INDUSTRIES 



INTRODUCTION 



EXCEPT malting, a natural outcome 

 of its dominant agriculture, medi- 

 aeval Hertfordshire had few indus- 

 tries of note. There was brewing, 

 of course, in every village, largely 

 a domestic trade, while tanning, a neces- 

 sary craft, flourished in the towns. Besides 

 malt, meal and fuel were carried to London ; 

 simple woodware, tiles, pottery^ and rough 

 cloth'- of local manufacture supplied the home- 

 steads. Later straw-plaiting ' on a considerable 

 scale, paper-making ^ and lace gained a footing, 

 and brewing became an organized trade, as 

 less and less ale was made by private persons. 

 There also developed a considerable activity 

 in the growing of water-cress ' for the London 

 market, and of late years an extension of 

 nursery gardens. Our own day has seen the 

 creation, especially at Watford, St. Albans, 

 Barnet and Letchworth, of a factory industry, 

 distributed among various trades, and drawn 

 to the county by cheaper labour and greater 

 opportunities of expansion than crowded cities 

 can afford. 



As regards land communications, there can 

 be little doubt that most of the Roman roads, 

 as Watling* Street, Ermine Street, Akeman 

 Street and the prehistoric Icknield Street, 

 continued to be the great arteries of traffic 

 during the Middle Ages, but the Roman Way 

 from St. Albans to Colchester was probably 

 early disused. The direction of the London 

 to St. Albans road was changed in the Tudor 

 period.^ The Great North Road was also in 

 all likelihood of considerable antiquity. Arthur 

 Young, at the beginning of the 19th century, 

 speaks of six great leading turnpikes, and adds 

 that there were ' many cross-roads nearly as 

 good as turnpikes. The worst are found in 

 the country between Pelham and Welwyn.' 

 Before the days of Macadam, however, even 

 the great trunk roads were sometimes in a 

 deplorable condition from the continuous traffic 

 and occasional floods. In 1680 Thoresby had 

 described^ the road between Hoddesdon and 



1 Treated separately. 



' It may also be remarked that since the original 

 Roman Road ran to the west of the Ver, a portion of 

 the modern road was made early in the second quarter 

 of the 19th century in order to enter the city. 



5 Diary, i, 68. 



Ware as most pleasant in summer but ' bad in 

 winter because of the depth of the cart-ruts.' 

 Even in May the same traveller * in 1695, when 

 riding to London, speaks of some showers at 

 Ware ' which raised the washes upon the road 

 to that height that passengers from London 

 that were upon the road swam ; and a poor 

 higgler was drowned.' 



In respect of railway communications the 

 county is well supplied as far as access to 

 London is concerned, but the cross-country 

 facilities leave much to be desired. This con- 

 dition of affairs is easily understood when we 

 consider the history of the early trunk lines. 

 One of the earUest railways opened in Hert- 

 fordshire was that of the London and Birming- 

 ham line, for the construction of which an Act 

 of Parliament was obtained in 1833. The 

 original terminus was fixed at Camden Town, 

 but removed to Euston ^ under the authority 

 of a further Act of 1835. The first section 

 between Euston and Boxmoor was opened in 

 1837. According to a contemporary descrip- 

 tion, the first train on 13 July 1837 ' proceeded 

 very slowly to Camden, but soon accelerated 

 its progress and was seen sweeping along like 

 a meteor at the rate of 30 miles an hour.' The 

 ordinary public traffic began a week later. On 

 16 October in the same year a further 7 J miles 

 were opened from Boxmoor to Tring, and on 

 9 April 1838 the line from Tring to Denbigh 

 Hall was ready for use. By an Act of Parlia- 

 ment passed on 16 July 1846 the London and 

 Birmingham and the Grand Junction Com- 

 panies finished their separate existence under 

 these names, and the amalgamated company 

 was henceforth known as the London and 

 North Western.'" On 5 May 1858 a branch fine 

 from Watford to St. Albans was opened for 

 passenger traffic' 



The Great Eastern Railway has a lesser 

 mileage actually within the County of Hertford 

 than the other great trunk fines running north 

 and south. The nucleus from which the present 

 Great Eastern main line sprang was the old 

 Eastern Counties Une, incorporated in 1836 



* Diary, i, 295. 



' C. E. Stretton, Hist. Lond. and Birmingham Rail- 

 way (ed. 2), I et seq. 



'^ Local and Personal Act, 9 & 10 Vict. cap. 24.. 

 ' See original official advertisement. 



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