Elevations are higher in the north and west, reaching more than 800 feet (240 m) in theChilterns nearTring. The county centres on the headwaters and upper valleys of the riversLea and theColne; both flow south and each is accompanied by a canal. Hertfordshire's undeveloped land is mainly agricultural and much of the county is covered by theMetropolitan green belt.
In 913, Hertfordshire was the area assigned to a fortress constructed atHertford under the rule ofEdward the Elder. Hertford is derived from theAnglo-Saxonheort ford, meaningdeer crossing (of a watercourse). The name Hertfordshire is first recorded in theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle in 1011. Deer feature in many county emblems. Many of the names of the current settlements date back to the Anglo-Saxon period, with many featuring standard placename suffixes attributed to the Anglo-Saxons: "ford", "ton", "den", "bourn", "ley", "stead", "ing", "lett", "wood", and "worth", are represented in this county by Hertford, Royston, Harpenden, Redbourn, Cuffley, Wheathampstead, Tring, Radlett, Borehamwood and Rickmansworth.
There is evidence of human life in Hertfordshire from theMesolithic period. It was first farmed during theNeolithic period and permanent habitation appeared at the beginning of theBronze Age. This was followed by tribes settling in the area during theIron Age.
With thedeparture of the Roman Legions in the early 5th century, the now-unprotected territory was invaded and colonised by theAnglo-Saxons. By the 6th century, the majority of the modern county was part of theEast Saxon kingdom. This relatively short-lived kingdom collapsed in the 9th century, ceding the territory of Hertfordshire to the control of the West Anglians ofMercia. The region finally became an English shire in the 10th century, on the merger of the West Saxon and Mercian kingdoms.
In the midst of the Norse invasions, Hertfordshire was on the front lines of much of the fighting. KingEdward the Elder, in his reconquest of Norse-held lands in what was to becomeEngland, established a "burh" or fort in Hertford, which was to curb Norse activities in the area. His father,King Alfred the Great, established the River Lea as a boundary between his kingdom and that of the Norse lordGuthrum, with the north and eastern parts of the county being within theDanelaw. There is little evidence however ofNorse placenames within this region, and many of theAnglo-Saxon features remained intact to this day. The county however suffered from renewed Norse raids in the late 10th to early 11th centuries, as armies led byDanish kingsSwein Forkbeard andCnut the Great harried the country as part of their attempts to undermine and overthrow English kingÆthelred the Unready.
A century later,William of Normandy received the surrender of some senior English Lords and Clergy atBerkhamsted, before entering London unopposed and being crowned atWestminster. Hertfordshire was used for some of the new Norman castles atBishop's Stortford, and atKing's Langley, a staging post between London and the royal residence ofBerkhamsted.
In the later Plantagenet period, St. Albans Abbey was an initial drafting place of what was to becomeMagna Carta. And in the later Wars of the Roses, St. Albans was the scene of two major battles between the Lancastrians and the Yorkists.
In Tudor times,Hatfield House was often frequented by Queen Elizabeth I. Stuart King James I used the locale for hunting and facilitated the construction of a waterway, theNew River, supplyingdrinking water to London.
As London grew, Hertfordshire became conveniently close to the English capital; much of the area was owned by thenobility andaristocracy, thispatronage helped to boost the local economy. However, the greatest boost to Hertfordshire came during theIndustrial Revolution, after which the population rose dramatically. In 1903,Letchworth became the world's firstgarden city andStevenage became the first town to redevelop under theNew Towns Act 1946 (9 & 10 Geo. 6. c. 68).
The flag of the historic county of Hertfordshire
The first shooting-down of azeppelin over Great Britain during WW1 happened in Cuffley.[7]
On 17 October 2000, theHatfield rail crash killed four people with over 70 injured.[9] The crash exposed the shortcomings ofRailtrack, and resulted in speed restrictions and major track replacement. On 10 May 2002, seven people died in the fourth of thePotters Bar rail accidents; the train was travelling at high speed when it derailed and flipped into the air when one of the carriages slid along the platform where it came to rest.
At the 2011 census, among the county's ten districts,East Hertfordshire had the lowest population density (290 people per km2) andWatford the highest (4210 per km2). Compared with neighbouring Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire lacks large towns or cities on the scale ofLuton orMilton Keynes, whose populations exceed 200,000, but its overall population (1.2 million in 2021) is greater than those of the two aforementioned counties.
Many of the county's major settlements are in the central, northern and southern areas, such as Watford, Hemel Hempstead,Kings Langley,Rickmansworth,St. Albans,Harpenden,Redbourn,Radlett,Borehamwood,Potters Bar, Stevenage,Hatfield,Welwyn and Welwyn Garden City,Hitchin, Letchworth and Baldock. These are all small to medium-sized locations, featuring a mix of post-WWII new towns and older/more historical locales. TheCity of St. Albans is an example of a historical settlement, as its cathedral and abbey date to theNorman period, and there are ruins from the Roman settlement ofVerulamium nearby the current city centre. Stevenage is a mix of post-WWIInew town planning amidst its prior incarnation as a smaller town. The Old Town in Stevenage represents this historic core and has many shops and buildings reflecting its pre-WWII heritage. Hitchin also has a historic centre, with manyTudor andStuart era buildings interspersed amongst more contemporary structures.
