Libraries and leisure

The Medieval Period (AD 1066-AD 1500)

The period between the Norman Conquest in 1066 and the first appearance of the plague or ‘Black Death’ in 1349, was a time of rapid population growth in Hertfordshire, as it was over much of Britain.

It was also the time when many archaeological sites which are still visually impressive in the county’s landscape were first created. Hertfordshire contains some nationally important examples of the earth and timber built castles, known as ‘motte and baileys’. The most impressive of these are Hertford Castle and Berkhamsted Castle.

Hertfordshire also contains over 200 ‘moated sites’. These are the sites of wealthy farms and manors around which square or rectangular water-filled moats were dug. The reason so many moats were constructed is not entirely clear, as many were far too small to be defensive. It is possible that some at least were dug for reasons of social prestige, or just because it was the fashionable thing for the aspiring landed gentry to have. Most of Hertfordshire’s moated sites are situated in the north and east of the county, and there are over 30 nationally important examples - including a group of at least 10 moats in the village of Reed - which is one of the largest concentrations of these sites anywhere in Britain.

Other groups of medieval monuments which have left their mark on the landscape of Hertfordshire are the medieval churches and monastic sites. Hertfordshire contains a large number of fine medieval churches, and several of the medieval towns still contain the remains of priories and abbeys, including those at Ware, Hitchin, and the magnificent Abbey church at St Albans (now the cathedral). Indeed, St Albans Abbey was one of the premier abbeys in England in the medieval period and it controlled much of the land around St Albans, as well as the town itself, which was by far the largest in the county.

Other major ecclesiastical sites in medieval Hertfordshire were the churches and associated buildings at the town of Bishop’s Stortford and the village of Much Hadham, both of which were residences at various times of the powerful Bishops of London.

The arrival of the Black Death in 1349 led to a dramatic fall in the population of England. It has been estimated that the population probably fell by between a third and a half from its 1349 level, and did not recover to this peak until over 200 years later. A result of this population decline was that many farms and villages were left abandoned, particularly in the areas of poorer farming. In Hertfordshire, there are a number of these abandoned or farms and villages, which are generally referred to as ‘deserted medieval villages’. Most are in the north and west of the county where the farming yields were poor.

There is a particularly fine group of deserted medieval villages north of Tring, where many of the original medieval farms and villages can still be seen together with the remains of their fields, trackways and house plots.