteenth century. Malting, brewing and general trade in corn and its products form the larger part of the industries of Hertford. Between this town and Ware is the spot where Cromwell put a summary period to the insurrection of the “Levellers” by shooting a ringleader named Arnald.

Hertford Heath. (See Amwell, Little.)

Hertingfordbury may be visited from Hertford, the station (G.N.R.) being 1½ mile S.W. The village is pleasantly situated on the river Maran, on the S. confines of Panshanger Park. The church, partly rebuilt by Earl Cowper in 1890-3, was founded during the fifteenth century. It contains little of architectural interest, but the monuments are numerous: (1) marble mosaic altar tomb to Sir W. Harrington, with alabaster effigies of himself and wife and inscription in rhyme; (2) slab to Thomas Ellis (d. 1608) and Grace his wife (d. 1612); (3) recumbent effigy in marble to Lady Calvert, wife of Sir George Calvert, Kt., who died in 1622; (4) to Dr. Jonathan Browne, Dean of Hertford (d. 1643); (5) very ancient brass inscription beneath chancel arch to two daughters of Robert de Louthe, and one of similar age to Robert de Louthe and his wife. The Cowper Chapel, N. side of chancel, contains many monuments to that family, particularly a fine alto-relievo by Roubeliac to Spencer Cowper (d. 1727), chief Justice of Chester in 1717.

Hexton (about 6 miles N.W. from Hitchin Station, G.N.R.) lies on a tongue of the county surrounded W., N. and E. by Bedfordshire. The Church of St. Faith, W. from the village, was rebuilt, with the exception of the embattled tower, in 1824, as a Perp. edifice. The St. Nicholas Chapel, N. side of chancel, takes the place of the chapel bearing the same name in the former church. There is a memorial to Peter Taverner (d. 1601), who was, I suppose, father to that Francis Taverner, Esq., who compiled a record of the antiquities of Hexton and set it in the chapel. Little space can be spared for excerpts in this volume, but the details which Taverner brought together are so interesting that I transcribe a part of them from a copy in my possession:—

“Near unto the Roman military Way called Icknild or Ikenild-Street, which passeth by this Parish upon a very high Hill is to be seen a warlike Fort of great Strength, and ancient Works, which seemeth to have been a Summer standing Camp of the Romans: And near it on the Top of another Hill called Wayting-Hill, a Hillock was raised up, such as the Romans were wont to rear for Souldiers slain, wherein many Bones have been found. The Saxons call’d this Fort Ravensburgh, from a City in Germany, whereof the Duke of Saxony beareth the Title of Lord at this Day. And this Town, which the Britains perhaps call’d Hesk of Reed, which doth abound much in this Place; the Sazons call’d Heckstanes-Tune, that is the Town of Reed and Stones, if not rather Hockstanes-Tune, that is, the Town of Mire and Stones, for old Englishmen, call deep Mire, Hocks: Or may be from Grates set in Rivers or Waters before Floodgates, which are call’d Hecks; neither is it unlikely but that the Danes made some Use of this Fort, for a Parcel of Ground near thereunto is called Dane-Furlong to this Day. Some of these Conjectures may be true, but this is certain, that Offa, a Saxon King, of the Mertians about 795, founded the Monastery of St. Albans, in Memory of St. Alban, and that Sexi an honourable and devout Dane (as it is in the Chartulary of the Abby) about Anno Dom. 1030, gave to the said Monastery the Town of Heckstane-Tune and the Abbot of St. Albans held this Mannor in the time of King William the Conqueror.

“This Vill at that time did lie in the Half-hundred of Hiz, and from that time during the Space of 510 Years, the Abbots of St. Albans were Lords of the Mannors now call’d Hexton. They were also Patrons of this Church (dedicated to St. Faith, which Saint had her Statue erected over a Fountain near this Church Yard, call’d St. Faith’s Well) for John de Hertford, the 23d Abbot, did appropriate this Church of Hexstoneston to the said Monastery. The Cellarers of which Monastery kept the Court Leet and the Court Baron, and received the Rents of the Demeasnes and Customary Tenants of this Mannor; and the Sacrists had the disposing of the Profits of the Rectory.

