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73-491: Proud was born in Hertfordshire and was an only child. As a young girl, she enjoyed making up stories, and at age 14 she discovered the historical fiction of Mary Renault . Renault would become one of her chief influences as a writer. Proud began her career as a picture researcher in 1971, during which time she developed an interest in the works of Florentine painter Botticelli . She also became interested in and influenced by

146-471: A FA Charter Standard Football Club , plays at County Hall Playing Fields, situated next to the headquarters of Hertfordshire County Council at County Hall in Hertford. Other clubs in the surrounding area include Bury Rangers , Hertford Heath Youth FC and Bengeo Tigers Football Club (an award-winning FA Charter Standard Community Football Club . ) Hertford Cricket Club is based in the town. Records for

219-738: A " burh " or fort in Hertford, which was to curb Norse activities in the area. His father, King Alfred the Great , established the River Lea as a boundary between his kingdom and that of the Norse lord Guthrum , with the north and eastern parts of the county being within the Danelaw . There is little evidence however of Norse placenames within this region, and many of the Anglo-Saxon features remained intact to this day. The county however suffered from renewed Norse raids in

292-426: A Hertford club go back a far as 1825,. However, the club in its present form has been in existence since 1860. The club plays its matches at Balls park, Hertford. Currently the club runs five teams and all the teams play in the local league. Two railway stations serve Hertford - Hertford East and Hertford North . Transport for London Oyster cards are valid for payment and travel at both stations. Hertford East

365-488: A bailiff. Another charter of 1605 changed the bailiff's title to mayor. Under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 , Hertford became a Municipal borough ; the ratepayers elected twelve councillors , who chose four aldermen , with the aldermen and councillors together composing the council (also known as the corporation), which elected the mayor. The Hertford poor law union was established in 1835, covering

438-425: A historic centre, with many Tudor and Stuart era buildings interspersed amongst more contemporary structures. Hertfordshire's eastern regions are predominantly rural and arable, intermixed with villages and small to medium-sized towns. Royston, Buntingford and Bishop's Stortford , along with Ware and the county town of Hertford are major settlements in this regard. The physical geography of eastern Hertfordshire

511-668: A mix of post-WWII new towns and older/more historical locales. The City of St. Albans is an example of a historical settlement, as its cathedral and abbey date to the Norman period, and there are ruins from the Roman settlement of Verulamium nearby the current city centre. Stevenage is a mix of post-WWII new town planning amidst its prior incarnation as a smaller town. The Old Town in Stevenage represents this historic core and has many shops and buildings reflecting its pre-WWII heritage. Hitchin also has

584-618: A second prize Indie B.R.A.G. Medallion and the Quagga Prize for Independent Literary Fiction. It was also marked as an Editors' Choice book by the Historical Novel Society. Altogether, the process of writing The Botticelli Trilogy took over thirty years. Proud bases much of her writing closely on primary sources . Her writing has been compared to H. F. M. Prescott , Mary Renault, and Marguerite Yourcenar . In recent years, Proud has lectured on Renaissance philosophy and questioned

657-589: A waterway, the New River , supplying drinking water to London. As London grew, Hertfordshire became conveniently close to the English capital; much of the area was owned by the nobility and aristocracy , this patronage helped to boost the local economy. However, the greatest boost to Hertfordshire came during the Industrial Revolution , after which the population rose dramatically. In 1903, Letchworth became

730-532: Is a student of Neoplatonism and Advaita Vedanta , the latter of which she practices on a daily basis. Ancient Britain Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( / ˈ h ɑːr t f ər d ʃ ɪər / HART -fərd-sheer or /- ʃ ər / -⁠shər ; often abbreviated Herts ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties . It borders Bedfordshire to

803-527: Is accompanied by a canal. Hertfordshire's undeveloped land is mainly agricultural and much of the county is covered by the Metropolitan green belt . Since 1903, Letchworth has served as the prototype garden city while Stevenage became the first town to expand under post-war Britain 's New Towns Act 1946 ( 9 & 10 Geo. 6 . c. 68). Services have become the largest sector of the county's economy. The county's landmarks span many centuries, ranging from

