Hertford - the Royal Connection

There has been a settlement on the River Lea (or Lee) since Saxon times. In 911 Edward the Elder son of Alfred the Great, founded two burghs on either side of the river at a ford crossing. This is believed to be around the area of Mill Bridge and where Nicholas Lane ends at the rivers edge at Old Cross Wharf. These two small towns developed into what we know today as Hertford.

Following the Norman Conquest a castle was established in Hertford. Hertford Castle became the home for many Kings and Queens.  Elizabeth I often stayed at the Castle and during the London plague years in the mid-1600's Parliament was held there.

In front of the gatehouse is a stone which commemorates the General Synod of 673AD at which the rules for calculating Easter were set out. It is believed that the actual site was close but not at this precise location.

Hertford's prosperity in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was founded on the abundant fields of barley around the town. It became a centre for the malting industry and grain was taken to London by barge along the River Lea. There are many reminders of this around the town in street names and the distinctive shapes of the kiln chimneys.

During the 1800's the Navigation Acts were passed and the Lea Navigation was founded which runs through the centre of town forming Folly Island and became the main transport route for river travel - malt and barley to London, coal back to Hertford.