“The said Fort, which the common People call Ravensborough Castle, is cast up in the Form of an Oval, and containeth sixteen Acres, one Rood, and fifteen Poles of Ground, and is naturally strengthened with mighty deep and very steep Combs, which the inhabitants call Lyn.

“The Town of Hexton is seated at the Foot of the Mountains, whence issue many Springs of Water; the Mountains are a continued Rock of Stone.”

High Cross (3 miles N. from Ware) is a village and parish on the Old North Road. It has a modern Dec. church of grey stone, containing several good stained-glass windows, but little of architectural interest. Youngsbury, a beautiful but small park, S. from the village, has a fine Georgian residence (C. B. Giles-Puller, Esq.). The little river Rib skirts the park on the S. side. There is a small hamlet of the same name 1¼ mile S.W. from Radlett Station (M.R.).

High Street is a small hamlet on the Cambridge Road, near the river Quin. Braughing Station (G.E.R.) is 1¼ mile S.

High Wych (2 miles N. from Harlow Station, Essex) has an E.E. church, built in 1861; the marble reredos, finely worked, was added in 1871. The trade in malt is large for so small a place.

Highley Hill (1 mile S.W. from Ashwell Station, G.N.R.) is on the Cambridgeshire border.

Hinxworth, formerly Hamsteworde and Henxworth (4 miles N. from Baldock), is close to the Bedfordshire border. The parish is very ancient. The church of St. Nicholas was erected about 1400 on the site of an earlier structure. It is a mixture of several styles, partly restored in 1881. Note (1) two canopied Perp. niches in S.E. angle of nave, where was formerly the lady-chapel; (2) brass to John Lambard, a master of the Mercers’ Company (d. 1487), and Anne his wife; (3) oak roof in chancel, added in 1892; (4) rood-stairs. William I. divided the vill between three Normans, Peter de Valoignes, Hardwin de Scalers, and William Earl of Ewe, who owned much other property in Hertfordshire. The vill was subsequently divided into two manors, one of which belonged to William de Cantilupe, a Steward and Councillor to King John, and the other, during the reign of Henry VII., to John Lambard mentioned above. This manor was called Pulter; and the old house (now Hinxworth Place, ½ mile S. from the village) was once inhabited by some Cistercian monks of the Monastery of Pipewell (Northants). Note the clunch walls and mullioned windows, in one of which, designed in stained glass, are the armorial bearings of three former owners. Two hundred years ago the village consisted of thirty-five dwellings, three of which were almshouses.

HITCHIN is an ancient town, full of interest, 32 miles N. from King’s Cross, G.N.R. It was formerly called Hitche, very probably from the little river Hiz, which rises at Well Head, about 1½ mile S.W. from the centre of the town. Roman coins and pottery, and even prehistoric implements have been found in great quantities in the neighbourhood, and there are traces of a prehistoric lake bed, to the S.E. The Priory, immediately S. (R. H. J. Delmé-Radcliffe, Esq., J.P.), occupies the site of a Carmelite monastery and Conventual church founded in the reign of Edward II.; and the Biggin Almshouses, close to the church, still preserve some of the old fabric of the Gilbertine Nunnery, founded in the reign of Edward III. The Church of St. Mary (formerly St. Andrew), just off the N.E. corner of the market-place, is thought to be the largest parish church in the county, the other claimant for that honour being St. Peters, Great Berkhampstead. The whole structure is embattled. The square W. tower is of unusual size, but low in proportion. Entering by the fine old S. porch we notice the niches for statues, none of which remain, and the vaulted roof, badly battered and marred by—as is supposed—the zealous iconoclasts of Cromwell’s army. Opposite, over the N. porch, hangs a painting of the Adoration of the Magi, believed to be by Rubens; it was formerly over the communion table. The church has been restored at intervals since 1858; but the fine Perp. aisle-roofs still remain. The font, of Ketton stone, is ancient, and formerly had statues of the twelve Apostles in niches; these, however, have been mutilated almost beyond recognition; the beautiful oak canopy is new. Note the effigy in stone lying in the recess of the first window of the N. aisle, believed to be that of Bernard de Baliol, founder of the Preceptory of Knights Templars at Temple Dinsley (3 miles S.), and the mosaics of the reredos, representing the Last Supper, Christ and the woman of Samaria, Moses striking the rock, and other subjects from Scripture. The screens of carved oak, between the aisles and chancel aisles, are among the finest in the county. Memorials are numerous; some ancient brasses having been brought to light during restoration. Among the brasses are one (1) to John Beel, Margary his wife, and their eight children (1477); this is near the pulpit; (2) to James Hert, B.D. (d. 1498); (3) to John Pulter, a draper (d. 1421), and his wife Alice, the effigies almost obliterated; (4) to Nicholas Mattok, and his wife Elizabeth (d. 1485); this Nicholas was a fishmonger of London, and a merchant of the staple of Calais; (5) portion of a brass, near the chancel steps, to John Sperehawke, D.D., Canon of Wells (d. 1474).