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876-502: Is also the UK base of multi-nationals Hilton Worldwide , TotalEnergies , TK Maxx , Costco , JJ Kavanagh and Sons , Vinci and Beko . The 2006 World Golf Championship and the 2013 Bilderberg Conference , took place at The Grove hotel . Warner Bros. owns and runs its main UK base since the 2000s, Warner Studios, in Leavesden, Watford. Rickmansworth hosts Skanska . Most of the county

949-811: Is evidence of human life in Hertfordshire from the Mesolithic period . It was first farmed during the Neolithic period and permanent habitation appeared at the beginning of the Bronze Age . This was followed by tribes settling in the area during the Iron Age . Following the Roman conquest of Britain in AD 43 , the Catuvellauni tribe accepted peace and adapted to the Roman life; resulting in

1022-639: Is less elevated than the far west, but with lower rising hills and prominent rivers such as the Stort . This river rises in Essex and terminates via a confluence with the Lea near to Ware. Apart from the Lea and Stort, the River Colne is the major watercourse in the county's west. This runs near Watford and Radlett, and has a complex system/drainage area running south into both Greater London and Buckinghamshire. An unofficial status,

1095-602: Is near Taplow in Berkshire , near Slough and Maidenhead . To the east, NCR61 meets NCR1 near Hoddesdon. Hertford is the northern terminus of the Lee Navigation and the associated towpath , which carries NCR61 for part of its route. The towpath's southern terminus is in Limehouse , East London . The cycle route passes through Ware, Hoddesdon, Broxbourne, Enfield Lock , Tottenham , Leyton and Hackney Wick . Hertford

1168-560: Is served by BBC London & ITV London , however Stevenage and North Hertfordshire is served by BBC East & ITV Anglia . Some northwestern parts of the county around Tring can also receive BBC South and ITV Meridian . Local radio for the county is provided by BBC Three Counties Radio , BBC Radio Cambridgeshire (covering Royston ), Heart Hertfordshire , Greatest Hits Radio Bucks, Beds and Herts (formerly Mix 96), Mix 92.6 (formerly Radio Verulam St. Albans) and Community Radio Dacorum (Hemel Hempstead). Local newspapers in

1241-577: Is supplied to London from Ware , using the New River built by Hugh Myddleton and opened in 1613. Local rivers, although small, supported developing industries such as paper production at Nash Mills . Hertfordshire affords habitat for a variety of flora and fauna. A bird once common in the shire is the hooded crow , the old name of which is the eponymous name of the regional newspaper, the Royston Crow published in Royston . A product, now largely defunct,

1314-468: Is the bedrock of much of the county provides an aquifer that feeds streams and is also exploited to provide water supplies for much of the county and beyond. Chalk has also been used as a building material and, once fired, the resultant lime was spread on agricultural land to improve fertility. The mining of chalk since the early 18th century has left unrecorded underground galleries that occasionally collapse unexpectedly and endanger buildings. Fresh water

1387-531: Is the northern terminus of the navigable River Lea, which is managed by the Canal and River Trust . Southbound, the river runs towards Bromley-by-Bow in East London, through Ware, Hoddesdon, Broxbourne, Enfield Lock, Tottenham, Leyton and Hackney Wick. The river meets the navigable River Stort at Hoddesdon, which runs northbound through Harlow, Sawbridgeworth and Bishop's Stortford. The Hertford Union Canal and

1460-594: Is the northwestern terminus of the Hertford East Branch Line . Greater Anglia manages the station and operates trains between Hertford East and London Liverpool Street in the City of London . The Hertford East Branch Line along with the West Anglia Main Line provide the town with direct connections to Ware , Broxbourne , Cheshunt , Waltham Cross , Tottenham Hale and Hackney Downs . At Broxbourne -

1533-607: The Harry Potter series was filmed here and the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye . On 17 October 2000, the Hatfield rail crash killed four people with over 70 injured. The crash exposed the shortcomings of Railtrack , and resulted in speed restrictions and major track replacement. On 10 May 2002, seven people died in the fourth of the Potters Bar rail accidents ; the train was travelling at high speed when it derailed and flipped into

