Books on Hertfordshire

Hertford Street and Place Names

Rosemary Bennett

Hertford Museum, 1996

This booklet lists street and place names in the town of Hertford, and gives a short description of the origin of the name. It also contains a number of portraits of local dignitaries who have hade roads, etc., named after them.

Some examples:

Balls Park: name is thought to have been derived from Simon de Balle, a burgess who attended a Parliament held at York in 1295. The present mansion was built c1642 for Sir John Harrison.

Towards the South see Balls appear
Within a park stocked with deer
A noble structure fair and great
And might a Prince accommodate.

 Mill Bridge: a mill stood on this site until 1965. It is recorded in the Domesday Survey of 1086 and was one of the five major water mills that once existed in the Borough. There was also a small mill on Hartham from before 1861 until c1760.

Tinder Box Alley: behind No. 11 Old Cross. Demolished in the late 1880's it has been described as 'a perfect specimen of an unhealthy slum'. It was also the first premises of the Hertford Working Men's Club.

Locating Books

HOME