History of Hertfordshire

Not to be confused with History of Herefordshire.

Ancient extent 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.—Richard Lydekker, author of Hertfordshire, writing in 1909.

Hertfordshire is an English county, forged in the Norse–Saxon wars of the ninth century, and developed through commerce serving London. It is a land-locked county that was several times the seat of Parliament. Today, with a population slightly over 1 million, Hertfordshire retains much of its historic character, but its industry and commerce have changed radically. From origins in brewing and papermaking, through aircraft manufacture, the county has developed a wider range of industry in which pharmaceuticals, financial services and film-making are prominent.

Although Hertfordshire is among the historic counties of England, it was not created until the early tenth century. Its development has been tied with that of London, which lies on its southern border. London is the largest city in Western Europe; it requires an enormous tonnage of supplies each day and Hertfordshire grew wealthy on the proceeds of trade because no less than three of the old Roman roads serving the capital run through it, as do the Grand Union Canal and other watercourses. More recently, rail links sprang up in the county, linking London to the north. Hatfield in Hertfordshire has seen two rail crashes of international importance (in 1870 and 2000).

Though nowadays Hertfordshire might be seen as politically conservative, historically it was the site of a number of uprisings against the Crown, particularly in the First Barons' War, the Peasants' Revolt, the Wars of the Roses and the English Civil War. The county has a rich intellectual history, and many writers of major importance, from Geoffrey Chaucer to Beatrix Potter, have connections there. Quite a number of Prime Ministers were born or grew up in Hertfordshire.

The county contains a curiously large number of abandoned settlements, which historians attribute to a mixture of poor harvests on soil hard to farm, and the Black Death which ravaged Hertfordshire starting in 1349.

Early history

People have probably lived in the land now called Hertfordshire for about 12,000 years, since the Mesolithic period. Settlement continued through the Neolithic period, with evidence of occupation sites, enclosures, long barrows and even an unusual dog cemetery in the region. While occupied, however, the area had a relatively low population in the Neolithic and early Bronze Age, perhaps because of its heavy, poorly-drained soil.

Beech Bottom Dyke

In the Iron age, a Celtic tribe called the Catuvellauni occupied Hertfordshire. Their main settlement (or oppidum) was Verlamion on the River Ver (near present-day St Albans). Other oppida in Hertfordshire include sites at Cow Roast near Tring, Wheathampstead, Welwyn, Braughing, and Baldock. Hertfordshire contains several Iron Age hill forts, including the largest example in Eastern England at Ravensburgh Castle in Hexton. There is a wealth of Iron Age burial sites in Hertfordshire, making it a place of international importance in Iron Age study. The large number of sites of all types indicates dense and complex settlement patterns immediately prior to the Roman invasion.

Cunobelinus became king of the Catuvellauni in 9 or 10 CE and ruled for about thirty years, conquering such a large area of Britain that the Roman writer Suetonius called him Britannorum Rex (Template:Latin "King of Britain"). He built Beech Bottom Dyke, a defensive earthwork, at St Albans, which may be related to another Iron Age defensive earthwork, the Devil's Dyke, at nearby Wheathampstead. The Romans defeated the Catuvellauni in July 43 CE. When the Romans took over, their settlement, laid out in 49 CE, became known as Verulamium. Alban, a Roman army officer who became Britain's first Christian martyr after his arrest at Chantry Island, died in the third or fourth century and gave his name to the modern town of St Albans.

Verulamium became one of Roman Britain's major cities, the third-largest and the only to be granted self-governing status. Strong though its defences may have been, they were not enough to stop Boudica, who burned the city in 61 CE. The city was rebuilt, with defenses enclosing a site of some 81 hectares, and was occupied into the fifth century.

Three Roman Roads run through Hertfordshire: Watling Street, Ermine Street and the Icknield Way. These are three of the "four highways" of medieval England (the other being the Fosse Way, which does not run through Hertfordshire) which were still the main routes through the country more than a thousand years later. The first Roman Road to be built was the Military Way, constructed very early in the Roman conquest to speed the troops' access north. Later, Ermine Street would be built directly on top of it.

After the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain, the Hertfordshire area formed parts of the Kingdom of Mercia and the Kingdom of Essex. The main early Saxon tribes there seem to have been the Hicce, Brahingas and Wæclingas. The Synod of Hertford, which was the first national Synod of the English Church, took place on 26 September 672-3. It was at this Synod that the "question of Easter" was settled, and the church agreed how to calculate the date of Easter.

King Offa of Mercia (died 796) gave his name to the village of Offley in Hertfordshire. Some sources suggest he died there, though he was buried in Bedford.

