X 



HATFIELD HOUSE, HERTFORDSHIRE 



T T ATFIELD. like many another beautiful 

 Al English house, was once a Bishop's palace. 

 It lies in the county of Hertford, and appears to 

 have received its name from two words " Heath " 

 and " Field," meaning "Cleared Heath." In Anglo- 

 Saxon times Hatfield belonged to the Crown, but 

 before the Norman Conquest King Edgar granted 

 it to the Abbot of Ely, whose ownership is recorded 

 in the Doomsday Book, where " Hatfield " figures 

 as " Hetfelle." It was in Henry I.'s reign that "the 

 golden rhetoric" of the Abbot persuaded him to 

 make Ely into a Bishop's See, after which Hatfield 

 became an Episcopal residence, and the Manor in 

 consequence was called Bishop's Hatfield. 



From the earliest days the Abbots of Ely were 

 renowned for their Gardens and wonderful Grapes 

 it being almost certain that Hatfield possessed large 

 Vineyards long before the celebrated one planted by 

 Sir Robert Cecil and this reputation the Bishops 



