Another Iron Age dyke with the same name is on Berkhamsted Common, on the north side of the valley. Three sections of a late Bronze Age to Iron Age (1200–100 BC) bank and ditch, sixteen feet (five metres) wide by seven to thirteen feet (two to four metres) high and known as Grim's Ditch, are found on the south side of the Bulbourne Valley. Several settlements dating from the Neolithic to the Iron Age (about 4500–100 BC) have been discovered south of Berkhamsted. The discovery of a large number of worked flint chips provides Neolithic evidence of on-site flint knapping in the centre of Berkhamsted. 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. 1500 to 1300 BC) copper chisel found in Berkhamsted Prehistory and Roman period Īn Early Middle Bronze Age (c. 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".) The present spelling was officially adopted in 1937 when the local council formally changed its name from Great Berkhampstead to Berkhamsted. Through history spellings of the town's name have changed. So the town's name could be either mean "homestead amongst the hills" or the "homestead among the birches". The latter part, "hamsted", derives from the Old English word for homestead. 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 earliest recorded spelling of the town's name is the 10th century Anglo-Saxon Beorhðanstædæ. Joan Blaeu map of Hertfordshire from 1659 showing Barkhamsted, one of the many archaic spellings of the town's name 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. 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. 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. In the 21st century, Berkhamsted has evolved into an affluent commuter town. Modern Berkhamsted began to expand after the canal and the railway were built in the 19th century. Colonel Daniel Axtell, captain of the Parliamentary Guard at the trial and execution of King Charles I in 1649, was among those born in Berkhamsted. Īfter the castle was abandoned in 1495, the town went into decline, losing its borough status in the second half of the 17th century. The oldest-known extant jettied timber-framed building in Great Britain, built between 12, survives as a shop on the town's high street. In the 13th and 14th centuries, the town was a wool trading town, with a thriving local market. From 1066 to 1495, Berkhamsted Castle was a favoured residence of royalty and notable historical figures, including King Henry II, Edward, the Black Prince, Thomas Becket and Geoffrey Chaucer. The event was recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. After William the Conqueror defeated King Harold's Anglo-Saxon army at the Battle of Hastings, the Anglo-Saxon leadership surrendered to the Norman encampment at Berkhamsted. The most notable event in the town's history occurred in December 1066. The settlement was recorded as a burbium ( ancient borough) in the Domesday Book in 1086. The earliest written reference to Berkhamsted was in 970. The High Street is on a pre-Roman route known by its Saxon name: Akeman Street. Berkhamsted, along with the adjoining village of Northchurch, is encircled by countryside, much of it in the Chiltern Hills which is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The town is a civil parish with a town council within the borough of Dacorum which is based in the neighbouring large new town of Hemel Hempstead. List of places UK England Hertfordshire 51☄6′N 0☃4′W / 51.76°N 0.56°W / 51.76 -0.56 Coordinates: 51☄6′N 0☃4′W / 51.76°N 0.56°W / 51.76 -0.56īerkhamsted ( / ˈ b ɜːr k əm s t ɛ d/ BUR-kəm-sted) is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, in the Bulbourne valley, 26 miles (42 km) north-west of London.
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