Chapter II: Part 2

Over the greater part of the county the soil is the result of the decomposition of the foregoing superficial formations; and is consequently in most cases of a stiffer and more clayey character on the hill-tops than in the valleys, where it frequently forms only a bed of a foot, or even less, in thickness above the sharp, running gravel. Everywhere in the Chalk districts the soil contains a vast number of flints; but it is, nevertheless, admirably adapted for corn-growing, and especially for malting-grain; Hertford being one of the four English counties best suited to crops of the latter nature. On many of the unenclosed commons the soil is, however, of a poor and hungry nature, producing various kinds of inferior grass, together with spring-flowering gorse, as on Harpenden Common, or heather, as at Kingsbourn Green, between Harpenden and Luton, and at Gustard Wood, near Wheathampstead. On the higher Chalk Downs near Dunstable and Royston there is little or no soil properly so-called; the short, but sweet and nourishing grass growing on the chalk itself. A very different type of soil obtains in the London Clay area in the south and east of the county; this being heavy and clayey, and thus better suited for grass than for corn; in fact in the old days the Middlesex portion of this district was known to the country people as the “Hay-country.” Along many of the river-valleys peaty soils of a marshy and swampy nature prevail.

7. Natural History.

In former days, when the mammoth or hairy elephant, the extinct woolly rhinoceros, and the wild ox, together with the African hippopotamus and spotted hyaena roamed over the Thames valley and afforded sport to our prehistoric ancestors, England was joined to the Continent across what is now the English Channel; so that the animals and plants of the southern portion of our islands, at any rate, were more or less nearly identical with those of France and Belgium. The advent of the great ice age, or glacial period, caused, however, a vast disturbance of the fauna and flora (as the assemblages of animals and plants characteristic of different countries are respectively termed), especially as about this time there occurred several oscillations in the level of our country, during one or more of which Great Britain was temporarily separated from the Continent. How much or how little these and other changes had to do with the poverty of the British fauna as compared with that of the Continent is too long and difficult a question to be discussed in this place; but certain it is that even the southern counties of England do possess fewer species of animals and plants than France or Belgium; that this poverty increases with the distance from the Continent; and that Ireland is much poorer in species than England. It may perhaps be well to add, although it does not really concern our subject, that there appears to have been another land-connection by means of which Scotland and Ireland received a portion of their faunas from Scandinavia by way of what is now the North Sea.

At the date of the final insulation of Great Britain from the Continent there is every reason to believe that all the land animals of the former were identical with species inhabiting adjacent regions of the latter. And even at the present day, when isolation has for centuries been exerting its influence on the non-migratory (and in some degree also on the migratory) animals, there are no species of quadrupeds (mammals), birds, or reptiles absolutely peculiar to our islands, with the exception of the grouse; and in the opinion of many naturalists that bird should be regarded rather as a local variety or race of the willow-grouse of Scandinavia than as a distinct species.

Minor variations, however, characterise many, if not indeed all, of our British quadrupeds and birds when contrasted with their continental representatives. The British squirrel is, for instance, very markedly distinct from all the continental races of that animal in the matter of colouring, while somewhat less decided differences characterise our badger, hare, field-mice, etc. Similarly, among birds, the British coal-tit is so decidedly distinct from its continental representatives that it is regarded by some naturalists as entitled to rank as a species by itself; and minor differences from their continental cousins are displayed by the British redbreast, bullfinch, great titmouse, and many other resident species. Indeed, if careful comparisons were instituted between sufficiently large series of specimens, it is almost certain that all species of resident British land animals, as well as exclusively fresh-water fishes, would display certain differences from their foreign representatives; while in some instances, at any rate, as is already known to be the case in regard to certain species, more than one local race of an animal may exist in our own islands.

It is, however, a question as to what is to be gained by the recognition of such comparatively trifling local differences in animals (and still more by assigning to them distinct technical names), as the splitting process may be carried to an almost endless degree. A large London fishmonger is, for instance (as the writer is informed), able to distinguish a Tay from a Severn or Avon salmon; while a wholesale game-dealer will in like manner discriminate between a Perthshire and a Yorkshire grouse. In like manner a Hertfordshire badger or stoat may be distinguished from their Midland or North of England representatives; but it is difficult to see in what respect we should be the better for the recognising of the existence of such differences.

Accordingly, the fauna and flora of Hertfordshire may be regarded for all practical purposes as more or less completely identical with that of the south-east of England generally; and nothing would be gained, even if space permitted, by giving lists of the species which have been found within the limits of our county.

The fauna and flora of Hertfordshire, like those of other counties with varying geological formations, are not, however, by any means the same everywhere. On the contrary, there are well-marked local differences mainly associated with what naturalists call “station”; that is to say, differences of elevation, soil, geological formation, climate, etc., etc. The animals and plants of the high chalk downs in the neighbourhood of Gaddesden, Dunstable, and Ashwell, are for instance more or less markedly distinct from those of the lower level corn-growing areas of the centre of the county. On these elevated tracts we find, for example, wheatears, stone-curlews (near Tring), blue butterflies, burnet-moths, small brown-banded white snails, a periwinkle-like snail with a horny door to its shell known as Cyclostoma, blue gentians, certain orchids, and many other kinds of plants rarely or never seen on the low grounds. The open commons and heaths, on the other hand, as has been already mentioned, are the home of heather and gorse, together with various distinctive birds and reptiles, such as stonechats, whinchats, titlarks, goldfinches, vipers, slow-worms, and lizards. In the river-bottoms and other swampy localities we find marsh and water-birds, such as yellow wagtails, snipes, sandpipers, grebes (at Tring), herons, moorhens, water-rails, coots, dabchicks, and wild duck, together with (locally) the common grass or water snake, amber-snails, marsh-marigolds, purple loose-strife, ragged robin, reeds, and yellow flags.

