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Hempstead (Hemel) in Hertford County England History and GeographyHEMPSTEAD (HEMEL), a parish in the hundred of DACORUM, county of HERTFORD, comprising the market town of Hemel-Hempstead, and the chapelries of Bovingdon and Flaunden, and containing 5193 inhabitants, of which number, 3962 are in the town of Hemel-Hempstead, 19½ miles (W. by S.) from Hertford, and 23 (N.W.) from London. This place, of which there are no records of a date prior to the Heptarchy, appears from the name to owe its origin to the Saxons, by whom, from its situation among the hills, near the confluence of the rivers Gade and Bulborn, it was called Hean Hampstede, implying a dwelling in a high or elevated situation: it was given by Offa, King of Mercia, to the abbey of St. Alban. In Domesday-book it is noticed under the names Henamstede, and Hamelamstede, from which latter its present appellation is evidently deduced. The town is pleasantly situated on the declivity of a hill, in a fertile valley watered by the river Gade, which has its source within a distance of four miles, and consists principally of one street, nearly a mile in length, partially paved and lighted: the houses are irregularly built, but of neat and respectable appearance, and the inhabitants are amply supplied with water. The principal article of manufacture is straw-plat, which affords employment to nearly all the females and children of the labouring class: there are several corn and paper-mills in the vicinity. The Grand Junction canal, by means of which the neighbourhood is supplied with coal from the Staffordshire mines, passes through Box Moor, within a mile of the town, where extensive docks, wharfs, and warehouses, have been constructed. The market, which is on Tursday, is one of the largest corn markets in the county; a market is also held on the morning of the same day for straw-plat, a great quantity of which is sold weekly. The fairs are on Holy Thursday, for cattle and sheep, to which a court of pie-powder is attached; the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, and the third Monday in September, which last is a statute fair for hiring servants. The inhabitants received a charter of incorporation from Henry VIII., which was renewed to them by Cromwell on their taking the solemn league and covenant, the copy of which is still preserved. By this charter the government is vested in a bailiff, assisted by a jury of the principal inhabitants, who act as his council: the bailiff is annually chosen from among the principal inhabitants on St. Andrew's day; he acts as clerk of the market, but possesses no magisterial authority. The court leet of the lord of the manor is, by permission of the bailiff, held in the town-hall; where also a meeting of the county magistrates takes place every alternate week: the town-hall is a long narrow building, supported on square wooden pillars, of which the upper part contains rooms for the transaction of the business of the corporation, and the lower affords an area for the use of the market. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Huntingdon, and diocese of Lincoln, rated in the king's books at £16. 1. 10½., and in the presentation of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, London, on the nomination of the Bishop of Lincoln. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a spacious cruciform structure, partly in the Norman style of architecture, with an embattled tower surmounted by a lofty spire; the chancel is finely groined, and the east window embellished with painted glass; there is also a finely-painted window at the west end, presented by Sir Astley Paston Cooper, Bart. In 1809, a large stone coffin was dug up in the church-yard, and in the church is a stone with a brass, bearing the effigy of Robert Albyn, with an inscription in Norman French. There are places of worship for Baptists, the Society of Friends, and Huntingtonians. A charity school for boys, erected by subscription, and endowed with £15 per annum bequeated, in 1796, by Mr. Thomas Warren, and £10 per annum from a bequest by Francis Combe, Esq., of Hempstead-Bury; and a charity school for girls, to which Mr. Warren bequeathed £13. 10. per annum, have been consolidated, and are conducted on the National system: there are one hundred boys and eighty girls in the school, which is further supported by subscription. The West Herts Infirmary, at Picott's End, in this parish, is also supported by subscription. The remains of the old manor-house of Bury consist only of a gateway, from a window over which Henry VIII. is said to have delivered the charter; and in Lacker's house are some curious apartments said to have been built by that monarch, in the ceilings of which the royal arms are still preserved: there are also some remains of ancient buildings at a place called Heaven's Gate, at the north-east boundary of the parish, concerning which there are some traditionary records. At Picott's End, and at Poak Mill, in the vicinity of the town, are saline and chalybeate springs, the water of which is said to be similar to that of Cheltenham. Many petrifactions of sponge and other fossils, susceptible of a very high polish, are found in the vicinity, which abounds also with fine specimens of chalcedony. Dr. Hugh Smith, an eminent physician and medical lecturer, was-born at Hemel-Hempstead, in 1733; Sir Astley Paston Cooper, Bart., pre-eminently distinguished for his skill in surgery, now resides in the vicinity. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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