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1606-652: The Chilterns , clayland buffer zone countryside of Braughing and the Hadhams across to ancient hornbeam coppices west of the upper Lea valley. The county has sweeping panoramas of chalklands near Royston , Baldock , Hexton and Tring . Large parts of the county are used for agriculture. Some quarrying of sand and gravel occurs around St Albans. In the past, clay has supplied local brick-making and still does in Bovingdon , just south-west of Hemel Hempstead. The chalk that

1679-542: The ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships twice. First in 2015 , and most recently in 2023 , where Britain topped the medal table with 5 golds. Hertford Hertford ( / ˈ h ɑːr t f ər d / HART -fərd ) is the county town of Hertfordshire , England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at

1752-891: The Limehouse Cut connect the Lee Navigation with the Regent's Canal in London. Lee and Stort Boat Company runs a waterbus at various points throughout the year, with a route between Hertford and Ware. Secondary schools in Hertford include the Sele School , Richard Hale School and Simon Balle All-through School (which also includes primary provision; other primary schools include Hollybush JMI, Millmead Community School, Bengeo Primary School, Morgans Primary School and Nursery, Abel Smith School (named after banker and MP Abel Smith (1788–1859)), St Andrew's School, St. Josephs RC School and Wheatcroft School. Private schools include St. Joseph's in

1825-931: The Rib , Beane and Mimram join the River Lea at Hertford to flow east and then south toward the Thames as the Lee Navigation , after Hertford Castle Weir . The shared valley of the Lea and the Beane is called Hartham Common and this provides a large park to one side of the town centre running towards Ware and lying below the ridge upon which Bengeo is situated. The town centre still has its medieval layout with many timber-framed buildings hidden under later frontages, particularly in St Andrew Street . Hertford suffers from traffic problems despite

1898-563: The Six Hills in Stevenage built by local inhabitants during the Roman period, to Leavesden Film Studios . The volume of intact medieval and Tudor buildings surpasses London, in places in well-preserved conservation areas , especially in St Albans , which includes remains of the Roman town of Verulamium . In 913, Hertfordshire was the area assigned to a fortress constructed at Hertford under

1971-423: The arrival of the railway in 1843. The Port Hill drill hall was completed in 1898 and Yeomanry House was brought into military use in 1910. Hartford, Connecticut is named after Hertford. Hertford has three tiers of local government at parish (town), district, and county level: Hertford Town Council, East Hertfordshire District Council , and Hertfordshire County Council , all three of which are based in

2044-414: The 2011 census. The town grew around a ford on the River Lea , near its confluences with the rivers Mimram , Beane , and Rib . The Lea is navigable from the Thames up to Hertford. Fortified settlements were established on each side of the ford at Hertford in 913   AD. The county of Hertfordshire was established at a similar time, being named after and administered from Hertford. Hertford Castle

2117-595: The City of London, through Cheshunt , Enfield and Tottenham . Northbound, the route runs towards King's Lynn in Norfolk via Buntingford , Royston , Cambridge and Ely . The A414 runs east-west through Hertford, along Hertingfordbury Road , Gascoyne Way and London Road. The primary route runs eastbound towards the A10, Harlow , the M11 motorway , Chelmsford and Maldon . Westbound,

2190-764: The Grail (1995), is a retelling of the Arthurian legend for children. Proud finished A Tabernacle for the Sun (1997, 2005), the first volume of her trilogy, which was published through Allison & Busby . A Tabernacle for the Sun was long-listed for the Mann Booker Prize (1997) and won a Southern Arts bursary and a Hawthornden Castle Fellowship. In 2000, Proud and her husband founded their own publishing house, Godstow Press, which specializes in publishing works on art and spirituality. All her subsequent historical fiction, including

2263-568: The Intalink enhanced partnership which choreographs the local bus network. In January 2024, the local town network was connected into an integrated group of routes numbered H1-H6, operated by Vectare under the Central Connect brand. Bus routes in Hertford include: National Cycle Route 61 runs east-west through Hertford. Between Welwyn Garden City and Ware, through Hertford, the route is also known as Cole Green Way . The route's western terminus

