Berkhamsted
Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox UK place
Berkhamsted (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell) is a market town in Hertfordshire, England. Located in the Bulbourne valley, it is Template:Convert north-west of London and had a population of 21,245 at the 2021 census.<ref name="CP">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite report</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The town is a civil parish within the borough of Dacorum which is based in the neighbouring large new town of Hemel Hempstead.Template:Sfn Berkhamsted, along with the adjoining village of Northchurch, is surrounded by countryside, and the Chiltern Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Berkhamsted was first mentioned in 970 CE and was recorded as a burbium (ancient borough) in the Domesday Book in 1086. A (now ruined) motte-and-bailey Norman castle was built shortly after the Norman Conquest and remained a royal possession and residence for four centuries. 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.<ref name="EH173">Template:NHLE</ref><ref name="BBC173">Template:Cite news</ref> The town's literary connections include the 17th-century hymnist and poet William Cowper, the 18th-century writer Maria Edgeworth and the 20th-century novelist Graham Greene. Arts institutions in the town include The Rex (a well regarded independent cinema) and the British Film Institute's BFI National Archive at King's Hill, which is one of the largest film and television archives in the world.Template:Sfn Schools in the town include Berkhamsted School, a co-educational boarding independent school (founded in 1541 by John Incent, Dean of St Paul's Cathedral); Ashlyns School, a state school, whose history began as the Foundling Hospital established in London by Thomas Coram in 1742; and Ashridge Executive Education, a business school offering degree level courses, which occupies the Grade I listed neo-Gothic Ashridge House.
Toponymy
The earliest recorded spelling of the town's name is the 10th century Anglo-Saxon Beorhðanstædæ. The first part may have originated from either the Old English words beorg, meaning "hill", or berc or beorc, meaning "birch"; or from the older Old Celtic word Bearroc, meaning "hilly place". The latter part, "hamsted", derives from the Old English word for homestead. So the town's name could be either mean "homestead amongst the hills" or the "homestead among the birches".<ref name="David Mills">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Caroline Taggart">Template:Cite book</ref>
Through history spellings of the town's name have changed. Local historian Rev John Wolstenholme Cobb identified over 50 different versions of the town's name since the writing of the Domesday Book (such as: "Berkstead", "Berkampsted", "Berkhampstead", "Muche Barkhamstede", "Berkhamsted Magna", "Great Berkhamsteed" and "Berkhamstead".)<ref name=page1908>Template:Harvnb</ref>Template:Sfn In 1937 the name was changed by the local council from Great Berkhampstead to Berkhamsted.<ref name=change>Template:Cite book</ref> The town is known locally as "Berko".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
History
Template:MainTemplate:See also
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.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
A major iron production around Northchurch is considered to be one of the most important late Iron Age and Roman industrial areas in England,<ref name="Area 117" />Template:Sfn and led to the settlement of a Roman town at Cow Roast,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> about Template:Convert northwest of Berkhamsted. Other evidence of settlement includes a pottery kiln on Bridgewater Road.Template:Sfn<ref name="npsGossoms">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite report</ref> 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).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
During the Roman occupation which lasted until 410 CE, the Berkhamsted area appears to have been divided into two or three farming estates having villa buildings,Template:Sfn and remains of a villa were found close to the river,<ref name="StMary">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A Roman-British villa, dyke, and temple were found Template:Convert near 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.<ref name="List Entry Summary">Template:NHLE</ref>Template:Sfn<ref name="List entry">Template:NHLE</ref>
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.<ref name="343-351">Template:Cite web</ref> Rare Anglo-Saxon pottery dating from the 7th century and 9th century water mills demonstrate the existence of Anglo-Saxon settlement.Template:Sfn The church may have been an important minster, which became part of the medieval manor of Berkhamsted after the Norman Conquest.<ref name="343-351"/><ref name="Williamson 2010 152">Template:Harvnb.</ref> By the 14th century the adjoining village of "Berkhamsted St Mary" or "Berkhamsted Minor" had become "North Church", later "Northchurch".Template:Sfn<ref name="page1908" /><ref name="StMary" /><ref name="Williamson 2010 152" />Template:Sfn
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.<ref name="EH173"/><ref name="BBC173"/> The Domesday survey records that there was enough land for 26 plough teams, but only 15 working teams. There were two flour mills, woodland for 1,000 pigs, and a vineyard.Template:Sfn The population was calculated at either 37 or 88 households.<ref name=opend>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="web.dacorum.gov.uk">Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Refn From 1066 to 1495, Berkhamsted Castle, of which only ruins exist, was a Norman motte-and-bailey castle.<ref name="List entry Number: 1010756">Template:NHLE</ref> was a favoured residence of royalty and the nobility, including King Henry II, Edward the Black Prince, Thomas Becket and Geoffrey Chaucer.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> Radiocarbon dating indicates that it was probably built post-1066.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The castle was a high-status residence and an administrative centre it contributed to the growth of the town.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn<ref name="Liddiard2005p111">Template:Harvnb.</ref><ref name="Williamson 2010 219">Template:Harvnb.</ref> In 1227, Richard of Cornwall, was given the castle,<ref name=Brown1989p52>Template:Harvnb.</ref><ref name=Pettifer1995p105>Template:Harvnb</ref>Template:Refn 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.Template:Sfn
