The history of Berkhamsted

‘Berkhamsted is a lively town set in a valley of the Chiltern Hills with a history going back beyond Saxon times. Its claim to fame includes strong royal, literary and teaching connections.’

So Berkhamsted Town Council opens its ‘Berkhamsted Heritage Walk’ leaflet. This partners the 32 blue plaques that were installed in 2000 on some of the town’s most significant buildings.

It was in Berkhamsted, where earlier there was a Saxon fort, that William was handed the crown in 1066. Here, his half-brother, Count Robert of Mortain, built a ‘motte and bailey’ castle with two moats. Substantial ruins of the Castle still remain. This was the favourite home of the Black Prince, who honeymooned here with the Fair Maid of Kent. Geoffrey Chaucer was Clerk of the Works. Berkhamsted School was founded in 1541 by Dean Incent, whose father was Secretary to Cicely, Duchess of York.

The hymnist and poet, William Cowper, was born in the Rectory here, less than two hundred years before Graham Greene was born at St. John’s, Chesham Road, a boarding house of Berkhamsted School. James Barrie often stayed here and the Llewellyn Davies children who lived in Egerton House were the inspiration for Peter Pan.. A few doors down the High Street Clementine Hozier lived and attended the Girls’ School, now part of Berkhamsted School. She became the wife of Sir Winston Churchill.

Among the many distinguished Old Berkhamstedians are Claude Cockburn, Peter Quennell, Richard Mabey, Michael Meacher and Robin Knox-Johnston.

The valley route north through Berkhamsted has always been of major importance. Originally the ancient Roman road (Akeman Street), it later became a turnpike road for the Sparrows Herne Turnpike Trust.

The Grand Junction, now the Grand Union Canal, was opened through Berkhamsted in 1798. Up until the Second World War the canal was a principal artery of the industrial revolution linking London with the West Midlands. The ‘Father of Inland Navigation’, the Duke of Bridgewater, who inspired the canal system in England, had his home ‘up on the hill’ at Ashridge.

And just what is a Totem Pole doing in Berkhamsted? The site used to be a timber yard that imported wood from the West coast of Canada. As a gesture of friendship, the Canadian wood yard dispatched the locally crafted totem pole as a gift.