Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire's is a new town, situated 20 miles of London. The  town was located around a Hemel Hempstead old town which still exists. A Roman settlements have been found and it also boasts Tudor and Georgian architecture.The River Gade runs through Hemel Hempstead and is part of  the Grand Union Canal. The River Bulbourne also flows into the River Gade

History

The settlement was called by the name Henamsted or Hean-Hempsted, i.e. High Hempstead, in Anglo-Saxon times and in William the Conqueror's time by the name of Hemel-Amstede.The name is referred to in the Domesday Book as "Hamelamesede", but in later centuries it became Hamelhamsted. In old English, "-stead" or "-stede" simply meant a place, such as the site of a building or pasture, as in clearing in the woods.

Remains of Roman settlements have been found at Boxmoor and Gadebridge suggest a settlement was presen for the entire period of Roman Britain.

Hemel Hempstead on its present site is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as a vill, Hamelhamstede, with about 100 inhabitants. The parish church of St Mary's was built in 1140, and is recognised as one of the finest Norman parish churches in the county. The church features an unusual 200 feet (61 m) tall spire, added in the 12th century, one of Europe's tallest.

After the Norman conquest the land was given to Robert, Count of Mortain, the elder half-brother of William the Conqueror, as part of the lands associated with Berkhamsted Castle. The estates passed through many hands over the next few centuries including Thomas Becket in 1162. In 1290 King John of England's grandson, the Earl of Cornwall, gave the manor to the religious order of the Bonhommes when he endowed the monastery at Ashridge. The town remained part of the monastery's estates until the Reformation and break-up of Ashridge in 1539.

In 1581, a group of local people acquired lands - now referred to as Box Moor - from the Earl of Leicester to prevent their enclosure. These were transferred to trustees in 1594. These have been used for public grazing and they are administered by the Box Moor Trust.

Hemel's position on the shortest route between London and the industrial Midlands put it on the Sparrows Herne turnpike Toll road in 1762, the Grand Junction Canal in 1795 and the London and Birmingham Railway in 1837.[9] However it remained principally an agricultural market town throughout the 19th century. In the last decades of that century development of houses and villas for London commuters began. The Midland Railway built a branch line connecting to its mainline at Harpenden in 1877 Hemel steadily expanded, but only became a borough on 13 July 1898. During World War II 90 high explosive bombs dropped on the town by the Luftwaffe. The most major incident was on 10 May 1942 when a stick of bombs demolished houses at Nash Mills killing 8 people. The nearby Dickinson factories which were used to produce munitions and were the target.

After World War II, in 1946, the government designated Hemel Hempstead as the site of one of its proposed New Towns. The first new residents moved in during April 1949 and the town continued its planned expansion through to the end of the 1980s. Hemel grew to its present population of 80,000, with new developments enveloping the original town on all sides. The original part of Hemel is still known as the "Old Town".
Its geographical position, between London and the Midlands, acted again in the 1960s when the M1 motorway was routed just to the east of the town. This gave it a central position on the country's motorway network.

The Hemel Hempstead Local History & Museum Society.

WELCOME to the website for The Hemel Hempstead Local History & Museum Society.  We are a friendly group of people who are all interested in the local history of the area, and look forward to the day when Hemel can have its own local museum. We welcome all ages from youngsters still at school & college (we have special membership rates for students), to those at the other end of life’s scale.  All that is needed is an interest in our local history – our heritage.

Click here to view website

We cover the following areas:

For interesting websites for the history of Locksmiths:
click on the town below.

Hatfield: The history of locksmiths in Hatfield

Hemel Hempstead : The history of locksmiths in Hemel Hempstead

St Albans : The history of locksmiths in St Albans

Watford: The history of locksmiths in Watford

Welwyn Garden City : The history of locksmiths in Welwyn Garden City