County in England
Hertfordshire
Britain's first roundabout, first garden city and first new town all sit in one county, along with a Roman city, a Tudor queen's childhood home and the Hogwarts film sets.
Key information
- County
- Hertfordshire (county town: Hertford)
- Nation
- England
- Population
- about 1.2 million, 2021 Census
- Area
- about 1,640 square km (roughly 634 square miles)
- Known for
- Garden cities, Roman Verulamium, Hatfield House, Elstree film studios, Harry Potter studio tour
- What locals are called
- Hertfordians
- Famous people
- Lewis Hamilton, Cecil Rhodes, Nicholas Breakspear (Pope Adrian IV), George Orwell (lived at Wallington)
- Football clubs
- Watford, Stevenage, Hemel Hempstead Town, St Albans City, Boreham Wood
About Hertfordshire
The county that invented the new-build town
Hertfordshire has a habit of trying out ideas for living that the rest of the country later copied. In 1903 Ebenezer Howard's dream of a planned town mixing homes, factories and green space became Letchworth Garden City, the first of its kind in the world. In 1909 Letchworth also got what is claimed as Britain's first roundabout, at Sollershott Circus. Welwyn Garden City followed in 1920. Then came Stevenage, designated in 1946 as Britain's first post-war New Town. Its pedestrianised town centre, opened in the late 1950s, was a bold experiment in keeping shoppers away from traffic. Plenty of British towns have since copied the idea.
Why a stag stands in a stream
The name Hertford simply means a ford where harts, or stags, crossed the river. That is why a stag standing in water appears on the county's emblem. The name is pronounced "Hart-ford", and the county's first syllable gave Lerner and Loewe a gift in My Fair Lady: "In Hertford, Hereford and Hampshire, hurricanes hardly ever happen." The county town still has a brewing tradition. McMullen's brewery has been going in Hertford since 1827. In nearby Ware, the Great Bed of Ware, a Tudor bed more than three metres wide, was famous enough to be name-checked in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. It now lives in the V&A in London.
Romans, a martyr and the first shots of the Wars of the Roses
St Albans began as Verulamium, one of Roman Britain's major towns, and you can still walk along stretches of its Roman wall and see its theatre. It takes its present name from Alban, traditionally Britain's first Christian martyr. The great abbey church that grew over his shrine is now St Albans Cathedral. The city is also where England's civil war between Lancaster and York kicked off. The First Battle of St Albans in 1455 is usually counted as the opening clash of the Wars of the Roses, fought in the town's streets. And if you want a pint with some pedigree, Ye Olde Fighting Cocks in St Albans claims to be the oldest pub in England.
A queen, a pope and a famously reluctant farmer
Hatfield is where Elizabeth I spent part of her childhood. Tradition says she was in Hatfield Park when she heard in 1558 that she had become queen. Hatfield House, built by Robert Cecil in the early 1600s, still stands beside the surviving Tudor Old Palace. Nicholas Breakspear, born near Abbots Langley, became Pope Adrian IV in 1154, the only Englishman ever to hold the office. Cecil Rhodes was born in Bishop's Stortford in 1853. George Bernard Shaw lived at Ayot St Lawrence from 1906 until his death in 1950, and his home, Shaw's Corner, can still be visited. George Orwell lived in the village of Wallington from 1936 to 1940, running a little village shop and keeping goats at the cottage. He wrote Animal Farm after leaving, in London, between November 1943 and February 1944. Rothamsted at Harpenden, founded in 1843 by John Bennet Lawes, is known as the world's oldest agricultural research station.
Hollywood in the Home Counties
Elstree and Borehamwood have been making films since the 1920s. Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark were shot at Elstree, and the area is still nicknamed the British Hollywood. The soap EastEnders has also been filmed here. At Leavesden, near Watford, an old aircraft factory became the home of the Harry Potter films. Today it hosts the Warner Bros. Studio Tour, where you can walk down Diagon Alley. The planes came first. At Hatfield, de Havilland built the Mosquito bomber in the Second World War, and later the Comet, the world's first jet airliner.
Hornets, Hamilton and a field in Knebworth
Watford's football team are the Hornets, whose yellow and black shirts were once led by Graham Taylor and chaired by Elton John. They reached the FA Cup final in 1984 and again in 2019. Stevenage, Hemel Hempstead Town, St Albans City and Boreham Wood fly the flag lower down the pyramid. Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton grew up in Stevenage, where his father drove him to karting races. Knebworth Park has hosted some of Britain's biggest rock shows, among them Led Zeppelin in 1979 and Oasis in 1996. Then there's Hitchin, whose lavender fields turn the countryside purple every summer.