Part 6

With the bare mention that in the second year of his reign King Henry IV visited the abbey, we pass on to the Wars of the Roses, and especially the first battle of St Albans, which was fought in May, 1455. The Lancastrians, or royalists, held the main street of the city till the Yorkists, under the leadership of the Duke of Warwick, burst through the defences from the direction of Sopwell and cut the royalist position in half. In less than an hour they had the city in their own hands, after a great carnage, during which King Henry VI himself was wounded. In 1458 the king visited Berkhampstead with the object of quelling the strife, but to no purpose; and in February, 1461, the two factions again fought an engagement at St Albans, this time at Bernard’s Heath, to the northward of St Peter’s Church. This second battle of St Albans ended in a victory for the king. On 14th April, 1471, Edward defeated Warwick in the great battle of Barnet, on the south-east border of the county.

Hertfordshire had much to do with royalty during the reign of King Henry VIII, the palace at King’s Langley being bestowed on Queen Catherine, while the king himself spent much time at Hunsdon House, and also had a residence at Tittenhanger. There is, moreover, a tradition that he was married to Anne Boleyn at Sopwell. The Princess Mary lived for a time at Hertford Castle previous to her removal to Hunsdon, where Princess Elizabeth also lived before her long sojourn at Hatfield, in which beautiful park she was informed of her accession to the throne. When queen, Elizabeth continued to be a frequent visitor to the county; and in her reign, owing to plague in London, the law courts were held for a time at St Albans, while, for the same reason, Parliament sat at Hertford in 1564 and 1581. The sovereign herself came as a guest to Lord Burleigh at Theobalds, to the Earl of Essex at Cassiobury, and to Sir Nicholas Bacon at Gorhambury. James I likewise spent much time in the county, having an establishment at Royston, and dying at Theobalds. During the civil wars Hertfordshire men played an important part in connection with what was known as the Eastern Association; and in 1643, when the High Sheriff ventured to read a royal proclamation in the market-place at St Albans, he was arrested by Cromwell himself. To follow the fortunes of Hertfordshire during the conflict between Charles I and Parliament would occupy too much space; and it must suffice to mention that in 1660 Sir Harbottle Grimston of Gorhambury was Speaker of the House of Commons and took a leading part in the restoration of King Charles II.

The last event in the history of the county to which space admits allusion is the Rye House Plot. “In the spring of 1683,” to quote the words of a well-known local writer, “Charles II and James Duke of York went to see the races at Newmarket. Just opposite to the Rye House Inn there stood then a castle, built in the days of Henry VI, and in that castle lived one Rumbold, formerly an officer in the parliamentary army. Rumbold and about a score of equally reckless malcontents put their heads together over their tankards, and, so far as can be gathered from many rather contradictory narratives, they formed a plot to delay the royal party on the return journey from Newmarket to London, by placing an overturned cart in the road-way, in order that they might shoot the King and the Duke of York in the confusion. The conspiracy was frustrated, for the royal party returned earlier than Rumbold had been led to expect, and presently the plot leaked out. The Rye House was searched, incriminating papers were discovered, and the affair culminated in the arrest of those nobler patriots who, in concert with Argyle, had been planning the overthrow of what they honestly regarded as a corrupt government.”

The Rye House, it may be added, is situated in the south-eastern border of the county, a short distance north-east of Hoddesdon.

15. Antiquities--Prehistoric, Roman, Saxon.

The earliest evidence of the presence of man in Hertfordshire is afforded, as elsewhere in this country, not by written or sculptured records, but by stone implements of various shapes and types. The very earliest of these implements, at any rate, belong to a time when the mammoth inhabited this country, which was then united to the continent; and their age must be reckoned by thousands, if not by tens of thousands, of years. The period to which all these implements belong, being before all human records, is known as the Prehistoric; and it is important to mention that this term should be restricted to the epoch intervening between the time of the formation of the uppermost portion of the Tertiary beds and the first dawn of history. We often find the term “prehistoric monsters” applied to the great reptiles of the Chalk and Oolites; but such a usage, although etymologically justifiable, is technically wrong.

The Prehistoric period for lack of all other means of dating has been divided by antiquarians, according to the material of which man formed his implements, into the Stone, the Bronze, and the late-Celtic or Iron Ages; the Stone age being further divided into an older, or Palaeolithic, section, in which all the so-called “celts,” or flint implements, were formed simply by chipping, and a newer Neolithic section, in which they were often ground and polished. In connection with these implements attention may be directed to some of the ancient earthworks in the county, although the age of many of these is unknown, and in some cases may be later than the Roman occupation. The antiquities newer than the late-Celtic age are described as referable to the Roman or the Saxon period, as the case may be. These correspond with the history of England from 55 B.C. to 1066 A.D.