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2336-533: The North and Scotland , and towards Letchworth , Royston and Cambridge. South of Finsbury Park, services run towards King's Cross, London St Pancras , Farringdon , Gatwick Airport and Brighton . The A10 runs north-south through the east of Hertford. Kingsmead Viaduct carries the A10 across the River Lea between Hertford and Ware . Southbound, the route runs towards the M25 London Orbital motorway and

2409-761: The Park in Hertingfordbury , Duncombe School, (a preparatory school in Bengeo ) and Haileybury College in Hertford Heath . Pinewood and Middleton Schools are special needs schools that are available in neighbouring Ware . Former schools include The Pines JMI School, which was built on the Pinehurst estate in 1977 and closed in 2003. Hertford is within the BBC London and ITV London region. Television signals are received from

2482-596: The River Lea at Hertford as part of his campaign against the Danes . By the time of the Domesday Book , Hertford had two churches, two markets and three mills. The Normans began work on Hertford Castle , and Hertford Priory was founded by Ralph de Limesy . King Henry II rebuilt the castle in stone, but in 1216, during the First Barons' War , it was besieged and captured after 25 days by Prince Louis of France . The castle

2555-805: The River Thames. The far west of the county is the most hilly, with the Chiltern Hills surrounding Tring , Berkhamsted and the Ashridge estate. This Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty runs from near Hitchin in the north to Berkshire and Oxfordshire. Many of the county's major settlements are in the central, northern and southern areas, such as Watford, Hemel Hempstead, Kings Langley , Rickmansworth , St. Albans , Harpenden , Redbourn , Radlett , Borehamwood , Potters Bar , Stevenage, Hatfield , Welwyn and Welwyn Garden City, Hitchin , Letchworth and Baldock. These are all small to medium-sized locations, featuring

2628-745: The UK Cereal Partners factory and in pharmaceuticals it hosts Roche UK's headquarters (subsidiary of the Swiss Hoffman-La Roche ). GlaxoSmithKline has plants in Ware and Stevenage . Hemel Hempstead has large premises of Dixons Carphone . The National Pharmacy Association (NPA), the trade association for UK pharmacies, is based in St Albans . Kings Langley has the plant-office of Pure , making DAB digital radios . Watford hosts national companies such as J D Wetherspoon , Camelot Group , Bathstore , and Caversham Finance (BrightHouse). It

2701-498: The air when one of the carriages slid along the platform where it came to rest. In early December 2005, there were explosions at the Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal at Buncefield on the edge of Hemel Hempstead. Hertfordshire is located in the south-eastern part of England and is the county immediately north of London. It is officially part of the East of England region, a mainly statistical unit . To

2774-719: The boundaries between historians and novelists in History Today . She has also written several articles and reviews for Resurgence & Ecologist . She also leads regular writing workshops and gives talks on writing and publishing. In September 2018 she marked a departure from the Renaissance with the publication of a novel, Chariot of the Soul , set in Britain on the eve of the Roman invasion. Proud lives in Oxfordshire with her husband. She

2847-455: The city of St Albans (75,540). For local government purposes Hertfordshire is a non-metropolitan county with ten districts beneath Hertfordshire County Council . Elevations are higher in the north and west, reaching more than 800 feet (240 m) in the Chilterns near Tring . The county centres on the headwaters and upper valleys of the rivers Lea and the Colne ; both flow south and each

2920-480: The county are: Waltham Cross , Broxbourne , is the location of the Lee Valley White Water Centre , a purpose-built venue opened in 2010 for the 2012 Summer Olympics . The site consists of two white water courses; one 300m Grade IV "Olympic" run; and one 160m Grade III "legacy" run. During the games the center was the venue for the canoe and kayak slalom events . Lee Valley has since hosted

2993-416: The development of several new towns, including Verulamium (St Albans) where in c.  293 the first recorded British martyrdom is traditionally believed to have taken place. Saint Alban , a Romano-British soldier, took the place of a Christian priest and was beheaded on Holywell Hill. His martyr's cross of a yellow saltire on a blue field is reflected in the flag and coat of arms of Hertfordshire as