Beech trees, as mentioned above, form the predominant timber on the chalk-lands other than the high downs, while on the heavier soils of the centre of the county their place is mainly taken by elm and ash. On these lowlands and other open cultivated tracts are found such birds as partridges, corncrakes, lapwings, pipits, and larks; while in the coppices, hedgerows, and gardens we look for nightingales (from which bird Harpenden takes its name, _haerpen_ being a nightingale and _dene_ a valley in Anglo-Saxon), blackcaps, whitethroats, wrens, and nuthatches; while the woods are the resort of green and spotted woodpeckers, wood-pigeons, jays, and pheasants. The low grass-growing clay-plains on the southern side of the county support, as already stated, an abundant growth of oaks to the almost complete exclusion of other timber trees; and this area doubtless also presents certain peculiarities in its fauna distinguishing it from the corn-growing tract to the north. The oaks grow to a very great size, especially at Sacombe and Woodhall Park, and three notable specimens in the county are Queen Elizabeth’s oak at Hatfield, Goff’s oak at Cheshunt, and the Panshanger oak.

In addition to these local peculiarities in the fauna dependent upon elevation, geological formation, soil, and the presence or absence of forest, there are, however, certain others for which climate may possibly account.

A case in point is afforded by the distribution of stag-beetles and magpies in the county. Both these species are unknown in the district immediately round Harpenden, while the former, at any rate, are likewise unknown in the St Albans district, and apparently between that city and London. If, however, we travel from Harpenden to the east, magpies may be met with when we reach Codicote, while in the opposite direction they occur in the Hemel Hempstead district. As to the exact point where stag-beetles make their appearance in the latter direction the writer has no information, but they are to be met with in the neighbourhood of Rickmansworth and elsewhere on the Buckinghamshire border, and become quite common in that county. Grass-snakes, so far as the writer is aware, are likewise absent from the Harpenden neighbourhood, although on the Cambridgeshire side of the county they are quite common, as they are across the border.

If the local distribution of these species were carefully worked out and mapped, we might perhaps be able to account for what is at present a puzzle.

With the increase of population and building the wild fauna of Hertfordshire, like that of England generally, has been gradually becoming poorer in species--probably indeed from the time the mammoth and the woolly rhinoceros were exterminated, as they possibly were, by our prehistoric ancestors. When the wolf, the bear, the wild cat, and the beaver disappeared, is quite unknown; but it is in comparatively modern times that the marten has been exterminated, a solitary individual of this species having been killed in the county within a score of miles of London, that is to say near Watford, so recently as December, 1872. Polecats appear to have almost if not quite disappeared from the county, although a straggler may occasionally enter from Buckinghamshire, where a few still survive; and one was trapped in Ware Park about 1885. Otters are rare, although a few occasionally appear in the lower part of the Lea valley, and some may enter the county from Buckinghamshire, in parts of which they are much more common, the Buckinghamshire Otter-hounds having killed over a score of these animals in 1908. Some years ago badgers were to be found in many parts of the county, a well-known haunt previous to 1840 being “Badger’s Dell” in Cassiobury Park. They still occur locally in certain parts of the Buckinghamshire side of the county, and probably elsewhere. Foxes owe their preservation mainly to the sporting instincts of the county gentry and farmers.

Among birds that have disappeared from the county, the most to be regretted is the bustard, which in the early part of last century was still to be found in the neighbourhood of Royston, although the precise date of its extermination from this part of England is unknown. The bittern, too, is, at the very most, known only as an occasional straggler; but a specimen was shot in a small marshy pond on Harpenden Common some time previous to 1860. The Royston crow, by some naturalists held to be only a form of the common crow, has been named from the Hertfordshire town, though a widespread species throughout many parts of Europe.

Neither has extermination been confined to animals. Fern-hunters have in some instances made a clean sweep of certain species of ferns from many districts, if not from the county generally; and nowadays aspleniums, shield-ferns, polypodies, and false maidenhair (_trichomanes_) have completely disappeared from the Harpenden high roads and lanes; the present writer possessing in his garden what he believes to be the sole remaining indigenous specimen of the last-named species.

Among localities specially celebrated for birds in the county are Tring reservoirs, where vast flocks of water-birds congregate, especially in winter. Here breeds the great crested grebe; and here, too, was shot in 1901 the only known British example of the white-eyed pochard. The neighbouring downs, as already mentioned, form one of the chief English resorts of the stone-curlew, or thick-knee; a species of especial interest on account of the remarkable manner in which both birds and eggs assimilate to their surroundings.

