St. Albans is situated in this county, and is in the hundred of Cashio. The ancient name was Verulam, a name taken from the small river Ver, upon whose banks it is built. The Abbey of St. Albans rose in importance before any in the kingdom, not excluding even Glastonbury, and from its walls the earliest printed books in England were issued. The curious clock tower here engraved stands at the junction of two streets, and is not, as might be supposed, some part of an old church, indeed it is said never to have had any other use than the one for which it is at present used.
The vicinity we are now in reminds us of the name of the man who probably invented the style of architecture which we call Elizabethan, that is the curiously broken classic style so peculiar to England, and now so popular. Thorpe designed Hatfield, Wollaton, Holland House, and many other well-known residences, and it is almost by an accident that his name has escaped oblivion. He left behind him a large volume of designs, which is now in the Soane museum. This volume was lent by the Earl of Warwick to Horace Walpole for his work on the Anecdotes of English Art, and Walpole writes of it—“By the favour of the Earl of Warwick I am enabled to bring to light a very capital artist, who designed or improved most of the principal and palatial edifices erected in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I., even though his name was totally forgotten.” It is believed that his name was not known to Wren, Vanbrugh, or Gibbs, and yet he was the author of a style that has been introduced into every county in England. This folio of designs was purchased by Soane. Among other plans is one of a house fantastically designed for himself, forming the letters I T joined by a corridor, and under is the eccentric couplet—
These two letters I and T,
Joined together as you see,
Make a dwelling-house for me.
John Thorpe.
But I remember seeing a notice of this able man and his eccentricity in an old book, where he wrote a rhyming epitaph upon himself. Some of his friends were asked by him in his last illness to compose one that should rhyme, and be very short, and he fairly eclipsed all their productions by his own, “Thorpe’s corpse.” This architect seems to have resided in Paris for some little time, and been employed in designing alterations for the Luxembourg, in the Faubourg St. Germain.
This volume in the Soane Museum contains a number of plans, some of which have been reproduced by Richardson and others.[4] The Tudor sovereigns especially favoured Hertfordshire. The children of Henry VIII. lived at Hunsdon; and at Hatfield Palace, now the residence of the Marquis of Salisbury, resided Edward VI. and Elizabeth. Cardinal Wolsey had an estate at Cheshunt, near Waltham.
Aylesbury ought perhaps to be considered the county town of Buckingham, since the assizes are held there. The view here given is from one corner of the market square, and it just discloses some quaint old houses with remarkably steep gables
and high chimneys; the rest of the square is modern. The population of Aylesbury does not exceed some 7000, but it has played many important parts in English history. It was strongly fortified by the Britons, and resisted the attacks of the Saxons till Cuthwolf captured it in 571. William the Conqueror rewarded one of his followers with the estate, and 600 years after this it formed an important post of the Parliamentarian army. The old King’s Head, here shown, was at one time a head-quarters for the troopers. Buckingham is not a very interesting town, but two of the bridges in it are extremely ancient. Catherine of Arragon took up her abode here in her restless life, after being separated from King Henry. The town was nearly burned to the ground in 1725, and that accounts for its comparatively modern and insignificant appearance.