25 Facts About Berkhamsted

1.

Berkhamsted is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, in the Bulbourne valley, 26 miles north-west of London.

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2.

Berkhamsted, along with the adjoining village of Northchurch, is encircled by countryside, much of it in the Chiltern Hills which is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty .

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3.

From 1066 to 1495, Berkhamsted Castle was a favoured residence of royalty and notable historical figures, including Henry II, Edward, the Black Prince, Thomas Becket and Geoffrey Chaucer.

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4.

The Berkhamsted area appears to have been divided into two or three farming estates, each including one or more masonry villa buildings, with tiled roofs and underfloor heating.

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5.

At Berkhamsted, he received the surrender of Edgar the Ætheling, Archbishop Ealdred, Earl Edwin, Earl Morcar and the leaders of London.

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6.

Some historians have argued that the number of 52 burgesses in Berkhamsted was a clerical error, as it is a large number for a small town.

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7.

Berkhamsted was described in the Domesday Book as a burbium in the Tring Hundred.

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8.

Marjorie Chibnall argued that Robert, Count of Mortain intended Berkhamsted to be both a commercial and a defensive centre; while John Hatcher and Edward Miller believed that the 52 burgesses were involved in trade, but it is unknown if the burgesses existed before the conquest.

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9.

The arrival of Neville and her household at Berkhamsted had a significant social and financial impact on the town.

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10.

Trades within medieval Berkhamsted were extensive: early in the 13th century the town had a merchant, two painters, a goldsmith, a forester, two farriers, two tailors, a brewer of mead, a blacksmith, carpenters, wood turners, tool makers, a manufacturer of roofing tiles and wine producers.

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11.

Berkhamsted participated as a lieutenant colonel in Pride's Purge of the Long Parliament, arguably the only military coup d'etat in English history, and commanded the Parliamentary Guard at the trial of King Charles I at Westminster Hall in 1649.

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12.

Georgian Berkhamsted barely extended beyond the medieval triangle and the High Street.

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13.

Battle of Berkhamsted Common played an important part in the preservation of common land nationally.

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14.

Berkhamsted is situated 26 miles northwest of London within the Chiltern Hills, part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England, believed to have formed between 84 and 100 million years ago in the Cretaceous Period when the area was a chalk-depositing marine environment.

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15.

Ownership of Berkhamsted Common is divided between the National Trust and Berkhamsted Golf Club.

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16.

Layout of Berkhamsted's centre is typical of a medieval market settlement: the linear High Street forms the spine of the town, from which extend medieval burgage plots .

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17.

Today, Berkhamsted is an affluent, "pleasant town tucked in a wooded fold in the Chiltern Hills"; with a large section of the settlement protected as a conservation area.

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18.

Berkhamsted is within the South West Hertfordshire, UK Parliament constituency.

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19.

Berkhamsted has a town council, the first tier of local government that represents the local people to two higher tiers of local government, Dacorum Borough Council and Hertfordshire County Council.

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20.

Berkhamsted is split into three local government Wards—East, West and Castle.

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21.

Berkhamsted was an ancient borough, but lost this status in the seventeenth century.

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22.

In 1835 Berkhamsted was made the centre of a poor law union which covered the town and the surrounding parts of western Hertfordshire, as well as parts of Buckinghamshire.

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23.

Berkhamsted campaigned for a hospital to accommodate them and was successfully granted a royal charter "for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Children" in 1739.

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24.

The residential home side at Berkhamsted closed following the Children Act 1948, when family-centred care replaced institutional care.

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25.

The majority of Berkhamsted's eighty-five listed or scheduled historical sites are on in the high street and the medieval core of the town .

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