Rare birds, as well as various maritime species driven from their normal resorts by stress of weather, make their appearance occasionally in various parts of the county, but references to very few of such cases must suffice. During the great visitation of sand-grouse (a bird normally characteristic of the steppes of Central Asia) to the British Isles in 1863, some individuals reached this county. In the early part of last century a little auk, or rotche, was taken on the millhead at Wheathampstead during very severe weather; a great northern diver has been seen on Tring reservoir; a pair of storm petrels were killed some five-and-twenty years ago at Hemel Hempstead, where snow-buntings have likewise been seen; while various species of gulls from time to time put in an appearance in winter. Among recent events of this nature the appearance at Harpenden of an immature specimen of the great purple heron is certainly noteworthy. In 1878 the late Mr J. E. Littleboy had recorded 201 species of birds from the county, and a few others have been added since, bringing up the number to 210 in 1902.

In regard to fishes, it is of interest to quote the following passage from Sir Henry Chauncy’s _Historical Antiquities of Hertfordshire_, published early in the eighteenth century. After referring to its other fish, it is there stated, in the author’s quaint language, that the river Lea also contains “some Salmons; which (like young Deer) have several denominations: the first Year they are called Salmon-smelts, the second Year Salmon-sprats, the third Year Salmon-forktails, the fourth Year Salmon-peall, the fifth Year Salmonets, and the sixth Year Salmon; and if these Fish had free Passage by the Mills, and thro’ the Sluices at Waltham up the Stream towards Ware and Hertford, where they might Spawn in fresh Water and were carefully preserved from Pochers, they would greatly increase in that River, and be of great benefit, as well to the City of London as the Country; for some Water-men have observed, that they delight in this Stream, and play much about those Sluices at Waltham.”

Chauncy likewise mentions that trout from the Lea below Hertford, where it has peaty banks, are much less red than those from the gravelly streams of the chalk districts.

For botanical purposes the county has been divided into six districts corresponding to the river-basins; the first two belonging to the Ouse system, and comprising the Cam and the Ivel basins, and the other four, comprising the Thame, the Colne, the Brent, and the Lea, pertaining to the Thames system. Of these the Lea area is the largest, the Colne next in size, the Ivel considerably smaller, and the other three quite small. In some respects the local characters of the flora are, however, better brought out by taking the geological formations as a basis of division. The Upper Chalk area, capped with much Boulder-clay on the eastern, and with clay-and-flints and gravel on the western side, corresponds very closely as regards these divisions with the Lea and the Colne basins. The Middle Chalk, which as we have seen is exposed on the flanks of the continuation of the Chiltern Hills in the north-west, is peculiar in being the only area in the county in which grows the pasque-flower, or anemone; this chiefly flourishing on south-westerly slopes, as at Aldbury Towers, near Tring. The Middle Chalk is also the chief home of the various kinds of orchis; the dwarf, the man, and the butterfly orchis being apparently restricted to this formation. The Tertiary area has a vegetation of a totally different type from the so-called “dry-plant type” characteristic of the Chalk area, but it cannot be further mentioned here.

In the five adjacent counties there occur 110 species of flowering plants unknown in Hertfordshire. On the other hand, Hertfordshire has about a dozen plants (exclusive of varieties of the bramble) unknown in the adjacent counties. Of the 893 native flowering plants of Hertfordshire about 110 have not been recorded from Cambridgeshire, while about 120 are wanting in Bedfordshire, 170 in Buckinghamshire, 140 in Middlesex, and 100 in Essex. These figures may, however, be subject to considerable modification by future research. The following passage on the relations of the Hertfordshire flora is quoted from the _Victoria History of the Counties of England_:--

“Taking the number of species in any adjoining county which are absent from Hertfordshire as the best index of the degree of relationship, it would appear that the flora of Bucks is the most nearly allied to that of Herts, and that those of Cambridge and Essex are the most divergent.... This is just what might be expected from the physical features and geological structure of these counties. The floras of Cambridge and Essex have also a more northern or north-eastern facies [character] than that of Hertfordshire, which is of a decidedly southern type. The large number of Hertfordshire species which have not yet been recorded from Buckinghamshire is probably due to the flora of that county not having been so thoroughly investigated as ours has been.”

8. Climate and Rainfall.

In its original sense the word climate meant the degree of inclination of the sun’s rays at any particular spot at a specified date; but nowadays it is employed to designate the average type of weather experienced in a district. In this latter sense it comprises the results of the combined effects of temperature, atmospheric pressure, the degree of moisture in the air, the direction and force of the wind, and the amount of rainfall; the study of climate constituting the science of meteorology. Although the climate of the British Isles is of an exceedingly changeable type, yet the average of the seasonal changes is far from being the same in all parts of the country. Taking temperature alone, we find, for instance, that while the average for the whole year in Shetland is as low as 43° Fahrenheit, in the Scilly Islands it rises to 53°. It is a very general idea that in our islands the winter temperature of a place depends upon whether it is situated in the north or the south. This, however, is a mistake, the temperature having little relation to latitude, but growing colder as we pass from the west to the eastern side of the country; the south of England, as a whole, being milder than the north, not because it is the south, but because it includes such a large extent of land in the west. The degree of elevation above the sea-level has much to do with temperature and the amount of moisture in the air; high lands being, as a rule, colder and drier in winter than those lying at lower levels. On account of the comparatively high elevation of a considerable proportion of its area and its easterly position, coupled with the prevalence of north-easterly and easterly winds in spring, Hertfordshire ought to have, on the whole, a cold and bracing climate for the greater part of the year; and, as a matter of fact, such is the case. Indeed, it is commonly said that northern Hertfordshire is so cold and bracing, that only strong and robust constitutions can stand it; but that for those blessed with such constitutions it is one of the healthiest counties in the kingdom.

