A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



The Prior of Hertford tried to set up an immunity 

 like that of Waltham. In 1273-4 the burgesses 

 complained that the Prior of Hertford had withdrawn 

 certain men who used to follow the court of the king 

 at Hertford and be there for view of frankpledge.* 7 

 In the 1 5 th century the priory and its lands called 

 Limesy Fee were considered to be outside the borough 

 (see below under Manors). 



The boundary of 1621 includes a small area, and 

 the burgesses aimed at expansion. In 1678 'in 

 Bayliehall Street, Castle Street, West Street, and the 

 street from Cowbridge to Porthill the inhabitants 

 [had] a great trade and [paid] no scot or lot to the 

 borough, whereby trade was removed into those streets 

 and the freemen impoverished.' 43 The parishioners 

 of St. John, on the contrary, complained that so 

 many poor had settled in the borough part of the 

 parish that overmuch poor rate fell upon the 

 ' uplanders,' who lived in the parish outside the town.* 9 

 The bounds were much enlarged by the charter of 

 i68o. 6U 'They run from the furthest edge of Kings- 

 mead to the Ware high road, then including the 

 highway to a common place called London Crosse 

 Hill ; thence to Falling Cross Gate, then including 

 the church and cemetery of All Saints to the west 

 side of West Street ; then to the Lea and to a post 

 in the highway to Hertingfordbury ; thence to the 

 foot of Porthill ; thence including the stream to the 

 extreme edge of Kingsmead.' 61 



Thus West Street and the castle and All Saints- 

 Church were brought within the borough. In 1610 

 the south side of Castle Street was scarcely built up ; 

 house; extended to Cowbridge and to St. Andrew's. 

 Fore Street, the present Maidenhead Street, and the 

 blocks where the Shire Hall and the old market stood, 

 were all built up. 52 By 1766 there was little change 

 except that the row of houses along the outer castle 

 ditch was beginning to rise. 53 



In 1832 the bounds of the parliamentary borough 

 (which had been coincident with the ancient borough) 

 were extended to include the larger area known as 

 the out-borough, the extension comprising parts of 

 the parishes of St. John and St. Andrew and of the 

 liberties of Brickendon and Little Amwell,* 4 and these 

 boundaries were adopted as the municipal boundary 

 under the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835." 

 In 1888 the borough was divided for the first time 

 into a St. Andrew's Ward and an All Saints' Ward 

 for the election of county councillors. 68 Four years 

 later the boundary was enlarged to include parts of 

 the parishes of St. Andrew, Brickendon and Bengeo, 

 so that the wards for the election of town councillors 

 became the Town Ward and Bengeo Ward." In 

 1894 the borough portion of Bengeo was split off 

 from the rest of the parish, under the name of Bengeo 



Urban. St. John's parish and St. Andrew's were 

 similarly treated. In 1 900 the whole urban part of 

 the borough was made one civil parish ; its area is 

 1,098 acres of land and 36 of water." 



Under Edward the Confessor there were 14.6 bur- 

 gesses in Hertford who belonged to the soke of the 

 king. Eighteen other burgesses were the men of 

 Earl Harold and Earl Lcwin. 6 ' The term 'soke' 

 implies that the king held a court for the burgesses, 

 but it is uncertain if the carls had the like jurisdiction 

 over their tenants. It does not appear how the earls 

 obtained their burgages or whether the holders of 

 such burgages could 'go whither they would.'" In 

 1086 the burgesses of the earls passed to William the 

 Conqueror. 61 These, it is mentioned, all rendered 

 dues. Besides the burgesses proper there were a 

 number of houses in the borough held by non- 

 residents, the landowners of the neighbourhood. The 

 dues on these houses were clearly not equally heavy 

 all over the town. Some of the houses • rendered dues 

 and do so still' in 1086, one rendered no dues, and 

 twenty-one paid none except geld. The dues pro- 

 bably included multure, which appears in a charter of 

 William I, a payment for the burgess's house in the 

 nature of gafol, and possibly something for pasture 

 rights. 03 There may have been other dues, of which 

 all trace is lost. The profits arising from the town 

 probably included also the tolls of Ware, St. Albans, 

 Barnet, Thele and Hatfield.* 3 In any case the ' dues ' 

 do not seem to have been a fixed or essential part of 

 burgage tenure. The burgess of 1086 waa probably, 

 as afterwards, the man who held a house within the 

 borough with the land and pasture belonging, and 

 resided there. 



No attempt seems to have been made by the bur- 

 gesses to obtain a permanent grant of the borough at 

 fee farm. They seem to have farmed it in 1225 

 and 1 Z26. M After this time the farm was either paid 

 in by the sheriff 66 or by the warden of the town and 



The aids formed a periodical burden on the borough. 

 The full assessment in the 12th century seems to have 

 been £10, of which a part, generally a half, was 

 frequently remitted. 07 In the aid for marrying Maud 

 eldest daughter of Henry II to the Duke of Saxony 

 in 1 168 eleven burgesses accounted for £18 to/. 68 

 Wigcr and Henry the Reeve head the list, account- 

 ing for toor. and 8 marks respectively; each of the 

 burgesses accounting is apparently responsible for a 

 definite amount. Possibly the eleven were the prin- 

 cipal burgesses who collected the tax from the body 

 of burgesses. After this date for a time 69 the aids 

 and tallages were collected and paid by the sheriff. 11 * 

 In izi8 it is the burgesses who under the name of 

 the 'men of Hertford' paid and apparently collected 



