Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire, administrative and historic county of southern England, adjoining Greater London to the south. The administrative county and the historic county cover slightly different areas. The administrative county comprises 10 districts: East Hertfordshire, North Hertfordshire, Three Rivers, and Welwyn Hatfield; the boroughs of Broxbourne, Dacorum, Hertsmere, Stevenage, and Watford; and the city of St. Albans. The Potters Bar area in Hertsmere borough lies outside the historic county of Hertfordshire and within the historic county of Middlesex. The historic county of Hertfordshire, however, includes much of northern and central Barnet borough in Greater London. Hertford, in south-central Hertfordshire, is the county seat.

The county lies mainly within the London Basin, but its rim, the chalky Chiltern Hills, cuts across northern Hertfordshire from southwest to northeast. Most of the county, therefore, drains southward toward the Thames by the River Lea in the east and the River Colne in the west. In both those valleys the sands and gravels of the London Basin have been extensively worked, creating a series of flooded pits used now for recreation or for water storage. The gently rolling countryside is well wooded and attractive but has been increasingly occupied by the encroaching suburban development of London. The Green Belt legislation has restricted that urban growth and helped to preserve what is left of the countryside in the vicinity of the metropolis.

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Neolithic (New Stone Age), Bronze Age, and Belgic remains are numerous, but it is the Roman legacy in the county that is richest. Several Roman roads, including Ermine and Watling streets, fanned northward from Londinium (London), and the outstanding settlement in the area was St. Albans (Roman Verulamium). On the same site the Saxons later built an abbey (793 ce) whose church, rebuilt by the Normans, is today St. Albans Cathedral. In the following centuries many large country houses and estates (including Hatfield, Knebworth, and Gorhambury) were built at a convenient distance from London, and a number of typical market towns such as Hertford and Hitchin developed.

The 20th century was of special significance for the county: it brought to Hertfordshire the two pioneer “garden cities” of the modern era—Letchworth (1903) and Welwyn Garden City (1920)—and four of the eight new towns planned around London since World War II—Hatfield, Hemel Hempstead, Stevenage, and Welwyn. Even apart from that planned growth, the residential and industrial development of other centres such as Watford was rapid. No county in England has a greater array of direct road and rail links with London, and the whole county lies within easy commuting time of the capital. Light industries dependent on access to markets, offices moving from central London to areas of lower rents, film studios, and thousands of exurbanites have since the war overflowed into Hertfordshire. Area 634 square miles (1,643 square km). Pop. (2001) 1,033,977; (2011) 1,116,062.