Much Hadham

Much Hadham
Much Hadham
 Much Hadham shown within Hertfordshire
Population 2,862 (2011 census)[1]
OS grid referenceTL426208
Civil parishMuch Hadham
DistrictEast Hertfordshire
Shire countyHertfordshire
RegionEast
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town Much Hadham
Postcode district SG10
Dialling code 01279
Police Hertfordshire
Fire Hertfordshire
Ambulance East of England
EU Parliament East of England
UK ParliamentHertford and Stortford
List of places
UK
England
Hertfordshire

Coordinates: 51°51′14″N 0°04′19″E / 51.854°N 0.072°E / 51.854; 0.072

Much Hadham, formerly known as Great Hadham, is a village and civil parish in the district of East Hertfordshire, Hertfordshire, England. The parish of Much Hadham contains the hamlets of Perry Green and Green Tye, as well as the village of Much Hadham itself. It covers 4490 acres (18 square kilometres).[2] The village of Much Hadham is situated midway between Ware and Bishop's Stortford. The population of the parish was recorded as 2,862 in the 2011 census, an increase from 1,994 in 2001.[1][3]

History

The name "Hadham" probably derives from Old English words meaning "Heath homestead". The affix "Much" comes from the Old English "mycel", meaning "great".[4]

The parish has been occupied since the Roman period. There were pottery kilns in the parish in the Roman period,[5] and a Roman coin hoard has been found nearby.[6]

Written records of Much Hadham go back to the time of King Edgar. The village was a possession of the Bishops of London before the Norman Conquest, and it appears in the Domesday Book as "Hadham".[7] The parish church was built from 1225-1450. The village was a staging point on the road from London to Cambridge, and the Old Red Lion Inn, built in 15th century to serve this traffic, still survives in the village.

The Bishop's Palace was used as an asylum from 1817-1863.[8]

During the First World War, there was a British Red Cross/Order of St. John auxiliary hospital in Much Hadham.[9] Today, a plaque on the front of Woodham House commemorates this.

During the second world war, Much Hadham was the site of Prisoner of War camp 411.[10] The camp was opened in 1939, housing Italian prisoners of war, but later held German prisoners, as well as housing American and Gurkha soldiers as they prepared for the D-Day landings.[11] The camp closed around 1950.[12]

Geography

The village is stretched along its mile-long main street (High Street, Tower Hill and Widford Road) which runs along the river Ash. It is situated between Bishop's Stortford and Ware, about 12 km from Hertford and about 40 km north of London. The village had a railway station on the Buntingford branch line, which closed in 1964 under the Beeching Axe.

Landmarks

There are two churches in Much Hadham, the parish church and a Congregational church. Much Hadham's parish church, built largely between 1225 and 1450, is shared between the St. Andrew's Church of England congregation and the Holy Cross Roman Catholic congregation. The entrance to the church is adorned with two sculptures by Henry Moore.[13] The more recent Congregational church dates from 1872.[14]

There are many listed buildings in Much Hadham, including four listed at Grade I. These are the parish church; two country houses, Much Hadham Hall and Moor Place; and the boundary wall at Yewtree Farm. The parish's many Grade II* listed buildings include Much Hadham Palace, the site of a residence of the Bishops of London since before the Norman Conquest, and Hoglands in Perry Green, the home of the sculptor Henry Moore until his death.

The Henry Moore Foundation can be found in Perry Green, and includes Moore's home. In December 2005, thieves stole a 1970 bronze of a reclining figure from the site,[15] which was melted and sold for scrap metal.[16]

Former Red Lion public house, Much Hadham

The Red Lion coaching inn, now converted into private houses, has been in the village since the 15th century. It was a stopping point on the old road from London to Cambridge. Legend has it that the inn is connected to St. Andrew's by a tunnel, possibly built during the time of Oliver Cromwell as an escape route for the clergy. The skeleton of an 18-year-old woman was discovered bricked up in a fireplace in the inn. It is thought she died after being incarcerated some time during the 19th century.

Government

Much Hadham is a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district. It is one of thirty wards to make up East Hertfordshire District Council, where it is represented by Ian Devonshire. It is part of the Hertford and Stortford parliamentary constituency, whose MP is currently Mark Prisk.