Hertfordshire, however, like England on a small scale, has local climates of its own, dependent upon differences in elevation above the sea-level, in the amount of rainfall, in the nature of the geological formation and soil, and also in aspect, especially as regards protection from the east wind in spring. The slope of a hill facing south or south-west receives for instance far more sun in winter than one which looks in the opposite direction; while it also escapes the full blast of the bitter east wind. Places situated on chalk, and above all on gravel, are drier, and consequently--if on the same level and with a similar aspect--also warmer than those on cold, heavy clay or marl.

As if to confirm and perpetuate the above-mentioned popular error, it happens that the northern and north-western districts of the county, that is to say, those constituting the chalk area, are very much colder and more bracing than those to the south and east, whose substratum is clay. This difference depends, however, not on differences of latitude, but on the lower elevation of the southern as compared with the northern districts, coupled with the protection from cold winds afforded to the low lands by the high ground. To those who are in the habit of travelling by the Midland railway from the north-western corner of the county to London, the differences between the climate of the northern and the southern districts is made self-apparent in early spring by the extraordinary difference in the condition of the hedges and trees on the two sides of the Elstree tunnel. It is true that on this particular route the district south of the tunnel is in Middlesex, but to the eastward much of the lowland is in Herts. On the northern side of the range of chalk-hills pierced by this tunnel the hawthorn hedges may be seen at a certain period of the spring to be absolutely devoid of a sign of green; while on the opposite side they will be in full leaf. There is, in fact, about a fortnight’s difference between the Elstree and the Mill Hill side of this range in regard to the development of spring-vegetation; and while the northern side is exposed to the full force of the east wind, the combes and valleys with a south-westerly aspect near the summit of the opposite flank are so warm and sheltered that hardy species of bamboo and palm will grow in the open air almost as luxuriantly as in similar situations in Surrey or Sussex.

We see, then, as has been well remarked, that the division of the county, along the line indicated in the section on its geology, into two very unequal portions--namely, a large north-western area with a relatively dry soil and atmosphere, and a smaller south-eastern tract with a comparatively moist soil and atmosphere--forms a sufficient approach to an accurate climatic division.

Here we may mention that the daily temperature and the amount of moisture in the air, together with the barometric pressure and a number of other details, are recorded at the Meteorological Office in London from reports received from a host of observing stations (either public or private) scattered at intervals all over the country; and at the end of each year the averages, or “means,” of these observations are worked out for the British Isles and England generally, and likewise for the various counties and other local districts. This enables comparisons to be instituted between the climates of different places with much greater accuracy than would otherwise be possible.

In the year 1905 the mean temperature for the whole of England was 48·7°, while that of Hertfordshire was 48·9°, as deduced from observations taken at four stations, of which Bennington showed the lowest mean of 48·4°, and New Barnet the highest of 50·2°. The aforesaid county mean of 48·9° was, however, 0·6° above the average; the average mean for a series of years thus being 47·8°, or about 1° lower than that for England generally.

If we turn to the map here given we notice that, speaking generally, the rainfall of England decreases steadily as we pass from west to east. The moisture-laden clouds, driven by the prevalent winds across the Atlantic, precipitate their contents on reaching the land, more especially if the land be high, and in consequence the country beyond is less wet. Hertfordshire occupies a middle position between the heavy averages of Wales and S.W. England and the minimum of Essex and the neighbourhood of the Wash, as we should expect. The difference between the average of the various stations in our country is remarkable. In the year 1905, which is taken throughout as the basis of comparison, the highest rainfall in England and Wales occurred at Glas Lyn, near Snowdon, and was no less than 176·6 inches; whereas the lowest was registered at Shoeburyness, in Essex, this being only 14·57 inches; while the average rainfall for Great Britain was 27·17 inches. In Hertfordshire, as we shall see, the average in that year for the whole county was 23·47 inches, but this is 1·5 inches below the general average for a series of years, which is 24·52 inches. In the same year the average for the four chief observing stations in the county was, however, 24·22 inches, with a maximum of 25·88 inches at New Barnet and a minimum of 22·51 inches at Bennington. These extremes were exceeded by a maximum of 28·29 inches at Pendley Manor, Tring, and a minimum of 19·31 inches (or rather more than 5 inches above the Essex minimum) at Hillside, Buntingford.

ANNUAL RAINFALL

GEORGE PHILIP & SON LTD.

(_The figures show the annual rainfall in inches._)]

For a succession of years it has, however, been observed that the rainfall of Hertfordshire is in excess of that of all the adjacent counties to the west and south. This is shown by the following comparative average rainfalls for 1905; viz.: Bedfordshire (23 stations), 20·47 ins.; Buckinghamshire (32 stations), 22·06 ins.; Middlesex, exclusive of London (49 stations), 22·26 ins.; and Hertfordshire (51 stations), 23·47 ins. Of the 104 stations exclusive of Hertfordshire, the combined mean rainfall is 21·6 inches; Hertfordshire thus showing an excess over the average rainfall in the adjoining counties of nearly two inches in actual amount.

