Charlton, Hertfordshire

Charlton is a village in Hertfordshire, England, which has steadily been approached by the neighbouring town of Hitchin. Despite Hitchin's growth, Charlton has retained its own identity. Home to a little fewer than fifty people, the village is unremarkable save for its pub 'The Windmill', placed where no windmill ever stood. There was, however, until the 1970s, a water-wheel in the mill-race in the yard of Wellhead Farm.

Charlton is the birthplace of inventor Henry Bessemer [1] and the mill-wheel was adapted by his grandfather to power a small foundry. The mill was therefore converted to a foundry during the occupancy of the Bessemer family and back to a mill again afterwards.

According to an article by Peter Harkness in Vol 1, No 1 of "Old Hitchin Life" the Harkness family's now world-famous rose-nursery was, in the late 19th century, based in Charlton as well as Bedale, in Yorkshire. With Robert Harkness moving into Charlton House (Bessemer's birthplace) in 1895.