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3066-468: The east is Essex , to the west is Buckinghamshire and to the north are Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire . A significant minority of the population across all districts commute to Central London . The county's boundaries were roughly fixed by the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844 which eliminated exclaves ; amended when, in 1965 under the London Government Act 1963 , East Barnet Urban District and Barnet Urban District were abolished, their area

3139-556: The existence of the 1960s A414 bypass called Gascoyne Way which passes close to the town centre. Plans have long existed to connect the A10 with the A414, by-passing the town completely. Nevertheless, the town retains very much a country-town feel, despite lying only 19.2 miles (30.9 km) north of Central London . This is aided by its proximity to larger towns such as Harlow , Bishop's Stortford and Stevenage where modern development has been focused. Suburbs and estates Nearby Hertford A fair amount of employment in

3212-403: The first synod of a number of the bishops in England was held either in Hertford or at Hartford, Cambridgeshire . The synod was called by Theodore of Tarsus ; decisions included the calculation of the date of Easter. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that in 913   AD, Edward the Elder ordered the construction of two burhs (earthwork fortifications) either side of the ford over

3285-423: The first three Star Wars movies ( IV , V , & VI ). The studios generally used the name of Elstree . American director Stanley Kubrick not only used to shoot in those studios but also lived in the area until his death. Big Brother UK and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? have been filmed there. EastEnders is filmed at Elstree. Hertfordshire has seen development at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden ;

3358-412: The former Christ's Hospital Bluecoat Girls School, which closed down in 1985. Sainsbury's opened a new store on part of the McMullens Brewery site in June 2012. A Waitrose occupied a reasonably large store in the Bircherley Green Shopping area that closed on 12 September 2017. The local branch of Woolworths closed for good on 27 December 2008, after the collapse of that store chain. There are fewer of

3431-424: The late 10th to early 11th centuries, as armies led by Danish kings Swein Forkbeard and Cnut the Great harried the country as part of their attempts to undermine and overthrow English king Athelred the Unready . A century later, William of Normandy received the surrender of some senior English Lords and Clergy at Berkhamsted , before entering London unopposed and being crowned at Westminster . Hertfordshire

3504-400: The later Plantagenet period, St. Albans Abbey was an initial drafting place of what was to become Magna Carta . And in the later Wars of the Roses, St. Albans was the scene of two major battles between the Lancastrians and the Yorkists. In Tudor times, Hatfield House was often frequented by Queen Elizabeth I. Stuart King James I used the locale for hunting and facilitated the construction of

3577-539: The lowest population density (290 people per km ) and Watford the highest (4210 per km ). Compared with neighbouring Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire lacks large towns or cities on the scale of Luton or Milton Keynes , whose populations exceed 200,000, but its overall population (1.2 million in 2021) is greater than those of the two aforementioned counties. The River Lea near Harpenden runs through Wheathampstead , Welwyn Garden City, Hertford, Ware, and Broxbourne before reaching Cheshunt and ultimately

3650-399: The next two volumes of her trilogy, Pallas and the Centaur (2004, 2012) and The Rebirth of Venus (2008), has been released under the imprint of Godstow Press. After finishing her trilogy, it was suggested to Proud that she write a book about Cosimo de' Medici , and in 2012 she published A Gift for the Magus , which serves as a prequel to The Botticelli Trilogy . A Gift for the Magus won

3723-436: The north and west of the county, forming the Chiltern Hills and the younger Palaeocene , Reading Beds and Eocene , London Clay which occupy the remaining southern part. The eastern half of the county was covered by glaciers during the Ice Age and has a superficial layer of glacial boulder clays . Much of the west – and much more in the east – have richly diverse countryside. These range from beech woods of

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3796-434: The north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south and Buckinghamshire to the west. The largest settlement is Watford , and the county town is Hertford . The county has an area of 634 square miles (1,640 km ) and had a population of 1,198,800 at the 2021 census . After Watford (131,325), the largest settlements are Hemel Hempstead (95,985), Stevenage (94,470) and

