HERTFORD CASTLE.
THE Castle of Hertford not only is of high antiquity, but the date of its foundation is on record. The Saxon Chronicle relates that in the year 913, Edward the Elder, son of Alfred, threw up two Burhs at Hertford, one at Martinmas, on the north bank of the river, and, later on, one on the south bank, between three of the rivers which here unite. The former of these works has long been laid low, and no trace of it is visible, but the latter has been preserved by its incorporation into the later castle. The mound, standing on the edge of the river Lea, is indeed shorn of its original dimensions, but it remains, and attached to it is the base court with its exterior ditch, once of great breadth and depth, the invariable accompaniment of the mound, and with it constituting the Burh.
Hertford
Edward’s Burhs may have been preceded by an earlier earthwork, for Hertford is reputed to stand on the site of a chief town of the Trinobantes, the British occupants of the district north of this part of the Thames. The Britons, however, if they here established a stronghold, are more likely to have placed it upon one of the adjacent heights, where are several excellent positions for an entrenchment. Probably the existence of a British settlement in a neighbourhood so well protected by its watercourses attracted the invading settlers, for here the East Saxon kings are said to have had a residence, and to this place Archbishop Theodore, consecrated in 668, convened a synod of the national Church in 673.
The Danes overran this part of England more than once, and the camp at Danesbury was probably their work. Also, they are thought to have had a camp upon Port Hill, of which, however, it is said that no traces are now to be seen. It was upon the river Lea, between Hertford and Waltham, that Alfred rendered the Danish fleet useless by blocking up the river, and so preventing their return. It is on record that this was effected, not by actually throwing a dam across the stream, but by the far more scientific process of cutting a number of channels for its waters, each too shallow to allow the vessels to float down. By this means the retreat of the Danes to the Thames was cut off, and they were fain to march inland to the Severn at Bridgenorth.
In 913 the protection afforded by the Hertford Burhs seems to have attracted inhabitants, who occupied both banks of the river Lea, and the town thus situate was raised by Edward into a royal Burgh, held of the Crown by burgage tenure. Hertford was so held of the Confessor, and so accepted by the Conqueror, and entered in Domesday, which, however, as was not uncommon, makes no mention of the castle, nor, indeed, of the churches. William is said to have strengthened the castle, and he gave it in charge to Peter de Valoignes, one of his followers, who transmitted it to his son Roger, and he to his two sons in succession, Peter and Robert. The male line closed with Robert, whose daughter and heiress, Gunnora de Valoignes, married Robert Fitz-Walter. The charge of the castle does not seem to have descended, but to have been resumed, possibly as a male fief, by the Crown.
King John, that most erratic of monarchs, held the castle, and visited it in 1212, 1213, and 1216. In this latter year, however, it was attacked by Lewis of France, who laid siege to it from St. Martin’s (November 11) to St. Nicholas’s Day (December 6), and finally took it. Robert Fitz-Walter, an adherent of Lewis, took the opportunity to revive his wife’s claim, but without success. It was finally recovered by John, and transmitted to his son Henry III., who placed Richard de Argentin in charge of it, and expended £20, and probably other sums, in its repairs. In 1226 it was held by Hubert de Burgh, on whose fall Henry granted it to be held in capite by William de Valence, after whom it was held by his son, Aymer, Earl of Pembroke.
Edward III. resumed possession in 1327, and granted the castle to John of Gaunt, his son, from whom it finally passed into the Duchy of Lancaster, to which it is nominally attached. Henry IV. kept his Easter here in 1429, and Henry VII. continued to appoint a constable and a porter. It is described as “castrum non immensum sed pulcherrimum.” Hertford fared better than most royal castles, possibly from its convenient position as regarded London, for in the reign of Henry VIII. it contained lodgings suitable for the king, and Edward VI. and the Princess Elizabeth were both here. By the latter, when queen, it was alienated to Sir William Harrington, who built a large brick house on the site of the inner gatehouse, which still remains. In the time of James I. the castle is described as covering 7¾ acres. The ditch then extended to the roads or streets now known as the Mill Bridge, the Wash, and Castle Street. The mill was upon the Lea just below the castle mounds. The Church of St. Andrew stands about 150 yards from the remaining mound, beyond the river. There was a second mill, probably that on the river above the castle. The castle was finally leased to Mr. Secretary Cecil, in whose descendant, the Marquis of Salisbury, it remains. It is remarkable that Hertford Castle at no time belonged to the earls who bore the title of Hertford. They were, of course, earls of the county, though this is not specified in the peerages. Their principal eastern seat was at Clare in Suffolk, round which they possessed considerable property.
The strength of Hertford as a military position was very great, and depended upon the low marshy ground by which it was almost surrounded, and which was liable to be flooded by the waters of three, or rather four, considerable streams, “flumina non profunda sed clarissima.” Of these, the Lea, flowing from the west, received, a few yards above the castle, the Mimram from the north-west, while a little below the castle the combined stream is swollen by the waters of the Beane from the north, and the Rib from the north-east, the combined volume flowing forward under the name of the Lea. Below, or south-west of the castle, along the course of the Lea, is a wide breadth of lowland, which even now is occasionally flooded, and which in former days must have been an impracticable morass. In the other direction the ground, though built upon and forming a part of the town, is for some distance around but little higher than the meadow, though here and there, elevated 4 feet or 5 feet, appear small deposits of gravel. The castle stands upon the right bank, south-east of the river, and its extreme limit, within the counterscarp or outer edge of its main ditch, included a space something in the figure of an ear, the river forming the shorter side or concavity. In length, north-east and south-west, this space measures 234 yards; its breadth varies from 100 yards to 200 yards, with a mean of 140 yards. The ditch, now almost filled up and in part built over, was about 30 yards broad, and no doubt filled from the river with which it communicated at each end. Within the ditch, taking the line of the old bank, or of the present wall, the area is about three and a half or four acres. The mound is placed on the edge of the river, at the north angle of the enclosure. The bank does not include it, but points to its centre, so that the mound, as was not unusual, formed a part of the enclosing defence. The proper ditch of the mound has been filled up.
Of the mediæval castle there remains only a considerable part of the wall of the enceinte, and, it may be, some ancient masonry built up into Sir William Harrington’s house, which is still inhabited. This is said to have been the gatehouse; if so, it was that of the northern ward, and was upon the line of the wall dividing the one ward from the other. The curtain wall is about 7 feet thick, and 25 feet to 30 feet high, and composed of flint rubble. The battlement is gone or nearly so, and there remains but a part of one mural tower, circular in plan, which capped the south-east angle of the wall of the northern ward. The wall covers the northern and most of the eastern sides of the area. There is no trace of it along the western or river side. No doubt it was less substantial on that side, upon which the natural defence was strong. The south or smaller ward does not appear to have been walled in. It was covered on the three sides by the river and the marsh, and may have been palisaded only. The wall evidently crossed the ditch of the mound, and abutted upon it, or possibly upon the shell keep, all vestiges of which are gone.
The present entrance to the castle is at the eastern angle of the ditch, which is traversed by a road leading to a small and apparently modern doorway in the wall. There is no trace of a main entrance in this direction, but it must be confessed that if the main entrance lay to the south of the gatehouse, it must have been difficult to approach, save by water.