HERTFORDSHIRE, a county (inland), bounded on
the north by the county of Cambridge, on the northwest
by the county of Bedford, on the west by the
county of Buckingham, on the south by the county of
Middlesex, and on the east by the county of Essex:
it extends from 51° 37 to 52° 5 (N. Lat.), and from
13 (E.) to 46 (W. Lon.); and contains three hundred
and thirty-seven thousand nine hundred and twenty
acres, or five hundred and twenty-eight square miles.
The population, in 1821, amounted to 129,714.
The Celtic inhabitants of this part of Britain were the
Cassii, or Cattieuchlani, whose country, long before the
invasion of Csesar, was overrun by the Belgae (who had
previously established themselves in the south-western
part of England), and their capital city, Verulam, taken
possession of by the conquerors. Of the operations of
Csesar in the territory forming the modern county of
Hertford, and his capture of Verulam, little more is
known than what may be collected from the succinct
narrative of this campaign by the conqueror himself;
the result of it, however, was, that the British chief
Cassivelaunus was obliged to sue for peace; which being
granted, Mandubritius, the sovereign of the Cassii, had
his dominions restored to him, and Caesar led back his
army, along the Watling-street, to Richborough, where
he embarked for the Continent. Shortly after the
second invasion of Britain, in the reign of Claudius, in
the revolt of the Iceni, under Boadicea, against the
Romans, which commenced while the Roman army
under Suetonius was engaged in the conquest of the
Isle of Anglesey, the Britons, after utterly destroying
the Roman colony and garrison of Camalodunum, advanced
against Verulam with such an overwhelming
force, that the Roman general, who had hastened back
along the Watling-street to its relief, was compelled to
retire, leaving Verulam to the same disastrous fate which
had befallen Camalodunum, the city being sacked, and
the inhabitants massacred. It was not long, however,
before this important post again fell into the hands of
the invaders, who renewed its fortifications, and appear
to have erected a new fortress at Cheshunt, on the
Ermin-street. In the Roman division of Britain, this
territory was included in Flavia Cizsariensis; and under
the Saxon octarchy part of it was comprised in the
kingdom of Mercia, and part in that of the East Saxons,
or Essex. In 794, Offa, the celebrated king of Mercia,
died at Offley, in this county; and in 896, near Ware,
Alfred captured the Danish ships, by obstructing the
channel of the river Lea, so that they could not be
brought down it. In his camp at Berkhampstead, in
1066, William the Conqueror took the oath to maintain
the laws of Edward the Confessor. At Wheathampstead,
in 1312, the barons assembled their forces against Edward
II. and his favourite Gaveston. The year 1381
is memorable in this county for the transactions connected-
with the suppression of Wat Tyler's rebellion,
when Richard II. and his chief justice Tresilian, with a
guard of a thousand men, came to St. Alban's.: a number
of the insurgents, brought from the gaol at Hertford,
were there executed, and the male inhabitants of the
county, from fifteen to sixty years of age, were assembled
in the great court of the abbey, and swore to be faithful
subjects for the future; at Hertford also, Henry, Duke
of Lancaster, afterwards Henry IV;, kept his court, at
the time that Richard II. was deposed. Three of the
most important battles, during the war between the
houses of York and Lancaster, were fought "within the
limits of this county, viz., in 1455, the first battle of
St. Alban's, in which Henry VI. was wounded and made
prisoner; in 1461, the second battle of St. Alban's, in
which Margaret of Anjou was defeated by the Earl of
Warwick; and in 1468, the decisive battle-of Barnet,
in which the Earl of Warwick and ten thousand of his
army were slain. It was from Theobalds that Charles I.,
in 1642, after receiving there the petitions of both
houses of parliament, departed to place himself at the
head of his army.
This county lies partly within the diocese of London,
and partly in that of Lincoln, the whole being included
in the province of Canterbury. That part which is in
the diocese of London comprises the deanery of Braughin,
which is in the archdeaconry of Middlesex, and
contains thirty-four parishes, and the archdeaconry and
deanery of St. Alban, containing twenty-two parishes.
The part which is in the diocese of Lincoln is included
within the archdeaconry of Huntingdon, and comprises
the four deaneries of Baldock, Berkhampstead, Hertford,
and Hitchin, containing eighty parishes; the total number
of parishes in the county being one .hundred and
thirty-six, of which, sixty-seven are rectories, fifty-three
Vicarages, and the remainder perpetual curacies, or consolidated
with other parishes. For civil purposes it is
divided into the eight hundreds of Braughin, Broadwater,
Cashio (or the liberty of St. Alban's), Dacorum,
Edwinstree, Hertford, Hitchin, and Pirton, and Odsey,
in which are the borough and market-towns of Hertford
and St. Alban's, and the market-towns of Bal-
dock, Berkhampstead, Hatfield, Hemel-Hempstead, Hitdun,
Hoddesdon, Rickmansworth, Standon, Stevenage,
Bishop's Stortford, Tring, Ware, and Watford, and parts
Off those of Chipping-Barnet and Royston. Two knights
are returned to parliament for the shire, and two representatives
for each of the two boroughs. Hertfordshire
is included in the home circuit: the assizes are held at
Hertford, where also are held the quarter sessions, except
for the hundred of Cashio, or liberty of St. Alban's,
which are held at St. Alban's. The county gaol is at
Hertford. There are ninety-five acting magistrates.