Adjoining the W. end of the churchyard is Golden Square, once the residence of Eugene Aram, from which we may pass into Bancroft, one of the widest thoroughfares in the county. Close by is Tilehouse Street; the Baptist Chapel, on the left, some way up the street, was restored in 1894: it stands on the site of the building in which Bunyan preached; a chair which he gave is still shown in the vestry. It may here be mentioned that George Whitefield and George Fox are both known to have visited Hitchin during their missionary wanderings. A little farther W. is Mount Pleasant, thought to be the birthplace of George Chapman, the translator of Homer. That he finished his translation in this neighbourhood is matter of knowledge; but what is told of his family connections with Hitchin is little more than conjecture.

Between the town and the station, G.N.R., stands a modern church of red brick, dressed with Bath stone, E. Dec. in style. There are good oak stalls and a sedile in the chancel.

Hitchin was noted during the sixteenth century for its trade in wood and malt. There were at one time tan-yards beside the Hiz, and the buckle-makers of Bucklersbury gave that street its name. The malting-yards occupied much of the ground on both sides of Bancroft. The making of lavender water in the town is referred to in the Introduction.

Hockeril is now the E. suburb of Bishop’s Stortford, the bridge over the Stort, near the Old Black Lion, connecting it with the town. It has a modern Gothic church. The E. extremity of Hockeril is almost on the border line between Hertfordshire and Essex.

The stone figure to which Prior refers is no longer to be seen. At the S. end of the High Street, on the right when entering the town from Broxbourne, stands Rawdon House, an embattled Jacobean mansion of red brick, built by Sir Marmaduke Rawdon in 1622. It was restored in 1877, and the stucco with which it was formerly coated was removed. A tower, with cupola roof, is at the rear of the house, which is now a convent for Augustinian nuns.

The Church of St. Catherine, close to the site of the old Thatched House, but W. from the opposite side of the High Street, dates from 1732; the tower was added in 1888. It is a large building of red-brick, in mixed styles, with small windows of stained glass in the chancel. It is not interesting.

Hollesmore End (2 miles W. from Redbourn Station, M.R.) is a small hamlet.

Holwell is a village and parish transferred from Bedfordshire to Hertfordshire in 1897. It is about 1½ mile N.E. from Pirton (q.v.); the nearest station is Henlow, M.R., 2 miles N. The Church of St. Peter, very much restored, was originally Perp. There is a xii century holy water basin, and a very curious old brass to Robert Wodehouse, a priest (1515), with figures of two wodehowses (wild forest men) and of a chalice and paten.

Hook’s Cross (2 miles E. from Knebworth Station, G.N.R.) is a hamlet on the main road from Hertford to Stevenage. Frogmore Hall stands in a small park ½ mile E.; it is a large modern mansion of red brick and stone facings. The grounds are very picturesque, and are divided by the river Beane.

Hormead, Great (2½ miles E. from Buntingford), has a restored fifteenth century church, perhaps 1400-20, containing a brass to a benefactor, one William Delawood (1694) and a mural monument to Lieut.-Col. Stables, killed at Waterloo. The village is close to the river Quin, which flows between the church and Hare Street on the Cambridge Road.

