Books on Hertfordshire

History of Hemel Hempstead

edited by Susan Yaxley

Hemel Hempstead,  1973

300 pages, 23 illustrations, 12 maps/plans

The above 19th century view shows the lower end of the High Street.

[Today the house on the right still stands, the house in the distance was rebuilt in 1882 as Lloyds Band (now closed), the houses un the middle were replaced by mock Tudor shops in the early 20th century with the fire station (now a shop) on the open space next door. The road in the foreground was renamed Queensway when the New Town was created.]

This book was written by members of the Hemel Hempstead Local History and Records Society and provides a good introduction to the history of the town. There are quite a few names mentioned and there is a good index.

1. Topography and Settlement

2. Roman Settlement in the Hemel Hempstead Area

3. The Medieval Period

4. The Sixteenth Century & The Manor in the following two centuries

5. Hemel Hempstead and its People in the 17th & 18th centuries

6. Hemel Hempstead in the Nineteenth Century

7. The Twentieth Century - 1900-1918 - The Inter-War Years

8. The Bailiwick and the Market

9. The Administration of the Elizabethan Poor Law, 1601-1834

10. Boxmoor and its Trust - A 19th century Highwayman

11. Religion through the centuries

12. Postscript - The Coming of the New Town

Appendix

1. Officers of Hemel Hempstead

2. The Growth of Hemel Hempstead

3. Derivations of some local place names

 The book was reprinted as a paperback, with amendments in 1981. 

There is a web page for Hemel Hempstead

Page updated April 2005