Origins of the county

Great Britain around the year 800

The first reference to Hertfordshire (as "Heoroford") is in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle's entry for 1011, but the county's true origins lie about a century earlier, when Edward the Elder established two burhs in Hertford in 912 and 913 respectively.

Hertfordshire clearly did not exist in the late ninth century. At that time, in the war between Saxon and Norseman, Hertfordshire was on the front line. When, after the Saxon victory in the Battle of Ethandun in 878, the Saxon King Alfred the Great and Norse King Guthrum the Old agreed to partition England between them, the dividing line between their territories split what was to become Hertfordshire almost through the middle, along the line of the River Lea and then along Watling Street. Their agreement survives in the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum which establishes the Danelaw's extent. It seems the land now comprising Hertfordshire was then partly in the Kingdom of Essex (nominally under Norse control, though still populated by Saxons) and partly in the Kingdom of Mercia (which remained Saxon).

Early Middle Ages

Alfred died in 899, and his son Edward the Elder worked with Alfred's son-in-law, Æthelred, and daughter, Æthelflæd, to re-take parts of southern England from the Norse. During these campaigns he built the two burhs of Hertford as already noted. Their sites have not been found, and probably lie beneath the streets of Hertford itself. From Hertford, together with Stafford, Tamworth and Witham, Edward and Æthelflæd pushed the Danes back to Northumbria in a series of battles. Anglo-Saxon Hertford is an example of town planning as demonstrated by its organised rectangular grid street pattern.

Tenth century

Æthelgifu was a Christian Saxon noblewoman who lived in the county in the late 980s, and her will is an important document. It shows that Æthelgifu had three large estates in Hertfordshire. She left much of her land to the monks of St Albans, and her will shows the importance of Hitchin as a legal and administrative centre. Hitchin likely stayed in royal hands into the tenth century. Both Edward the Martyr (from 975 to 978) and Æthelred the Unready (from 978 to 1016) minted coins in Hertford. Abbot Ulsinus founded St Albans School in the tenth century, probably in 948, making it Hertfordshire's oldest school. It remains open today.

High Middle Ages

Hertfordshire is largely on a clay sub-soil, and much of its land, though rich, is "heavy" and not well-suited to crop cultivation with a medieval plough. However, the county did grow good barley which later became important for the brewing trade. Hertfordshire developed more through commerce than through the agriculture which drove most of England's economy during this period.

The River Lea below Kings Weir

In the High Middle Ages, the county was relatively urbanised by medieval standards, but because towns follow roads and Hertfordshire had many small roads rather than a few large ones, there was no large conurbation.

Hertfordshire had a conflicted relationship with the King during this period. Like most counties in the south-east, most of Hertfordshire was in private (i.e. non-royal) ownership during the High Middle Ages. Royal land comprised about 7% of the county's area. The first Earl of Hertford, Gilbert de Clare, was so titled in 1138. He bore one of the first two sets of heraldic arms in England: three gold chevrons on a red shield. His grandson Richard de Clare once offered King John £100 in respect of legal proceedings concerning his inheritance, but then during the First Barons War he sided with the Barons against the King. Richard became one of the twenty-five Barons sworn to enforce the Magna Carta, for which he was excommunicated in 1215.

Eleventh century

Æthelred was famously unwise, but the St Brice's Day massacre of 1002 was among his worst decisions. It is thought to have started at Welwyn in Hertfordshire. The massacre was to be a slaughter of the Norse in England, including women and children. Probably not many Norse were actually killed, but one of those executed was Gunhilde, the sister of King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark. He invaded England next year in retaliation. Forkbeard's assault on England lasted ten years, until 1013, when Æthelred fled to the continent. Forkbeard became King of England on Christmas Day, but only reigned for five weeks before dying. At his death, Æthelred returned to reclaim his crown. As already mentioned, the first reference to Hertfordshire appears in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 1011.

After the Norman Invasion, Edgar the Ætheling (the successor to Harold Godwinson) surrendered to William the Conqueror at Berkhamsted. The Domesday Book, completed in 1086, lists 168 settlements in Hertfordshire. Hertfordshire's population grew quickly from then until the Black Death reached the county in 1349. The Norman church at St Albans Abbey was finished in 1088. The original guardian of the Norman motte and bailey castle in Hertford was named Peter de Valognes.

Twelfth century

King Stephen, painted around 1620.

Commerce grew in Hertfordshire from the start of the twelfth century; the number of markets and fairs rose steadily from about 1100 until the Black Death.