Edward III gave the castle to his son, Edward, the Black Prince under whom Berkhamsted become a centre of English longbow archery,<ref name="CBCT">Template:Cite web</ref> 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 the Works at Berkhamsted. Henry V and Henry VI owned the castle and 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Sfn
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.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
From the 12th to the 15th centuries the town continued to develop separately on the old Akeman Street Template:Convert to the south of the castle and to the west of St Peter's Church.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite report</ref> 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 Template:Convert of the town.Template:Sfn
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,Template:Sfn and the growing wool trade brought prosperity to Berkhamsted from the 12th century until the early Tudor period.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In 1217, Henry III recognised Berkhamsted's market by royal charter.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Refn 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.Template:Sfn
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.Template:Sfn In the 14th century, Berkhamsted (recorded as "Berchamstede") was considered to be one of the "best" market towns in the country.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1440, there is a reference to lime kilns.<ref name=page1908 />
The town benefited when Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall, founded Ashridge Priory in 1283, Template:Convert away and within the castle's park. At the foundation of the abbey, the Earl donated a phial claimed to contain Christ's blood. Pilgrims from all over Europe passed through the town to see the holy relic. The abbey grew quite wealthy as a result. In the 15th century, the town was reaffirmed as a borough by a royal charter granted by Edward IV (1442–1483), which decreed that no other market town was to be set up within Template:Convert. 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.<ref name="EH173"/><ref name="BBC173"/>
In 1495 after the castle was abandoned, the town went into decline losing its borough status in the second half of the 17th century. Around 1583, a new market house was erected west of St Peter's Church at the end of Middle Row (alternatively named Le Shopperowe or Graball Row). The market house was destroyed in a fire in 1854. In 1612, Berkhamsted Place was bought by Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales for £4,000. Henry died later that year, and bequeathed the house to his brother Charles (later King Charles I),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1618, James I reaffirmed Berkhamsted's borough status with a charter. Following surveys in 1607 and 1612 the Duchy of Cornwall enclosed Template:Convert 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.<ref name="oxforddnb.com">Template:Cite ODNB</ref> 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.Template:Sfn The town was a centre of religious nonconformity from the 17th century: over a quarter of the town were Dissenters in the second half of the century.Template:Sfn
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 and the town's population to expand again.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1868 middle-class villas began to appear south of the High Street.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn In 1887, John Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles recorded the population at 4,485.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Sfn
In the mid-18th century wood milling and woodturning were the town's most prominent industries,Template:Sfn with brush making as an offshoot of the timber industry.Template:Sfn The canal trade stimulated the economy of the town,Template:Sfn and Berkhamsted became a centre for the construction of the barges needed for the canal trades.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn William Cooper was a vetinary 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.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn
Utilities in the 19th century included a Gasworks installed to provide street lighting in 1849 and later closed in 1959.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn
In 1725 "An Account of Several Workhouses" records a parish workhouse in Berkhamsted, and a parliamentary report of 1777 refers to a parish workhouse.Template:Sfn The workhouse system was ended in 1930, and control was given to local council with the workhouse finally closing in 1935.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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 per cent of the population of Berkhamsted (about 500 people) during the winter months, until at least 1897.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1866 the Battle of Berkhamsted Common played an important part in the national preservation of common land.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In an action similar to that of many other large estate holders, Lord Brownlow of Ashridge House, attempted to enclose Berkhamsted Common by erecting Template:Convert steel fences in order to claim the land as part of his family's estate. In response to the enclosure action and in defence the historic right of the public to use the ancient common land, on the night of 6 March, in what became known nationally as the Battle of Berkhamsted Common, men from London's East End to dismantle the fences.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name='NatTrust'>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="commons">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1909 Sunnyside and later in 1935 Northchurch were added to Berkhamsted Urban District. 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.Template:Sfn In the second half of the 20th century, many of the old industrial firms in Berkhamsted closed, while the numbers of commuters increased.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Geography
