Just a fraction of the wealth of history
associated with Hertford.
1 673 The first church
Synod was held in Hertford. The Bishops of the English Kingdoms
of East Anglia, Kent, Northumbria and Wessex met to determine the
date of Easter. There is a memorial stone in the Castle Grounds
marking the Hertford Synod mentioned by the Venerable Bede in his
writings.
2 912 King Alfred’s
son Edward built a small wooden fortress on each side of the River
Lea at  Hertford
when the county was split between English and Danish rule. The River
Lea was the boundary between the two communities.
3 1066-67 Hertford
Castle was built to guard the ford in the river.
4 Hertford Castle
became a key location in the barons’ struggle against King
John, the bad brother of Richard the Lionheart who was made famous
by the Robin Hood stories.
5 When King John died,
in 1216, the French decided to seize the English throne. The Dauphin,
entered Hertford Castle after laying siege to it.
6 A system of selecting
a body of Burgesses governing the Borough, with a Bailiff elected
annually from among their number to represent the King, was introduced
in the early 13th century. The Bailiff and Burgesses were the direct
antecedents of the present-day Mayor and Town Council.
7 1299 King Edward
I gave Hertford Castle to his second wife Margaret of France as
a wedding gift and from that time forward Hertford Castle was frequently
granted to their Queen by the Kings of England. Queen Isobella,
Queen Joan and Queen Catherine all resided there.
8. 1346 Hertford Castle
became a prison for the first time when King David II of Scotland
was kept there after his capture at the battle of Neville’s
Cross.
9 1359 King John of
France and his son, Prince Phillip, who had been captured at the
Battle of Poitiers in 1356 by the Black Prince, were kept at Hertford
Castle for four months.
10 1372 Double Marriage
Ceremony at Hertford Castle, John of Gaunt and the Castilian princess,
Constanza and John’s brother, Edmund and Constanza’s
sister, Isobella.
11 1441 King Henry
VI granted a Charter to the Borough of Hertford confirming previous
privileges and granting additional ones, including the order that
no markets should be held within a seven-mile radius of the Town
on Thursdays and Saturdays, which were Hertford’s market days.
12 1463-65. Having
assumed the throne after King Henry’s defeat, King Edward
IV rebuilt the gatehouse of Hertford Castle and gave it to his Queen,
Elizabeth Woodville in 1464.
13 1545 Queen Elizabeth
spent a lot of time at Hertford Castle as a child and at the age
of twelve she wrote a book of prayers which was dated ‘Hertford
1545’. This is now kept in the British Library.
14 1588 Queen Elizabeth
granted a Charter to the Borough, authorising a weekly market to
be held on a Saturday which has continued ever since.
15 1605 James I granted
a Charter in which the Borough was incorporated under the name of
“The Mayor, Burgesses and Commonalty”, which placed
yet more power in the hands of the Corporation without responsibility
to the inhabitants in general.
16 1628 King Charles
I granted Hertford Castle to the second Earl of Salisbury, William
Cecil. The Cecil family leased the Castle as a private residence
to the Cowper family, amongst others.
17 1647 Civil War
brought division to the town. Cromwell and Fairfax had to quell
a mutiny in the ‘Roundhead’ army, whilst encamped at
Cockbush Field between Ware and Hertford.
18 1681 Charles II,
having requested that Corporations should surrender their ancient
charters for revision, issued a new Charter, extending the Borough
boundaries and introducing various changes. The Borough was administered
under this Charter until the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835.
19 1702 Hertford’s
Second County Gaol was built in Fore Street. Hangings took place
at Gallows Hill.
20 1768 A printer,
Stephen Austin, came to town and founded the oldest printing firm
still existing in the county. 1772 Stephen Austin started the Hartford
Mercury now known as the Hertfordshire Mercury.
21 Circa 1780 The
Fore Street Gaol - site of the Present Corn Exchange, was transferred
to Ware Road for 100 years. Hangings at Gallows Hill ceased early
in the 19th Century and took place outside the Gaol then later within
its precincts, now the Baker Street Car Park.
22 1780’s The
future Marquess of Downshire transformed the gatehouse into a mansion,
rebuilding the old wings of the Castle and remaining part of the
curtain wall. He also built a brick ice-house in the causeway between
the two moats.
23 1806-9 The East
India College was based at Hertford Castle before it moved to new
buildings at Haileybury, and for a further nine years, The Castle
served as a Preparatory School to the college when it reverted to
a private house.
 24
1858 The Corn Exchange was built on the site of one of Hertford’s
gaols, moving the corn market from underneath the Shire Hall arches.
25 1911 The Marquess
of Salisbury leased The Castle to the town to be used as municipal
offices and a public garden, which continues to this day.
26 1915 A Zeppelin
raid destroyed houses in North Road and people were injured and
killed when bombs were dropped in Bull Plain.
27 1925 The York Herald
presented a standard made of cream silk and now known as the Honor
of Hertford to the Corporation in the Castle grounds.
28 1937 To commemorate
the Coronation of King George VI the town was granted supporters
for the Coat of Arms; two lions ermine, gorged in red now support
the shield with the traditional hert lodged in water. The motto
is “Pride in Our Past, Faith in Our Future”.
29 1946 Her Majesty
Queen Elizabeth the Late Queen Mother (Honorary Colonel) visited
Hertford and reviewed at County Hall no less than three generations
of the Hertfordshire Regiment.
30 1974 The Borough
of Hertford became incorporated into East Herts District Council,
on which it has 11 members. The town decided to retain its Town
Council.
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