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HERTFORDSHIRE
HERTFORDSHIRE
Variant spelling, inconsistant hyphenation and inconsistant use of ligatures, have been retained. The errata listed on a slip bound into this book have been applied to this text. The errata slip is transcribed at the end of the book. One missing full stop has been added, a duplicate word has been deleted, but otherwise the book is as printed. Figures have been moved to be near the text they illustrate. The page numbers in the Table of Illustrations refer to the page number of their original posi
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MAPS
MAPS
The only true and right way of learning geography (which in its widest sense comprehends almost everything connected with the earth) is to become acquainted with the geography—or, strictly speaking, the topography—and history of the district in which we live. Modern England is split up into a number of main divisions known as counties , and in some instances also as shires ; the word shire , when it is used, being added at the end of the county name. Thus we have the county of Essex or the count
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1. County and Shire. The Name Hertfordshire. Its Origin and Meaning.
1. County and Shire. The Name Hertfordshire. Its Origin and Meaning.
It now remains to enquire why some counties are also known as shires, while others are not thus designated. In Anglo-Saxon times England, in place of being one great kingdom, was split up into a number of petty kingdoms, each ruled by a separate sovereign. Essex was then a kingdom by itself, situated in the east of the country; while Wessex was a western kingdom, and Mercia a sovereignty more in the heart of the country. Essex and Sussex, being small kingdoms, were constituted counties by themse
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2. General Characteristics of the County.
2. General Characteristics of the County.
Originally Hertford was essentially an agricultural county, as it is to a great extent at the present day; its northern three-quarters being noted for its production of corn. The southern portion, on the other hand, was partly a hay-growing and grazing country. Nowadays, however, more especially on the great lines of railway, conditions have materially altered; and large areas have become residential districts, which in the more southern part are little more than suburbs of the metropolis. Print
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3. Size. Shape. Boundaries.
3. Size. Shape. Boundaries.
The maximum length of Hertfordshire, along a line running in a south-westerly and north-easterly direction, is about twenty-eight miles; while its greatest breadth, along a line passing near its centre from the neighbourhood of Tring to that of Bishop’s Stortford, is very nearly the same. Owing to its extremely irregular outline, the county has, for its size, a very large circumference, measuring approximately 130 miles. Here it should be stated that the ancient area of the county differs somewh
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4. Surface and General Features.
4. Surface and General Features.
The contours of a district depend almost entirely upon the nature of its geological formations, and the action of rain, rivers, and frost upon the rocks of which they are composed. These formations in the case of this county are briefly described in a later section. Here it must suffice to state that hard slaty rocks form jagged mountain ranges, while soft limestones like our Hertfordshire chalk weather into rounded dome-like hills and ridges, and heavy clays form flat plains. As the bed-rock, o
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5. Watershed. Rivers.
5. Watershed. Rivers.
The whole of the remaining rivers of the county belong to the Thames catchment-area. With the exception of the Thame, to be mentioned immediately in a separate paragraph, these form two main systems, namely that of the Colne draining the western and that of the Lea the northern and eastern part of the county; the watershed between these two systems running in a north-westerly and south-easterly direction between St Albans and Hatfield, and thence to the north of Chipping Barnet. The Thame is alm
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6. Geology and Soil.
6. Geology and Soil.
The movements which affect beds may occur at different times. One set of beds may be laid down flat, then thrown into folds by movement, the tops of the beds worn off, and another set of beds laid down upon the worn surface of the older beds, the edges of which will abut against the oldest of the new set of flatly deposited beds, which latter may in turn undergo disturbance and renewal of their upper portions. Again, after the formation of the beds many changes may occur in them. They may become
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7. Natural History.