Palaeolithic implements are found locally in certain parts of the county, although from the gravels of a very considerable area, especially the Harpenden district, they appear to be absent. The larger implements, or “celts,” which are often six or seven inches in length, seem to have been employed for all purposes, and to have been held in the hand, without handle or shaft, although some of them might easily be used as spear-heads. The first discovery of an implement of this type in the county was made near Bedmond, Abbot’s Langley, in 1861. A few specimens have been obtained in other parts of the Colne basin; but in the district round Kensworth and Caddington vast numbers have been discovered, although for the most part just outside the county boundary. In fact, near Caddington the Stone-age men had a great manufactory of these implements:--a kind of Palaeolithic Sheffield. In the basin of the Lea a few flakes, etc., have been found at or near Ayot St Peter, Welwyn, Hertford, Bengeo, Ware, Amwell, Hoddesdon, Ippolits, Stocking Pelham, and elsewhere. Much more important is a “find” at Hitchin, near the source of the Hiz, and thus situated, in part at any rate, in the Ouse basin. These implements, which were first brought to notice in 1877, occur in clay-pits worked for brick-earth, and are accompanied by bones of the mammoth, hippopotamus, and rhinoceros.

Between the Palaeolithic and Neolithic age exists a gap of untold length, for the land had again to be re-peopled. Chipped, or rough-hewn celts, or hatchets, of the latter age have been picked up in fields near Abbot’s Langley, Bedmond, Kensworth, Wheathampstead, Markyate Street, and Weston. Polished celts are more rare, but specimens have been found at Panshanger, King’s Langley, Aldbury (near Stortford), Ashwell, and between Hitchin and Pirton. Perforated axe-heads and hammer-heads of stone, which may belong to the close of the Neolithic or commencement of the Bronze age, are still more uncommon, although a few such have been found, notably a hammer, near Sandridge, now preserved in the British Museum. Much the same remark applies to chipped arrow-heads--the fairy darts of a more poetical age--but a few beautiful specimens have been found near Tring, some so long ago as the year 1763 or thereabouts, and others at Ashwell and Hunsdon.

After a time man learnt the use of metal. The smelting of iron was at first beyond his power, and he employed the mixture of copper and tin which we term bronze. Of this age specimens of winged celts and palstaves (a narrow hatchet, with a tang or socket for a haft) have been found in various parts of the county, as well as socketed celts, daggers, swords, spear-heads, and the like. The most important discovery of this nature was made in 1876 during drainage operations at Cumberlow Green, near Baldock, when some forty bronze implements were found in a well-like hole. Gold ornaments, probably referable to the same epoch, have been found at Little Amwell and at Mardox, near Ware.

We now come to the early Iron Age, when man had succeeded in mastering this metal. Of this a very brief notice must suffice. Primitive coins, without inscription, of the type issued by Philip II of Macedon, and hence known as Philippi, were probably coined in the county in early British times; but after the Roman invasion a number of British coins were struck at Verulamium, among the most interesting of which are those of Tarciovanus, who reigned in that city from (probably) about 30 B.C. to about 5 A.D. A large number of his coins have been found at Verulam, as well as those of other British sovereigns. Tarciovanus, it may be added, was the father of Cunovelinus (Shakespeare’s Cymbeline), whose capital was Camulodunum, the modern Colchester.

Earthworks of great but unknown antiquity are by no means uncommon in Hertfordshire; one of the most important being Grimes-ditch, or Grimm’s Dyke, traces of which remain on Berkhampstead common, as well as on the opposite side of the Bulbourne valley, while a deep ditch runs in a bold sweep from near Great Berkhampstead through Northchurch and Wiggington to the north of Cholesbury camp, and thence into Buckinghamshire. Beech Bottom forms another great dyke lying between the site of Verulam and Sandridge, and is probably pre-Roman, and possibly connected with the encampment east of Wheathampstead known as the Moats or the Slad. The latter forms part of a great system of earthworks of which the opposite side is marked by the Devil’s Dyke at Marford. The great earthworks running outside of and parallel to parts of the Roman wall at Verulam are likewise older than the latter. Berkhampstead Castle may stand on the site of an earlier camp, as British and Roman coins have been found there; but the mound or keep, as at Bishop’s Stortford, Pirton, and Hertford Castles, is probably Saxon. On the other hand, the well-preserved camp near Redbourn, known as the Aubreys, Auberys, or Aubury, is certainly pre-Roman; and the same is probably the case with some of the numerous other earthworks dotted over the county, such as Arbury Banks, Ashwell. A few barrows or tombs of pre-Roman age have been opened and examined in various parts of the county, as at Therfield, Royston, and Easneye near Ware.

