Hertfordshire Genealogy: Places: Hitchin

HITCHIN

Adjacent Parishes: Great Wymondley, Holwell (Beds > Herts), Ickleford, Ippollitts, Kings Walden, Knebworth, Letchworth, Norton, Offley, Pirton, St Pauls Walden, Stevenage, Stotfold (Beds)

Hitchin is in the Hitchin Hundred and the Hitchin Union

(Preston and Charlton were hamlets to the south of the parish)

Detail from Charles Smith's map of Hertfordshire (1808 edition)

Tilehouse Street, Hitchin from Journeys into Hertfordshire

Book: Survey of the Royal Manor of Hitchin, 1676 - paints a vivid picture of the town with many names. Two examples have been posted to show the kind of information that can be gleaned from it.

Hitchin Market Place

Some of the important books by Reginald L Hine

Books: The History of Hitchin is an essential reference work.

Books: Hitchin Worthies Biographies with portraits and other illustrations. (Benjamin Abbott shown)

Books: Hitchin Old and New - 50 pictures

Books: Relics of an Un-common Attorney

Books: The Story of Hitchin Town - 26 line drawings (see picture of Market Place)

Bancroft, Post Card by Percy Girling, 1945
An early postcard of Bancroft Street is used in Dating Early Picture Post Cards - The Beginnings

There are not many Hertfordshire towns where factories still remain in the centre of the town but there are still Ransoms, the manufacturing Chemists ... The entrance to Ransoms in Bancroft is under the archway of a 14th century timbered house which cannot be pulled down as it is preserved as an ancient monument. A great feature of this house is its lovely rounded chimney. It is occupied by one of Ransom's staff. The Works yard goes right through the factory buildings to its other entrance in Walsworth Road. [People, Places and Past Times of Hitchin, 1974]

Book: The Book of Hitchin - a Barracuda local history published in 1981

Book: Hitchin in Camera, A Hitchin Century in Camera, Hitchin in Old Picture Postcards and Hitchin Villages in Camera all contain old photographs.

Book: The Radcliffes of Hitchin Priory by Ron Pigram; A Brief History of Hitchin Priory

Book: Down and Out in Hertfordshire: The Old and New Poor Law in Hitchin.

Book: Handbook to Hitchin & the Neighbourhood - 1899 history, directory and trade adverts

There is no identification on this card but it is clearly shows a major event in Hitchin Market Place. There is a historical procession led by the Ancient Britons and Romans, the Vikings (Hitchin was part of Danelaw), and behind there is a banner referring to the ancient Manor of Hitchin. The cloths of the bystanders suggests early 20th century.

There were decorations in the market place, and a procession of float, to celebrate the Coronation of King George V in 1911. Could this be a photograph of this event or suggest an alternative event/date?

Book: Market Town

Book: Old Hitchin - photographs by T.B. Latchmore (1832-1908)

Book: Hodgson & Hankin: A Fishy Tale of Old Hitchin

Hitchin Market - postmarked 1903

Book: Hitchin Historical Society has published some interesting booklets including The Street Names of Hitchin, Joseph Ransom's Naturalist's Notebook, Early Education in Hitchin, The Formative Years of Hitchin Boy's School (1900-1975) and many others.

Books by Pat Gad: Hitchin Inns and Incidents; Fifty Years of Change in Hitchin; Hitchin Past and Present.

Book: The House that Bartlett Built - An excellent example of the history of a single large house.

Book: Hitchin, A Photographic History

Book: Lust, Dust & Cobblestones - Life in Hitchin based on the contents of the Hertfordshire Express between 1900 and 1913

Census: Hitchin 1801 & 1807 census - Interesting early survivals.

Bread Ticket token from the Hitchin Union Workhouse

Census: HALS runs an online teaching data base which includes a transcript of the people in the Hitchin Workhouse in 1891.

Directories: Hitchin 1794

Ephemera: In 1929 the Duchess of York (later Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother) opened the New Wing of the North Herts and South Beds Hospital. The Souvenir Programme includes a history of the hospital, and many local business advertisements. (The Queen Mother's tutor lived in Dacre Road, Hitchin, where some of her education took place. See Hertfordshire's Queen.)

Bridge Street, Hitchin by E A Phipson (Hitchin Museum)

Memorial Inscriptions: A list of the memorials in the cemetery is being prepared and those so far recorded are on the Jeffery.Knaggs Homepage.

Topic: Watercolour Paintings of Hertfordshire by E A Phipson

Topic: Royal Engineers Signal Depot Camp, Hitchin, World War One

For information on the southern end of Bancroft see Golden Square, Hitchin

Web Site: Hitchin History Society

Web Sites: Hitchin - Two local sites which include pictures and information of possible interest to the family historian.

Web Site: The British Schools Museum is well worth a visit.

Web Site: North Hertfordshire Museums - details of Hitchin Museum, including an outline of resources available to the researcher, and some down-loadable files.

Tilehouse Street Baptist Church, built 1841

Web Site: Tilehouse Street Baptist Church, Hitchin

>>> Extra Pictures of Hitchin <<<

Quick links to extra postcard images. click on thumbnail picture
Harkness Roses Hitchin	Riverside, Hitchin	The Triangle	Church Passage Hitchin
Bridge Street	High Street, Hitchin 38?3?46 JV	Market Place	High Street, Hitchin
Sun Street, Hitchin	Bancroft	Bancroft	Bancroft
Market Place	Coopers Arms