Early history Neolithic,
Bronze Age,
Iron Age and Roman artefacts show that the Berkhamsted area of the Bulbourne Valley has been settled for over 5,000 years. A major iron production around
Northchurch is considered to be one of the most important late Iron Age and Roman industrial areas in England; about north-west of Berkhamsted. Other evidence of settlement includes a pottery kiln on Bridgewater Road. The town's high street still follows the line of the Roman-engineered
Akeman Street, which had been a pre-existing route from
St Albans (
Verulamium) to
Cirencester (
Corinium). During the
Roman occupation, which lasted until 410 AD, the Berkhamsted area appears to have been divided into two or three farming estates, with
villa buildings; remains of a villa were found close to the river. A Roman-British villa, dyke and temple were found away from the castle at Frithsden. Excavations in 1954 revealed masonry foundations and
tesserae floors. Together, the villa, dyke and temple form a unique complex, suggesting occupation in the late Iron Age and Roman period. The earliest written reference to Berkhamsted is in the will of
Ælfgifu (died 970 CE), the wife of King
Eadwig of England (r. 955–959), who bequeathed land including Berkhamsted. Rare
Anglo-Saxon pottery dating from the 7th century and 9th century water mills demonstrate the existence of Anglo-Saxon settlement. The church may have been an important
minster, which became part of the medieval manor of Berkhamsted after the
Norman Conquest. The church held various
synods at Berkhamsted during the medieval period. By the 14th century, the adjoining village of "Berkhamsted St Mary" or "Berkhamsted Minor" had become "North Church", later "Northchurch".
Middle Ages In the 13th and 14th centuries, the town was a
wool trading centre, with a busy local market. The oldest-known extant
jettied timber-framed building in Great Britain, built between 1277 and 1297, survives as a shop on the town's high street. From 1066 to 1495,
Berkhamsted Castle, of which only ruins are extant, was a
Norman motte-and-bailey castle. was a favoured residence of royalty and the nobility, including King
Henry II,
Edward the Black Prince,
Thomas Becket and
Geoffrey Chaucer.
Radiocarbon dating indicates that it was probably built post-1066. The castle was a high-status residence and, an administrative centre, it contributed to the growth of the town. In 1227,
Richard of Cornwall, was given the castle, redeveloped it as a palatial residence and the centre for the administration of the
Earldom of Cornwall. In 1317, the castle was given to Edward II's Queen,
Isabella of France.
Edward III gave the castle to his son,
Edward, the Black Prince, under whom Berkhamsted become a centre of
English longbow archery, making the longbow a decisive factor in the English victory at the
Battle of Crécy. In 1400,
Henry IV lived in the castle after he deposed Richard and, during this time, Geoffrey Chaucer – later famous for writing
The Canterbury Tales – oversaw renovation work on the castle in his role as Clerk of Works at Berkhamsted.
Henry V and
Henry VI owned the castle; in 1469,
Edward IV gave the castle to his mother,
Cecily Neville, Duchess of York, who had a significant social and financial impact on the town and was the last person to live in the castle. In 1833, the castle was the first building in the United Kingdom to receive statutory protection. The castle ruins are managed by the
Berkhamsted Castle Trust, in partnership with
English Heritage, for the
Duchy of Cornwall, and are open to the public. From the 12th to the 15th centuries, the town continued to develop separately on the old Akeman Street to the south of the castle and to the west of St Peter's Church. In 1156,
Henry II officially recognised Berkhamsted as a town in a
royal charter, which confirmed the conditions enjoyed under
Edward the Confessor, and also decreed that no market could be set up within of the town. and
Poitiers) and his Lady The town became a trading centre on an important trade route in the 12th and 13th centuries, and received more royal charters. In 1216,
Henry III relieved the men and merchants of the town from all tolls and taxes everywhere in England, and the growing
wool trade brought prosperity to Berkhamsted from the 12th century until the early
Tudor period. In 1217, Henry III recognised Berkhamsted's market by royal charter. In the mid–13th century, the wealthy banker Abraham of Berkhamsted, financier to the Earl of Cornwall, lived in the town; this was unusual for a small town in a
time of heightened persecution of Jews. At this time, larger houses were built on the south side of the high street including
173 High Street, the oldest known extant
jettied building in England). In 1307, Berkhamsted was a
large town by English medieval standards, with an estimated population of 2,000 to 2,500. In the 14th century, Berkhamsted (recorded as "Berchamstede") was considered to be one of the "best" market towns in the country. In 1440, there is a reference to lime kilns. In 1618,
James I reaffirmed Berkhamsted's borough status with a charter. Following surveys in 1607 and 1612, the Duchy of Cornwall enclosed from the Common (now known as Coldharbour Farm), despite local opposition led by Rev Thomas Newman. Born in Berkhamsted, Colonel
Daniel Axtell (1622 – 19 October 1660), played an important part in the
English Civil War and participated as in
Pride's Purge of the
Long Parliament (December 1648), arguably the only military ''coup d'état'' in English history. During Cromwell's Protectorate, he appropriated Berkhamsted Place. Shortly after the
Restoration of the monarchy Axtell was
hanged, drawn and quartered as a
regicide. After the Restoration, the town lost its charter granted by James I and its borough status. The population of the town in 1640 and in the 1690s was estimated at 1075 and 767, respectively. The town was a centre of religious nonconformity from the 17th century: over a quarter of the population were
Dissenters in the second half of the century.
