Richard Lydekker

“ Deposits of brick-earth occur locally throughout the Chalk area.
Over the greater part of the county the soil is the result of the decomposition of the foregoing superficial formations; and is consequently in most cases of a stiffer and more clayey character on the hill-tops than in the valleys, where it frequently forms only a bed of a foot, or even less, in thickness above the sharp, running gravel. Everywhere in the Chalk districts the soil contains a vast number of flints; but it is, nevertheless, admirably adapted for corn-growing, and especially for malting-grain ”

“ Earthworks of great but unknown antiquity are by no means uncommon in Hertfordshire; one of the most important being Grimes-ditch, or Grimm’s Dyke, traces of which remain on Berkhampstead common, as well as on the opposite side of the Bulbourne valley, while a deep ditch runs in a bold sweep from near Great Berkhampstead through Northchurch and Wiggington to the north of Cholesbury camp, and thence into Buckinghamshire. ”

“ The great earthworks running outside of and parallel to parts of the Roman wall at Verulam are likewise older than the latter. Berkhampstead Castle may stand on the site of an earlier camp, as British and Roman coins have been found there; but the mound or keep, as at Bishop’s Stortford, Pirton, and Hertford Castles, is probably Saxon. On the other hand, the well-preserved camp near Redbourn, known as the Aubreys, Auberys, or Aubury, is certainly pre-Roman; and the same is probably the case with some of the numerous other earthworks dotted over the county, such as Arbury Banks, Ashwell. ”

“ The other kinds of rocks are known as igneous rocks, which have been molten under the action of heat and become solid on cooling. When in the molten state they have been poured out at the surface as the lava of volcanoes, or have been forced into other rocks and cooled in the cracks and other places of weakness. Much material is also thrown out of volcanoes as volcanic ash and dust, and is piled up on the sides of the volcano. Such ashy material may be arranged in beds, so that it partakes to some extent of the qualities of the two great rock groups. ”

“ In common with England generally, there has of late years been a marked tendency for the rural population to migrate to the larger villages and towns; and this dominance of the urban population has been accentuated by the transference to St Albans and elsewhere of large manufacturing and printing establishments from the metropolis. The urban districts on the lines of railway likewise constitute the residence of a large population of men having daily business in London. ”

“ On many of the unenclosed commons the soil is, however, of a poor and hungry nature, producing various kinds of inferior grass,38 together with spring-flowering gorse, as on Harpenden Common, or heather, as at Kingsbourn Green, between Harpenden and Luton, and at Gustard Wood, near Wheathampstead. On the higher Chalk Downs near Dunstable and Royston there is little or no soil properly so-called; the short, but sweet and nourishing grass growing on the chalk itself. A very different type of soil obtains in the London Clay area in the south and east of the county ”

“ How much or how little these and other changes had to do with the poverty of the British fauna as compared with that of the Continent is too long and difficult a question to be discussed in this place; but certain it is that even the southern counties of England do possess fewer species of animals and plants than France or Belgium; that this poverty increases with the distance from the Continent; and that Ireland is much poorer in species than England. ”

“ The class of defensive works known as homestead moats—that is to say, simple enclosures formed into islands by means of moats containing water—do not, perhaps, strictly speaking, come under the title of either architectural or military structures. Still this seems the most convenient place in which to mention them. The northern and eastern districts of Hertfordshire are remarkable for the enormous number of these homestead moats; these districts being equalled in this respect only by Essex and Suffolk. On the western side of the county they are comparatively uncommon. ”

“ To the south of the Elstree range of chalk hills the scenery suddenly changes, and on emerging into Middlesex from the tunnel through these hills on the Midland Railway we enter an extensive grassy plain, characterised by its abundance of oak trees, the scarcity of elms, and the total absence of ash. Parts of this plain, which is continued through Middlesex to London, form the great grass-growing and hay-producing district of Eastern Hertfordshire. ”

“ The Upper Chalk area, capped with much Boulder-clay on the eastern, and with clay-and-flints and gravel on the western side, corresponds very closely as regards these divisions with the Lea and the Colne basins. The Middle Chalk, which as we have seen is exposed on the flanks of the continuation of the Chiltern Hills in the north-west, is peculiar in being the only area in the county in which grows the pasque-flower, or anemone;49 this chiefly flourishing on south-westerly slopes, as at Aldbury Towers, near Tring. The Middle Chalk is also the chief home of the various kinds of orchis ”