Hormead, Little (½ mile S. from the above), has a quaint little Norman and E.E. church on the hill crest overlooking Hare Street. Leaving the Cambridge Road at the S. end of that village, and crossing the river Quin, the rounded arch of the Norman doorway on the N. side of the nave catches the eye as we approach the village. The door itself is partly of wrought iron work, seventeenth century; an engraving of it is in Cussans’ History of Hertfordshire. There is excellently preserved work in the Norman nave. It has been surmised that “Hormede” was formerly one vill, that it was divided soon after 1100, and the two churches built on the hill less than ½ mile apart. Ralph Baugiard and Eustace, Earl of Boulogne, together held the manor of “Hormede” at the time of the Great Survey, and the names Hormead Magna and Hormead Parva are of later origin.

Horse Shoes (½ a mile N. from Smallford Station, G.N.R.) is a hamlet in the parish of Colney Heath.

Howe Green, a small hamlet, is 1¼ mile S. from Cole Green Station, G.N.R. Pretty walks may be taken S. to Bedwell Park, or N.W. to the mill on the Lea, Rye Croft, and Mill Green.

Hunsdon (2 miles N.E. from Roydon Station, Essex) is a very ancient village. The E. Perp. church of flint is thought to date from 1400, and the N. porch of oak is probably coeval with the main structure. Note the finely carved Jacobean screen which divides the Cary Chapel in the S. transept from the nave, and, in the chapel, the imposing monument and alabaster effigies to Sir John Cary (d. 1617) and his wife. The monument is built into the wall; behind it is a rather long, but historically important inscription:—“Here resteth in Peace Sir John Cary, Knight, Baron of Hunsdon (being the fourth Son to the Right Honorable Henry Baron of Hunsdon) and the Lady Mary Hunsdon his Wife, Daughter to Leonard Hide of Throcking in the county of Hertford, Esq.; The Said Sir John Cary was sent to Barwick by the late Queen Elizabeth of Famous Memory, in the Year of our Lord, 1593, to be Marshall of the Town of Barwick, and Captain of Norham; afterwards he was made Governor of the said Town and Garrison of Barwick, and Lord Warden of the East Marches of England,... Scotland, and so he remained until he returned into England with the most famous King James, where he entered into the Possession of the Crown of England; and so having two Sons and two Daughters ended this transitory Life, in an assured Hope to rise again in Christ.” In the chancel windows are some white roses, and a badge of the House of York; note also the canopies in these windows, and the figures of Apostles in the W. window. On the N. wall of nave is a fine brass to James Gray, showing a man shooting at deer with a crossbow; this Gray was gamekeeper for thirty-five years at Hunsdon House. Bishop Ridley preached from the pulpit on several occasions.

Hunsdon House stands between the church and Gilston Park. During the reign of Edward IV., Sir John Oldhall “built here a fair House after the mode of a Castle ... which building, ’tis said, cost £7,222”. This would be an enormous sum of money in those days. The original structure had a high tower and large courtyard. Henry VIII. made the house a palace, and in so doing appears to have almost rebuilt it; it is known that his children were often here, as the King had a high opinion of Hertfordshire air. Queen Elizabeth gave the estate to Sir Henry Cary, Kt., her cousin, and created him Baron Hunsdon. The “palace” was surrounded by a moat, crossed by two bridges; the grand entrance and lofty clock tower, the outhouses and grounds are elaborately depicted in a print in Chauncy’s History. The present house was erected at the beginning of this century, partly on a fresh site, but some portions of what was the W. extremity of the old palace are built into the E. wing. Two fine Jacobean chimney-pieces still remain; but little else is left of the old Tudor home, and the moat has been levelled. The present house, however, is an imposing, even noble structure of red brick, and its position, backed by the grand old elms in the park, is very picturesque. N.E. stood Hunsdon Lodge, the hunting lodge of Queen Elizabeth.

