Hertfordshire
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| Hertfordshire | |
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| Geography | |
| Status: | Ceremonial & Administrative County |
| Region: | East of England |
| Area: - Total - Admin. council | Ranked 36th 1,643 km² Ranked 32nd |
| Admin HQ: | Hertford |
| ISO 3166-2: | GB-HRT |
| ONS code: | 26 |
| NUTS 3: | UKH23 |
| Demographics | |
| Population: - Total (2003 est.) - Density - Admin. council | Ranked 15th 1,040,925 634 / km² Ranked 6th |
| Ethnicity: | 93.7% White 3.0% S.Asian 1.1% Afro-Carib. |
| Politics | |
 Hertfordshire County Council http://www.hertsdirect.org/ | |
| Executive: | Conservative |
| Members of Parliament | |
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James Clappison, Barbara Follett, David Gauke, Oliver Heald, Peter Lilley, Anne Main, Mike Penning, Mark Prisk, Grant Shapps, Charles Walker, Claire Ward | |
| Districts | |
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HertfordshireNumbered.png Image:HertfordshireNumbered.png | |
Hertfordshire (pronounced "Hartfordshire" and abbreviated as "Herts") is an inland county in the United Kingdom, officially part of the East of England Government region. It is one of the Home Counties.
Hertfordshire is located to the north of Greater London, and much of the county is part of the London commuter belt.
To the east of Hertfordshire is Essex, to the west is Buckinghamshire and to the north are Bedfordshire, Luton and Cambridgeshire.
The highest point in the county is 803 feet (245 m) above sea level, a quarter mile (400 m) from the village of Hastoe near Tring.
The county motto is "Trust and fear not".
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History
Main article: History of Hertfordshire.
Hertfordshire was originally the area assigned to a fortress constructed at Hertford under the rule of Edward the Elder in 913. The name Hertfordshire appears in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 1011.
The Domesday Book recorded the county as having nine hundreds. Tring and Danais became one, Dacorum. The other seven were Broadwater, Cashio, Edwinstree, Hertford, Hitchin and Odsey.
Hertfordshire is the starting point of the New River: a man made waterway, opened in 1613 to supply London with fresh drinking water.
Hertfordshire lost Barnet to Greater London in 1965, but gained Potters Bar and South Mimms from Middlesex.
Geology
Main article: Geology of Hertfordshire.
The rocks of Hertfordshire belong to the great shallow syncline known as the London basin. The beds dip in a south-easterly direction towards the syncline's lowest point roughly under the River Thames. The most important formations are the Cretaceous Chalk, which is exposed as the high ground in the north and west of the county and the younger Palaeocene, Reading Beds and Eocene, London Clay which occupy the remaining southern part. The eastern half of the county was covered by glaciers during the Ice Age and has a superficial layer of glacial boulder clays.
Urban areas
These are the main towns in Hertfordshire. For a complete list of settlements see list of places in Hertfordshire.
- Baldock, Berkhamsted, Bishop's Stortford.
- Borehamwood
- Cheshunt, Chorleywood.
- Harpenden, Hatfield, Hemel Hempstead, Hertford Hitchin, Hoddesdon.
- Letchworth Garden City.
- Potters Bar.
- Rickmansworth, Royston
- Sawbridgeworth, Stevenage, St Albans
- Tring
- Ware, Watford, Welwyn Garden City.
Places of interest
- Aldenham Country Park
- Beech Bottom Dyke, St Albans - large scale iron age defensive or boundary ditch
- Berkhamstead Castle
- De Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre, Salisbury Hall, between London Colney and South Mimms
- Ye Olde Fighting Cocks, St Albans - a claimant to being the oldest pub in Britain.
- Hatfield House : Jacobean house, gardens and park
- Knebworth House - 250 acres (1.0 km²) of country park, venue of regular rock and pop festivals.
- St Albans Cathedral
- Shaw's Corner, Ayot St Lawrence, home of George Bernard Shaw.
- The Six Hills Roman site in Stevenage.
- Stevenage, the first UK New Town
- Sopwell Nunnery, St Albans
- The University of Hertfordshire was created from Hatfield Polytechnic which originated in Hatfield.
- Verulamium Roman town remains at St Albans
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