The Knights Templar built Baldock, starting around 1140. In 1185, a survey of the Knights' holdings showed Baldock had 122 tenants on 150 acres of land and several skilled craftsmen. King John granted the Knights a fair and market at Baldock in 1199, to be held annually. It began on St Matthew's Day and lasted five days in all. Some time between Baldock's founding and 1521, but likely earlier in that range, the legend of "Jack o' Legs" began. According to the tale, Jack O'Legs was a giant who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor; his stories are reminiscent of Robin Hood. At around the same time, the leatherworking trade was prominent in Hitchin.

King Stephen held court at St Albans in 1143. He arrested Geoffrey de Mandeville, who held shrievalty of London, Middlesex and Hertfordshire from the pretender Empress Matilda. De Mandeville surrendered his castles, including the one he had recently built at South Mimms. He went on to become a noted outlaw and bandit. Around this time, motte-and-bailey castles were built in Great Wymondley, Pirton and Therfield. Watford was founded in the twelfth century, probably as a result of a market and church set up there by the Abbot of St Albans. In 1130, the earliest Pipe Roll shows that King Henry I's Queen Consort Adeliza owned property in the county.

Nicholas Breakspear, the only Englishman ever to have been elected Pope, was born in Abbots Langley in Hertfordshire, probably around 1100. He was unanimously elected Pope on 2 December 1154, taking the papal name Adrian IV. He died in 1159. He was the Pope who placed Rome under an interdict, and is famous for his alleged Donation of Ireland to the English throne.

Thirteenth century

The first draft of the Magna Carta was written at St Albans Abbey in 1213. Two years later, King John was in St Albans when he learned of the Archbishop of Canterbury's suspension. Though John agreed to the Magna Carta, he did not adhere to it, and Hertfordshire was the main battlefield in the civil war that followed. On 16 December 1216, during the First Barons' War, Hertford Castle surrendered after a siege from Dauphin Louis (later Louis VIII of France), whom the English barons had invited to England to replace John as King. Berkhamsted Castle surrendered around the same time. In winter 1217, royalist forces plundered St Albans, took captives and extorted £100 from the Abbot, who feared the Abbey would be burned.

In 1261 King Henry III held parliament in the county. In 1295, another parliament was held in St Albans, and in 1299, King Edward I gave Hertford Castle to his wife Margaret of France on her wedding day. During this century, Hertfordshire's commerce grew still further. The county traded in butter and cheese, and to a lesser extent meat, hides and leather. Much of this produce was bound for London. The county also developed its inns and other services for travellers to and from London.

Late Middle Ages

The late Middle Ages in England began with transformations in law and politics. The "final" version of the Magna Carta, in 1297, contained significant provisions still in force to this day, including the principle of habeus corpus (which was first invoked in court in 1305); and it was during this period that Parliament and the House of Commons became fixtures in English culture. Parliament, based in London, increased London's importance, which led to more goods passing through Hertfordshire. The county's commerce increased as a result—as did its dependence on the capital.

Fourteenth century

In 1302, King Edward I granted Kings Langley to the Prince of Wales. King Edward II's "favourite", Piers Gaveston, loved the palace at Kings Langley and he was buried there after his death in 1312. Edmund of Langley, the first Duke of York and founder of the House of York, was born in Kings Langley on 5 June 1341 and died there on 1 August 1402.

King Edward I

Richard of Wallingford, the mathematician and astronomer, became Abbott of St Albans in 1326. He is regarded as the father of modern trigonometry.

Hertford Castle was used as a gaol for a series of important captives during the Hundred Years' War. This was actually a series of separate wars that lasted a total of 116 years, between 1337 and 1453. The Plantagenet Kings of England fought the Valois Kings of France, almost entirely on French soil. Queen Isabella was imprisoned by her son, the King, in Hertford Castle in 1330, as were King David II of Scotland and his queen in 1346, after the Battle of Neville's Cross. King John II of France was imprisoned there in 1359 in considerable luxury.

The Black Death midway through the fourteenth century massively reduced Hertfordshire's population. The number of residents probably fell by 30%–50%, and likely took until the sixteenth century to recover. This meant many of the settlements in Hertfordshire were abandoned, particularly in the north and east of the county where farm yields were poor. Near Tring, a cluster of deserted medieval villages can still be seen. However, the residents who survived grew richer. The reduced population meant workers could demand higher wages and better conditions, despite laws such as the Ordinance of Labourers of 1349 and the Statute of Labourers of 1351. These changed economic conditions contributed to the Peasants' Revolt in 1381, in which Hertfordshire's people were deeply involved. (Perhaps confusingly, another man called Richard of Wallingford was one of revolt leader Wat Tyler's principal allies. This is not the same man as the Abbott of St Albans.)