Hunton Bridge is a pleasant little village at the meeting of the roads from Watford, King’s Langley, and St. Albans, on the Grand Junction Canal. The nearest station is King’s Langley (L.&N.W.R.), 1¼ mile N. There is a good modern inn and many pretty cottages, and folk in search of rest and quiet might journey farther and find less suitable retirement. The nearest church is at Langleybury (q.v.).

Ickleford, formerly Ickleton, is a village on the Roman Icknield Way, which at this spot fords the little river Hiz; hence its name. It is 2 miles N. from Hitchin. The church was restored in 1860; but portions of the ancient fabric have been carefully retained, and a small chapel added to the chancel. The tower is Norman, as are also part of the nave arcade and the S. doorway. The chancel arch, pointed, is finely carved; the stairs to the rood-loft still remain; there is a piscina in the chancel. Note brass to Thomas Somer and his wife (circa 1400). S. from the church is Ickleford Manor, in a small park, for some years the residence of Commander H. C. Dudley Ryder, R.N. It is not of historic interest.

Ippollitts or St. Ippolitts (2 miles S.E. from Hitchin) was formerly called Hippolits, Eppalets or Pallets, according to the taste of the speaker. It was thought by Norden to owe its name to Hippolits, a supposed Saint, who was very skilful in the treatment of horses. After the Saint’s death a shrine was placed to his honour in the parish church, and to this shrine near the high altar divers persons brought their ailing steeds to be healed by the attendant priest with the help of relics of the Saint. The relics were of efficacy commensurate with the gifts of those who desired the Saint’s blessing! “The horses,” says one writer, “were brought out of the North Street, through the North Gate, and the North Door of the Church, which was boarded on purpose to bring up the horses to the Altar.” The church was restored in 1878; it is of flint and rubble, and is now chiefly Perp. and Dec. with a few older portions. Note (1) ambry and double piscina in the chancel; (2) brass in N. transept to Robert Poydres (d. 1401); (3) brasses in chancel, with effigies, to the Hughes family, one of whom, Alice, was daughter of Thomas Bybsworth, “an ancient dweller in this parish”; she died 1594. There is a tumulus about 1 mile S.

Kelshall (2½ miles S.E. from Ashwell Station, G.N.R.) has a restored, but interesting church, dedicated to St. Faith, partly Perp. and partly Dec. Over the S. porch is a small chamber, and in the N. aisle is a recess, the nature of which is not quite understood, but it was probably used for the safe-keeping of banner-staves, crosses and other pre-Reformation ornaments. There is a brass with two effigies to “Rychard Adane and Maryon his Wyff” (d. 1400 and 1435 respectively). In the churchyard is an old sundial on the shaft of a stone cross. John Janeway, a young divine of astonishing spirituality, whose Life, by his brother James, was subsequently prefaced by Robert Hall, was buried here in 1657: Richard Baxter was one of his admirers. The Manor of Chelesell was the property of the Abbot of Ely at the time of the Conquest, having been given to that ancient foundation by the father of Edward the Confessor.

Kensworth was transferred to Bedfordshire in 1897.

Kimpton (about 2¾ miles N. from Wheathampstead Station) lies between the hills that lead N. to Whitwell and S.E. to Ayot St. Lawrence. The village is very ancient, and was called Kimeton in Saxon days. The church, a little N. from the centre of the village, has been much restored: the N. aisle was added in 1861; the tower and the N. porch (over which is a parvise, as at Kelshall) were restored in 1887-8; the chancel in 1890, when the reredos was added. The building is E.E. Note the finely carved oak screen separating the S. aisle from the Dacre Chapel, formerly the rood screen, the piscina in the chapel itself, and the stained glass in the E. window to Thomas, twenty-second Baron Dacre (d. 1890), to whom the reredos is also a memorial. Kimpton Hoo, in a beautiful park of about 250 acres, is 1 mile N.E. from the village. It is the seat of Viscount Hampden. Pretty walks may be taken E. viâ Kimpton Mill to Codicote, N. to Bendish and Whitwell, W. to Peter’s Green, or S. to Lamer Park.