Berkhamsted is situated within the Chiltern Hills, part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England, believed to have formed between 84 and 100 million years ago in the Cretaceous Period when the area was a chalk-depositing marine environment.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The town is located in a narrow northwest to southeast valley falling from Template:Convert above sea level to Template:Convert. The valley is at the southernmost limit of the Pleistocene glaciation ice erosion throughout the Chiltern scarp, giving it a smooth rounded appearance, with alluvial soils in the valley bottom and chalk, clay and flint on the valley sides.<ref name="Area 117">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="bbcdoom">Template:Cite web</ref> In the early Mesolithic period (Middle Stone Age, mid to late 8th millennium BCE), the local upland was mostly pine woodland and the low area of central Berkhamsted probably a grass-sedge fen. In the 6th Millennium BCE the dense deciduous forest became well established. By the Mid to late 3rd millennium BCE during the Neolithic period (the New Stone Age) human activity can be seen in wood clearances; the woodland being then dominated by lime trees, with alder trees growing on the flood plain. The River Bulbourne, a chalk stream, runs through the valley for Template:Convert in a southeast direction, starting at Dudswell and the adjoining village of Northchurch and running through Berkhamsted, Bourne End and Boxmoor, where it merges with the River Gade at Two Waters in Apsley, near Hemel Hempstead. It was fast-moving and full, and prone to frequent localised flooding.Template:Sfn The river created a marsh environment in the centre of the valley.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The river powered the watermills (recorded in 1086) and fed the three moats of the large Norman castle, that stands close to the centre of the town.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The countryside surrounding the town includes parts of the Green Belt and the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (ANOB). The Urban Nature Conservation Study (UNCS) recognises the town's hinterland as a biodiversity resource. The hills gently rise to an undulating and open plateau, which has a mix of arable farmland, common land and mixed oak, ash and beech woodland. On the northeast side of town are the Berkhamsted and Northchurch commons, the largest in the Chilterns at Template:Convert, and forming a large arc running from Northchurch, through Frithsden and down to Potten End. Ownership of Berkhamsted Common is divided between the National Trust and Berkhamsted Golf Club. Beyond the common is the Template:Convert historic wooded parkland of Ashridge; once part of Berkhamsted Castle's hunting park, it is now managed by the National Trust. Ashridge is part of the Chilterns Beechwood Special Area of Conservation (SAC), a nationally important nature conservation area, and is also designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Agriculture is more dominant to the south of the town; close to the Buckinghamshire border there are two former large country estates, Ashlyns and Rossway. The ancient woodland at Dickshills is also located here.<ref name="SPSTB">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Sfn
The centre of Berkhamsted is typical of a medieval market town with its long, straight High Street (aligned on the Akeman Street) forming the east–west axis, from which extend medieval burgage plots to the north and south.Template:Sfn<ref name="web.dacorum.gov.uk"/> The town centre slowly developed over the years and contains a wide variety of properties that date from the 13th century onwards.The canal intersects the river at numerous points, taking most of its water supply and helping to drain the valley. The townscape was shaped by the Bulbourne valley, which rises Template:Convert on either side at its narrowest pointy.<ref name="SPSTB"/>Template:Sfn
Neighbouring settlements
Along the Bulbourne valley towards London, are the village of Bourne End and the large new town of Hemel Hempstead. To the south south-east is the large village of Bovingdon and south from Berkhamsted, along the Chiltern Hills into Buckinghamshire is the hamlet of Ashley Green and the market town of Chesham. Further southwest is the village of Great Missenden and to the west is the small market town of Wendover.<ref name=osexp1>Ordnance Survey (2015). OS Explorer Map 181 – Chiltern Hills North – Aylesbury, Berkhamsted & Chesham. Template:ISBN.</ref>
Northwestwards are the village of Northchurch, and the hamlets of Dudswell and Cow Roast, Wigginton and the small market towns of Tring and Aylesbury, the county town of Buckinghamshire. Following the Chiltern Hills northwards, to the north-northwest is the village of Aldbury; situated to the north of Berkhamsted are the villages of Ringshall and Little Gaddesden; located to the north-east of the town are the villages and hamlets of Potten End, Frithsden and Great Gaddesden.<ref name=osexp1/>
Climate
