Herbert W. Tompkins

“ The Lords of the Manor of Wymondley Magna were formerly, as the newspapers have recently reminded us, Cup-bearers to the King at his Coronation. Near the church are some traces of an ancient fortification; a little S., and opposite a row of quaint cottages with heavily thatched roofs, stands Delamere House, once the property of Cardinal Wolsey, who is said to have been visited here by Henry VIII. At the Manor Farm, Edward VI.—according to tradition—once slept; the Green Man, close by, on the W. side of the main street, has been kept by successive generations of one family for 300 years. ”

“ Albans, Hitchin, Hertford and Bishop’s Stortford, are not collectively equal in population to even such towns as Bolton, Halifax or Croydon. Another feature to be noted is that, owing to the county’s proximity to London, it is now the home of persons of many nations and tongues, and only in the smaller villages between the railroads are there left any traits of local character or peculiarities of idiom. It is hardly necessary to say that this conglomeration of peoples is common to all the home counties, though mostly so, as I venture to think, in Hertfordshire and Surrey. ”

“ Humphrey Ward, lived at Stocks, a few minutes’ walk from the village. On the Tring side Aldbury is sheltered by swelling fields and to the E. beech woods cover the hillside, which is topped by the “Aldbury Monument,” a granite column about 100 feet high erected to the memory of Francis, third Duke of Bridgewater, whose labours and enterprise for the extension of canals earned for him the well-known title “the father of inland navigation”. As a village of the Old English type Aldbury has perhaps no equal in the county. In the centre is the green and pond, under the shadow of an enormous elm ”

“ 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. ”

“ The bell in the wooden cote bears date 1636; a small Norman arch divides the nave from the chancel; there are lancets and a Perp. window in the apse. The monuments are mostly to local gentry. Eric, seventh Baron Reay, is buried in the tiny churchyard. The new church, erected on the hillside in 1855, is of Kentish rag. There are terra-cotta panels by Tinworth in the reredos. The walk from Bengeo to Hertford, past the sandy warren-hills, so beautifully clad with fir, larch, etc., with the Lea winding through the low meadows on the left, is one of the finest in the county. ”

“ No London cyclist should fail to visit this picturesque and interesting neighbourhood.
Mimms, South, recently included in the administrative county of Herts, has a restored, E. Perp. church, with fine massive W. tower. The Frowyk chantry, at E. end of N. aisle, contains a very ancient tomb with recumbent effigy of a knight in armour, under a richly [Pg 152] designed canopy. The knight was a Frowyk, and there are also some mutilated brasses to this family. The village is prettily situated on rising ground, 11⁄2 mile W. from Potter’s Bar Station, G.N.R. (Middlesex) . ”

“ In Beechen Grove is one of the finest Nonconformist (Baptist) chapels in the county; it dates from 1878 and is Italian in design. Market day is on Tuesday.
CASHIOBURY PARK stretches from the N.W. end of Watford, reaching—together with Grove Park, which it joins—to the parting of the ways at Langleybury Church (4 miles N.W. from Watford Old Church) . It is crossed from N. to S. by the river Gade. The present mansion dates from 1800; it was built by Wyatt for the fifth Earl of Essex. Disposed around an open courtyard, its many handsome apartments make a noble appearance ”

“ 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.) , 11⁄4 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 ”

“ Malting is still extensively carried on at Ware, which has been the centre of the industry for many years; it is said, indeed, to be the largest malting town in England. There are nearly 100 malting houses, many of them being beside the River Lea, navigable from this town for barges W. to Hertford and S. to London. There are extensive Breweries at St. Albans, Watford, Hertford, High Barnet, Baldock, [Pg 30] Hitchin, Hatfield, Tring, Berkhampstead, and other places.
(c) Brick Fields are worked at Watford, St. Albans, Hemel Hempstead, Broxbourne, Bishop’s Stortford, Hitchin and elsewhere. ”

“ Wakely (2 miles W. from Westmill Station, G.E.R.) is a hamlet in Westmill parish, consisting of a farm and a few cottages.
Walkern (41⁄2 miles E. from Stevenage) is a large village, with many picturesque nooks and cottages. The river Beane skirts it on the E. side. The manor is very ancient; Chauncy speaks of “Walkerne” as a town, and mentions a mill which stood in his day (1632-1719) at its S. end, presumably where Walkern Mill now stands. ”

“ Railways.—Few counties in England are so well served with railroad communications; the London and North Western, Midland, Great Northern and Great Eastern running well across its face.
The London and North Western enters the county 1⁄2 mile N.W. of Pinner, and has stations on its main route at Bushey, Watford, King’s Langley, Boxmoor, Berkhampstead and Tring. It crosses the Bedfordshire border near Ivinghoe. From Watford it has a branch to Rickmansworth; and to Bricket Wood, Park Street and St. Albans; it has also a station at Marston Gate, on its branch line to Aylesbury. ”

