HERTFORD HUNDRED 



in the 10th century, 88 for some years being brought 

 into a position of prominence as the administrative 

 centre of the district. About 913 a * Edward the 

 Elder, during his campaign against the Danes, estab- 

 lished a 'burh' between the Rivers Maran, Beane 

 and Lea. This site formed an important defensible 

 position on the north side of the Lea, with a river 

 protection on three sides. 30 On the completion of 

 the work the king left Hertford for M.ildon in Essex 

 in order to superintend the building of the ' burh ' 

 at Witham. In the following year, however, some 

 of his force returned to Hertford and 'wrought the 

 burh ' on the south side of the Lea, 31 with the object 

 presumably of guarding both sides of the ford. We 

 thus have at Hertford one of those double towns 

 built upon the opposite banks of a river, such as arose 

 at this time at Bedford, Stamford, Buckingham, York 

 and elsewhere. What these ' burhs ' were we do not 

 exactly know. 33 At tint they may have been purely 

 military stations. They were evidently erected for 

 the purpose of subduing the surrounding country, 

 for it is stated in connexion with the building of 

 Witham and Hertford that ' a good deal of the folk 

 submitted to him [Edward] who were before under 

 the power of Danish men.' From a military post it 

 is only a step for Hertford to have become an 

 administrative centre, to which the county, formed 

 probably in the time of Edgar (957-75), was assigned 

 and from which it took its name. 33 It was probably 

 under the legislation of Edward the Elder limiting 

 trade to boroughs that Hertford became a double 

 market town and a mint town, at which coins were 

 struck from the time of Edward II (975-8) to 

 that of Edward the Confessor (1042-66). It was 

 apparently governed as a royal town by one or more 

 king's reeves, M to one of whom, who had a house in 

 the town, there is a reference in the Domesday 

 Survey." By 1086 there was only one borough and 

 one township, but for some time a survival remained 

 of the two settlements in the two market-places, the 

 one on the north side of the Lea at the Old Cross, 38 

 and that ou the south at the market-place round the 

 town hall. The prosperity of the town did not long 

 survive the Conquest. It was off the main line of 

 traffic, which at an early date passed from the Roman 

 Street to the present north road nearer the 



BOROUGH OF 

 HERTFORD 



The ancient borough, according to 

 BOROUGH the earliest description wc have ol ■ , 

 comprised an area in which were 

 about 166 houses belonging to burgees and about 

 thirtyhouses held by large neighbouring landowners 

 The earliest surviving delimitation ol ^boundary 

 belongs to 1621, when it 



Her 



of the 



, the road I 



, the 



r of 



.. W.HI 



Erm 

 Lea, 



although 



the administrative c 

 diminished. 





importance 



of the county, its trade 16th 



. , ■. ;uJ lit meet, the highway from Hertford « 

 ■hence to a pott near Papermillg.te, and <° the north ..dc of 

 the river it the out end of Papermill meadc ; thence down me 

 river to Cowbridge j along the north aide to the Lei at IBe ea.. 

 end of H«rth»n> ; thence along Priory or Hopjatti mead, il»ng 

 the mil! .Iream to Butchery green, thence to Hack Street . . . 

 thence to 11 pile of .tone* near St. John', churchyard gate, and 

 thence to the high road from Hertford to Wire; thence to 

 Stonehall Close ; then it turn, back to the east .tile of All 

 Saint) deluding the churchyard, thence to the 'Bell ; then it 

 bound) on the tenement, of the manor of Bayly ha 11, meet, the 

 highway of Castle Street, thence to a po.t in the Hreet, and 10 

 the outermost ditch of the now decayed ca.lle ; along the 

 out.ide of the ditch to the mill.tream of Hertford, along Casile 

 Mead and ao to the post" 



The borough thus comprised the whole of the 

 civil parish of All Saints " and parts of the parishes of 

 St. John and St. Andrew. 40 This was the area of 

 the borough proper or of burgage tenure, but Hertford 

 as a vill included a large area of surrounding territory. 

 In 1428 the parishes which paid subsidy in the 

 borough were the "parish of the monks' (St. John), 

 St. Andrew, St. Mary, St. Nicholas, and All Saints 

 with Bnckendon Holy Cross.' 11 For lay taxation, 

 however, Brickendon and Blakemere (afterwards Pan- 

 shanger) were assessed separately from the borough. 4 * 

 The estate of Waltham Abbey, the 'Liberty of 

 Brickendon,' 13 had belonged to the abbey with high 

 immunities since the 11th century, but the abbey 

 seems to have encroached on the bounds of the 

 borough. It acquired much property in West Street, 44 

 and apparently drew this district into the Liberty. 

 In 1274 the burgesses claimed that the 'hamlet of 

 West Street had been withdrawn from the borough 

 by the abbot.' 46 



The Abbot of Waltham was responsible also for 

 the blurring of parochial boundaries. In the 12th 

 and 13th centuries he acquired an estate at Rushen 

 (in the parish of Amwell), 46 which became known as 

 Little Amwell. As it entered the abbot's liberty it 

 connexion with Amwell parish, and from the 

 entury was regarded as part of All Saints' 

 parish. 



« A settlement like Hertford on an 

 old road does not generally belong to any 

 ancient Saxon type. The more ordinary 

 Teutonic form of settlement would be at 

 He.-, ^t.rdbury. It maybe noticed that, 

 besides the relation between the tiro 

 place; suggested by their names, the 

 position of Hertingfordbury village, which 

 eitends mto the parish of St. Andrew, 

 Hertford, may point to a time when 

 Hertingfordbury and Hertford were com 



but, what was perhaps more important 

 at the time, it commanded the water 



tioned with the fertile land, to the west 

 Angl.-Sax. Ckran. (Roll, Ser.), ii, 



av Allcroft, Earthwork! of England, 



which 



within " 



B1 V.C.H. fit 

 county i. first , 

 Sax, Chron. in i 



- Hertingfordbury may have 

 -— the original settlement. This would 

 be an argument against Hertford being 

 oldenoughtobethemeeting-pU^ofthe 



,„*!? hl «°— Pi- the date a 



ientioned,i n the AngL- 



3i As to the authority of king's reeves 

 in royal towns see Chadwick, Stuiitt an 

 A»gI.-Sox. Institution, j S i, & c . Henry 

 ■he reeve ]* mentioned in 1168 {Pi» R, 

 H fto. II Pipe R. Soc], 40). ' 



36 Hertf. Corp! ''pa D p °", v, no. 6,. 

 Thank, are owing to the corporation 

 lor permission to inspect these papers, 



493 



and to Mr. R. T, Andrew, for hi. kind- 



'" The civil parish of All Saints i. 1 

 .mall area on the .outh of the river, the 

 boundary of which coincide, on the em 

 and .outh and a. far a. Cl.tle Street with 

 the boundary of the ancient borough. It 

 i«to be distinguished from the eccle.ia.ticul 

 parish of All Saints, which include, the 

 district of Brickendon. 



*" See P„rl. Paper,, Boundary R t p. „nd 



" Feud. Aid,, [1,456-7,461. 



'■'f.C.II. Hera, i, j, 7 i, „,*, 3]4fl 

 34**, 355 i Subs. R. bdle. 120, no V 



" Q.v. 



" Harl. MS. 4,809, foL 166E 



• Hmd, R. (R ec . Con,.), i. ,88*. Iq 

 this connexion the name of Wall Field 

 Alley which formerly ran parallel to the 

 hamlet on the south i. suggestive. 



16 Harl. MS. 4809, fol. 166 IT. Ct. R ) 