Like most of the United Kingdom, Berkhamsted has an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Near-real-time weather information can be retrieved from Berkhamsted Weather Station page on the Met Office Weather Observation website.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Governance
Berkhamsted is within Harpenden and Berkhamsted, a constituency newly created by the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies. In the first election to be held in the constituency Victoria Collins won the seat for the Liberal Democrat party in the 2024 General Election.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Berkhamsted town council, represents the local people to two higher tiers of local government, Dacorum Borough Council and Hertfordshire County Council. The modern district of Dacorum based in Hemel Hempstead was formed in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972; the local government district's main population centres include Hemel Hempstead, Tring and the western part of Kings Langley. Berkhamsted accounts for just over 12 per cent of the district's population of 153,300 in 2017.<ref name="hertslis2.org">Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref>
Berkhamsted has three local government Wards—East, West and Castle. The result of the 2023 town council elections was Liberal Democrat11; Green 2; Labour 2.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Administrative history
Berkhamsted was an ancient borough, but lost this status in the 17th century.Template:Sfn The town was then governed by its parish vestry until the 19th century. In 1835 Berkhamsted was made the centre of a poor law union which covered the town and the surrounding parts of western Hertfordshire, as well as parts of Buckinghamshire. Under the Public Health Act 1872, sanitary districts were created, and the boards of guardians of poor law unions were made responsible for public health and local government for any part of their district not included in an urban authority. As Berkhamsted had no local board or other urban authority, it was therefore included in the rural sanitary district.<ref name=workhouse>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1893 the town petitioned for the creation of a local board covering both Berkhamsted and Northchurch parishes, which would make it independent of the rural sanitary authority. An inquiry was held by a government inspector in December 1893, but he advised against the scheme. Hertfordshire County Council therefore did not pursue it, although did comment that an urban authority covering just the town itself rather than the two whole parishes might be more favourably received.<ref>Berkhampstead: A Local Board proposed, Herts Advertiser and St Albans Times, 16 September 1893, page 7</ref><ref>Hertfordshire County Council: Suggested Local Board for Berkhampstead and Northchurch, Herts Advertiser and St Albans Times, 27 January 1894, page 7</ref>
Under the Local Government Act 1894, rural sanitary districts became rural districts on 28 December 1894, and so the town became part of the Berkhampstead Rural District. Parish councils were also established under the act, to take over the civil functions of the old vestries. The new parish councils came into being on 31 December 1894 if an election had been needed to choose the first parish councillors, as was the case at Berkhamsted.<ref>Great Berkhampstead: The Parish Council, Bucks Herald (Aylesbury), 5 January 1895, page 7</ref>
Berkhamsted Urban District (1898Template:Ndash1974)
Template:Infobox historic subdivision
In 1898 the parish was split into a "Great Berkhampstead Urban" parish, which became an urban district, and a "Great Berkhampstead Rural" parish, which remained in the Berkhampstead Rural District.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Great Berkhampstead: Urban District Council, Bucks Herald (Aylesbury), 23 April 1898, page 8</ref> The Great Berkhampstead Rural parish ceded land to the urban district in 1935 and in 1937 was split between Nettleden with Potten End, Northchurch, and Great Gaddesden.<ref>Ministry of Health Order No. 80108: The County of Hertford Review Order, 1935</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Older municipal buildings were demolished in 1938 and new Berkhamsted Civic Centre was built on the site.<ref>Berkhamsted Newsletter, Bucks Examiner (Chesham), 2 October 1936, page 3</ref><ref>The Civic Centre opened, Bucks Examiner (Chesham), 21 October 1938, page 7</ref>
Until 1937 the official name of the council's area was the "Great Berkhampstead Urban District". A change of name to "Berkhamsted Urban District" came into effect on 19 July 1937. A few months later the neighbouring Berkhampstead Rural District became Berkhamsted Rural District.<ref>Berkhamsted Newsletter, Bucks Examiner (Chesham), 16 April 1937, page 7</ref><ref name=change/> Under the Local Government Act 1972, Berkhamsted Urban District was abolished to become part of the non-metropolitan district of Dacorum in 1974. Berkhamsted Town Council was created as a successor parish to the former urban district council.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Demography
Homes
The Hertfordshire Local Information System (HertsLIS) website (based on data from the Office for National Statistics and other UK government departments) has the following data regarding the 7,363 households in Berkhamsted in 2011. 72 per cent of homes were owner occupied (34 per cent owned outright and 38 per cent owned with a mortgage) compared to 63 per cent for England. 26.5 per cent of homes were rented (13 per cent each for social rented and private rented) compared to a national figure of 34.5 per cent.<ref name = "HertsLIS"/>