As a whole, and in spite of the excess over its neighbour in the matter of rainfall, Hertford may be reckoned among the relatively dry counties; its average in 1905 being nearly four inches below that for England generally in the same year.

At Bennington there were recorded 1523 hours of bright sunshine during the year, and 54 absolutely sunless days. Throughout Great Britain as a whole there were 186 days in the same year on which a minimum of 0·005 inch of rain fell; all such days with that or a greater quantity of rain being officially known as rain-days. At Greenwich, where the total amount of rainfall was 23·024 inches, the rain-days numbered 161, and the wettest month was June when 4·323 inches of rain were registered. June was also the wettest month of the year in Hertfordshire, but the amount of rain was much less than at Greenwich, being only 3·46 inches.

As regards bright sunshine, the number of hours in England as a whole amounted to 1535, while in Kent the number reached 1667·8, and at Tunbridge Wells 1712·4 hours.

In respect to the number of wet days during the year in question Hertfordshire therefore occupied a very creditable position, although its record for sunshine was less satisfactory.

9. People--Race, Dialect, Settlements, Population.

Previous to the Roman occupation of Britain Hertfordshire was inhabited by two British tribes,--the Cattyeuchlani, whose capital appears to have been Verulam or St Albans, and the Trinobantes. To what extent these original British inhabitants of the county survived the Roman and Saxon invasions is unknown; but it may be taken as certain that at an early date Anglo-Saxon was the language spoken in this part of the country. Forty years ago Anglo-Saxon idioms and words still lingered among the labouring rural population in the Harpenden district (and probably elsewhere), which have apparently now disappeared completely. Instead of _houses_, the Anglo-Saxon plural _housen_ was, for instance, always used by the old people; while when a log of timber was cut the wrong way of the grain they would say that it would be sure to _spalt_ (equivalent to the German _spalten_), instead of to split.

Of the Anglo-Saxon language there were originally two chief dialects, a northern and a southern; but after the Norman conquest the number of such dialects was increased to half-a-dozen. According to Dr A. J. Ellis’s _English Dialects_, southern Hertfordshire comes within the domain of the south-eastern dialect, which also prevailed in Middlesex, south-eastern Buckinghamshire, and south-western Essex. Throughout this area there is, however, an underlying basis of the middle eastern dialect, which is still to be detected in northern Hertfordshire, as well as in Essex, Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Northamptonshire. It accordingly appears that if the East Anglian counties of Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, and Norfolk be eliminated, the whole of the country lying to the eastward of the Chiltern Hills, as well as the high grounds of Northamptonshire, had one dialect in common, which was the speech of the early Teuton settlers of this part of England. This dialect, during the course of fourteen centuries, has been gradually modified and altered by the speech of London till it has resulted in the modern English of this part of south-eastern England.

According to Mr R. A. Smith, writing in the _Victoria History of the Counties of England_, “The grouping of dialects in this part of the country would thus unite Hertfordshire with Essex, and lead us to expect from archæology some indications of Saxon rather than of Anglian influence in the county. The few results already obtained in Hertfordshire certainly show a marked absence of Anglian characteristics, but many discoveries must be made before the peculiarities of East Saxon remains can be demonstrated. To the west of the Chilterns enough has been recovered from graves to show that the settlers in the upper Thames valley, presumably the Saxons of the West, were homogeneous [uniform in characteristics] and distinguishable from their neighbours; but at present nothing has been found to link them with the people of Essex, who probably reached the eastern slopes of the Chilterns at one time, but were mainly confined to the north of Essex and the neighbourhood of London. In fact, the few discoveries in this district point rather to a connection with Kent [the country of the British tribe of Cantii] than with Wessex.”

Whatever may be the precise state of the case with regard to these details, it may be taken as certain that the present population of Hertfordshire is mainly descended from the Saxons who came to Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries. There must have been, however, a certain mixture of ancient British blood; while later, and more especially among the higher classes, this was followed by the infusion of a Norman strain. Otherwise the population of the county does not appear to have been much influenced by foreign immigration, although there was a settlement of Huguenots in St Albans, who have left their mark in the name of one of the streets--French Row--near the market-place.

Passing on to the present day, we have the somewhat curious anomaly that the population of the administrative county is somewhat larger than that of the original county; this being due to the inclusion in the former of some thickly populated areas. The population of the administrative county in the census of 1901 was given as 258,423; ten years previously it was 226,587, thus showing a very marked increase; that of the ancient county was 250,152 persons. The number of persons to a square mile in Hertfordshire, on the latter basis at the former date, was thus about 398, against 558 for England and Wales generally. During the last twenty-five years the increase of the population has mainly taken place on the three great lines of railways, the Great Northern, the Midland, and the North-Western, at such places as Barnet, Hitchin, St Albans, Harpenden, and Watford. St Albans has indeed altogether outstripped the county town in point of numbers; its population being 16,019 in 1901 against the 9,322 of Hertford. In common with England generally, there has of late years been a marked tendency for the rural population to migrate to the larger villages and towns; and this dominance of the urban population has been accentuated by the transference to St Albans and elsewhere of large manufacturing and printing establishments from the metropolis. The urban districts on the lines of railway likewise constitute the residence of a large population of men having daily business in London.