7. Natural History.
In former days, when the mammoth or hairy elephant, the extinct woolly rhinoceros, and the wild ox, together with the African hippopotamus and spotted hyaena roamed over the Thames valley and afforded sport to our prehistoric ancestors, England was joined to the Continent across what is now the English Channel; so that the animals and plants of the southern portion of our islands, at any rate, were more or less nearly identical with those of France and Belgium. The advent of the great ice age, o
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8. Climate and Rainfall.
8. Climate and Rainfall.
In its original sense the word climate meant the degree of inclination of the sun’s rays at any particular spot at a specified date; but nowadays it is employed to designate the average type of weather experienced in a district. In this latter sense it comprises the results of the combined effects of temperature, atmospheric pressure, the degree of moisture in the air, the direction and force of the wind, and the amount of rainfall; the study of climate constituting the science of meteorology. A
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9. People—Race, Dialect, Settlements, Population.
9. People—Race, Dialect, Settlements, Population.
Previous to the Roman occupation of Britain Hertfordshire was inhabited by two British tribes,—the Cattyeuchlani, whose capital appears to have been Verulam or St Albans, and the Trinobantes. To what extent these original British inhabitants of the county survived the Roman and Saxon invasions is unknown; but it may be taken as certain that at an early date Anglo-Saxon was the language spoken in this part of the country. Forty years ago Anglo-Saxon idioms and words still lingered among the labou
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10. Agriculture—Main Cultivations, Woodlands, Stock.
10. Agriculture—Main Cultivations, Woodlands, Stock.
As already mentioned, the greater portion of Hertfordshire, that is to say, most of the chalk area, exclusive of the downs, commons, woods, and private parks, was in former years devoted to corn, for the cultivation of which its soil is particularly well suited. Indeed the county had the reputation of growing not only the best barley for malting, but likewise the best wheat-straw (that is to say, the hardest and whitest) for plaiting. The wheat itself was also of specially good quality and hardn
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11. Special Cultivations.
11. Special Cultivations.
The most important special cultivation in Hertfordshire is undoubtedly watercress, which is very extensively grown in the river-valleys over a broad belt of country extending from the Welwyn district, through the parishes of Harpenden, Wheathampstead and Redbourn, and thence to Amersham and Rickmansworth, as well as to the Vale of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire; this district being reported to be the best in England for this particular crop. The cress is grown in beds cut through the low-ground fr
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12. Industries and Manufactures.
12. Industries and Manufactures.
Moor Park, near Rickmansworth Nowadays perhaps the most important manufacturing industry in the county is that carried on at the paper-mills at Abbot’s Langley, where a large amount of high class paper is turned out. Being on the canal, these mills have the advantage of water-carriage. Paper, it may be observed, is made nowadays from wood-pulp and esparto grass, as well as from linen rags. Canal and Lock, Rickmansworth Brick-making employs a considerable number of hands in various parts of the c
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13. Minerals—An Exhausted Industry.
13. Minerals—An Exhausted Industry.
Having referred in the last section to brick-making, lime, cement, and Totternhoe stone, very little remains for mention in the present one; as the absence of mines is one of the features of Hertfordshire and the adjacent counties. Reference may, however, again be made to the so-called coprolite beds of the chalk-marl which were worked in the neighbourhood of Hitchin in the early part of the first half of last century as a source of phosphoric acid for agricultural manure. The irregularly shaped
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14. History of Hertfordshire.
14. History of Hertfordshire.
The history of Hertfordshire includes such a number of events of primary importance that it is somewhat difficult to make a selection of those most fitted to appear in the limited space available. It was in this county that the offer of the crown of England was made to William the Conqueror, and it was from here that the first petition for the redress of grievances was forwarded to Charles I ; while several important battles have been fought within its limits. To the two British tribes who inhab
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15. Antiquities—Prehistoric, Roman, Saxon.