In 2021 according to Rightmove the average cost of a home in Berkhamsted was £696,949. The majority of sales in the town were detached properties, with an average selling value of £1,076,244. The average terraced dwelling price was £563,291 and the average semi-detached properties went for £657,436. Overall, in 2021 property house prices in Berkhamsted were four per cent up on the previous year and five per cent up on the 2018 peak of £661,336.<ref name = "HM2021">Template:Cite web</ref>
Employment and economic wellbeing
In mid-2016, the Office for National Statistics estimated the working age population of Berkhamsted (males and females aged 16 to 64) as 11,400, i.e. 62 per cent of the town's population. People from Berkhamsted were employed as follows: 17.5 per cent worked as managers, directors and senior officials; 27.5 per cent professional occupations and 8.5 per cent in associate professional and technical occupations; 10 per cent were employed in administrative and secretarial occupations; 7 per cent in skilled trades; 6 per cent Caring, leisure and other service occupations; 5 per cent were in sales and customer service occupations; 3 per cent were in process, plant and machine operatives; and 5.5 per cent worked in elementary occupations.<ref name = "HertsLIS"/>
According to HertsLIS in 2011, 76 per cent of Berkhamsted residents between the ages of 16 and 74 were employed (of which: full-time, 43 per cent; part-time, 13 per cent; self-employed, 14 per cent); and 24 per cent economically inactive (retired, 13 per cent; long-term sick/disabled, 2 per cent).<ref name = "HertsLIS">Template:Cite web</ref>
Diversity
From the 2021 Office for National Statistics (ONS) census for the Berkhansted built-up area, the population was recorded at 21,245 with a near equal number of males and females. Ethnicity: White individuals make up approximately 93–94% of the population, with Asian (~2–2.5%), Black (~0.6–0.7%), and mixed/multiple (~2–3%) being modest minorities. Of residents who stated a religious affiliation, 46.5% were Christian; other faiths included 0.52% Buddhist, 0.49% Jewish, 0.64% per cent Muslim, 0.68% Hindu, 0.17% Sikh, other religions 0.47%. The remaining 9,179 residents reported no religion.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Transport
Road
Originally proposed in the 1930s, a bypass was opened in 1993 to relive town traffic and the main A41 road now passes south-west of Berkhamsted. Local bus routes passing through Berkhamsted town centre provide links to Aylesbury, Hemel Hempstead, Luton, Watford and Whipsnade Zoo.<ref name="inbtalinkbus">Template:Cite web</ref> Since 1999 buses are managed by Hertfordshire County Council's Intalink transport service.<ref name="intalink">Template:Cite web</ref>
Railway
Berkhamsted railway station is located just beside Berkhamsted Castle, overlooking the Grand Junction Canal. The station is Template:Convert north west of London Euston on the West Coast Main Line. As of 2025 all services at Berkhamsted are operated by London Northwestern Railway and run between London Euston and Template:Stnlnk, with additional trains running to Template:Stnlnk and Template:Stnlnk and many other destinations.Template:Sfn
Economy and commerce
In 1986, farming, service and light industry were characteristic local employers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2015, schools and retail (predominantly Waitrose) were the town's largest employers; these are both situated in Berkhamsted Castle ward.<ref name="dacorum.gov.uk">Template:Cite report</ref> Of the employed residents living in both Berkhamsted and Tring, 35 per cent live and work in the towns, while 65 per cent commute to workplaces away from the towns, particularly to London.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cite newsTemplate:Cite news</ref> Of the 7,100 people who work in Berkhamsted, 58 per cent commute to Berkhamsted to work. In 2011, 9.5 per cent of Berkhamsted residents (aged 16 to 74 in employment) worked mainly at or from home; 52 per cent drove to work by car (2.5 per cent as a passenger in a car); 22 per cent travelled by public transport; and 13 per cent cycled or walked to work. In 2011, an average commute to work was 21 kilometres.<ref name = "HertsLIS"/>
In 2014 Berkhamsted's High Street had 100 per cent retail occupancy of independent traders and a "cafe culture".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Coming top in the south-east region in Sunday Times 2018 Best Places to Live, Berkhamsted was described as "affluent and attractive; its medieval centre is filled with chic shops and great places to eat", with 76 per cent of shops being independent stores. Berkhamsted has an active Transition Town community.<ref name= "ST18">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Guard">Template:Cite web</ref>
Education
State schools in Berkhamsted provide education in a two-tier system. Elementary education is offered by the six primary schools in the town: Bridgewater, Greenway Primary & Nursery School, St Mary’s Church of England Primary School, St. Thomas More Catholic Primary School, Swing Gate Infant School and Nursery, Thomas Coram Church of England Primary School, and Westfield Primary School and Nursery.<ref name="BTC">Template:Cite web</ref>
Ashlyns School, is a Foundation school and sixth form with 1,200 mixed pupils aged 11 to 19 years.<ref name="ofsted">Template:Cite web</ref> The school was begun in the 18th century, when a philanthropist, Thomas Coram, was granted a royal charter "for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Children" in 1739. The school is located in a Grade II listed building and is an example of neo-Georgian architecture.Since 2003, Ashlyns School building and its chapel have been a Grade II listed building.<ref name="NHLE">Template:National Heritage List for England</ref>