3869-404: The offices of Hertford Rural District Council . From at least 1634, Hertford Corporation used an escutcheon (shield) depicting a hart above water to indicate a ford. The borough council was granted the right to complement its arms with a badge in 1925, and supporters were added in 1937. The coat of arms is now used by Hertford Town Council. Hertford is at the confluence of four river valleys:

3942-405: The purple star-shaped flower with yellow stamens, the Pasqueflower is among endemic county flowers . The rocks of Hertfordshire belong to the great shallow syncline known as the London Basin . The beds dip in a south-easterly direction towards the syncline's lowest point roughly under the River Thames . The most important formations are the Cretaceous Chalk , exposed as the high ground in

4015-430: The route carries traffic towards Hatfield , the A1(M) motorway , St Albans and Hemel Hempstead . The A119 runs eastbound from Hertford into Ware. The route runs northbound from Hertford towards Watton-at-Stone and the A602 for Stevenage . Hertford Bus Station lies to the east of Bircherley Street in Hertford town centre. Long-distance routes through Hertford include: Hertfordshire County Council manages

4088-651: The rule of Edward the Elder . Hertford is derived from the Anglo-Saxon heort ford, meaning deer crossing (of a watercourse). The name Hertfordshire is first recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 1011. Deer feature in many county emblems. Many of the names of the current settlements date back to the Anglo-Saxon period, with many featuring standard placename suffixes attributed to the Anglo-Saxons: "ford", "ton", "den", "bourn", "ley", "stead", "ing", "lett", "wood", and "worth", are represented in this county by Hertford, Royston, Harpenden, Redbourn, Cuffley, Wheathampstead, Tring, Radlett, Borehamwood and Rickmansworth. There

4161-419: The same town, Airbus (Defence & Space Division) produces satellites. Hatfield was where de Havilland developed the first commercial jet liner, the Comet . Now the site is a business park and new campus for the University of Hertfordshire . This major employment site notably hosts EE , Computacenter and Ocado groceries and other goods e-commerce. Welwyn Garden City hosts Tesco 's UK base, hosts

4234-651: The southeastern terminus of the branch line - the West Anglia Main Line runs northbound towards Bishop's Stortford , Audley End and Cambridge . Hertford North is on the Hertford Loop Line , a branch of the East Coast Main Line . Great Northern operates trains northbound towards Watton-at-Stone and Stevenage . Southbound, Great Northern trains run towards London Moorgate in the City through Enfield Chase , Alexandra Palace , Finsbury Park and Highbury and Islington . Some timetabled services run southbound into London King's Cross instead of Moorgate. North of Stevenage, trains run towards Hitchin , Peterborough ,

4307-406: The territory of Hertfordshire to the control of the West Anglians of Mercia . The region finally became an English shire in the 10th century, on the merger of the West Saxon and Mercian kingdoms. In the midst of the Norse invasions, Hertfordshire was on the front lines of much of the fighting. King Edward the Elder , in his reconquest of Norse-held lands in what was to become England , established

4380-408: The town and surrounding rural parishes. Hertford Corporation used part of the Shire Hall as a Town Hall until 1911, when it moved into the surviving gatehouse of Hertford Castle . Under the Local Government Act 1972 , Hertford Municipal Borough was abolished, merging with other districts to become part of the district of East Hertfordshire with effect from 1 April 1974. A successor parish

4453-417: The town appears in the Ecclesiastical History of the English People , written by Bede in 731 AD, which refers to Herutford . Herut is the Old English spelling of hart , meaning a fully mature stag ; thus the meaning of the name is a ford where harts are found. The Domesday Book of 1086 gives a spelling of Hertforde . One possible earlier mention of the town was in 672 AD:

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4526-450: The town is centred on County Hall ( Hertfordshire County Council ), Wallfields ( East Hertfordshire District Council ) and McMullens Brewery , one of a dwindling number of independent pre-1970 family brewers in the United Kingdom. Many residents commute to work in London. Hertford differs from neighbouring towns as it lacks a modern shopping development (mall). However, it has most of the usual supermarkets. A Tesco store occupies part of

