Harpenden (/ˈhɑːrpəndən/) is a town and civil parish in the City and District of St Albans in the county of Hertfordshire, England.

Five objects dating from around 150 AD, were inside, including a glass jug with a Mediterranean stamp and samian ware dishes used for libations.

[9] Harpenden village grew out of Westminster Abbey’s gradual clearing of woodland for farming and settlement within its Wheathampstead manor, granted by Edward the Confessor in 1060.

Just beyond the southern edge of the town lies Nomansland Common (sometimes simply called "No Man's Land") upon which part of the Second Battle of St Albans was fought during the Wars of the Roses.

Nomansland Common also saw the first annually contested steeplechase in England, in 1830, when it was organised by Thomas Coleman, and the last fight of 19th-century bare-knuckle fighter Simon Byrne.

A widespread but now little-known industry of Harpenden was straw-weaving, a trade mainly carried out by women in the 19th century.

The arrival of the railway system from 1860 and the sale of farms for residential development after 1880 radically changed Harpenden's surroundings.

In his History of Hertfordshire in 1879, John Edwin Cussans commented "Notwithstanding that these meetings are under the most unexceptional patronage as regards the Stewards, yet for two days in the year all the London pickpockets, sharpers and blackguards who happen to be out of gaol are permitted to make Harpenden their own and to make travelling in a first-class carriage on the Midland Railway a danger to men and an impossibility to ladies."

Acknowledged as "the father of agricultural science", his early field experiments on Hertfordshire farms led him to patent a phosphate fertiliser, the sales of which enriched him immensely.

Some of the long-term 'classical field experiments' begun by Lawes and Gilbert remain in place to this day (such as Broadbalk) representing a unique resource for agricultural and environmental research.

[14] The Harpenden Growth Study, one of the earliest longitudinal tests, was overseen by James Mourilyan Tanner and monitored the development of many of the children over a number of years.

However, Harpenden was not totally confident in its safety, as evidenced by the now decaying Bowers Parade air raid shelters,[16] soon to be secured for the future.

As Harpenden is located in Hertfordshire, just outside London, it is an area of extremely high property costs.

Land Registry data suggests that the average house price in Harpenden in the 1st quarter of 2006 was £500,902, compared to £287,277 for the St Albans district generally and £183,598 nationally.

The data also indicates that an unusually high proportion of houses in Harpenden are owner occupied (81.4%, as opposed to 69.6% in the district generally and 66.2% nationally).

Harpenden Parish Council held its first meeting on 31 December 1894, with Captain Arthur Lydekker, a Conservative, being elected the first chairman.

[34] In 1932 the council bought Harpenden Hall at 6 Southdown Road for £7,000 and converted it to act as offices and meeting place, moving into the building in early 1933.

A successor parish was created for the former urban district, called Harpenden Town Council.

Southbound services continue through Farringdon and London Blackfriars, then on to Brighton (via Gatwick Airport), Three Bridges or Rainham.

[41] The Nickey Line railway linked Harpenden, Redbourn and Hemel Hempstead; Roundwood Halt also served the north-west of the town.

The line opened in 1877 and was closed in 1979; the trackbed was converted to a shared-use path in 1985, forming part of the National Cycle Network.

[citation needed] Cafes are also common in Harpenden, but with only three commercial chains (Costa Coffee, Caffè Nero, and Gail's); the rest are owned independently.

This partnership has enabled the people of Harpenden to take full advantage of the common for all kinds of leisure activities.

It was replaced in 2021 with the newly built Eric Morecambe Centre in nearby Rothamsted Park which is a 511-seat multi function space.

Guides take part in the Remembrance Sunday and St George's Day parades alongside the Scouts and has younger counterparts called Rainbows and Brownies.