Primary and secondary education is also provided by two independent schools: the Berkhamsted School, a private fee-paying school for around 1,850 pupils aged 3 to 18,. The present school was formed in 1997 by the amalgamation of the original Berkhamsted School, founded in 1541 by John Incent, Dean of St Paul's Cathedral, Berkhamsted School for Girls, established in 1888,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Berkhamsted Preparatory School.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Egerton Rothesay School is a small independent fee-paying school for around 150 Special Educational Need (SEN) pupils between the ages of 5 and 19.Template:Sfn The school is the result of the merging of two Berkhamsted independent primary schools, Rothesay, founded in 1922 and situated in Charles Street, and Egerton School, founded in 1950.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Hult Ashridge (formerly Ashridge Business School/Ashridge Executive Education) is located in Ashridge House, the former stately home of the Duke of Bridgewater.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2015, Ashridge merged with Hult International Business School, to become Hult Ashridge.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Places of worship
The oldest extant church locally is St Mary's in the adjacent village of Northchurch. Between 1087 and 1104, there is reference to a chaplain called Godfrey and to a chapel of St James with parochial status within St Mary's Berkhamsted's parish. A chapel situated close to St Johns, located close to St John's Lane, was the base for a small community of monks, the Brotherhood of St John the Baptist, in the 11th and 12th centuries.Template:Sfn<ref name=Sherwood2008p227>Template:Harvnb.</ref>Template:Refn
During King John's reign, Geoffrey Fitz Peter, was instrumental in the foundation the parish church of St Peter, and in 1222, Robert de Tuardo, was registered as the first known rector.Template:Sfn Because of the church's proximity to the castle, the reigning monarch was patron of Berkhamsted rectors for several centuries. In 1648, St Peter's Church was requisitioned during the English Civil War by General Fairfax as a military prison to hold soldiers captured from the siege of Colchester.Template:Sfn The poet William Cowper was christened in St Peter's,Template:Sfn where his father John Cowper was rector.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The parish church of St Peter on the High Street, is one of the largest churches in Hertfordshire.<ref name="heritage-gateway">Template:Cite web</ref> Two other Anglican churches in the town – 'St Michael and All Angels' (Sunnyside) (original building 1886) and 'All Saints' Church & St Martha's' (built in 1906) on Rectory Lane.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Several non-conformist denominations are represented in Berkhamsted. The Baptist community has a chapel on the High Street.Template:Sfn A Quaker meeting house was opened in 1818 on the High Street.Template:Sfn The Congregationlists worship together with a Presbyterian congregation at St Andrew's United Reformed Church on the corner of Castle Street and Chapel Street.Template:Sfn The Methodists share All Saints' Church with Anglicans.Template:Sfn The Evangelist (Latter Day Saints) began life has part of the Plymouth Brethren, their Hope Hall opened in 1875, which was renamed Kings Road Evangelical Church in 1969.Template:Sfn A Roman Catholic church, the Church of the Sacred Heart, a modern 1980 church building is located on Park Street.Template:Sfn
Culture and leisure
Literary connections
Geoffrey Chaucer was clerk of works at Berkhamsted Castle from 1389 and based his Doctor of Phisick in The Canterbury Tales on John of Gaddesden, who lived in nearby Little Gaddesden. William Cowper was born in Berkhamsted Rectory in 1731. Although he moved away when still a boy, there are frequent references to the town in his poems and letters. In the Victorian era, Cowper became a cult figure and Berkhamsted was a place of pilgrimage for his devotees. Maria Edgeworth, a prolific Anglo-Irish writer of adults' and children's literature who was a significant figure in the evolution of the novel in Europe, lived in Berkhamsted as a child in the 18th century.<ref name="npsGossoms"/> Between 1904 and 1907, the Llewelyn Davies boys were the inspiration for the author and playwright J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan.Template:Sfn A little later, novelist Graham Greene was born in Berkhamsted and educated at Berkhamsted School, alongside literary contemporaries Claud Cockburn, Peter Quennell, Humphrey Trevelyan and Cecil Parrott.<ref name="guide"/>
Cinema
Template:Main The Rex cinema, built in 1937, is recognised by English Heritage as a fine example of a 1930s art deco cinema.<ref>Template:NHLE</ref> The cinema was designed by architect David Evelyn Nye for the Shipman and King circuit.Template:Sfn Closed in 1988, the cinema was extensively restored in 2004 and has become a thriving independent local cinema.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The cinema features luxurious seating and two licensed bars. Prior to the cinema's construction, an Elizabethan mansion, Egerton House, had occupied the site for 350 years.Template:Sfn
British Film Institute National Archive at King's Hill
Rarely open to the public, "The J. Paul Getty, Jr. Conservation Centre" is the location of much of the film restoration work of the BFI National Archive of the British Film Institute.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> With over 275,000 feature, non-fiction and short films (dating from 1894) and 210,000 television programmes, it is one of the largest film archives in the world. Two of the archive's collections were added to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) UK Memory of the World Register, in 2011.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Sport and outdoor amenties