As in the country generally, the females in 1901 largely exceeded the male population in numbers; the total for the former being 18,176, and for the latter 16,723. The great majority of these lived in houses, of which 54,963 were inhabited at the date in question. In addition to these, 71 were living in military barracks; something like another 5,200 were maintained in workhouses, hospitals, asylums, industrial schools, etc., while barges on the canals accounted for about another 147. It should be added that the county contains several large London asylums; it would therefore give a very exaggerated proportion, as compared with the true state of the case, if the number of lunatics resident in the county were quoted.

10. Agriculture--Main Cultivations, Woodlands, Stock.

As already mentioned, the greater portion of Hertfordshire, that is to say, most of the chalk area, exclusive of the downs, commons, woods, and private parks, was in former years devoted to corn, for the cultivation of which its soil is particularly well suited. Indeed the county had the reputation of growing not only the best barley for malting, but likewise the best wheat-straw (that is to say, the hardest and whitest) for plaiting. The wheat itself was also of specially good quality and hardness, and there was likewise an abundance of mills in which it could be converted into flour. A noteworthy feature of Hertfordshire agriculture is the practice of mixing chalk with the soils, especially where they are clayey; this resulting in a decided increase in fertility.

A century and a half ago wheat, barley, and oats formed the chief cereal crops; beans being better suited to the Vale of Aylesbury, while peas are profitable only on the very light chalky grounds. Clover, lucerne, trefoil, turnips, and (in later times) swedes and mangold are also extensively grown. In this connection it is interesting to note that the first crops of red clover and of swede turnips ever grown in this country were sown at Broadby Farm, near Berkhampstead; a spot celebrated in literature as having been the home of Peter the Wild Boy in 1725. A certain amount of grass land was intermingled with that under cereal and root cultivation; while, as mentioned in earlier sections, most of the heavy land in the south and south-east of the county is under grass.

“Hertfordshire farming,” observes a recent writer, “has undergone little material change since Ellis’s description of it in 1732; the hay-crop has become a more prominent feature perhaps, potatoes on the lighter soils have gained a leading place in the rotation, and the standard of fertility has been raised all round; otherwise a farm on the high chalk-plateau was farmed in 1732 pretty much on the same lines as it is to-day. Ellis gives a list of the chief weeds, ‘crow-garlick, wild oat, carlock, poppy, mayweed, bindweed, dock, crow-needle, black bent’: they are not less troublesome nor any nearer extinction at the present time, the last grass in particular being very characteristic of corn-land on the ‘clay with flints’.”

Every year the Board of Agriculture publishes a return in which the number of acres in each county devoted to each particular kind of crop is duly recorded, the classification adopted being as follows, viz.: corn crops; green crops; clover, sainfoin, and grasses for hay; grass not for hay; flax; hops; small fruits; and orchards. Such land as produces none of these crops is classed as bare fallow, of which Hertfordshire in 1905 possessed 14,275 acres.

Of the total of 402,856[2] acres in the county, 329,641 were under cultivation in that year; 1917 were orchards, 26,568 were woodland, while 1657 acres consisted of heaths and commons used as grazing-grounds. At the same date there were 116,700 acres under corn-cultivation; that is to say, something approaching one-fourth the total acreage, against about one-seventh in Kent. Green crops accounted for 32,702 acres, while of the remainder there were 36,831 under clover, sainfoin, and grasses, 3315 under lucerne, meadows claimed 54,589 acres, pasture 70,678, and small fruits 544. Of the corn-grazing area, wheat occupied 51,691, oats 36,946, and barley 27,960 acres.

[2] See page 8 and footnote.

It is thus apparent that out of the 329,641 acres of cultivated land no less than 200,000, or more than half the whole area of the county, and about 60 per cent. of the total farming land, was still under the plough; this large proportion being at the time exceeded only in six English counties. The increase in permanent pasture has, however, been steadily progressing since the great fall in the price of cereals in the seventies; this being aided by the improvements in the means of communication throughout the country, which have tended to rob Hertfordshire of its original special advantage (owing to its proximity) in the matter of supplying the metropolis with corn and straw.

The subject of Hertfordshire agriculture cannot be dismissed without mention of the fact that the world-renowned agricultural station at Rothamsted, in Harpenden parish, founded and endowed by the late Sir J. B. Lawes, is included within its limits. This includes a laboratory, under a Director, situated on the west side of Harpenden common, and certain plots of land in the park at Rothamsted where agricultural experiments have been carried on for more than sixty years. The whole station is administered by a committee, mainly appointed by the Royal Society.

Fruit is grown only to a comparatively small extent in Hertfordshire. Very characteristic of the county are, however, the orchards (now for the most part more or less neglected) of small black cherries, known as Hertfordshire blacks, and also as “mazzards,” which are situated near the homesteads of most of the older farms. These are probably a cultivated variety of the wild black cherry of the neighbouring woods.

On the rich-soiled, low-lying lands of the Lea valley on the south-eastern side of the county are situated numerous market-gardens and nurseries. The growing of tomatos (at Harpenden), cucumbers, and grapes under glass is carried on in several parts of the county on a more or less extensive scale.

Elm, oak, beech, and ash form the most common timber-trees of the county, but the predominance of each kind in particular districts depends, as already mentioned, on the nature of the geological formation. The undergrowth in the woods, which should be cut every 12 or 13 years, consists mainly of hazel.