15. Antiquities—Prehistoric, Roman, Saxon.
Palaeolithic Flint Implement ( From Kent’s Cavern, Torquay ) Neolithic Celt of Greenstone ( From Bridlington, Yorks. ) Between the Palaeolithic and Neolithic age exists a gap of untold length, for the land had again to be re-peopled. Chipped, or rough-hewn celts, or hatchets, of the latter age have been picked up in fields near Abbot’s Langley, Bedmond, Kensworth, Wheathampstead, Markyate Street, and Weston. Polished celts are more rare, but specimens have been found at Panshanger, King’s Langle
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16. Architecture. (a) Ecclesiastical—Abbeys and Churches.
16. Architecture. (a) Ecclesiastical—Abbeys and Churches.
The architecture of Hertfordshire buildings may be most conveniently discussed under three separate sections, namely:—( a ) ecclesiastical, or buildings related to the church; ( b ) military , or castles; and ( c ) domestic , or dwelling houses and cottages. As in England generally, the architecture of the older buildings of all three classes has been affected to a greater or less degree by the nature of the building materials most easily accessible. Throughout the northern chalk area of the cou
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17. Architecture. (b) Military—Castles.
17. Architecture. (b) Military—Castles.
Like most other counties in the south of England, Hertfordshire possesses the remains of several Norman castles, most of which appear to date back no further than the Conquest, while others, like Berkhampstead (where, as we have seen in a previous section, Mercian kings held their courts), have been supposed to be constructed on the site of earlier buildings of a similar nature. The total number of castles built by the Normans to overawe their new English subjects is stated to have been about 11
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18. Architecture. (c) Domestic—Famous Seats, Manor Houses, Cottages.
18. Architecture. (c) Domestic—Famous Seats, Manor Houses, Cottages.
With the advent of less troublous times at the close of the Wars of the Roses a marked change is noticeable in the plan and architecture of the residences of the great noblemen and country gentlemen. The need for castles or fortified houses ceased to exist; and attention was consequently directed to comfort rather than strength in the construction of country mansions. Fortunately a number of these fine old Tudor residences have survived in different parts of the country; but many have been repla
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19. Communications—Past and Present. Roads, Railways, Canals.
19. Communications—Past and Present. Roads, Railways, Canals.
Lying as it does on the direct route from the metropolis to the north and north-west of England, and containing in its western portion the formerly important city of Verulam, Hertfordshire, as might be expected, is traversed by several trunk roads leading in those directions, two of which date from Roman times. What these lines of communication were in pre-Roman days we have no means of knowing, although it is probable that they were little more than rude tracks through the great forest, or “wea
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20. Administration and Divisions—Ancient and Modern.
20. Administration and Divisions—Ancient and Modern.
The present administration and administrative divisions of Hertfordshire, like those of other English counties, have been gradually evolved and developed from those of our Saxon forefathers; each alteration in the form of local government and of local administrative boundaries being based on the previously existing system. By the Saxons each county was divided into a number of main divisions known as hundreds, or wapentakes, each governed by a hundreder, or centenary (the equivalent of the Old G
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21. The Roll of Honour of the County.
21. The Roll of Honour of the County.
Hertfordshire cannot hope to rival such counties as Norfolk or Kent in its roll of distinguished names, but it can show a fairly long list of persons connected with the county who have been famous. Since reference has already been made in several of the foregoing sections to the visits of English sovereigns to the county, or to their residence within its borders, very brief mention of the connection between royalty and the county will suffice in this place. Neither here nor elsewhere in these pa
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22. THE CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF HERTFORDSHIRE.
22. THE CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF HERTFORDSHIRE.
Ashridge , a domain in Little Gaddesden parish, situated on the Buckinghamshire border of the county, and celebrated for its splendid beech woods. It was formerly the property of the Dukes of Bridgewater, being acquired by the Egertons in 1604, but it is now owned by Earl Brownlow. A building, formerly the porter’s lodge, includes some remains of an old monastic college. The present house, which stands partly in Buckinghamshire, was built by the eighth Earl of Bridgewater. ( pp. 115 , 142 .) Ash
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