HATFIELD or 



BROADWATER HUNDRED BIS hof's hatficlu 



HATFIELD or BISHOP'S HATFIELD 



dclboumedi 



resided for — 



1865. It is now the property oj 



Haetfeld (x cent.) ; Hetfelle (xi cent, 

 (xiv cent.) ; Cecil Hatfield (xvii cent.). 



The parish of Hatfield has an area of 1 2,884 acres - 

 of which 3,89;^ acres are arable land, 4,94'! 

 permanent grass and i^SJwood. 1 From the great 

 extent of the parish and from documentary evidences 

 it is clear that Hatfield was originally forest land, of 

 which Hatfield Park is the survival. The greater 

 part of the parish lies at an elevation of beti 

 zoo ft. and 300 ft., but rises to 300 ft. 

 at Handside and Brocket! Park. South-t 

 Park, which lies in the centre of the parish, the 

 ground rises considerably, the highest points, 419 ft., 

 being south and east of Woodhill. The River Lea 

 enters the parish at Brockett Park, crosses it diagonally 

 from east to west, passes through the north of the 

 Home Park, and forms a portion of the parish Green 

 boundary in the direction of Holwell. The Great 

 North Road runs through the centre of the parish, 

 and is crossed by the main road from St. Albans to 

 Hertford. 



The town of Hatfield is situated a short distance 

 south of the cross roads. The church of St. Etheldreda 

 lies a little way off the main road, and adjoining it 

 are the remains of old Hatfield House, now used as 

 stables. Between the church and the main road is 

 Fore Street, formerly the principal part of the town, 

 where the market was held. There are here several 

 interesting houses, notably one of the 17th century 

 of timber and plaster with an overhanging story and 

 tiled roof, now converted into two shops, and some 

 late 1 8th and early 19th-century red brick houses, 

 including the old Salisbury Arms. Park Street 

 branches off to the north, and in it is 

 Inn, an early 17th-century plastered timber hoi 

 one story, with an attic having dormer windows. 

 The town has now extended northward of Fore 

 Street along the main road and around the railway 

 station in the direction of the road to St. Albans. 



Facing the station yard immediately outside the 

 park gates of Hatfield House is a bronze statue of 

 Robert third Marquess of Salisbury, designed by- 

 Sir George J. Frampton, and erected by subscription 

 by the Marquess's Hertfordshire friends and neigh- 

 bours in 1906. 



The Great Northern railway has a station at 

 Hatfield, which is also a junction for the branch 

 lines to St. Albans, Luton, Dunstable and Hertford. 

 In the extreme north of the parish are the 

 hamlet of Handside, Brockett Hall and Park with 

 Lemsford at rts southern extremity. These,' with 

 Cromer Hyde, now form the ecclesiastical parish of 



), Hatfeud beautiful.' Lord Melbourne died at Brockett in 184* 

 . ■ «_i .„„ — Idcd for some years at Br< 



Lord Melbourm 

 ' Stali8t '« i»m Bd. of Agri e , (,,<,;), 



Lord Palm 



and died there in iu* 



Admiral Lord Walter Kerr, but has been occupied 



for many years by Lord Mountstephen, who has on 



several occasions entertained royalty, 



The little village of Sun borough lies on the North 

 Road a little further south. To the west are the 



village of Cromer Hyde, Symondshyde Farm, with 



the north, Symondshyde Great Wood, and Astwick Manor, 

 of Hatfield To the east is the village of Hatfield Hyde, with 

 Woodhall Farm, Ludwick Hall and Holwell Manor, 

 and Camfield Place (for which see Essendon), the 

 residence of Mr. Frederick Vavasour McConnell. 

 A little distance west of the town of Hatfield are 

 New Town, where is the union workhouse, and Roe 

 Pope's Farm is on the west side of Hatfield 

 Park, and Bush Hall (the residence of Mr. A. L. 

 Stride, J.P.) on the north. Beyond the parks the 

 parish extends to the east in a long narrow strip. 

 Here are situated Woodside, Lower Woodside, Wood- 

 hill, the property of Canon Jones, and also Woodside 

 Place, the residence of Sir William S. Church, M.D., 

 and Warrenwood, the residence of Capiain Butler. 

 In the extreme east is the village of Newgate Street, 

 with the manor of Tolmers, the residence of Mr. J. H. 

 Johnson, and Ponsbourne Park, the house of which, 

 erected about 1 76 1 and added to later, is now the 

 property of Col. Edward Hildred Carlilc, M.P., J.P. 

 In this part of the parish there are several old clay- 

 pits and a gravel-pit which is still worked. There 

 is also a large gravel-pit north of the Home Park. 

 In the north-east of the parish are a number of old 

 the Eight Bells chalk-pits. The greater part of the parish lies on a 

 - r subsoil of chalk, but south-east of the town there 

 is a belt of Woolwich and Reading beds, and beyond 

 that a stretch of London Clay. 



In the reign of King Edgar HAT- 

 MANORS FIELD was in the possession of ' a certain 

 powerful man ' named Oedmaer whose 

 daughter ^thelflaed was King Edgar's wife.! Oedmaer 

 a^d his wife ^alde demised the 40 hides of Hatfield 

 to the king, probably for the purposes of a benefaction 

 and ,„_ order that, by passing through the king's 

 hands, it might become ' bocland.' Edgar transferred 

 it to the monks of Ely, being under a promise to 

 endow that abbey, the large quantity of wood it 

 contained mating ,t specially valuable for building 

 purposes. During Edgar's- lifetime the monastery 

 enjoyed it without disturbance, but after his death 

 '" S their claim was disputed. An alderman 

 _ vin and his brothers declared 

 father ^thelstan had exchanged his 



of VS i 7 8 " had h ? violence deprived him 

 w it im " d ;f° 0r 7 l r he " Chan S e he ^ mide 



Lemsford. ' Brockett Ha,l Z =^ &? £*?$£* 

 Lamb in the middle of the 1 8th centurj from designl '^ 



by James fame. It is a brick house surrounded by a 

 park of 500 acres, m which is a lake The Prin 

 Regent frequently stayed with the first Lord Melbourne 



Meturn'tTe " ^' Q »**j«°* « LoJd 

 Melbourne there writing to the King of the Belgians 

 °» 3 August in that year that her 'visit to BroE 

 dlMnterested us very much for our exceS 



» are title was made secure. 3 



* Ft «nian, Old Engl. m,t. 178. 

 91 



" (impensii Soc), j 