As regards the number of the larger and commoner kinds of domesticated animals, sheep in 1905 reached a total of 94,461, or about 234 to every 1000 acres; the average for England generally being 445 per 1000 acres. The prevailing breeds are the Hampshire Down, the South Down, and the Dorset; the latter being favoured on account of their early lambing.

Hertfordshire is not a great horse-breeding county, and in 1905 the number of these animals was only 15,070. Cattle numbered 38,636, and pigs 25,338. Shorthorns are the favourite breed of cattle among the farmers; and although in the chalk districts the soil is not specially well suited for dairy purposes, farms near the main railways despatch a considerable amount of milk to London. The number of horses was nearly the same as in 1901, but cattle showed an increase of nearly 2000 head. Sheep, however, had decreased by over 2000 and pigs by more than 6000.

11. Special Cultivations.

The most important special cultivation in Hertfordshire is undoubtedly watercress, which is very extensively grown in the river-valleys over a broad belt of country extending from the Welwyn district, through the parishes of Harpenden, Wheathampstead and Redbourn, and thence to Amersham and Rickmansworth, as well as to the Vale of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire; this district being reported to be the best in England for this particular crop. The cress is grown in beds cut through the low-ground from one bend of the river to another, so that a constant, but regulated stream of water is continually flowing through. The seed is sown in special beds, and the young cress carefully planted out in regular rows in the mud of the permanent beds during the autumn. Much care has to be exercised in tending and weeding the crop, from which two prolonged cuttings are obtained annually; the spring cutting being, however, much larger and better than the autumn one.

After cutting, the watercress is tied up in bundles and packed in flat, oblong, osier hampers, or baskets; of which, during the spring season, huge stacks may be seen at the local railway stations awaiting despatch, either to the metropolis, or to the great manufacturing towns of the Midlands. For ordinary purposes the land on which watercress is grown is almost valueless; but the watercress beds yield a big rental. To furnish material for the aforesaid watercress hampers, as well as for basket-work generally, osiers are cultivated in some of the river-valleys, as in the Lea a mile or so above Wheathampstead, where there are extensive beds.

Next in importance to the cultivation of watercress in the Harpenden-Redbourn district is that of lavender at Hitchin, where numerous fields on a spur of the chalk range near Windmill Hill are devoted to the growth of this fragrant plant. In late summer or early autumn the terminal spikes of blossom are nipped from their long stems, and garnered for the sake of their contained oil, which is distilled into lavender-water in Hitchin itself. Lavender-water has been produced at Hitchin for a period of fully eighty years. The growing of lavender as an industry is extremely restricted in England.

12. Industries and Manufactures.

As will be inferred from the statements in earlier chapters with regard to its essentially agricultural nature, Hertfordshire is in no wise a manufacturing county like Lancashire or Yorkshire; this being due, no doubt, in great part to the fact that it possesses no commercially valuable minerals of its own, or, at all events, none which are at present accessible to the miner.

During the last quarter of a century or so a certain number of manufacturing and industrial establishments have been moved from London and set up in various parts of the county, as at St Albans and elsewhere; but these cannot be termed Hertfordshire industries in the proper sense of the term, and do not need further mention.

One of the great industries of the county is the malting business carried on at Ware, as is indicated by the number of cowls over the drying-kilns, which form conspicuous objects for miles round. Ware was the greatest malting place in England. The method of malting is too well known and the industry too widely spread to call for any special notes on the subject.

In former years, say up to about 1865, the straw-plait industry afforded employment to a whole army of workers in north-western Herts and the neighbouring districts of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire; and at that date the women and children might be seen in summer plaiting the straw at almost every cottage-door in each village or town. As already mentioned, the chalk districts of the county grow wheat-straw specially well suited for plait. The straws to be used were selected and pulled one by one from the sheaves before the latter were threshed; and, after having the corn-ears cut off, were done up into bundles. The latter were in turn cut into such lengths as could be obtained free from knots, and tied up into smaller bundles ready for sale to the workers. Before being employed in plaiting, each straw was split longitudinally into several strips by means of a brass instrument, which consisted of a handle and a pointed, star-shaped head bent down at right angles to the former. The finished plait was sold at so much per “score” (that is to say twenty yards) for manufacture into hats and bonnets. Cheap Chinese labour has completely killed the local plaiting industry; but the manufacture of the finished foreign plait into hats still constitutes an important trade in St Albans and elsewhere, as well as at Luton and Dunstable in Bedfordshire; the sewing of the plait into hats being done mainly, if not entirely, in large factories. Tring was a great plait centre.

The manufacture of textile fabrics was formerly carried on in several parts of the county, but in most of these has either completely ceased or fallen into decline. About 1802 there were mills for the manufacture both of silk and cloth at Rickmansworth; and the occurrence of the name “Fuller Street” in the records of St Albans apparently indicates the existence at some unknown date of the latter industry in that city, and there were certainly cotton-mills at Sopwell, to the south of it. The Abbey silk-mills, on the Ver, are still working at St Albans, although with a much diminished output; but those at the neighbouring village of Redbourn have been recently closed. Tring had silk-mills, and canvas was also made there. Lace-making was probably carried on by some of the cottagers on the Buckinghamshire side of the county, where it flourishes to a certain extent at the present day, and may even still here and there survive.