In evidence of the Roman occupation of Britain Hertfordshire is unusually rich, although limitations of space prevent anything like justice being done to this part of the subject. The county is, in the first place, traversed from south to north by three main Roman roads, the Watling Street, running through St Albans and Markyate, the Ermine Street, passing through Hertford, and the Icknield Way, traversing Hatfield and Baldock; as well as by the Roman Way, connecting the latter town with Hertford. Of these we shall speak presently. The crowning Roman glory of Hertfordshire is, however, the city of Verulamium, or Verulam, situated on the hill on the opposite side of the Ver to St Albans. Much of the foundations of this city lie buried within the area partially enclosed by the remains of the massive walls; and the ploughman within that ring is constantly turning up coins, fragments of pottery and glass, and other articles.

In one place are buried the apparently complete foundations of an amphitheatre, which was opened out many years ago, but again covered up after examination. Of the walls considerable portions, in a more or less damaged condition, still remain to bear eloquent testimony to the lasting character of Roman masonry; and much more would have persisted had they not been used as a convenient source of materials for the construction of St Albans’ Abbey and other ancient buildings. The basement of a Roman villa, in a fine state of preservation, was opened out at Sarratt Bottom in 1908, and plans of the structure prepared, after which the excavations were filled in. Other Roman remains are known to exist in the district.

Ravensburgh Castle, Hexton, is a well-known Roman camp, built on an earlier foundation; and remains of Roman camps exist at Braughing and several other places in the county, although in many cases the precise age of such ancient stations does not appear to be definitely ascertained.

Isolated Roman remains of various kinds occur in many parts of Hertfordshire. From the writer’s own neighbourhood the British Museum possesses a Roman altar found many years ago at Harpenden, as well as a Romano-British stone coffin, containing a glass vessel and pottery, found near Pickford Mill in the Lea valley, east of Harpenden, in 1827. The remains of another Roman interment, including fine specimens of amphorae, or large two-handled pottery vessels, were found about the year 1865 near Harpenden station on the Great Northern railway, and Barkway has yielded a fine bronze statuette of Mars.

Reference may here be made to the ancient millstones, for hand use, made of Hertfordshire pudding-stone, and known as querns, of which the writer gave two fine specimens from Harpenden to the British Museum. Both stones have one flat and one convex surface, but the convexity is much greater in the upper stone, which is almost conical, and is completely perforated at the centre. When in use, a stick, to serve as the axis of rotation, was inserted in this hole and received in a socket in the nether stone. The labour involved in making these pudding-stone querns must have been enormous.

With the Saxon period we reach the age of church building; but apart from such portions of certain churches as are of that age, Hertfordshire is exceedingly poor in evidence of the Saxon dominion. A glass Anglo-Saxon basin, together with a bronze Frankish pot of late sixth or early seventh century work, was, however, discovered at Wheathampstead in 1886. Anglo-Saxon relics are believed also to have been unearthed at Redbourn at a very early period, when they were attributed to St Amphibalus; and a Saxon burial-place appears to have been found near Sandridge in modern times, although unfortunately ploughed over. Apart from the above, there are only a few isolated “finds,” such as of the coins known as minimi, and of a gold ornament discovered at Park Street in 1744.

16. Architecture. (_a_) Ecclesiastical--Abbeys and Churches.

The architecture of Hertfordshire buildings may be most conveniently discussed under three separate sections, namely:--(_a_) ecclesiastical, or buildings related to the church; (_b_) military, or castles; and (_c_) domestic, or dwelling houses and cottages.

As in England generally, the architecture of the older buildings of all three classes has been affected to a greater or less degree by the nature of the building materials most easily accessible. Throughout the northern chalk area of the county the Totternhoe stone of Bedfordshire and the northern flanks of Hertfordshire was largely employed in church building, both for inside and outside work, to the latter of which it is but ill suited. Flint--in the better class of work “faced” or “dressed” by fracture so as to present a flattened outer face--was also very extensively used. The Norman builders of the tower of St Albans found, however, a quarry ready to their hands in the adjacent walls of Verulam, and we accordingly find this part of the structure made almost entirely of the characteristic Roman bricks or tiles. Contemporaneous brick was also locally used to a very considerable extent even in the chalk districts; and in the north-western part of the county there are numerous beautiful examples of Tudor brick chimneys, as at Water End. Timber in the old days was, however, much cheaper than bricks, and we consequently find many of the older buildings--especially cottages--constructed of a framework of wood, arranged in the fashion of a net, with the large “meshes” filled in with brick. This type of work is locally known as brick and studding and to the architect as half-timbered work. Other buildings were largely constructed of a wooden framework overlain with lath-and-plaster work.

Many of the churches built of flint or Totternhoe stone have their angles or quoins made of harder material; in many instances of stone apparently from Northamptonshire, but in other cases of Roman brick; similar materials being also used in the arches of some of the churches.

