History of Hertfordshire

From origins in brewing and papermaking, through aircraft manufacture, the county has developed a wider range of industry in which pharmaceuticals, financial services and film-making are prominent.

Today, with a population slightly over 1 million, Hertfordshire services, industry and commerce dominate the economy, with fewer than 2000 people working in agriculture, forestry and fishing.

London is the largest city in Western Europe; it requires an enormous tonnage of supplies each day and Hertfordshire grew wealthy on the proceeds of trade because no less than three of the old Roman roads serving the capital run through it, as do the Grand Union Canal and other watercourses.

The county contains a curiously large number of abandoned settlements, which K. Rutherford Davis attributes to a mixture of poor harvests on soil hard to farm, and the Black Death which ravaged Hertfordshire starting in 1349.

[4] Settlement continued through the Neolithic period, with evidence of occupation sites, enclosures, long barrows and even an unusual dog cemetery in the region.

[31] King Offa of Mercia (died 796) built a church at Hitchin in Hertfordshire, but it burned down in 910 CE and the monks moved to St Albans.

[33] Some sources (including Matthew Paris, who was a monk at St Albans) suggest he died at Offley,[33] though he was buried fifteen miles away in Bedford.

[36] The first reference (as "Heoroford") in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is for 1011,[37] but the county's true origins lie in the 10th century, when Edward the Elder established two burhs in Hertford in 912 and 913 respectively.

Æthelred returned briefly and unsuccessfully until 1016, at which time he was succeeded by Forkbeard's son Knut, who granted the Royal Manor of Hitchin to his second in command, Earl Tovi.

[63] In 1295, another parliament was held in St Albans,[65] and in 1299, King Edward I gave Hertford Castle to his wife Margaret of France on her wedding day.

Nicholas was refused permission to become a monk at St Albans,[76] but his career does not seem to have suffered for this, and he was unanimously elected Pope on 2 December 1154, taking the papal name Adrian IV.

That same year, King Henry IV appointed his knight Hugh de Waterton to Berkhamsted Castle to supervise his children John and Philippa.

[87] King Henry IV moved his government temporarily to St Albans early in his reign for fear of public opinion in London.

[102] He also had a hand in creating the New River, which was the brainchild of Welsh entrepreneur, Hugh Myddelton: an artificial watercourse that predated the building of England's canal network by over a century.

[109] He seems to have loved Royston and spent considerable time there, hunting and feasting and enjoying himself—so much so that his favourite dog, Jowler, returned one evening with a note tied to his collar.

The note read: "Good Mr Jowler, we pray you to speak to the King (for he hears you every day and so he doth not us) that it will please His Majesty to go back to London, for else the country will be undone; all our provision is spent already and we are not able to entertain him longer.

[105] In the course of this war, deserters and mutineers among the various encamped armies ravaged the Chilterns, plundered Ashridge, rifled Little Gaddesden Church and broke open its tombs.

[120] Because a canal barge can hold so much more than a wagon, the waterways expansions increased the quantity of supplies that could reach London (and the amount of refuse and manure that could be carted away).

Many of these documents are written or printed on paper made locally, at a time when paper-making joined brewing as another dominant industry in the county.

[144] Two Victoria Crosses ("VC") were awarded to Hertfordshire men in 1916: one to Corporal Alfred Alexander Burt[144] and one to Lieutenant William Leefe Robinson, who shot down the first German airship of WWI, a Schutte-Lanz over Cuffley.

In May 1940, a public meeting at County Hall, Hertford (which was then newly built, having only opened in 1939)[147] was held to consider forming the Hertfordshire Local Defence Volunteers.

[150] American Flying Fortresses bombers of the 398th Bombardment Group (Heavy) mounting 195 combat missions against targets on the Continent from RAF Nuthampstead.

A growing trend is research and development, notably for Glaxo and at the University of Hertfordshire which, from relatively humble beginnings as Hatfield Polytechnic, now has over 23,000 students.

"[159] About sixty million gallons of petrol burned,[159] the largest of the explosions measured just under 2.5 on the Richter scale, and the smoke darkened skies in neighbouring towns for two days before it could be extinguished.

This may have been Lady Katherine Ferrers of Markyate Cell 1634-1660 who was married to a detached husband Thomas Fanshaw(e) and whose body was carried across the county to be buried at Ware.

He pretended to be deaf, so that people would talk freely while he moved among them selling pies, overhearing their destinations and the location of their valuables;[166] and, with his sons who blackened their faces, would ambush them later that night.

[167] The murderer, who was the Mayor of Norwich's son John Thurtell, a notorious gambler,[167] pleaded that the sensational newspaper coverage had prejudiced the court against him.

John Bunyan (1628–1688) was linked to Hitchin, and although he was gaoled outside the county in Bedford, he was a member of the Baptist Church at Kensworth (at that time in Hertfordshire, though now in Bedfordshire).

Thomas Walsingham (?-1422), author of the Historia Anglicana and chronicler of the Peasants' Revolt, was a monk in St Albans Abbey in the early 15th century.

As Catherine was in line for the throne, she needed Queen Elizabeth's permission to wed, and because this was not sought, the marriage was held in secret with Edward's sister, Lady Jane Seymour, as the only witness.