In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Hoddesdon like this:
HODDESDON, a town, a township, a chapelry, and a sub-district, in Ware district, Herts. The town stands on rising ground, backed by extensive woods, near the New river, the Lea navigation, the confluence of the Lea and the Stort, the boundary with Essex, the Eastern Counties railway, and Broxbourne village and r. ...
station, 4 miles SE of Hertford; consists chiefly of two long streets, with many well built and neat houses; is a polling place; and has a head post office, † a town hall and police station, an old conduit, a church, a dissenting chapel, a British school, national schools, and charities £47. The town hall has a modern clock tower. A fine old market house of wood, resting on arches and pillars, and ornamented with carved figures, was taken down in 1834. The old conduit is a curious fountain, representing a woman with a pitcher, from which fine soft water continually flows; was given to the town, in 1679, by Marmaduke Rawdon, Esq.; and, together with an inn which still exists, is mentioned as follows by the poet Prior, in his ballad of Down Hall:- "Into an old inn did their equipage roll, At a town they call Hods'don, the sign of the Bull, Where a nymph with an urn divides the highway, And into a puddle puirs mither of tea." The church was built in 1734, repaired in 1827 and in 1849, and enlarged in 1865; and is a commodious edifice, of nave and chancel, with gable belfry. The Independent chapel was built in 1846, and is neat and spacious. A grammar school was founded by Queen Elizabeth, but has long been extinct. A weekly market formerly was held, but has been discontinued. A pleasure fair is held on 29 June. There are an exten sive brewery and two flour mills. The neighbourhood has been noted, since the time of Isaac Walton, as a resort of anglers. Rawdon House is an interesting Elizabethan building; has been completely restored; and is now used as a seminary for young ladies.-The township includes main part of the town; is in Broxbourne parish; and is usually designated a hamlet. Acres, 2, 582. Real property, £9, 455; of which £140 are in gas works. Pop., 1,898. Houses, 389. The manor belonged to the Bassingbournes; passed to the Says and the Bourchiers; was given, by Elizabeth, to the Cecils; and belongs now to the Marquis of Salisbury.—The chapelry excludes part of the township, but includes part of Great Amwell parish; and was constituted ecclesiastically parochial in 1843. Pop., 2, 203. Houses, 458. Pop. of the Great Amwell portion, 489. Houses, 105. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £261.* Patron, the Bishop of Rochester.—The sub-district contains the parishes of Broxbourne, Great Amwell, and Wormley. Acres, 7, 932. Pop., 4, 895. Houses, 1, 001.
Hoddesdon through time
Hoddesdon is now part of Broxbourne district. Click here for graphs and data of how Broxbourne has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Hoddesdon itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Hoddesdon, in Broxbourne and Hertfordshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/1009
Date accessed: 05th November 2024
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