A large number of Hertfordshire churches have relatively low battlemented towers, frequently with a short spire or steeple in the centre as at Tewin, or a turret in one corner. Kensworth is an example of such a battlemented tower without either spire or turret; St Mary’s, Hitchin, Tring, Northchurch, Barnet, Bushey, King’s Walden, Cheshunt, and Watford are examples of towers with a turret in one angle, while at Ashwell there are turrets in all four corners. Some of the smaller churches, like St Michael’s, St Albans, originally had no aisles. Clothall church is peculiar in that the roof of the tower forms a four-sided cone; while the roof of the church at Sarratt is equally unique in being saddle-backed, that is to say, having a ridge running at right angles to that of the roof of the nave and chancel.

Apparently there is no wholly Saxon church in the county, although several of the older ones were constructed on the site of Saxon buildings, many of which were probably of wood, and thus either perished through decay or were burnt during the Danish raids. On the other hand, there are remains of Saxon work in St Albans’ Abbey, and there are several Hertfordshire churches which are referred with a greater or less degree of certainty to the period before the Norman conquest; the original part of St Michael’s, in St Albans, and of St Stephen’s, to the south-west of that town, may be cited as examples, both dating from the middle of the tenth century. The church of Sandridge--on the road from St Albans to Wheathampstead--may likewise date from the same epoch.

Of Norman churches there are numerous examples, among which may be cited as a fine specimen St Mary’s, Hemel Hempstead, whose tall octagonal tower and spire are visible from a long distance. The Norman arches of the nave are of great solidity, while the western doorway, dating from about 1140, is a magnificent example of the work of the period. Sarratt church is also largely Norman, as was also the old church of St Nicholas, Harpenden, unfortunately pulled down (with the exception of the much later tower) nearly half a century ago. A considerable portion of St Albans’ Abbey (now cathedral), the pride of the whole county, is also Norman; the tower of Roman brick being, apart from modern additions, wholly of that period. The old Saxon Church of King Offa, which stood on or near the site of the present building, appears to have been completely swept away by Abbot Paul of Caen (1077–1093), the founder of the present abbey, which although completed by him, was not consecrated till 1115. “It is to be inferred,” according to the _Victoria History of Hertfordshire_, “that a clean sweep was made of the old buildings, and no evidence as to their site has been preserved. The Norman Abbot’s contempt for his Saxon predecessors ... led him to destroy their tombs, and he doubtless laid out his new building without attempting in any way to accommodate them to those previously existing on the site. But he preserved and used up in his new church some of the stonework of the old building, giving a very prominent place to the turned shafts which still remain in the transept, and are the most notable relics of the Saxon building.” In the present nave, which is the second longest in England, the first six pillars on the north side belong to the original structure of Abbot Paul; after which we come to Early English (Pointed) work; this being continued to the west end of the building and back to the fifth pillar on the south side, whence Decorated work extends to St Cuthbert’s screen. The Norman work (1077–1093) of one side thus faces Decorated work (1308–1326) on the other, but this is due to accident rather than design, the Norman pillars having given way early in the church’s history. It has recently been suggested that the Abbey stands on the site of the old Roman amphitheatre, and that St Peter’s Street, St Albans, marks the position of the Roman _cursus_, or race-course.

Of the Decorated style, in vogue during the reigns of the three Edwards, in other words, throughout the fourteenth century, in addition to the beautiful work in St Albans’ Abbey, we have examples in Abbot’s Langley, Clothall, and Hitchin churches. Abbot’s Langley has also some fine Norman work in the nave. Many of the churches of the Perpendicular period, like St Mary’s, Hitchin, have large and beautiful porches. Most of the windows in Abbot’s Langley church are Perpendicular, although some on the south side are Decorated; and Tring and Offley churches are wholly of the Perpendicular style.

Previous to the Reformation, Hertfordshire, like other counties, possessed numerous religious houses, such as priories, monasteries, nunneries, and hospitals; all of which, commencing with the smaller ones, were suppressed by Henry VIII, whose chief agent in the work was Thomas Cromwell. In many instances the sole evidence of the existence of such establishments is the survival of the word “Abbey” or “Priory” as the name of a private mansion, but sometimes their gateways, towers, or merely ruins, still remain.

The neighbourhood of St Albans is especially rich in relics of this nature. To the south, on the banks of the Ver, are the famous ruined walls of Sopwell Nunnery, a building known to have been in existence so early as 1119; but of the monastery there remains only the fine gate-house (long misused as a gaol), together with traces of the cloister arches on the south wall of the abbey. From documentary evidence, however, aided by excavations in the abbey orchard, it has been found possible to make a ground-plan of the whole establishment. The last traces of the hospital of St Mary-de-Pré vanished only during the last century; the name surviving in a private house by the Ver, which is known as the Pré.