HEMPSTEAD (HEMEL), a parish, in the hundred
of DACORUM, county of HERTFORD, comprising the
market-town of Hemel-Hempstead, and the chapelries
of Bovingdon and Flaunden, and containing 5193 inhabitants,
of which number, 3962 are in the town of
Hemel-Hempstead, 19 miles (W. by S.) from Hertford,
and 23 (N.W.) from London. This place, of which
there are no records of a date prior to the Heptarchy,
appears from the name to owe its origin to the Saxons,
by whom, from its situation among the hills, near the
confluence of the rivers Gade and Bulborn, it was called
Hean Hampstede, implying a dwelling in a high or elevated
situation; it was given by Offa, King of Mercia,
to the abbey of St. Alban. In Domesday-book it
is noticed under the names Henamstede, and Hamelamstede,
from which latter its present appellation is evi-
dently deduced. The town is pleasantly situated on the
declivity of a hill, in a fertile valley watered by the river
Gade, which has its source within a distance of four
miles, and consists principally of one street, nearly a
mile in length, partially paved and lighted: -the houses
are irregularly built, but of neat and respectable appearance,
and the inhabitants are amply supplied with water.
The principal article of manufacture is straw-plat, which
affords employment to nearly all the females -and children
of the labouring class; there are several corn and
paper-mills in the vicinity. The Grand Junction canal,
by means of which the neighbourhood is supplied with
coal from the Staffordshire mines, passes through Box
Moor, within a mile of the town, where extensive docks,
wharfs, and warehouses, have been constructed. The
market, which is on Thursday, is one of the largest com
markets in the county; a market is also held on the
morning of the same day for straw-plat, a great quantity
of which is sold weekly. The fairs are on Holy
Thursday, for cattle and sheep, to which a court of piepowder
is attached; the Thursday after Trinity Sunday,
and the third Monday in September, which last is a
statute fair for hiring servants. The inhabitants received
a charter of incorporation from Henry "VTIL, which was
renewed to them by Cromwell on their taking the solemn
league and covenant, the copy of which is still preserved.
By this charter the government is vested in a bailiff,
assisted by a jury of the principal inhabitants, who act
as his council: the bailiff is annually chosen from
among the principal inhabitants on St. Andrew's day;
he acts as cleric of the market, but possesses no magisterial
authority. The court leet of the lord of the manor
is, by permission of the bailiff, held in the town-hall
where also a meeting of the county magistrates takes
place every alternate week: the town-hall is a long narrow
building, supported on square wooden pillars, of
which the upper part contains rooms for the transaction
of the business of the corporation, and the lower affords
an area for the use of the market.
The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Huntingdon,
and diocese of Lincoln, rated in the king's
books at £16. 1. 10., and in the presentation of the
Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, London, on the nomination
of the Bishop of Lincoln. The church, dedicated
to St. Mary, is a spacious cruciform structure, partly in
the Norman style of architecture, with an embattled
tower surmounted by a lofty spire; the chancel is finely
groined, and the east window embellished with painted
glass; there is also a finely-painted window at the west
end, presented by Sir Astley Paston Cooper, Bart. In
1809, a large stone coffin was dug up in the church-yard,
and in the church is a stone with a brass, bearing the
effigy of Robert Albyn, with an inscription in Norman
French. There are places of worship for Baptists, the
Society of Friends, and Huntingtonians. A charity
school for boys, erected by subscription, and endowed
with £ 15 per annum bequeathed, in 1796, by Mr. Thomas
Warren, and £10 per annum from a bequest by Francis
Combe, Esq., of Hempstead-Bury; and a charity school
for girls, to which Mr. Warren bequeathed £13. 10. per
annum, have been consolidated, and are conducted on
the National system; there are one hundred boys and
eighty girls in the school, which is further supported by
subscription. The West Herts Infirmary, at Picott's
End, in this parish, is also supported by subscription.
The remains of the old manor-house of Bury consist only
of a gateway, from a window over which Henry VHI. is
said to have delivered the charter; and in Lacker's house
are some curious apartments said to have been built
by that monarch, in the ceilings of which the royal
arms are still preserved; there are also some remains
of ancient buildings at a place called Heaven's Gate,
at the north-east boundary of the parish, concerning
which there are some traditionary records. At
Picott's End, and at Poak Mill, in the vicinity of .the
town, are saline and chalybeate springs, the water of
which is said to be similar to that of Cheltenham.
Many petrifactions of sponge and other fossils, susceptible
of a very high polish, are found in the vicinity,
which; abounds also with fine specimens of chalcedony.
Dr. Hugh Smith, an eminent physician and medical lecturer,
was bom at Hemel-Hempstead, in 1733; Sir
Astley Paston Cooperj Bart., pre-eminently distinguished
for his skill in surgery, now resides in the vicinity.