HATFIELD (BISHOPS), a market-town and parish
in the hundred of BROADWATER, county of HERTFORD,
7 miles (W.S.W.) from Hertford, and 19 (N.N.W.)
from London, on the great north road, containing 3215
inhabitants. The manor, which was an ancient demesne
of the crown, was given by King Edgar to the
monastery of St. Ethelreda, at Ely; and that religious
foundation having been converted into a bisboprick by
Henry I., in 1108, the parish thence received the prefix
to its name. Here the bishops of Ely had a palace,
which was rebuilt by John Morton, who held the see
from 1478 to 1486; of this edifice the gateway and the
west front are still standing, near the east end of the
parish church. Henry VIII. having obtained this manor
by exchange, the palace became a royal residence;
and from it Edward VI. and Elizabeth were conducted
to London to take possession of the throne, after the
death of their respective predecessors, the latter, during
the reign of Mary having been kept here in confinement.
The town is situated on the declivity of a steep
hill, to the west of the river Lea, and consists of one
principal street, intersected by a smaller, which are,
during the winter months, lighted with oil. A silk-mill,
worked by a steam-engine, furnishes employment to
about two hundred persons, chiefly children; and there
is a. paper-mill on the river Lea. The market is on
Thursday; fairs are held on the 23rd of April and the
8th of October. The town is within the jurisdiction of
the county magistrates, who hold here a petty session
for the division; and a court leet is held by the Marquis
of Salisbury, who is lord of the manor. The living is a
rectory with the perpetual curacy of Totteridge, in the
archdeaconry of Huntingdon, and diocese of Lincoln,
rated in the king's books at £36. 2. I., and in the patronage
of the Earl of Salisbury. The church, dedicated
to St. Ethelreda, stands on the summit of a hill on
which the town is situated; on the north side of the
chancel is the sepulchral chapel of the family of the
Marquis of Salisbury, in which is a fine marble monument
to Robert Cecil, first Earl of Salisbury, and Lord
High Treasurer in the reign of James I.; and on the
south side is a chapel belonging to the proprietors of
Brocket hall, in this parish. There is a place of worship
for Independents. A National school for boys
is kept in a room over the market-house; and there is
a school of industry for girls, with an endowment given
in 1733, by Anne, Countess of Salisbury. There are
also six almshouses for widows, founded and endowed
by the families of Boteler, Serancke, and Salisbury.
Hatfield house, the mansion of the Marquis of Salisbury,
is a fine specimen of the domestic style of architecture
in the reign of James I.