The rates raised in the county for the year ending
March 25th, 1827, amounted to £ 109,072.19.; the expenditure
to £108,054. 6., of which £93,064. 12. was
applied to the relief of the poor.
The natural features of Hertfordshire are of a gentle
character, but it possesses scenes of considerable beauty:
the southern parts of the county, the heights of which
overlook part of the county of Middlesex, and command
a prospect of the distant hills of Surrey, are eminently
pleasing; while, for an extensive view over a rich vale,
few prospects, without a great river, are more striking
than that which is obtained from Lilley-Hoo. Considerable
addition is also made to the beauty of this county
by the mansions, villas, and ornamented grounds, of
Hch proprietors, which present themselves in every direction.
The scenery of Moor .park js particularly beau-
tiful; and the various scenes round Ware, North Mimms,
Watford, and the banks of all the streams from Berkhampstead
and Hempstead, when viewed from the adjoining
hills, are worthy of attention. With respect to
the soil, it may be remarked that the vales through which
the rivers and brooks flow are invariably composed of
rich sandy loam, with the exception only of a small
quantity of peat and marshy moor; that the slopes of
the hills descending to these vales are inferior qualities
of the same loams, and at the same time dry and sound;
but that the flatter surfaces of the higher lands are composed
of a wet and strong loam, sometimes so much
so as to require hollow draining. The late secretary to
the Board of Agriculture, Mr. Arthur Young, divides the
soil into one district of loams, two of clay, one of
chalk, and one of gravel; at the same time observing,
that the soils intermingle in a remarkable manner,
so that it is sometimes  extremely "difficult to draw
the boundary line between them. The district of the
loams includes a very considerable portion of the county,
no less than one hundred and forty-seven, thousand
eight hundred and forty acres, and may properly be divided
into flinty and sandy; the flinty loams spread into
a considerable tract from the river Beane to the limits
of the county beyond Berkhampstead, extending southward
to the gravel and clay districts, and northward to
that of the chalk; from Berkhampstead towards Chesham
they are of a reddish colour: for some miles
around Buntingford these loams are strong, and produce
heavy crops of wheat; and from St. Alban's to Redbourn,
and about Watford, they form a fine mellow turnip
land, easily worked, and adapted to the production
of almost every kind of grain. Some of the finest loam
in the county is the sandy vale of Cheshunt up to
Hoddesdon, which produces five quarters of wheat per
acre. Some of these loams, more especially where they
are wet, are provincially, but improperly, designated
clay: the whole of this district is cropped with turnips,
which are eaten on the land. The "two clay districts are
comparatively small; one is in the southern part of the
county, adjoining Middlesex, and the soil is stiff, hard,
and tenacious, being the same as the bean lands of the
north of that county: the other, which is by far the
larger of the two, lies on the eastern side of the county,
and nearly resembles the contiguous clay lands of Essex,
being rather a strong wet loam on a stiff basis of clay
marl. Both these tracts are in a great measure free
from stone and flint: conjointly they include ninety
thousand two hundred and forty acres; the southern
tract, by the use of London manure, has been converted
into very rich hay ground. The chalk district
extends along the whole border of the northern part of
the county, and comprehends forty-six thousand seven
hundred and twenty acres; this soil is of two kinds,
chalk, unmixed with any thing but what ages of cultivation
have added; and what is provincially called
marme, being a white marl formed by the mixture of a
portion of clay; "both these soils are fruitful, but the
last-mentioned is the best. The gravel tract lies in the
south-eastern part of the county, around Hatfield, North
Mimms, and Northall, and contains seventeen thousand
two hundred and eighty acres; this soil is characterised
by wetness, from many springs, most of which are impregnated
with sulphur; it abounds with smooth blue
pebbles, which, at various depths, and in some places
close to the surface, are conglomerated by sulphureous
clay into plum-pudding-stones; and the whole district,
excepting only some patches of fine loam, which occur
more especially on the banks of many of the smaller
streams, is among the most unproductive land in the
south of England. The substratum of the whole of
Hertfordshire is chalk; for obtaining which, pits are
sunk all over the county, its use as manure being general
throughout its limits; for this purpose, the chalk
which lies farthest beneath the surface soil is esteemed
the best.