“ To reach the old Clock Tower we turn right into Verulam Street and left into High Street. The Tower stands at the S. end of the Market Place; note the quaint, narrow thoroughfare at its W. side, called French Row. The Tower is Perp., of flint and dressed stone, battlemented, and surmounted by a small spire; the basement has long been utilised as a saddler’s shop. It dates from the fifteenth century, [7] but was restored by Sir Gilbert Scott in 1864. In it hangs the great bell “Gabriel” cast early in the reign of Edward III. ”

“ Sandridge Bury, N.W. from the village, is beautifully situated.
Sarratt (11⁄2 mile N. from Chorley Wood Station, Met. Extension) is near the river Chess, on the Bucks border. The church is late Norman and is remarkable for the saddle-back roof of its tower, running N. and S., the only tower roof of its kind in Herts. The building is cruciform, of flint, dressed with Totternhoe and Caen stone, and has a square ambry, a very old piscina, and a double sedilia; the latter is E.E. Richard Baxter is said to have preached from the Jacobean pulpit. ”

“ Early English churches are at Ashwell, Brent Pelham, Digswell, Furneaux Pelham, Great Munden (Norman doorway) , Knebworth, Royston, Stevenage and Wheathampstead. Some of these, e.g., Digswell and Knebworth, are pleasantly situated and others contain features of great interest, but on the whole they can hardly boast of much architectural beauty.
Decorated churches are rarely found without prominent transitional features, the purest structures [Pg 39] dating from that period being those at Flamstead, Hatfield, North Mimms, Standon, and Ware. ”

“ We read that in old times a cross was erected on each of the four roads leading from the town. The main thoroughfares are still in the form of a cross; going down Windhill the visitor will find a bridge over the Stort before him, and a main street on either side. The town can boast several of the finest old inns in Herts.
Boreham Wood (11⁄4 mile N.E. from Elstree) is a large and rather prettily situated hamlet.
Bourne End, 1 mile W. from Boxmoor Station, L.&N.W.R., contains little more than an inn, a coffee-room, and a few cottages standing beside the Grand Junction Canal. ”

“ Hertfordshire is hilly though not mountainous, a great extent of its surface being considerably elevated above sea-level, with a general south-easterly inclination; it has a dry soil; is well watered with numerous rivers of clear water—already enumerated—chiefly derived from springs in the Chalk; is well but not too densely wooded; and its atmosphere is not contaminated by manufacturing towns. It thus maintains the reputation for salubrity which it gained more than three centuries ago, our earliest county historian, Norden, remarking on the “salutarie” nature of the “aire”. ”

“ The church, on a knoll sloping to the Beane, is mostly Perp., but retains Norman work in the S. aisle; the chancel is modern, E.E. in style. The effigy in Purbeck marble in a recess of S. wall, of a knight in chain mail, is thought to represent one of the Lanvalei family. If so, it forms an interesting link with a remote past, for in the reign of King John one Alan Basset paid a hundred marks to that monarch, and gave him a palfrey “that his daughter might marry the heir of William de Lanvalley”. There are also effigies on brass to the Humberstone family (sixteenth century) . ”

“ Rush Green (1 mile S. from Ware) is a small hamlet.
Rushden, formerly Risendene and Risden (5 miles S.E. from Baldock) , has a stuccoed brick church, Dec. and Perp. Chauncy saw in it, “no Inscription, Monument, or other Remark,” but in 1754 the monument of Sir Adolphus Meetkerke, Kt., was brought here from St. Botolph’s, Aldersgate. Meetkerke was Ambassador from Flanders to the Court of Queen Elizabeth, and the author of several volumes. Note the canopy in nave, thought to have covered a statue of the Virgin. ”

“ Wallington (31⁄2 miles E. from Baldock) lies in one of the most quiet districts of the county, a district almost entirely agricultural. The village is small; a few cottages are ancient and [Pg 214] picturesque, but there is little to notice. Take the lane opposite the Plough Inn to reach the church, which can show a good Perp. roof and screen, and some mutilated monuments and brasses in the chapel. The main structure is Dec.; but the chancel was rebuilt forty years ago. ”

“ The cyclist wishing to ride northwards through Hertfordshire has comparatively stiff hills to mount at Elstree, High Barnet, Ridge, near South Mimms, and at St. Albans. He should also beware of the descent into Wheathampstead, of the dip between Bushey and Watford, and of the gritty roadways in the neighbourhood of Baldock. Most of the roads are well kept, particularly since they have been cared for by the County Council, and the traveller’s book at the inn usually contains fewer anathemas touching the state of the highways than in some other counties which might be named. ”