Nowadays perhaps the most important manufacturing industry in the county is that carried on at the paper-mills at Abbot’s Langley, where a large amount of high class paper is turned out. Being on the canal, these mills have the advantage of water-carriage. Paper, it may be observed, is made nowadays from wood-pulp and esparto grass, as well as from linen rags.

Brick-making employs a considerable number of hands in various parts of the county; the glacial and other superficial deposits on the chalk area frequently yielding excellent brick-earth; while the London clay may be employed for brick-making anywhere in the south-eastern districts. Bricks from the London clay, which is naturally blue, turn yellow or white after burning in consequence of the combustion of the organic colouring matter; but many of those from the glacial clays are of a full rich red At Pepperstock, near Caddington, however, there are manufactured certain very hard, heather-coloured bricks, which are much favoured for house-building in north-western Hertfordshire, although their colour compares very unfavourably in the matter of effect when contrasted with the “brick-red” of the more ordinary kinds.

As we approach the Gault plain of Bedfordshire numerous cement works may be seen at the edge of the chalk-marl near the northern borders of the county, some of which may be within the county itself. Chalk is much worked, as at Hitchin and elsewhere, for lime; and, as already mentioned, is dug largely by the farmers for “chalking” their fields. It is to such diggings that the deep circular pits (now generally ploughed over) to be seen in many arable fields are due. The Totternhoe stone has been, and perhaps still is, quarried locally for building in some parts of the northern districts of the county.

13. Minerals--An Exhausted Industry.

Having referred in the last section to brick-making, lime, cement, and Totternhoe stone, very little remains for mention in the present one; as the absence of mines is one of the features of Hertfordshire and the adjacent counties.

Reference may, however, again be made to the so-called coprolite beds of the chalk-marl which were worked in the neighbourhood of Hitchin in the early part of the first half of last century as a source of phosphoric acid for agricultural manure. The irregularly shaped black nodules of phosphate of lime occur crowded together in a comparatively thin bed. They were dug out, and washed from the marl in which they were embedded on the spot in large circular tanks through which a wheel was made to revolve by horse-labour; and then carted away to be converted by a chemical process into superphosphate. After the excavation of the coprolite bed from one strip of a field, the marl from the next was thrown in, and the top soil replaced, so that the land was left in as good, or even better, condition than previously. The industry was continued till all the beds situated at or above a level which it paid to work were exhausted.

In winter there is a considerable local trade in gravel and shingle, dug mainly in the valleys. Twenty years ago this trade was much more extensive in some districts than is at present the case; this being due partly to the exhaustion of the deposits, partly to the fact that in districts served by the Midland Railway the use of syenite from Mount Sorrel and Charnwood Forest, in Leicestershire, has to a considerable extent replaced flint-gravel as road-metal on the main highways of the county and in the metropolitan districts. Formerly, very large quantities of gravel were sent from St Albans and Harpenden to the northern metropolitan suburbs such as Hendon and Child’s Hill; but most of that now dug is employed for road-metal on the local by-roads. Here it should be mentioned that in Hertfordshire phraseology the term “gravel” is used exclusively to denote the coarse big-stoned material used as road-metal; what is ordinarily denoted as “gravel”--that is to say the material employed for garden-paths--being locally known as “hoggin.” Flints picked from the fields of the chalk area have a higher value as road-metal than dug gravel, owing to their superior hardness; the so-called “quarry-water,” which is present in all dug gravel, having been long since dried out.

“Facing” flints for building purposes is an art much less commonly practised in the county than was the case in earlier days; and when buildings of faced flint are contemplated it is generally necessary to send to a distance in order to secure the services of an expert in the facing process.

14. History of Hertfordshire.

The history of Hertfordshire includes such a number of events of primary importance that it is somewhat difficult to make a selection of those most fitted to appear in the limited space available. It was in this county that the offer of the crown of England was made to William the Conqueror, and it was from here that the first petition for the redress of grievances was forwarded to Charles I; while several important battles have been fought within its limits.

To the two British tribes who inhabited this part of England previous to the Roman invasion, reference has been made in an earlier section. The first landing of Julius Caesar took place (in Kent) in 55 B.C., and the second and more successful in 54 B.C.; while a third Roman invasion took place under Claudius in 43 A.D., from which date the Roman legions held possession of the whole country till about the year 410 A.D. Whether Caesar himself ever visited Verulam does not appear to be definitely ascertained, but it was early in the history of that great city that the encounter between the British Queen Boadicea and the Romans took place. During the Roman period Hertfordshire, which then appears to have been a well-populated and wealthy district, formed a part of the province of Flavia Caesariensis.

The next great event was the Saxon Conquest, which in Kent was ushered in by the landing of a force in the year 449 A.D. During this part of its history the western, or larger portion of our county was included, as already mentioned, in the kingdom of Mercia, while the eastern and smaller section belonged to that of Essex. Of the numerous Mercian kings, the most renowned and most powerful was Offa, whose name survives in Offley, where he had a palace, and where he died about the year 796, while still engaged in building the Monastery and Abbey of St Alban. Mercia at this time made a bid for the supremacy of the petty kingdoms of this part of England, but was eventually beaten by Wessex under the able rule of Egbert.