After Wat Tyler had been caught and executed, King Richard II went to St Albans to quell the rebels. Richard's body was buried at Kings Langley church in Hertfordshire in 1400, but he was moved to Westminster Abbey in 1413, next to his wife Anne. That same year, King Henry IV appointed his knight Hugh de Waterton to Berkhamsted Castle to supervise his children John and Philippa. In 1389, poet Geoffrey Chaucer, famous for his authorship of The Canterbury Tales, was made Clerk of the Works at Berkhamsted Castle.

Fifteenth century

Ye Olde Fighting Cocks, a fifteenth century public house in St Albans

King Henry IV moved his government temporarily to St Albans early in his reign for fear of public opinion in London. He gave the castle and honour of Hertford to Edmund, Earl of Stafford, and his wife Anne. Edmund was killed at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. King Henry IV married Catherine of France on 2 June 1420, and gave Hertford Castle to her.

In 1413, King Henry V kept Easter at Kings Langley. He gave the alm of a groat to the poor. Henry Chichele, the Archbishop of Canterbury, visited Barnet in 1423. No bells rang, and the archbishop took offence at his poor welcome. When he returned in 1426, the church doors were sealed against him. The historian Thomas Walsingham, author of the Historia Anglicana and chronicler of the Peasants' Revolt, was a monk in St Albans Abbey in the early fifteenth century. He probably died around 1422.

Three important battles of the Wars of the Roses took place in Hertfordshire. At the First Battle of St Albans on 22 May 1455, which was the first major battle of the Wars of the Roses, Richard of York and Neville the Kingmaker defeated the Lancastrians, killed their leader, Edmund Beaufort and captured King Henry VI. The Lancastrians recaptured the King at the Second Battle of St Albans on 12 February 1461. While he was a prisoner of the Yorkists, in 1459, Henry VI kept Easter at St Albans Abbey. He gave his best gown to the prior, but the gift seems to have been regretted and the treasurer later bought it back for fifty marks.

The Battle of Barnet took place on 14 April 1471. Neville the Kingmaker advanced on London. He camped on Hadley Green, and King Edward IV's army met him there. After confusion in the early morning mist, in which the Yorkists seem to have ended up fighting each other, the Lancastrians won the battle. The Kingmaker was captured and executed, and Edward's authority was never again seriously challenged.

One of the first three printing presses in England was in St Albans. England's first recorded paper mill, which was the property of one John Tate, stood in Hertford from near the very end of the fifteenth century. England's oldest surviving pub is in Hertfordshire and dates to this period. Ye Olde Fighting Cocks, which is in St Albans, was rebuilt in 1485. Some of the foundation stones are even older, allegedly going back to the eighth century.

Renaissance

The long Elizabethan peace, and turmoil in Europe, conspired to raise English commercial power during the Renaissance. European refugees also contributed to English wealth. London was the centre of this new power, and Hertfordshire's commerce benefited accordingly.

Sixteenth century

In November 1524, Catherine of Aragon held court at Hertford Castle. On 3 May 1547, King Edward VI granted his sister Mary the manor and castle of Hertford, tolls from the bridge at Ware, and the manor of Hertingfordbury.

Under Mary, who as Queen earned the sobriquet "Bloody Mary", three "heretics" (that is, protestants who refused to become catholic) were burnt at the stake in Hertfordshire. William Hale, Thomas Fust, and George Tankerville, were executed at Barnet, Ware, and St Albans respectively. In 1554, Queen Mary granted the town of Hertford its first charter for a fee of thirteen shillings and fourpence, due annually at Michaelmas.

Queen Elizabeth I lived at Hatfield House near Hatfield as a girl. Legend has it that she was seated beneath an oak tree (which though now dead, can still be seen at Hatfield House) when she learned she had become Queen. When plague ravaged London, she held parliaments at Hertford Castle in 1564 and 1581. The law courts moved to St Albans for the same reason. During her reign, Hertfordshire was specifically commended for its soldiers' efficiency. In the mobilisation of 1588 for the Anglo-Spanish War, the county sent twenty-five lances and sixty light horse to Brentwood, a thousand infantry to Tilbury, a thousand to Stratford-at-Bow, and five hundred to guard Her Majesty's person. The Arms of Hertfordshire were granted next year.

Edward Seymour was appointed Earl of Hertford in 1559. He married Lady Catherine Grey, who was Lady Jane Grey's sister, in 1560. As Catherine was in line for the throne, she needed Queen Elizabeth's permission to wed, and because this was not sought, the marriage was held in secret with Edward's sister, Lady Jane Seymour, as the only witness. However, when Catherine became visibly pregnant, she had little option but to reveal her marriage and, at her request, Lord Robert Dudley told the Queen. An angry Elizabeth had the Earl and Countess of Hertford interned in the Tower of London and annulled their marriage.

