STEVENAGE, a market-town and parish in the
hundred of BROADWATER, county of HERTFORD, 12
miles (Nw. by N.) from Hertford, and 31 (N.N.W.)
from London, containing 1664 inhabitants. The ancient
name of this town was Stigenhaght, signifying
the hills by the highway, evidently derived from six
barrows, or hills, near the road side, half a mile south
of the town; about the period of the Octarchy it was
called Stigenhace, and in Domesday-book Stevenach, or
Stevenadge. It formed a part of the demesne of the
Saxon kings, and was given, by Edward the Confessor,
to the abbey of Westminster, on the suppression of
which it was granted, by Edward VI., to the see of London,
to which the manor still belongs. The town is
pleasantly situated on the great North road from London
to Edinburgh, and consists principally of one long
and spacious street, with two or three smaller ones,
comprising some well-built brick residences, and a few
good shops, and is well supplied with water. The trade
is principally that of carcass butchers, who dispose of
the slaughtered cattle principally at Hertford, and in
the London market. The platting of straw furnishes
employment to many of the females in the town and
its vicinity. In the reign of James I., Monteine, Bishop
of London, procured the grant of a weekly market,
and three fairs annually, which was confirmed, with liberty
to alter the market-day, by a charter of William
and Mary; but, from the contiguity of other towns, in
which large markets are held, that of Stevenage has
fallen into disuse; and the fairs, except one on the
22nd of September, have also been nearly discontinued.
Petty sessions for the division are held here, and a
manorial court annually by the Bishop of London.
The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of Huntingdon,
and diocese of Lincoln, rated in the king's books
at £33. 6. 8., and in the patronage of William Baker,
Esq. The church, dedicated to St. Nicholas, is situated
on a chalky eminence about half a mile from the
town, approached by a fine avenue of trees; it is a neat
well-built edifice, with a square tower at the west end,
surmounted by a spire covered with lead; attached to
the chancel are two small chapels. There are places
of worship for Independents and Wesleyan Methodists.
The free school was founded, in the reign of Queen
Mary, by the Rev. Thomas Allen, who devised all his
estates to the Society of Trinity College, Cambridge,
for certain charitable uses, amongst which was an endowment
of £13. 6. 8. per annum to this school, which
has been increased by subsequent benefactions. The
master is appointed by the Master and Fellows of that
college, and the trustees are chosen from among the
gentlemen in the neighbourhood; the poor children 6
the parish pay two shillings and sixpence a quarter, and
those out of it five shillings. The school-room is at the
northern extremity of the town, and upon it is an inscription
in old English characters directing, by authority
of the king's commissioners in 1632 and 1640, that the
master, having the income of the school, shall teach
the poor children of the parish, or those resorting to it.
Near it stands a commodious house, with garden and
orchard attached, for the master, who formerly received
a considerable number of boarders. The almshouse for
three poor persons, called"All Christians' Souls' House,"
was founded by Stephen Hellard, in 1501, who directed
that the inmates should daily repeat a certain prayer
for his soul, and for all Christian souls. There are
various other bequests to the poor. Henry Trigg, an
eccentric inhabitant of this town, by his will, dated in
1724, directed his body after death to be deposited on
a floor, to be erected in one of the outbuildings of his
house, leaving his property to his brother on condition
that he complied with this direction, which was accord-
ingly done, the corpse still remaining where it was deposited.
The six barrows supposed to give name to the
town have been conjectured to be sepulchral monuments,
although in those that have been opened no human remains
were discovered. It is generally supposed that
they were erected by the Danes, several battles having
been fought between them and the Saxons in this county,
some fields, at the distance of about three-quarters of
a mile, still retaining the name of Danes' Blood. In a
wood about half a mile eastward of the barrows, called
Humbley wood, are the apparent remains of an intrenched
camp, or fortification, of unknown construction,
consisting of a large and perfectly square area,
surrounded with a deep moat containing water, with
only one entrance on the north side. Richard de
Stevenage, abbot of St. Albans at the dissolution, was
a native of this place.