card posted 1919
card posted 1919
HARPENDEN
In the past also known as Harding or Harden
Adjacent Parishes: Flamstead, Luton (Bedfordshire), Market Street (= Markyate), Redbourn, St Michaels (St Albans), Wheathampstead
It is in the Dacorum Hundred but not in the modern borough of Dacorum.
The Parish was part of the St Albans Union.
The origins of the name are unclear, but The Place-names of Hertfordshire link the first part to other places near old Roman roads near St Albans. There were formerly several Harepaths and there is Harpsfield and Hartsbourne. There is no doubt that an ancient track or Roman road ran along the valley ("denu"). If this is correct this suggests the name could mean something like "the ancient road in the valley".
St Nicholas, Harpenden (post card posted 1907)
HARPENDEN, a parish in the hundred of Dacorum, county of Hertford, 3 miles (N.E. by E.) from Redburn [Redbourn], containing 1693 inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy annexed to the rectory of Wheathampstead, in the archdeaconry of Huntingdon, and diocese of Lincoln. The church, dedicated to St Nicholas, is an ancient cruciform structure, composed of flint and stone: it is in the Norman style, with a square embattled tower. There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyan Methodists. A fair for horses and cattle is held on May 16th.
The Hounds meet on Harpenden Common
Postcard (early divided back) posted in Harpenden as a Xmas
card in December 1904
HARPENDEN is well worth a visit and may be easily reached from St. Pancras (24 miles), or from King's Cross by changing at Hatfield. Visitors wishing to inspect the church, or to ramble through the large village, beautifully situated at the N. end of Harpenden Common, should be careful not to choose the day of the annual races, the Friday before Epsom week. The church was rebuilt (except the tower) in 1862, in E. Dec. style; prior to 1859 the old structure had been a chapel-of-ease to Wheathampstead (3 miles E.). It probable dated from say 1140 (temp. Stephen) and was originally cruciform and late Norman, The first tower is believed to have been destroyed, by fire about 1470, after which the present W. tower, was built. Many alterations were made during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; the original Norman clerestory, in particular, being superseded by one of Low Perp. Note (1) Norman font; (2.) brass to William Cressye Esq. (d. 1558) and Grace (Johnson) his wife (d. 1571); (3) brass to William Annabull (d. 1456), and Isabella his wife. Chauncy quotes an inscription to-one William Seabrooke (d, 1462) and Joanna his Wife, which is of some interest from the fact that the name of Seabrooke is common to-day in thia part of Herts; (4.) E. window of atained Munich glass; (5) window in N. transept to the family of the late Sir J. B. Lawes of Rothamstead. Rothamstead (1 mile S.W.), formerly the seat of the above, is in a finely wooded oark. Erected about 1470, it has been almost rebuilt at different times. From the grand entrance, under the clock tower, there is a fine vies looking S. There is an annual Flower Show in the park. Harpenden Bury is 1 mile N.W. from Rothamstead, on the river Ver.
Hatching Green is a hamlet on Harpenden Common, 1 mile S.W. from the station, Midland Railway.
Station Road, Harpenden, circa 1880
(Hertfordshire Library Service Post Card)
Special Feature: An illustrated talk on The Road Through Harpenden
Book: Harpenden Archive photographs
Books: Harpenden Past and Present & Harpenden Revisited - collections of then and now photographs by Maurice Ferrara
Rothamsted Manor House - Card by
D. B. Skillmann, Harpenden 1st Series - posted 1904
Book: Rothamsted Experimental Station
Book: Cottage Life in a Hertfordshire Village - An interesting account of life in Harpenden in the latter half of the 19th century.
Book: Population ... Volume 2: The St Albans Region - includes a transcript of the 1851 census.
The Village Pond, Harpenden
No publisher - early format card posted 1908
(another version seen posted 1905 - and yet another published "H
Valentine Series")
Book: Observations of Weather - The Weather Diary of Sir John Wittewronge of Rothamsted, 1684-1689
Book: The Vale of the Nightingale - the true story of a Harpenden family
Book: Wheathampstead and Harpenden - a valuable series of history booklets.
Book: The Hatfield, Luton & Dunstable Railway - it ran through Harpenden
Book: The Harpenden Races
Article: A Century of Tennis at the Harpenden Lawn Tennis Club - in Hertfordshire Countryside, August 2006.
Education: St George's School, Harpenden
Education: National Children's Home & Orphanage, Harpenden and Elmfield Sanatorium, Harpenden, 1940's
Ephemera: The Bernard Shaw Special 1955 (Excursion Train Ticket to Harpenden East)
Ephemera: The Tradesmen's Local Advertiser, circa 1900 - Includes adverts for B. Jarman and R. Crick
Harpenden Church -
Valentine's postcard posted c1940
Postcards: Postcards published by Valentine's Library, Harpenden
Society: Harpenden & District Local History Society
Web Site: Harpenden St Nicholas - also contains information on St Mary's and All Saints churches.
Web Site: Southdown Methodist Church - include a page giving the history of this Methodist church.
Under the Baa-Lamb Trees, Harpenden, Herts
One of a set of postcards of Harpenden
by E. Heasman
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Quick links to
extra
postcard images. click on thumbnail picture |
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 Rothamsted [H Valentine] |
 Skue Bridge [D B Skillman PU 1904] |
 Parish Church [H Valentine] |
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 Leyton Green [Valentines Library] |
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See also Vital Records
If you know of other books, websites, etc, relating to this place, please tell me.
Page updated February 2008