Seventeenth century

...a county every where abounding with fertile fields, fat pastures, shady groves and pleasant rivolets.—James Brome, writing in 1700.

King James I was often in Hertfordshire and had several works carried out in the county. He built Theobalds Park, enclosing a large tract of southern Hertfordshire in a wall. Parts of the wall still exist. He also had a hand in creating the New River, which was the brainchild of Welsh entrepreneur, Hugh Myddelton: an artificial watercourse that predated the building of England's canal network by over a century.

James I, who was a confirmed dog-lover, also built a huge kennel (about 46 feet long) and dog-yard (over half an acre in size) at Royston. He seems to have loved Royston and spent considerable time there, hunting and feasting and enjoying himself—so much so that his favourite dog, Jowler, returned one evening with a note tied to his collar. The note read: "Good Mr Jowler, we pray you to speak to the King (for he hears you every day and so he doth not us) that it will please His Majesty to go back to London, for else the country will be undone; all our provision is spent already and we are not able to entertain him longer."

Mixed Media figure of Sarah Churchill, by George S. Stuart

On 29 April 1617, Sir Richard Hale of Kings Walden was granted licence to found a grammar school in Hertford. The Richard Hale School is still a prominent school in Hertfordshire.

During the civil war, the county was mainly parliamentarian. St Albans was an especially staunch parliamentary stronghold. During this war, deserters and mutineers among the various encamped armies ravaged the Chilterns, plundered Ashridge, rifled Little Gaddesden Church and broke open its tombs. In 1645, a dozen men of Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army were hanged for outrages against the people of the county.

In 1647, the parliamentary army, still unpaid after their victory in the First English Civil War, camped on Thriploe Heath near Royston. They wrote to Parliament demanding their pay. This led to a clash between Cromwell's army and the Levellers at Cockbush Field, near Ware, on 15 November 1647. Cromwell captured and imprisoned the Levellers' "agitators" and a number were sentenced to death, though only one was actually executed.

After the Great Fire of London, many children were sent to Hertfordshire: 62 were sent to Ware, and 56 to Hertford. A few years later the mayor and people of Hertford petitioned King Charles II to confirm, amend and expand the town's charters. Enquiries were made as to whether anyone would object, and three prominent men did, but the attorney general dismissed their objections on grounds of malice in 1680. The town henceforth had its own coroner, who doubled as the town clerk, and both the court-day and market-day were changed so as not to coincide with nearby markets at Ware, Hoddesdon or Hatfield.

Sarah Churchill, one of the most influential women in English history, was born as Sarah Jennings in St Albans in 1660. She married the Duke of Marlborough, rose to high favour with the Crown, then fell out with the Queen and was dismissed, but returned to Court after the Queen's death. She argued with many important people in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, grew very rich, toured the continent and built Blenheim Palace. Winston Churchill and Diana, Princess of Wales, were both descended from her.

A new title, the Earl of St Albans, was created in 1628. The earldom had a short and undistinguished history and was effectively wiped out in the civil war shortly thereafter. Rather than revive the Earldom, Charles Beauclerk, illegitimate son of King Charles II and Nell Gwyn, was made Duke of St Albans in 1684. This peerage was a great deal more successful, and as of 2024 St Albans is on its fourteenth duke.

In 1683, there was a plot to assassinate Charles II and his brother as he passed through Rye House in Hertfordshire. Unfortunately for the plotters, the Royal party was early, so the opportunity was missed; when the plot was discovered, it became a pretext for a purge of the Whig leaders.

Modern era

Map of Hertfordshire (with north to the right) in Gray's Book of Roads, George Carrington Gray (1824)

In the last two centuries, Hertfordshire's population has multiplied tenfold. Around the end of the eighteenth century, its population was around 95,000. In 1821, it was just under 130,000. In 1881 it was just over 203,000, and by 1921 it was just over 333,000. By the 2001 census, it was 1,033,977.

Eighteenth century

During the eighteenth century brewing became an important industry in Hertfordshire. Accusations of witchcraft were still being made in Hertfordshire at this time. In one of the last witch trials recorded, Jane Wenham, of Walkern, was convicted of witchcraft in 1712. The accused was over the age of 70 at the time. Queen Anne pardoned Wenham, who "lived on in a cottage at Gilston". In 1751, John and Ruth Osborne of Gubblecot, Tring, were accused of witchcraft. A mob dragged them through the village pond until Ruth drowned. One Thomas Colley, a chimney sweep and apparently the ringleader, was hanged; but the people disapproved of the hanging and did not come to watch.