“ Ashridge is in a beautifully undulating district, immediately N. of Berkhampstead Common, 1 mile E. from Aldbury Church and about 2 miles E. from Tring Station, L.&N.W.R. The present house, the seat of Earl Brownlow, stands in a park of about 1,000 acres, well known for the deer which are kept there; it was built by the first Earl of Bridgewater, or rather by his architect, Wyatt, in 1808-14. It is a huge structure, its greatest width being 1,000 feet; conspicuous portions are the turreted centre, some good arched doorways and the large Gothic porch. ”

“ Very fine barley was grown in the district before the reign of Elizabeth, and the horse fairs, of which there are several annually, are well attended. The township was founded by the Knights Templars, in whose time there [Pg 60] stood a Lazar-house a little eastwards from the town. The church, dating from the fourteenth century, is large, and of considerable architectural interest. The chancel and adjoining chapels are Perp. and contain sedilia and piscinæ; the nave has eight bays and a lofty clerestory. The rood-screen is co-extensive with the width of the entire church ”

“ A son of Bishop Burnet, the historian, was once rector here, and is buried in the church. Tradition states that Thomson the poet was tutor to the son of Lord Binning when that nobleman lived at the old Manor House, the site of which is now a part of the rectory garden. Near the church, too, stood once a house in which Lady Arabella Stuart was confined. ”

“ The chapel, close to the old mansions, was spared by both those renovators, but has since been repeatedly restored. It contains many interesting monuments, conspicuous among which is that on the S. wall to Sir James Altham (d. 1617) who had built the chapel on the site of an earlier structure in 1612. The old judge is represented kneeling in his robes between two pillars, beneath a canopy of alabaster; behind him is the effigy of his third wife Helen (Saunderson) . Note the carved oak seventeenth century reredos, occupying the whole of the E. end of the chapel. ”

“ 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, [Pg 118] at or near what is now the town of Ware. ”

“ Sir Ralph Sadleir, statesman and ambassador to Scotland, who is said to have rallied the English at Pinkie, lived at Standon and is buried in the church.
Many noble or illustrious families have resided in Hertfordshire. Some of the owners of old manors are mentioned in the Gazetteer; but a few prominent families may be here named. The Cecils have been Lords of Hatfield since James I. gave the manor to the first Earl of Salisbury in exchange for that at Theobalds. The Cowpers have resided at Panshanger since the erection of their castellated mansion in the Park a century ago by the fifth earl. ”

“ Finches are perhaps as numerous in Hertfordshire as in any other county of equal size; the large flocks of hen chaffinches that haunt the farmyards in winter being quite a notable feature. The goldfinch, it is to be feared, is rapidly becoming scarcer; as are also the jay, the woodcock and other birds much more numerous a few years back. Fieldfares and redwings visit the county in great numbers from the N. during the winter; one morning in the winter of 1886 the writer saw many thousands of fieldfares pass over St. Albans from the direction of Luton. ”

“ Ardeley, otherwise Yardley (6 miles S.W. from Buntingford Station, G.E.R.) , is a village and parish in a purely agricultural district. It is famous through its connection with the Chauncy family, who resided at Ardeley Bury for many generations; one of them, Sir Henry Chauncy, was the author of a well-known history of Hertfordshire. The family monument is outside of the church of St. Lawrence, some existing portions of which date from the thirteenth century. The roofs of nave and aisles are noticeable for the angels which they bear, of Tudor character ”

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

“ Albans, Charteris and Ramsey.
To go as far back as the Heptarchy, we find [Pg 25] the land mostly owned by Mercians, East Saxons and by the Kings of Kent, and thus there gradually sprang up that “Middle English” population which for so long formed a large proportion of the inhabitants of Hertfordshire, Middlesex and Essex. How thoroughly such persons separated into small communities and settled down in every part of the county may be ascertained by the many “buries” found at a little distance from the town or village—Redbourn-bury, Ardeley-bury, Bayford-bury, Langley-bury, Harpenden-bury, etc. ”

“ Roads.—Hertfordshire, as one of the home-counties, is crossed by many fine roads from the N.E., E. and N.W., as they gradually converge towards their common goal—London. Among them may be mentioned the Old North Road, from Royston through Buntingford and Ware to Waltham Cross; the Great North Road from Baldock through Stevenage, Welwyn and Hatfield to Barnet; and the Dunstable Road through Market Street, Redbourn and St. Albans, which meets the last-mentioned road at Barnet. ”

“ Mimms Park, 2 miles N.W. from Potter’s Bar Station (Middlesex) .
Waterford and Waterford Marsh are in Bengeo parish, on the river Beane. On the marsh is some grazing common, free to all parishioners.
Waterside is the name of a few cottages (1) on the river Gade, near King’s Langley village; (2) at Mill Green, 1 mile N.E. from Hatfield.
WATFORD, including its quickly rising suburbs, is much the largest town in Hertfordshire. The Colne crosses the high road where it dips before rising towards Bushey, and Chauncy says that the town derives its name from the Wet Ford by which the river is crossed. ”