from Bryant's 1822 Map - reprinted by the Hertfordshire Record Society

Some years ago I started to research Heath Farm, which was farmed by my Great Grandfather, Jacob Reynolds. This expanded into a wider study of Bernards Heath.

It soon became obvious that the farms near the town had unwanted visits by the poorer members of the community.

The same criminal names kept cropping up and after a while I extended the area covered by my search, particularly as reported in the local press before 1900.

This talk briefly looks at some of the earlier records, and then follows the career of one criminal family, and the problems faced by the occupants of Heath Farm. It finishes by throwing some new light on a particularly bloody murder in 1880.