Smallpox broke out in Hertford gaol in 1729, and spread into the town. The next year, smallpox hit Hitchin, killing 158 people. The River Lea Navigation Act of 1739 led to the river being improved, becoming navigable as far as Ware. Locks were built in Ware, Broxbourne, and "Stanstead" (presumably Stanstead Abbotts rather than Stansted Mountfitchet, which is not on the Lea). By 1797, the Grand Junction Canal (now called the Grand Union Canal) was being cut. Its highest point is the Tring Summit in Hertfordshire, which was formed in 1799. Because a canal barge can hold so much more than a wagon, the waterways expansions increased the quantity of supplies that could reach London (and the amount of refuse and manure that could be carted away). Their impact on trade and commerce in Hertfordshire is hard to overstate.

The poet and hymn-writer William Cowper was born in Berkhamsted in 1731. Romantic poets admired his work (Samuel Taylor Coleridge called him "the best modern poet") and despite his mental illness, he wrote works that are still quoted today. His poem John Gilpin is commemorated in a street-name in Amwell: "Gilpin's Gallop".

John Scott, the Quaker poet and writer, moved to Great Amwell in 1740. Scott is now mainly remembered for Scott's Grotto which was restored in the 1990s and is the largest grotto in the United Kingdom. East Hertfordshire District Council own it and it is open to the public. John Scott gave Amwell its name (after Emma's Well, which is nearby and now dry; the well has part of John Scott's poem "Emma" inscribed near it.)

Mobilisation for the Seven Years War affected Hertfordshire. In 1756, £350 was paid to the inns and public houses of Ware for the troops staying with them. The next year, Pitt's army reforms made Hertfordshire liable to provide 560 officers and men.

The county also contributed soldiers to the French Revolutionary Wars. On 7 May 1794, lists opened for the Hertfordshire Yeomanry Cavalry Regiment, which comprised five troops of cavalry. The Loyal Hemel Hempstead Volunteers formed in 1797. Two further troops of volunteers were raised in 1798, at Borehamwood and Sawbridgeworth, and the same year, the Hitchin Volunteers were also raised, but their duty was only to defend land within three miles of Hitchin.

There are records for Hitchin court from the seventeenth century. William Bogdani wrote in 1744:

... these Hitchiners are the most litigious people on earth, and most of them pretty rich, so that whenever I have attempted a distress they removed the cause to a superior court, where you may believe it is not worth my while to try it for the value of perhaps a 10 shilling or 20 shilling amercement.

In 1783 the vestry organised a watch to "put a stop to the daring robberies almost nightly committed in or near the town."

Stephen Austin of Fore Street, Hertford, published a newspaper called the Hartford Mercury in 1772, priced at two and a half pence. A newspaper called The Mercury still circulates in Hertfordshire. Hertford's branch of Woolworth's (now closed) was formerly an inn called the Maiden Head. From this inn, Walter Clibborn, the "murderous pie man of Hertford", operated. He pretended to be deaf, so that people would talk freely while he moved among them selling pies, overhearing their destinations and the location of their valuables; and, with his sons who blackened their faces, would ambush them later that night. Clibborn was shot dead in 1782 by one George North on the Datchworth to Branfield road.

In 1795, a Dr Walker wrote a report on agriculture and forestry in the county. He said "Herts is justly deemed the first and best corn county in the kingdom", an assessment that may not be free from local bias. It nevertheless shows how more advanced farming techniques and soil improvement programmes had enabled farmers to work Hertfordshire's "heavier" soils to better effect since the Saxon–Norse wars.

Nineteenth century

Thanks to a rapidly-increasing population and improved record-keeping practices, the volume of paper records for Hertfordshire in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is huge. Many of these documents are written or printed on paper made locally, at a time when paper-making joined brewing as another dominant industry in the county.

Berkhampstead Railway Station in 1838

In 1809, John Dickinson purchased Apsley Mills in Hemel Hempstead for his newly-patented paper-making machine. In a dispute with the Society of Paper-Makers in 1821, he dismissed the men involved and trained replacements. By 1825, Apsley and Nash Mills in Hemel Hempstead were using steam power to produce paper. Dickinson patented his silk threadpaper in 1829, which was used, among other things, for Exchequer Bonds, and had to be made under supervision from two excise men. He built Croxley Mills, near Rickmansworth, in 1830 and Abbots Hill, Nash Mills, in 1836.

In 1840, the Uniform Penny Post came in. Dickinson made paper for the stamps, and also for the Mulready envelopes. He built a private gas works at Apsley in 1851. In March 1886, John Dickinson & Co. Ltd. was incorporated with £500,000 in capital and ten acres of glass houses. By 1900, the company had 264 acres of glass houses in the Cheshunt area.