Modern era With the coming of the
Industrial Age, Berkhamsted became a gateway through the Chilterns, between the markets of London and the industrial
Midlands; the town's population expanded again. In 1868, middle-class villas began to appear south of the High Street. In 1887, John Bartholomew's
Gazetteer of the British Isles recorded the population at 4,485. In the mid-18th century,
wood milling and
woodturning were the town's most prominent industries, with brush making as an offshoot of the timber industry. The canal trade stimulated the economy of the town and Berkhamsted became a centre for the construction of the barges needed for the canal trades. A
boatyard for building canal barges and other boats was one of three important boatyards in Hertfordshire; this site, next to the canal, is the location of the
Berkhamsted Canadian totem pole. The construction of the canal had helped to drain the marshy areas along the valley of the River Bulbourne and the area was developed into
watercress beds.
William Cooper was a
veterinary surgeon, who arrived in Berkhamsted in the early 1840s and experimented in treatments for
scab in sheep. He formulated an innovative arsenic and sulphur
sheep dip. Henry Lane's
nurseryman business, founded in 1777, became one of the largest employers in the town in the 19th century. Wood's Ironworks was set up in 1826 by James Wood. Utilities in the 19th century included a
gasworks, installed to provide street lighting in 1849; it was closed in 1959. The Great Berkhamsted Waterworks Company was set up in 1864 on the High Street and mains drainage was first supplied in 1898–99, when effective sewerage was installed. In 1725, "An Account of Several Workhouses" records a parish
workhouse in Berkhamsted and a parliamentary report of 1777 refers to a parish workhouse. The workhouse system was ended in 1930 and control was given to local council, with the workhouse finally closing in 1935. In 1841, the Countess of Bridgewater built a
soup kitchen for the local poor within the ruins of Berkhamsted Castle. The soup kitchen was used by an estimated 15% of the population of Berkhamsted (about 500 people) during the winter months, until at least 1897. In 1866, the
Battle of Berkhamsted Common played an important part in the national preservation of common land. In an action similar to that of many other large estate holders, Lord Brownlow of Ashridge House attempted to
enclose Berkhamsted
Common by erecting steel fences, in order to claim the land as part of his family's estate. On the night of 6 March, in response to the enclosure action and in defence the historic right of the public to use the ancient common land, men from London's East End dismantled the fences; this became known nationally as the
Battle of Berkhamsted Common. The decision of
Lord Justice Romilly in the ensuing court case, along with the
Metropolitan Commons Act 1866, helped to ensure the protection of open spaces nationally threatened with enclosure. In 1926, the common was acquired by the
National Trust. In 1909, Sunnyside was added to Berkhamsted Urban District; Northchurch joined in 1935. Shortly after 1918, much of the extensive estate belonging to Berkhamsted Hall, at the east end of the High Street, was sold; many acres west of Swing Gate Lane were developed with council housing. More council housing was built at Gossoms End. Development on the north side of the valley was limited, until the sale of the Ashridge estate in the 1930s; after which, housing appeared at each end of Bridgewater Road. In the second half of the 20th century, many of the old industrial firms in Berkhamsted closed, while the numbers of commuters increased. ==Geography==