BERKHAMSTED, (Hertfordshire) 24 cm. and 30 mm. from London, was anciently a Roman T. and Roman coins have often been dug
up here. Some of the Saxon Ks. kept their courts, and held their great councils here. Will. the conq. who swore here to
the nobility to preserve the laws made by his predecessors, gave this manor to Robert E. of Morton, who 'tis said built a
castle here, but rebelling in Normandy against K. Hen. I. he seized it, together with the manor. K. Henry II. kept his
court here, and granted it all the laws and liberties it had enjoyed under Edward the confessor, particularly that no Mt.
should be within 7 m. of it, that the inh. would not be obliged to attend at any assizes or sessions; and that their
merchandize should pass free of toll or custom through England, Normandy, Aquitain, and Anjou. This place gives title of
Marquis to the D. of Cumberland, though, till the year 1726, it was always appropriated to the Prince of Wales. In the R.
of Henry III. it was a bor. and in the 14th of Edw. III. sent members to Pt. There bel. to this honor and manor 11
townships in this Co. 15 in Bucks, and 27 in Northamptonshire, which are obliged to pay homage, and chuse constables here.
K. James I. to whose children this place was a nursery, made it a corp. by the name of bailiff and burgesses of
Berkhamsted St. Peter, the burgesses to be 12, to chuse a recorder and town-clerk, to have a prison, &c. but the corp. was
so impoverished by the civil wars in the next R. that the government dropp'd, and has not been since renewed. Its Mt.
which is on M. is much decay'd, though it is a pretty large T. with a handsome broad street, of a good length. What
remains of the castle, which is but one third of it, was, not long ago, Mr. Carey's, now the seat of the Roper's family.
The other two thirds were burnt down in the R. of Ch. I. and are only to be known now by the moats and walls. Here is a
spacious ch. which has 11 of the apostles on its pillars, with each of them a sentence of the creed; and on the 12th
pillar is St. George killing the dragon. Mr. John Saver and his wife gave 1300 l. to build an alm. here for 6 poor widows,
and 50 l. a year for their maintenance. Besides a ch. s. here is a free grammar s. a handsome brick structure; which was
10 years in building, and is well endowed, the K. being patron, and the warden of All-souls college in Oxf. visitor. St.
John's chapel in the ch. is used only by the master, usher, and scholars. The Fairs here are on Shrove-Tu. Whit.M. June
29, and St. James's Day.