By far the greater part of the county is under tillage;
Upon all the turnip land the rotation of crops is, turnips,
barley, clover, the first crop mown, the second
eaten off, and wheat; some farmers adding oats; on the
other soils various systems are practised. Of wheat,
the turnip soils produce on an average from seventeen
to twenty bxishels per acre; the strong land about
twenty-five; on the fine rich loams of Buntingford,
forty bushels are by no means an uncommon crop;
while the average produce of this grain thoughout the
county is estimated at twenty-three bushels per acre:
the general average produce of barley and oats is about
thirty-two bushels per acre. The artificial grasses are,
clover (which has probably been cultivated in this
county longer than in any other part of the kingdom,-
and from the vicinity of the metropolis yields a greater
profit here than elsewhere), trefoil, sainfoin, and lucerne;
the culture of tares is general throughout the county.
Besides the chalk already mentioned, and the manures
common to other counties, soot and night-soil brought
from, London, are found very beneficial on the land;
about Lilley, peat-ashes are brought as manure from
Bedfordshire, where they are burned in heaps, and
sold at Tingrith, Flitwick, and Flitton. The grass
land is. in a great measure confined to a narrow border
on the south side of the county, in the vicinity of Barnet,
which, being near London, is made productive by
means of the manures brought from that city; with
this exception, the only grass lands are those belonging
to the numerous gentlemen's seats, and those in the
flat bottoms of the vales which are watered by rivers;
of the last-mentioned, some of the principal are on the
Stort, from Hockerill to Hertford, and thence to Hatffeld,
on the banks of the same river. In the parishes of
the south - western corner of the county are many
orchards, rarely exceeding four or five acres in extent,
principally of apples and cherries; the former are the
most profitable; of the latter, the caroon and the small
black cherry are the favourite sorts, and a full grown
tree, in a favourable season, will produce six hundred
pounds weight. In consequence of so much of Hertfordshire
being arable land, and the quantity of clovercarried
to London being so great, live stock is an object
of inferior consideration: the cattle are of various sorts;
the sheep are chiefly of the South-down and Wiltshire
breeds; there are also some of the new Leicester: the
hogs are of different kinds. The quantity of waste lands,
compared with those of most other counties, is very
inconsiderable; they consist of small commons scattered
over the county, the principal being near Berkhampstead.
There are large tracts of coppice wood lying
to the south of Hertford, in the direction of London;
in the tract between Hockerill, Ware, and Buntingford,
are also coppice woods; and the Marquis of
Salisbury has one thousand five hundred acres. There
is much fine flourishing timber about the different seats
of the nobility and gentry, such as oak, ash, elm, beech,
Spanish chesnut, cedar, larch, spruce, silver fir, Scotch
fir, &c.; much of that in Moor park is of great antiquity.
The women and children about Stevenage, Hatfieldi
Redbourn, St. Alban's, Berkhampstead, Hitchin, &c., are
much employed in making straw-plat. The manufacture
of black lace has been carried on at Berkhampstead
time immemorially, but has of late given place to that
of straw-plat.
The principal rivers are the Lea and the Colnej
formed by the junction of many minor streams, which
rise chiefly within the bounds of the county. The Lea
rises in Bedfordshire, enters Hertfordshire near Bower
heath, and traverses the county in a direction nearly
from north-west to south-east, passing the town of Hertford,
from which place it has been made navigable to its
conflux with the Stort, about a mile east of Hoddesdon,
where it takes a southerly course, becoming the bounT
dary of the county on the east, and continuing so until
it reaches the border of Middlesex. The Colne rises near
Kitt's-end in Middlesex, and running by North Minims,
Watford, and Rickmansworth, it soon after quits the
county for Buckinghamshire. The Stort, rising in
Essex, becomes navigable at Bishop's Stortford, from
which place to its junction with the river Lea it forms
the boundary between Essex and Hertfordshire. The
Mimram rises near Frogmore, in Hitchin and Pirton
hundred, and, with the Beane, which rises near Cromer
in Odsey hundred, joins the Lea near Hertford. The
sources of the Rib are near Buntingford, in Edwinstree
hundred, and it joins the Lea between Hertford and
Ware. The source of the Ash, is also in Edwinstree
hundred, near Upperwick, and it falls into the Lea about
a mile below Ware. The Verulam, Verlam, or Muse
river, rises in Dacorum hundred, near Market-street,
and on the confines of Bedfordshire, and runs in a
south-south-easterly direction to St. Alban's, and thence
nearly south until it joins the Colne, then only a small
stream. The Gade rises also in Dacorum hundred, near
Gaddesden, on the borders of Buckinghamshire, and
runs in a direction nearly south, to its conflux with the
Colne near Rickmansworth. At Ashwell, in this county,
are the nine sister springs of the Cam, which flows by
Cambridge. The Grand Junction canal, from Branston
wharf on the Coventry canal to Old Brentford, where
it opens into the Thames, enters Hertfordshire above
Tring, and follows the course of the Bulburn and Gade
rivers to Rickmansworth, and from that place the course
of the Colne until it leaves the county. An act of parliament
was obtained for the construction of another canal
from St. Alban's to the Grand Junction canal, belov?