The town has a large National Trust Common and woodland on its long north-east edge.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Running east–west through the centre of the town, along the town's length the Grand Union Canal provides an open space with recreational opportunities, with the small River Bulbourne it creates a wildlife corridor through the town.<ref name="CanalDDC">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Other public green spaces include the castle and Butts Meadow. In 2016 The Friends of St Peter's Berkhamsted received £907,000 in a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Big Lottery Fund from the National Lottery (United Kingdom) to repurpose the Rectory Lane Cemetery and for restored heritage features and create a new green community space in the town.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Berkhamsted Bowmen are the oldest archery club in England.<ref name="guide">Template:Cite web</ref> Founded in 1875 Berkhamsted Cricket Club competes in the Herts League and in 2025 celebrated its 150th anniversary. The club is based at the Berkhamsted Community Cricket and Sports Club, Kitcheners Field, Castle Hill.<ref name="BCC">Template:Cite web</ref>
The nine Berkhamsted and Hemel Hempstead Hockey Club teams are based just outside the town at Cow Roast, playing their matches on their astroturf pitch<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> at the club grounds in Cow Roast. There are two Bowls clubs, Berkhamsted and Kitcheners.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Berkhamsted Football Club, play in the Southern Football League Division One Central,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> part of the 8th Level in the English League. The team was formed in 2009 after the demise of Berkhamsted Town F.C. which had been established in 1895. Founded in 1996, Berkhamsted Raiders CFC football club was recognised as the FA Charter Standard Community Club of the Year at the English Football Association Community Awards in 2014 and awarded the UEFA Grassroots Silver Award in 2015 for their work across the local community. The club, in 2023, had more than 1,300 affiliated players, including 250 girls in 94 youth teams plus Senior, Veterans, Ladies, Walking Football and Inclusive Football sections. In 2022, the Club was awarded the Herts FA Grassroots Club of the Year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
A sports centre near Douglas Gardens, comprises a large indoor multi-purpose sports hall, squash courts, swimming pool, and outdoor all-weather pitch. This facility is complemented by dual use of the leisure facilities of Ashlyns School and Berkhamsted Collegiate School. Berkhamsted and the surrounding area has a variety of road cycling and mountain biking routes, including traffic-free off-road routes in Ashridge Estate.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Media
Berkhamsted is within the BBC London and ITV London region. Television signals are received from the Crystal Palace TV transmitter<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the local relay transmitter situated in Hemel Hempstead.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Local radio stations are BBC Three Counties Radio on 103.8 FM serving Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, Heart Hertfordshire on 106.9 FM broadcasting across Hertfordshire, Greatest Hits Radio Bucks, Beds and Herts (formerly Mix 96.2) on 92.2 FM and community based stations, Radio Dacorum<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Tring Radio.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The town is served by the regional newspaper, Hemel Hempstead Gazette & Express which covers the towns of Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted and Tring, and the surrounding area in Hertfordshire.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Historic buildings
The majority of Berkhamsted's 85 listed or scheduled historical sites are half-timbered houses on the High Street with some on Castle Street and other locations. Castle Street began life as the medieval lane from the town's High Street to the drawbridge of the royal castle. At the other end of the lane was the parish church of St Peters. Berkhamsted school was founded In the 16th century, while in the 17th century there were seven public houses among the street's trade outlets.Template:SfnFour are scheduled, one is Grade I, seven are Grade II*, the remaining 75 are Grade II.<ref name="ListedB">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> To the northwest of Berkhamsted stand the ruins of Marlin's Chapel, a 13th-century chapel next to a medieval fortified farm. The walls and moat surrounding the modern farm still remain and are reputed to be haunted.Template:Sfn 173 High Street, is a Grade II* listed building, with a Victorian façade hiding what is considered to be the oldest extant jettied timber-framed building in Great Britain, dated by dendrochronology to between 1277 and 1297.<ref name="ListedB"/><ref name="EH173"/><ref name="BBC173"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The shop was restored on a £250,000 grant from English Heritage, and provides an insight into how the High Street would have looked in medieval times.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Dean Incent's House at 129 High Street is a 15th-century timber-framed house which is reputed to be the birthplace of John Incent (c. 1480 – 1545), a dean in the Church of England who held office at St Paul's Cathedral from 1540 to 1545.<ref name="ListedB"/><ref name=englishheritage>Template:NHLE</ref> 125 High Street, a house and shop, is a timber-framed building. This was an unusually large house, its size and central position suggesting a manor house or other high status house, possibly supporting the castle.<ref name="ListedB"/>Template:Sfn The Swan, a pub at 139 High Street, contains the remains of a medieval open hall.<ref name="ListedB"/><ref name="343-351" /> The Court House, next to the church, dates from the 16th century, and is believed to lie on the site of the medieval court where the PortmoteTemplate:Refn or Borough Court was held.<ref name="343-351" />