“ Hertfordshire, however, like England on a small scale, has local climates of its own, dependent upon differences in elevation above the sea-level, in the amount of rainfall, in the nature of the geological formation and soil, and also in aspect, especially as regards protection from the east wind in spring. The slope of a hill facing south or south-west receives for instance far more sun in winter than one which looks in the opposite direction ”

“ Cheap Chinese labour has completely killed the local plaiting industry; but the manufacture of the finished foreign plait into hats still constitutes an important trade in St Albans and elsewhere, as well as at Luton and Dunstable in Bedfordshire; the sewing of the plait into hats being done mainly, if not entirely, in large factories. Tring was a great plait centre.
The manufacture of textile fabrics was formerly carried on in several parts of the county, but in most of these has either completely ceased or fallen into decline. ”

“ The town, which is situated in the Gade valley, and formerly returned members of its own to Parliament, is remarkable for the length of its main street—part of which is known as Marlowes. Its market-day is Thursday, and there is an annual wool-sale. Corn and cattle are its chief trade, the straw-plait industry having nearly died out; but near by is Nash Mills, the site of a large paper factory. The church, which stands to the west of the main street, is a fine example of a cruciform twelfth-century parish church ”

“ As regards boundaries, Hertfordshire is bordered on the east by Essex, by Middlesex on the south, by Buckinghamshire on the south-west, by Bedfordshire on the north-west, and, to a small extent, by Cambridgeshire on the north. From a short distance below the Rye House to Waltham Abbey the boundary between Hertfordshire and Essex is a natural one, formed by the rivers Stort and Lea; but the other boundaries of our county are, for the most part at any rate, purely artificial. ”

“ For botanical purposes the county has been divided into six districts corresponding to the river-basins; the first two belonging to the Ouse system, and comprising the Cam and the Ivel basins, and the other four, comprising the Thame, the Colne, the Brent, and the Lea, pertaining to the Thames system. Of these the Lea area is the largest, the Colne next in size, the Ivel considerably smaller, and the other three quite small. In some respects the local characters of the flora are, however, better brought out by taking the geological formations as a basis of division. ”

“ In winter there is a considerable local trade in gravel and shingle, dug mainly in the valleys. Twenty years ago this trade was much more extensive in some districts than is at present the case; this being due partly to the exhaustion of the deposits, partly to the fact that in districts served by the Midland Railway the use of syenite from Mount Sorrel and Charnwood Forest, in Leicestershire, has to a considerable extent replaced flint-gravel as road-metal on the main highways of the county and in the metropolitan districts. ”

“ With the increase of population and building the wild fauna of Hertfordshire, like that of England generally, has been gradually becoming poorer in species—probably indeed from the time the mammoth and the woolly rhinoceros were exterminated, as they possibly were, by our prehistoric ancestors. When the wolf, the bear, the wild cat, and the beaver disappeared, is quite unknown ”

“ The first half of the nineteenth century saw the introduction of railways, which gradually but surely killed the old coaching traffic. One of the first lines to be opened was the London and North-Western—in 1838—which traverses the south-western side of the county, passing through Watford, Boxmoor, Berkhampstead, and the outskirts of Tring. In 1853 a branch line was opened from Watford to St Albans, and another to Rickmansworth in 1862. ”

“ In lordly country seats, as well as in mansions of a less pretentious type, dating from the Tudor period downward, Hertfordshire, owing doubtless to its well-wooded and picturesque scenery, its good soil, bracing climate, and proximity to the metropolis, is especially rich, and in this respect presents a marked contrast to the neighbouring county of Essex. ”

“ Rare birds, as well as various maritime species driven from their normal resorts by stress of weather, make their appearance occasionally in various parts of the county, but references to very few of such cases must suffice. During the great visitation of sand-grouse (a bird normally characteristic of the steppes of Central Asia) to the British Isles in 1863, some individuals reached this county. In the early part of last century a little auk, or rotche, was taken on the millhead at Wheathampstead during very severe weather; a great northern diver has been seen on Tring reservoir ”

“ 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 Langley, Aldbury (near Stortford) , Ashwell, and between Hitchin and Pirton. Perforated axe-heads and hammer-heads of stone, which may belong to the close of the Neolithic or commencement of the Bronze age, are still more uncommon, although a few such have been found, notably a hammer, near Sandridge, now preserved in the British Museum. ”