Hertfordshire's eastern regions are predominantly rural and arable, intermixed with villages and small to medium-sized towns. Royston, Buntingford andBishop's Stortford, along withWare and the county town of Hertford are major settlements in this regard. The physical geography of eastern Hertfordshire is less elevated than the far west, but with lower rising hills and prominent rivers such as theStort. This river rises inEssex and terminates via a confluence with the Lea near to Ware. Apart from the Lea and Stort, the River Colne is the major watercourse in the county's west. This runs near Watford and Radlett, and has a complex system/drainage area running south into both Greater London and Buckinghamshire.
An unofficial status, the purple star-shaped flower with yellow stamens, thePasqueflower is among endemiccounty flowers.[15]
The rocks of Hertfordshire belong to the great shallowsyncline known as theLondon Basin. The beds dip in a south-easterly direction towards the syncline's lowest point roughly under theRiver Thames. The most important formations are theCretaceousChalk, exposed as the high ground in the north and west of the county, forming theChiltern Hills and the youngerPalaeocene,Reading Beds andEocene,London Clay which occupy the remaining southern part. The eastern half of the county was covered by glaciers during theIce Age and has a superficial layer of glacialboulder clays.
Much of the west – and much more in the east – have richly diverse countryside.[16] These range from beech woods of theChilterns, claylandbuffer zone countryside of Braughing and the Hadhams across toancienthornbeamcoppices west of the upper Lea valley.[16] The county has sweeping panoramas of chalklands nearRoyston,Baldock,Hexton andTring.[16]
Large parts of the county are used for agriculture.
Somequarrying of sand and gravel occurs around St Albans. In the past, clay has supplied local brick-making and still does inBovingdon, just south-west of Hemel Hempstead. The chalk that is the bedrock of much of the county provides anaquifer that feeds streams and is also exploited to provide water supplies for much of the county and beyond. Chalk has also been used as a building material and, once fired, the resultant lime was spread on agricultural land to improve fertility. The mining of chalk since the early 18th century has left unrecorded underground galleries that occasionally collapse unexpectedly and endanger buildings.[17]
Fresh water is supplied to London fromWare, using theNew River built byHugh Myddleton and opened in 1613. Local rivers, although small, supported developing industries such as paper production atNash Mills.[18]
Hertfordshire affords habitat for a variety of flora and fauna. A bird once common in the shire is thehooded crow, the old name of which is the eponymous name of the regional newspaper, theRoyston Crow published inRoyston. A product, now largely defunct, waswatercress, based inHemel Hempstead andBerkhamsted supported by reliable, clean chalk rivers.[19]
This is a table of trends of regional gross value added of Hertfordshire at current basic prices with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.[20]
Hatfield was wherede Havilland developed the first commercial jet liner, theComet. Now the site is a business park and new campus for theUniversity of Hertfordshire. This major employment site notably hostsEE,Computacenter andOcado groceries and other goods e-commerce.
Watford have played their home games atVicarage Road since 1922.[23] The club joined the Football League in 1920 as a founding member of the Third Division[24] and first played in the First Division of English football in1982, finishing as runners-up to championsLiverpool.[24] Watford was promoted to the Premier League at the end of the 2020–2021 season. After spending one season in the Premier League, they were relegated to the Championship again for the 2022–2023 season.[25]
Arsenal, whilst based at theEmirates Stadium in theLondon Borough of Islington, has long held a training ground in the county. Until 1999, it held the London ColneyUniversity of London facility, until it built a new purpose-built compound adjacent to it. Watford FC currently utilises the old Arsenal training area as its training facility.
Gaelic Football is played within Hertfordshire, with clubs fromOxfordshire all the way toCambridge playing in the Hertfordshire League and Championship. Eire Óg, Oxford are the 2022 County Champions.Hurling is played by an amalgamated team, St Declan's CLG, with players contributed from all football teams across Hertfordshire. St Declan's currently play in theWarwickshire League and Championship, having previously played in theLondon GAA championship. A number of St Declan's players have also played for the Warwickshire Senior Hurling team, playing in the Lory Meagher and Nicky Rackard competitions, including Patrick Lancaster, Eamon Doherty, Alan Hayes, and Alex Hanley.
London Mavericks, previously Hertfordshire Mavericks and Saracens Mavericks, have competed in theNetball Super League since 2005.[38] The franchise represents the East region and plays a number of home fixtures at theUniversity of Hertfordshire sports village.[39][40] Mavericks have appeared in the Netball Super League Grand Final seven times, winning the title in both 2008 and 2011.[38]
Turnford Netball Club and Hatfield Netball Club are both netball teams from Hertfordshire which play in theEngland Netball Premier League, the highest level of club/amateur netball in the country.[41]
Bridgewater Monument, built in 1832 in memory of Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater. 108 feet (33 m) tall and open to the public to ascend to the top
Cedars Park, Broxbourne – historic park once the site of James I's favourite residence, Theobalds Palace. Maintained by Broxbourne Services and the Friends of Cedars Park.
The distance travelled by buses in Hertfordshire has reduced by 56.5% since 2017.[42]
Stansted Airport andLuton Airport are both within 10 miles (16 km) of the county's borders in Essex and Bedfordshire, respectively. The commercial airfield atElstree is for light aircraft.
^"Parishes: Hemel Hempstead".A History of the County of Hertford. Originally published by Victoria County History, London. Vol. 2. British History Online. 1908.
^"London & SE Division". Rugby Football Union. Archived from the original on 18 August 2022. Retrieved5 October 2022.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^ab"London Mavericks".Netball Super League. 29 August 2025. Retrieved14 September 2025.
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