4599-411: The town. Hertford has been the county town of Hertfordshire since the county was founded in Saxon times. The town also gave its name to the hundred of Hertford . The town was initially governed by the king's reeves . By the thirteenth century, the reeves had been replaced by a bailiff , elected by the burgesses . Charters of 1554 and 1589 established a common council of eleven chief burgesses and

4672-453: The usual chain shops found in most high streets and this makes Hertford stand out from other " clone towns ". There are a high number of independent shops in the town, with a variety of boutiques and salons. Hertford has a leisure centre and swimming pool, skatepark, bowling green and tennis courts on Hartham Common . The town has a Non-League football club, Hertford Town F.C. , which plays at Hertingfordbury Park. Hertford Town Youth FC ,

4745-568: The work of Renaissance philosopher Marsilio Ficino . It was during this time that she developed the idea behind The Botticelli Trilogy and began researching Renaissance Florence. However, after the digitization of images, she left her career as a picture researcher to begin teaching creative writing to American students at the University of Oxford. She also served as an editor for literary consultancy The Writers Workshop. Proud's early work primarily included non-fiction books on culture, spirituality, and art. Her first fictional publication, Knights of

4818-452: The world's first garden city and Stevenage became the first town to redevelop under the New Towns Act 1946 ( 9 & 10 Geo. 6 . c. 68). The first shooting-down of a zeppelin over Great Britain during WW1 happened in Cuffley. From the 1920s until the late 1980s , the town of Borehamwood was home to one of the major British film studio complexes, including the MGM-British Studios . Many well-known films were made here including

4891-416: The yellow field to the stag or Hart representing the county. He is the Patron Saint of Hertfordshire. With the departure of the Roman Legions in the early 5th century , the now-unprotected territory was invaded and colonised by the Anglo-Saxons . By the 6th century, the majority of the modern county was part of the East Saxon kingdom. This relatively short-lived kingdom collapsed in the 9th century, ceding

4964-491: Was watercress , based in Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted supported by reliable, clean chalk rivers. This is a table of trends of regional gross value added of Hertfordshire at current basic prices with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling. Hertfordshire has the main operational and/or headquarters UK site of some very large employers. Clockwise from north: In Stevenage (a subsidiary of: BAE Systems , Airbus and Finmeccanica ) MBDA , develops missiles . In

5037-509: Was built shortly after the Norman Conquest in 1066 and remained a royal residence until the early seventeenth century. Hertfordshire County Council and East Hertfordshire District Council both have their main offices in the town and are major local employers, as is McMullen's Brewery , which has been based in the town since 1827. The town is also popular with commuters, being only 20 miles (32 km) north of central London and connected to it by two railway lines. The earliest reference to

5110-450: Was created covering the former borough of Hertford, with its parish council taking the name Hertford Town Council. The town council is based at the former offices of the borough corporation at Hertford Castle. The headquarters of Hertfordshire County Council is at County Hall , built in 1939 to replace the Shire Hall. East Hertfordshire District Council's offices almost adjoin County Hall, being at Wallfields, which prior to 1974 had been

5183-424: Was regularly visited by English royalty and in 1358, Queen Isabella , wife of Edward II , died there. The priory was dissolved in 1536 and subsequently demolished and in 1563, the Parliament of England met at the castle because of an outbreak of plague in London. Hertford grew and prospered as a market and county town ; communication was improved by the construction of the Lea Navigation Canal in 1767 and

5256-563: Was transferred to form part of the present-day London Borough of Barnet and the Potters Bar Urban District of Middlesex was transferred to Hertfordshire. The highest point in the county is at 244 m (801 ft) ( AOD ) on the Ridgeway long distance national path, on the border of Hastoe near Tring with Drayton Beauchamp , Buckinghamshire. At the 2011 census, among the county's ten districts, East Hertfordshire had

5329-465: Was used for some of the new Norman castles at Bishop's Stortford , and at King's Langley , a staging post between London and the royal residence of Berkhamsted . The Domesday Book recorded the county as having nine hundreds . Tring and Danais became one— Dacorum —from Danis Corum or Danish rule harking back to a Viking not Saxon past. The other seven were Braughing , Stevenage , Cashio , Buntingford , Hertford , Hitchin and Odsey . In

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