“ Indeed, if careful comparisons were instituted between sufficiently large series of specimens, it is almost certain that all species of resident41 British land animals, as well as exclusively fresh-water fishes, would display certain differences from their foreign representatives; while in some instances, at any rate, as is already known to be the case in regard to certain species, more than one local race of an animal may exist in our own islands. ”

“ 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 ”

“ Taking temperature alone, we find, for instance, that while the average for the whole year in Shetland is as low as 43° Fahrenheit, in the Scilly Islands it rises to 53°. It is a very general idea that in our islands the winter temperature of a place depends upon whether it is situated in the north or the south. ”

“ Nowadays, however, more especially on the great lines of railway, conditions have materially altered; and large areas have become6 residential districts, which in the more southern part are little more than suburbs of the metropolis. Printing-establishments and factories—moved from London for the sake of cheapness—have likewise been set up on the outskirts of many of the larger towns, such as St Albans and Watford, or even in some of the villages. ”

“ The method of malting is too well known and the industry too widely spread to call for any special notes on the subject.
In former years, say up to about 1865, the straw-plait industry afforded employment to a whole army of workers in north-western Herts and the neighbouring districts of71 Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire; and at that date the women and children might be seen in summer plaiting the straw at almost every cottage-door in each village or town. As already mentioned, the chalk districts of the county grow wheat-straw specially well suited for plait. ”

“ Flints picked from the fields of the chalk area have a higher value as road-metal than dug gravel, owing to their superior hardness; the so-called “quarry-water,” which is present in all dug gravel, having been long since dried out.
“Facing” flints for building purposes is an art much less commonly practised in the county than was the case in earlier days; and when buildings of faced flint are contemplated it is generally necessary to send to a distance in order to secure the services of an expert in the facing process.
14. History of Hertfordshire. ”

“ Sawbridgeworth (2085) , pronounced Satsworth, is a town on the eastern border of the county, to the south of Bishop’s Stortford, with a station on the Great Eastern Railway. It was originally known as Sabricstworth, being the seat of the family of Say, or de Say. It has a history dating from the Conquest. (pp. 113, 132.)
Shenley (1120) a village about four miles to the southward of St Albans; the manor in the time of Stephen belonged to the de Mandeviles, who had also the church. ”

“ Among localities specially celebrated for birds in the46 county are Tring reservoirs, where vast flocks of water-birds congregate, especially in winter. Here breeds the great crested grebe; and here, too, was shot in 1901 the only known British example of the white-eyed pochard. The neighbouring downs, as already mentioned, form one of the chief English resorts of the stone-curlew, or thick-knee; a species of especial interest on account of the remarkable manner in which both birds and eggs assimilate to their surroundings. ”

“ In addition to these local peculiarities in the fauna dependent upon elevation, geological formation, soil, and the presence or absence of forest, there are, however, certain others for which climate may possibly account.
A case in point is afforded by the distribution of stag-beetles and magpies in the county. Both these species are unknown in the district immediately round Harpenden, while the former, at any rate, are likewise unknown in the St Albans district, and apparently between that city and London. ”

“ In the basin of the Lea a few flakes, etc., have been found at or near Ayot St Peter, Welwyn, Hertford, Bengeo, Ware, Amwell, Hoddesdon, Ippolits, Stocking Pelham, and elsewhere. Much more important is a “find” at Hitchin, near the source of the Hiz, and thus situated, in part at any rate, in the Ouse basin. These implements, which were first brought to notice in 1877, occur in clay-pits worked for brick-earth, and are accompanied by bones of the mammoth, hippopotamus, and rhinoceros. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The fauna and flora of Hertfordshire, like those of other counties with varying geological formations, are not, however, by any means the same everywhere. On the contrary, there are well-marked local differences mainly42 associated with what naturalists call “station”; that is to say, differences of elevation, soil, geological formation, climate, etc., etc. The animals and plants of the high chalk downs in the neighbourhood of Gaddesden, Dunstable, and Ashwell, are for instance more or less markedly distinct from those of the lower level corn-growing areas of the centre of the county. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ The Lea itself takes origin in a marsh at Leagrave, or Luigrave, a little north of Luton (= Lea-town) , in Bedfordshire, and after passing through Luton Hoo, in that county, where it is expanded into a large artificial lake, enters Hertfordshire at East Hyde, in the valley north of Harpenden, and flows thence by way of Wheathampstead and Brocket (where it again expands into another artificial lake) to Hatfield, whence its course is continued by way of Essendon and the north side of Bayfordbury Park to Hertford. ”