Sayer's Almshouses, were the legacy of John Sayer, chief cook to Charles II, at 235–241 High Street, comprise a single-storey row of almshouses built in 1684.Template:Sfn The Bourne School, at 222 High Street, was the legacy by Thomas Bourne (1656–1729) (Master of the Company of Framework Knitters) to build a charity school in Berkhamsted for 20 boys and 10 girls. The front was rebuilt in 1854 in Jacobean-style red brick.Template:Sfn The site now occupied by the Pennyfarthing Hotel dates from the 16th century, having been a monastic building used as accommodation for religious guests passing through Berkhamsted or going to the monastery at Ashridge. Berkhamsted Town Hall, a Victorian gothic market house and town hall, was built in 1859.<ref name="ListedB"/>Template:Sfn When Berkhamsted became part of the new Dacorum Borough Council (based in Hemel Hempstead) plans to demolish the building were stopped in the 1970s and 1980s by a citizens' campaign, through the High Court.Template:Sfn
The Berkhamsted Canadian totem pole stands next to the canal, near Castle Street Bridge. In the early 1960s, Roger Alsford, a great-grandson of the founder of the timber company, James Alsford (1841–1912), went to work at the Tahsis lumber mill on Vancouver Island. During a strike, he was rescued from starvation by a local Kwakiutl community. Alsford's brother, William John Alsford, visited the island, and in gratitude for the local people's hospitality, commissioned a totem pole from the Canadian First Nations artist Henry Hunt.<ref name=Tearle1998p21>Template:Harvnb.</ref> The western red cedar pole, Template:Convert high and Template:Convert in diameter, was carved by Hunt at Thunderbird Park, a centre for First Nation monuments. The completed pole was shipped to Britain and erected at Alsford's Wharf in 1968. It is one of only a handful of totem poles in the United Kingdom, others being on display at the British Museum and Horniman Museum in London, Windsor Great Park, Bushy Park and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.<ref>Template:Harvnb.</ref> The carvings on the totem pole represent four figures from First Nations legend: at the top sits Raven, the trickster and creator deity; he sits on the head of Sunman, who has outstretched arms representing the rays of the sun and wears a copper (a type of ceremonial shield); Sunman stands on the fearsome witch-spirit Dzunukwa; at the base is the two-headed warrior sea serpent, Sisiutl, who has up-stretched wings.<ref>Template:Harvnb.</ref>
Ashridge is a country estate and stately home with a large Gothic Revival country house built between 1808 and 1814. The surrounding country estate is a Template:Convert park managed by the National Trust and has been used as a film location for Sleepy Hollow and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A monument to Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, a tall Doric column with urn (a Grade II* listed building), stands in a grove within Ashridge.<ref>Template:NHLE</ref>
Associations with the town
Literature and media
Poet and hymn writer William Cowper (1731–1800), one of the most popular poets of his time, was born and raised in Berkhamsted. Cowper changed the direction of eighteenth century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the English countryside. two stained-glass windows in St Peter's Church are dedicated to memory of Cowper.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Sfn
Novelist Graham Greene (1904–1991), whose father was headmaster of Berkhamsted School, which Greene attended. One of Greene's novels, The Human Factor, is set there and mentions several places in the town. In his autobiography, Greene wrote that he has been 'moulded in a special way through Berkhamsted'. Greene's life and works are celebrated annually with a festival organised by the Graham Greene Birthplace Trust.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Sir Hugh Carleton Greene Template:Postnominals (1910–1987) was born and educated in Berkhamsted. Green was a British television executive and journalist and brother of Graham Greene. He was director-general of the BBC from 1960 to 1969.<ref name=dnb>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
Dame Esther Louise Rantzen Template:Postnominals (b.1940) is an English journalist and television presenter who presented the BBC television series That's Life! for 21 years, from 1973 until 1994.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Ranzen became Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2014 for services to children and older people through Childline and The Silver Line.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>
Nick Owen Template:Postnominals (b.1947) is an English television presenter and News presenter, known for presenting the ITV breakfast programme Good Morning Britain, Good Morning with Anne and Nick, ITV Sport, and the BBC's regional news show Midlands Today since 1997.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="BBC">Template:Cite web</ref>
Twin towns
Through Dacorum Berkhamsted is twinned with: Beaune, Burgundy, France and Neu-Isenburg, Hesse, Germany.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Arms
The coat of arms was granted to the Borough of Berkamsted St Peter by William Camden on 25 September 1618, transferred to the Berkamsted Town Council by Charles III on 13 May 2024.and are described as: escutcheon Or a castle of three domed towers Azure the portcullis raised Or flying from each outer tower a banner Argent charged with a cross Gules all within a bordure Sable charged with fifteen bezants.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Footnotes
References
Sources
- (see also Birtchnell, Percy (1975) Bygone Berkhamsted. Luton: White Crescent Press Template:ISBN)
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite report
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
External links
Template:Wikivoyage Template:Commons category Template:NIE Poster
Template:Hertfordshire Template:Civil parishes of Hertfordshire