Cashiobury park; but the proposed subscription of
£17,000 failing, the design was abandoned. The road
from London to Oxford, through Aylesbury, enters Hertfordshire
at Bushey Heath, and passing through Watford,
Berkhampstead, and.Tring, quits the county about hall
a mile beyond the last place. The road from London
to Berwick upon Tweed, through York, after passing
through a corner of the county which surrounds East
Barnet, re-enters it on Hatfield chase, and passing
through Hatfield, Welwyn, andBaldock, enters Bedford:
shire about two miles beyond the latter town. The road
from London to Holyhead, through Chester, after passing
through the same corner and through Chipping-Barnet,
re-enters Hertfordshire immediately beyond South
Minims, and passing through St. Alban's and Redbourn,
quits the county about a mile before it reaches Dunstable.
This line is also part of the road from London to
Chester, through Birmingham; of that from London
to Carlisle, through Warrington and Lancaster; of that
from London to Manchester, through Northampton and
Derby 5 of that from London to Whitehaven, through
Sheffield, Settle, and Kirkby-Lonsdale; and of that
from London to Manchester and Clitheroe, through Leek,
Uttoxeter, and Hinckley. The road from London to
Halifax and Clitheroe, through Bedford, Nottingham, and
Rotherham, branches off from the last-mentioned road
at St. Alban's, and passing through Harpenden, quits the
county about two miles before it" reaches Luton. The
road from London to Scarborough, through the counties
of Huntingdon and Lincoln, enters Hertfordshire near
Waltham-Cross, and passing through Cheshunt, Ware,
Puckeridge, and Buntingford, enters Cambridgeshire at
Royston. The road from London to Lynn-Regis, through
Cambridge, branches off from the last mentioned road
at Puckeridge, and passing through Barkway and Barley,
enters Cambridgeshire about a mile beyond the latter
place. The road from London to Norwich, through
Newmarket, enters Hertfordshire from Essex, where
it crosses the river Stort, at Harlow Mills, and passing
through Sawbridgeworth and Bishop's Stortford, again
crosses that river into Essex near the latter place: this
is also the road from London to Lynn-Regis, through
Brandon and Newmarket.
The British Watling-street, entering Hertfordshire
on the south, passed to St. Alban's, and thence along
the line of the present great Irish road, to Dun'stable.
The Ermin-street, passing near Enfield, entered the
south-eastern border of Hertfordshire near Little Hockgate,
and passed between Standon and Puckeridge, near
Braughin, and through Buntingford to Royston, where
it crossed the Iknield-street. The line of the Iknieldstreet,
entering the north-eastern border of the county
at Royston, passes through Baldock, and after crossing
a small part of Bedfordshire and of Buckinghamshire,
re-enters Hertfordshire for a short distance, running a little
to the right of Tring. The only Roman station in this
county, the situation of which has been precisely ascertained;
is the celebrated one of Verulam, contiguous to
St. Alban's. Excepting the ancient British roads abovementioned,
which appear to have been used and improved
by the Romans, the only Roman road (of the many which
it is probable once intersected this county) that can now
be traced with any degree of distinctness within its
limits, is that which connected Verulam with the station
at Chesterfield, near Sandy, on the banks of the
Ivel, which runs in the line of the present great north
road, through Stevenage, Graveley, and Baldock. Before
the Reformation there were in this county, according
to Tanner, thirty-four religious houses and hospitals.
The principal ecclesiastical antiquities are St. Alban's
abbey church and gate-house. At Waltham-Cross is
the well known cross, erected, with several others, by
Edward I., to perpetuate the remembrance of those
places at which the body of his consort, Queen Eleanor,
rested, in its way from Herdeby, in Lincolnshire, for
interment in Westminster abbey. There are some remains
of the ancient castles of Hertford, Bishop's Stortford,
and Berkhampstead; and Hatfield house is a fine
specimen of the style of domestic architecture which
prevailed in the reign of James I. On the east side of
the village of Great Amwell, at the foot of the steep
bank upon which the church is situated, rises a considerable
spring, which, together with that of Chadwell,
feeds the canal commonly called the New River,
commenced in 1609, under the powers of an act of parliament,
by Mr. (afterwards Sir) Hugh Myddelton, for
supplying the northern side of the metropolis with water,
and completed in 1613, its length being nearly thirtynine
miles; about half its course is within the eastern
border of this county, and near the line of the road from
London to Ware. For a more detailed account of this
undertaking, see CLERKENWELL.