King’s Langley is a large and interesting village. The river Gade flows between the main street and the station, L.&N.W.R. Paper and straw plait are both made largely. The village owes its name to the fact that Henry III. built a palace on a spot still marked by a few fragments of ruin a little W. from the church, and the royal manor became known as Langley Regis, whereas the Langley on the E. side of the river belonged to the Abbey of St. Albans, and was called Abbot’s Langley (q.v.). Edmund de Langley, fifth son of Edward III., was born in this palace in 1344. He became Duke of York, Earl of Cambridge and Lord Tivedale, and married Isabel, a younger daughter of Don Pedro of Castile. In 1392 Richard II., with his first Queen, Anne of Bohemia, and many bishops, earls, lords and ladies, kept Christmas at King’s Langley Palace.

Near the palace was founded, by one Roger Helle, a priory of Dominican monks, which was enriched by Edward II. and several successive monarchs. The body of Piers Gaveston was brought from Oxford and buried in the church of this priory in 1315—he was beheaded on Blacklow Hill in 1312—and what was then believed to be the body of Richard II. was brought to the same spot in 1400 for temporary sepulture. The priory was dissolved, like most priories, in the days of Henry VIII.; but it was restored by Mary. It was finally suppressed soon after the accession of Elizabeth. The church, at the S.E. extremity of the village street, is a Perp. structure of flint and Totternhoe stone; the W. tower is embattled and has an angle turret. It has been partially restored. On the N. side of the chancel stood formerly the tomb of Edmund de Langley and Isabel of Castile (both mentioned above) which was brought from the priory church at the Dissolution; it is now in the chapel at the end of the N. aisle. There is, I believe, no absolute proof that this is the tomb of Edmund and Isabel, but the evidence that it is so is very strong. Chauncy, two centuries back, wrote: “On the north side of the chancel there is a Monument raised about five foot, with the Arms of France and England, with three Labels upon it, also the Arms of Peter, King of Castile and Leons, by which Coats it seems to be the Tomb where Edmond de Langley, the Fifth Son of Edward III. and Isabel his Wife, one of the Daughters of Don Pedro, King of Castile, was [were] interr’d”. During the removal of the tomb to its present position the bones of a male and two females were discovered; they are presumably those of Edmund and Isabel, and of Anne Mortimer, the wife of Edmund’s second son, Richard, Earl of Cambridge. The tomb is covered by a slab 7 feet 3 inches long; the sides are embossed with Plantagenet shields within cusps. Note the beautifully carved open screen between chapel and chancel, and the reredos, partly of marble, erected in 1877. The oaken pulpit is Perp. There are several other monuments: (1) to Hon. Sir W. Glascocke of Aldamhowe, Kt., Admiralty Judge in Ireland under Charles II. (d. 1688); (2) brass to John Carter, “late of Gifres” (d. 1588); the inscription states that he had two wives, that the first bore him four sons and five daughters and the second five sons and four daughters; (3) brass to William Carter and Alice his wife, 1528.

Sir John Evans, in 1862, found an almond-shaped river-drift flint implement on a heap of stones in this neighbourhood.

King’s Walden (about 5 miles S.W. from Hitchin) has an ancient church, carefully restored in 1868. It stands in the park of The Bury, a large mansion, Elizabethan in style. The embattled tower has masonry probably older than fourteenth century, and much of the nave arcade is Norman. Note the sculptured capitals of pillars, curiously similar to those at Old Shoreham. The chancel arch is E. Perp.; probably substituting its E.E. predecessor on very close lines; the corbels bear busts thought to resemble Henry VI. and Margaret of Anjou. In the chancel are a double piscina, and two E.E. lancet windows. The chancel screen is a really wonderful piece of work, in excellent preservation. In the N. aisle is an ambry, and in the S. aisle a sedile and two piscinæ, and on the N. side another ambry. The font stands at the E. end of S. aisle, formerly the Chapel of the Virgin Mary.

Kinsbourne Green is on the Bedfordshire border, 2 miles N.E. from Harpenden. The Kennels of the Hertfordshire Hunt are here. The hamlet is close to Luton Hoo Park.

Kitter’s Green is a hamlet 1 mile S.E. from King’s Langley Station (L.&N.W.R.). Abbot’s Langley old church (q.v.) is ½ mile N.