Education

St Andrew's Church of England Primary School in Much Hadham is a Church of England school with links to the parish church of St Andrew's. It has about 250 pupils between the ages of 4 and 11. The school also has a nursery in the mornings for younger children. A village school has existed on this site since the 1840s. A second primary school in Much Hadham, the Barn School, closed in 1998.[17] It was an independent Catholic school, teaching children up to the age of eight.[18] There is also a pre-school with about 40 children aged between 2 and 4.[19]

Outside the village of Much Hadham, the St. Elizabeth's Centre is a school and residence for children and young adults with epilepsy, established in 1903.

Much Hadham has a small museum, The Forge Museum, which contains preserved Elizabethan wall-paintings as well as information about local history. The Henry Moore Foundation in Perry Green houses a large collection of the artist's work.

Sport

The village has an active sports association which includes Much Hadham Football Club and Hadham Villa Football Club.

Much Hadham Cricket Club (founded in 1889) withdrew from the Herts & Essex League in 2007 and no longer exists. Sawbridgeworth Cricket club have used the cricket facilities since then. Golf Club Bowls Club Tennis courts

Notable residents

Much Hadham has long been a residence of the Bishop of London, who owned parts of the village before the Norman conquest. Adjacent to the church is Much Hadham Palace, a country home of the Bishops of London for 800 years. It may be that the Tudor dynasty began here, for Henry V's widow, Catherine of Valois, may have given birth here[20] to Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, the father of King Henry VII.[21] It was sold by the church for the last time in 1888.

The sculptor Henry Moore lived in Perry Green until his death.

Four generations of the Norman family have lived in Moor Place, including Montagu Norman, the Governor of the Bank of England for 24 years, and his brother Ronald Collet Norman, chairman of London County Council and of the BBC.[22] Former Conservative Party co-treasurer Peter Cruddas owns Much Hadham Hall.[23]

Other celebrity residents have included Bob Monkhouse, The Pet Shop Boys, Chas & Dave and Bob Carolgees.

See also

The Hundred Parishes

References

  1. 1 2 "Much Hadham UK Census Data 2011".
  2. ↑ The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England and Wales, 1894-5.
  3. ↑ "Much Hadham CP". Census 2001: Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 9 June 2010.
  4. ↑ Mills, A.D. (1998). Dictionary of English Place Names (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 159.
  5. ↑ http://potsherd.net/atlas/Ware/HARS.html
  6. ↑ Cleary, Simon Esmonde (1995). "Review of Coin Hoards from Roman Britain IX edited by Roger Bland". Britannia 26: 396.
  7. ↑ http://opendomesday.org/place/TL4219/much-hadham/
  8. ↑ http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MHT2771&resourceID=1008
  9. ↑ http://www.redcross.org.uk/~/media/BritishRedCross/Documents/Who%20we%20are/History%20and%20archives/List%20of%20auxiliary%20hospitals%20in%20the%20UK%20during%20the%20First%20World%20War.pdf
  10. ↑ Thomas, Roger J.C. (2003). "Prisoner of War Camps (1939 — 1948)".
  11. ↑ Levy, Andrew. "Plumber unearths WWII prisoner of war camp for 10,000 German Soldiers in his back garden". Daily Mail.
  12. ↑ Burton, James (2010-08-19). "Much Hadham man finds Second World War camp in his back garden". Hertfordshire Mercury.
  13. ↑ "Henry Moore 1898–1986". The Burlington Magazine 128 (1003): 711. 1986.
  14. ↑ Page, William (1902). The Victoria History of the County of Hertford IV. Westminster: Archibald Constable & co. p. 60.
  15. ↑ "£3m Henry Moore sculpture stolen". BBC News.
  16. ↑ Hannah Furness. "Henry Moore sculpture worth £500,000 stolen from grounds of his former home". Daily Telegraph.
  17. ↑ http://www.hertsandessexobserver.co.uk/Retired-Hadham-headteacher-Peggy-Massey-died-aged-96/story-21909135-detail/story.html
  18. ↑ http://www.education.gov.uk/edubase/establishment/establishmentdetails.xhtml?urn=117632
  19. ↑ http://www.hertsandessexobserver.co.uk/Hadham-Pre-School-graded-good-Oftsed/story-26760096-detail/story.html
  20. ↑ though it may instead have been at Hadham in Bedfordshire.
  21. ↑ "Sir Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond". Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  22. ↑ http://www.countrylife.co.uk/property/country-houses-for-sale-and-property-news/historic-country-houses-for-sale-4-27522
  23. ↑ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-2998922/Cruddas-offered-access-Cameron.html

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