Hatfield House in 1880

Meanwhile, the Bulwer-Lytton family lived at Knebworth House. It passed to Mrs Bulwer-Lytton in 1809 and in 1811, she demolished three sides of its quadrangle, changing the remaining one into Gothic style. Edward Bulwer-Lytton succeeded to the Knebworth Estate in 1843. He entertained various authors, including Charles Dickens and Benjamin Disraeli, there. In November 1850, Bulwer-Lytton and Dickens formed a Guild of Literature and Art, buying houses for Stevenage artists, but the scheme flopped. Bulwer-Lytton was elected Member of Parliament for the county in 1852. His estranged wife denounced him to the crowds on polling day, 1857, but she failed to stop him staying in office until 1866. Bulwer-Lytton was neither the only literary figure, nor the only major politician, to emerge in Hertfordshire during the nineteenth century. In 1867, Anthony Trollope retired from the Post Office to write; five of his books were written in Waltham Cross. E. M. Forster was brought to live in Stevenage at the age of nine, in 1888. Robert Arthur Gascoyne Talbot Cecil, the Marquess of Salisbury, was born at Hatfield House on 3 February 1830. He also died there, 73 years later. In a distinguished political career, he would go on to become the Prime Minister three times and Foreign Secretary four times. William Lamb, the Viscount Melbourne and another Prime Minister, lived in Hertfordshire and at one stage in his career was Member of Parliament for Hertfordshire. He died at Brocket Hall.

In 1823, the murder of William Weare in Radlett became known as the first trial by newspaper. The murderer, who was the Mayor of Norwich's son John Thurtell, a notorious gambler, pleaded that the sensational newspaper coverage had prejudiced the court against him. It only took 20 minutes of deliberations for the jury to sentence him to death by hanging. The crowds that gathered for the trial were so large that the judge had trouble getting to the courthouse through the gridlocked streets, and about 15,000 people attended the hanging itself.

The nineteenth century was also a busy period for the military. Ten corps of Volunteer Infantry were formed in 1803. In 1804, the clock tower in St Albans signalled news of the Battle of Trafalgar by semaphore. The Duke of Wellington earned the freedom of the borough of St Albans after Napoleon's defeat in 1814. The Hertfordshire Regiment became the fourth battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment in 1891, and in March 1900, the 42nd (Hertfordshire) Company of the Imperial Yeomanry landed at Cape Town. Cecil Rhodes, who founded De Beers and the state of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), was born in South Street, Bishops Stortford, in 1853. The house is still standing, and has been adapted into a museum. He spent much of his youth in South Africa, but returned to Bishops Stortford in 1873.

The first branch railway line in England was the Aylesbury one, which opened in 1839. It had a station in Hertfordshire, at Marston Gate. Another rail line grew out from London towards Cambridge, reaching Broxbourne in 1840, Harlow in 1841, and Bishops Stortford in 1842. A branch to Hertford opened in 1843. The first Hatfield train crash took place on Boxing Day, 1870. The London Underground rail line reached Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire in 1887.

After the Local Government Act 1888, the first County Councillors in Hertfordshire were elected on 17 January 1889. The murder of Mercy Nicholls in Railway Street, Hertford, in 1899, ultimately led to a major re-organisation of Hertfordshire's police force.

Twentieth century

The two flagship garden cities of Letchworth and Welwyn were central to the development of town planning in England. The first Garden City Company formed in 1903, with £300,000 of capital, and by 1914, Letchworth had a population of around 10,000. Ebenezer Howard bought nearly 1,500 acres in 1919, and the first house in Welwyn Garden City was occupied in 1920. The town's official date of founding was 29 April.

Shaw's corner

Graham Greene was born near Berkhamsted in 1904. His father was headmaster of a local school, where Greene was educated. Greene was an acclaimed writer with bipolar disorder, who wrote a number of works such as Brighton Rock. In 1906, Nobel prizewinning Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw moved to Shaw's Corner in Ayot St Lawrence from his former home in Harmer Green, near Welwyn. He lived there until his death in 1950. Early in the century, the Marquess of Salisbury let Hertford Castle to the town for a peppercorn rent.

Arthur Balfour, though born in Scotland, was educated in Hertfordshire before going to university at Cambridge. He served as MP for Hertford before being elected as Prime Minister in 1902. He resigned as Prime Minister in 1905, at which time he was the first Prime Minister to own a car. He later served as Foreign Secretary, when his Balfour Declaration was an important episode in the leadup to the creation of Israel.

First World War

Main article: World War I

Hertfordshire contributed to the two World Wars, as did every county in England. In the First World War, the Hertfordshire Yeomanry mobilised in September 1914 and were almost immediately deployed to Egypt. The 2nd London Division of the Territorial Army had their headquarters at St Albans, and the North Midland Territorial Division was billeted there as well. The 1st Hertfordshire Regiment landed at Le Havre in November, and saw action in the Ypres Salient that month.

