Hertfordshire Genealogy: Places: Hertford

Hertford is in the hundred of Hertford and the town consists of three parishes:

All Saints Church - circa 1905
Published by Rose & son, Hertford, no. 1624

Hertford All Saints: Adjacent Parishes: Bayford, Bengeo, Brickendon, Broxbourne, Great Amwell, Hertford St Andrew, Hertingfordbury, Little Berkhamstead, Stanstead St Margarets, Ware,

Hertford St Andrew: Adjacent Parishes: Bengeo, Bramfield, Hertford All Saints, Hertingfordbury, Tewin

View of Hertford from Bengeo (card posted 1911)

Bengeo (St Leonards & Holy Trinity): Adjacent Parishes: Bramfield, Hertford All Saints, Hertford St Andrew, Sacombe, Standon, Stapleford, Thundridge, Ware

Part of modern Little Amwell and Brickendon were formerly part of Hertford.

The Hertford Union comprised the following parishes: All Saints, Aston, Bayford, Bengeo, Bennington, Bramfield, Brickendon, Datchworth, Hertingfordbury, Little Amwell, Little Berkhampsted, Sacomb, St Andrew, St John, Stapleford, Tewin, Walkern and Watton.

The Hertford Union Workhouse in Ware Road. It was built in 1869 and was demolished in 1970. [Picture from Hertford Past & Present]

The pages relating to Hertford and its constituent parishes are undergoing a step by step upgrade to allow new material to be introduced.

A dedicated left hand menu will also be introduced.

Bengeo

Hertford Castle

Fore Street

Christ's Hospital

Extra Pictures

The Earliest Hertfordshire Photographers

Hertford Museum

War Memorial

Selected Answers

If you have a relevant question why not Ask Chris

If you know of other books, websites, etc, relating to this place, please tell me.

Hertford. municipal borough, county and market town (Saturday), head of Union, County Court district and petty sessions division on the Lea. S.E. Herts, 12 N.E. of St Albans; acreage of borough 1,136.

Hertford was formerly a parliamentary borough returning 2 members prior to 1897, and one member from 1867 to 1885. It comprises the ancient parishes of All Saints, St Andrew and St John. All Saints Church (rebuilt 1895) is in Perpendicular style; it contains some interesting monuments, the most ancient being a brass for John Hunger (d 1435) chief cook to Queen Katherine, wife of Henry V. The church of St Andrew (rebuilt 1869) is in Gothic style. Christ Church Bengeo is an ecclesiastical parish with a church (built 1869) in Early English style. It has a Roman Catholic church, and there are Baptist, Wesleyan and Congregational Chapels, and a meeting place for Friends.

The town or shire hall, in the market place, is a brick structure in Italian style, dating from 1768. Of other buildings the most important are the Corn Exchange and Public Hall (1839), the Public Library and School of Art (1889), and the General Infirmary (1832), enlarged 1878. A commodious swimming-bath was opened in 1876. Christ's Hospital School, in which boys are received before entering the school of the parent house, is situated in Fore Street, on the east side of the town, near the road to Ware; the building dates from 1690. Hale's Free Grammar School (founded and endowed 1617-20) has scholarships at St Peter's College, Cambridge. The Cowper Testimonial National School and the Green Coat School (recently closed), London Road, are endowed institutions. Pettyt's Almshouses (1649) were rebuilt on a new site in 1854. There are several other valuable charities.

About 2 miles S.E. of the town is Haileybury College, founded 1809 for boys intending to enter the East India Company's service. This institution came to an end with the abrogation of the Company's powers in 1858, and after being used for a time as barracks, the building was in 1862 converted to a public school. The number of boys is limited to 500. The endowment includes scholarships tenable at the school and others at the universities.

Hertford carries on a large trade in corn and other agricultural produce and there are also iron foundries, breweries, malthouses, brickfields and limekilns.

The town was a place of importance as far back as 678, when an ecclesiastical synod was summoned here by Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury. About 905 it was fortified and much enlarged by Edward the Elder, who is said to have begun the castle completed by William I. The remains of this fortress consist of the mound, with an embattled wall and part of a tower. It was the last residence of Isabella (1292-1358), widow of Edward II; and John, King of France, and David Bruce, King of Scotland, were confined here during the Hundred Years' War. The London law courts were transferred to Hertford for ten years (1582-92) in Elizabeth's reign for the purpose of avoiding the plague. Edmund Gunter (1581-1626), the mathematician, was a native.

The present seat of Hertford Castle dates chiefly from the reign of James I, and is built in part of materials taken from the ancient fortress. Bulls Park is a handsome edifice of brick, erected in the time of Charles I. Brickendonbury, Fanshaws, and Leahoe are other seats.

Book: My Life by Alfred Russel Wallace - includes detailed description of Hertford during his childhood (1830s)

Book: Hertford's Past in Pictures, by Len Green, Rockingham Press, 1993 [link]

Web: Lee Valley Online includes historical information on the principal towns and villages on the River including Hertford.

Web: The East Herts District Council web page also contain a page containing some historical information, and links to other possibly relevant web sites.

If you know of other books, websites, etc, relating to this place, please tell me.

Extra postcard images. click on thumbnail picture
			Queens Road
St Andrews Street	Port Hill	The Bridge, Hartham [different backs]	Grammar School
Honey Lane		Hertford Castle	General Infirmary Hertford
Dicker Mill, Hertford [DETAIL]	Dicker Mill Head, Hertford	Hertford Lock	Hertford Lock [different backs]


The Prince and Princess of Wales at Hertford, July 2nd, 1906 Publisher: Elsden, Hertford