The Hertfordshire Volunteer regiment formed on 15 May 1915. On 13 October of that year, a Zeppelin raid hit North Road in Hertford, destroying houses there. In 1916, the Hertfordshire Regiment was transferred to 39th Division and fought at St Julien. Two Victoria Crosses ("VC") were awarded to Hertfordshire men in 1916: one to Corporal A. A. Burt and one to Lieutenant Leefe Robinson, who shot down a Zeppelin over Cuffley. Second Lieutenant Wulfstan Tempest shot down another on 2 October of that year, and it came down in Potters Bar. The 1st Battalion of the Hertfordshire Regiment fought near Achiet-le-Grant in 1918, and then at the Battle of Havrincourt. It also fought in the advance to Ghissignies. Hertfordshire's last VC of the First World War was granted in December 1918, after the war had finished: a posthumous VC for Lieutenant Frank Young of Hitchin, who was killed on 18 September 1918, aged 23.

Second World War

Main article: World War II

With the outbreak of war in September 1939, 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Hertfordshire Regiment were mobilised. Together with the 6th Battalion of the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment, they made up 162nd Infantry Brigade of the East Anglian Division. Second Battalion would later be at Ver-sur-Mer in Normandy in support of the D-Day landings.

In May 1940, a public meeting at County Hall, Hertford (which was then newly-built, having only opened in 1939) was held to consider forming the Hertfordshire Local Defence Volunteers. Nineteen companies formed at once. They became the Hertfordshire Home Guard in December of that year.

In 1942, the 191st (Hertfordshire and Essex Yeomanry) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, formed for an anticipated campaign in Northern Europe. Hertfordshire was central to aircraft manufacture in the Second World War. De Havilland designed their Mosquito in Hatfield and made it at Leavesden, together with Halifax bombers. Many RAF pilots were trained at Panshanger. In 1940, No. 2. Army Co-Operation Squadron formed at Sawbridgeworth; its purpose was to carry agents into Europe in Tomahawks and Mustangs.

About 4000 bombs, 107 V-1 flying bombs, and 47 V-2 rockets fell on Hertfordshire during the Second World War. American Flying Fortresses raided the continent from Nuthampstead. The USAF used Bovingdon Airfield as a training station and the US Fighter HQ was at RAF Bushey Hall.

Post-War

After the war, Stevenage was the first town to be redeveloped under the New Towns Act 1946. Hatfield remained closely connected with the aircraft industry, and about 10% of the aircraft workers in England worked in Hertfordshire in the 1960s. The de Havilland Comet was developed in the town. The county's boundaries were revised in the reforms accompanying the Local Government Act 1972, at which time Royston became fully a part of Hertfordshire. Camfield House, Hatfield, belonged to Barbara Cartland during this period, and Beatrix Potter lived there as well.

During the Second World War, sculptor Henry Moore moved to the village of Perry Green in Hertfordshire when his former home was bombed. The Henry Moore Foundation still operates from the village.

The character of Hertfordshire changed in the later part of the twentieth century. In 1992, it was resolved to close the aircraft manufacturing site in Hatfield. At the start of the century, 83% of the workforce were involved in agriculture, but by the end, only 1% remained so. Only one brewery, McMullens, is still open and there are no remaining commercial maltings or mills. Nowadays, Hertfordshire has become a service and administrative centre containing the head offices of several important companies (see here) and a dormitory for London. A growing trend is research and development, notably for Glaxo and at the University of Hertfordshire which, from relatively humble beginnings as Hatfield Polytechnic, now has over 23,000 students.

Elstree Studios has risen to prominence; some landmark films and television have been produced there, including the first and second Star Wars films (chronologically, i.e. Episodes IV and V), Indiana Jones, and Superman, and British television shows Dancing on Ice, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, and Big Brother. Also, parts of the Harry Potter film series production took place at Leavesden Film Studios.

On 17 October 2000, a major rail crash took place in Hatfield. Criticism of Railtrack after the accident was rife, and the company had to pay over £700 million in compensation. It ceased trading owing to insolvency in 2002.

Twenty-first century

The fire of 11 December 2005 at Buncefield, Hemel Hempstead, was a major disaster. Hertfordshire's Chief Fire Officer, Roy Wilsher, said it was "possibly the largest in peacetime Europe." About sixty million gallons of petrol burned, the largest of the explosions measured just under 2.5 on the Richter scale, and the smoke darkened skies in neighbouring towns for two days before it could be extinguished.

See also

• List of lost settlements in Hertfordshire

References

Footnotes

Citations

Bibliography

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