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Summary - not yet available

Monument Types

• BURH (Late Saxon - 870 AD to 1065 AD)

Associated Events

• Excavation at Bircherley Green, Hertford, 1979
• Excavation of the car park at 31-33 Railway Street, Hertford, 1973

Full description

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records for the year 913 that 'another part of his (King Edward the Elder) forces built the fortress at Hertford meanwhile on the southern bank of the Lea' <1>. A northern burh [9830] was also built by Edward at Hertford between the Lea and Beane rivers in 912. This was part of the campaign by Edward for the reconquest of the Danelaw, and Hertford is one of a number of defended settlements or 'burhs' built by Edward.
The Southern Burh was probably a square or rectangular settlement, defended by a bank and ditch, with a wooden palisade running along the top of the bank <1>. The burh was probably created for the purposes of protecting the local population and serving as a market and trading centre under royal control. It is assumed that a planned settlement was created by Edward within the burh to this end; and that this included the current market place, and the surrounding streets (Fore Street, Railway Street, Market Street, Maidenhead Street, Church Street and Bull Plain), together with properties (burgages) for merchants <1>. The rectilinear arrangement of the streets does suggest that they were planned, but there is as yet no firm evidence for their Anglo-Saxon date.

A large ditch [9832] which is probably part of the eastern defences of the burh was found during excavations in 1973 and 1980. From this evidence, the plan of the burh in <1> is preferred to that of Petchey <2>. Hertford was the site of a coin mint [4004] from the reign of Aethelstan (AD925-39) until the Norman Conquest <3>.

An early 6th century globular urn of Anglian type, in Hertford Museum, has been mistakenly thought to come from Hertford; it is unprovenanced <4, 5>.

<1> Kiln, R J, & Partridge, C R, 1995, Ware and Hertford: the story of two towns from birth to middle age, - p78, 82-4, 115-19; fig.13 (Bibliographic reference). SHT8599.

<2> Petchey, M R, 1977, Excavations in Hertford 1973-4; Herts Archaeology 5, 157-75, - p162 (Article in serial). SHT6790.

<3> Fish, David R, 1995, The mint at Hertford; IN R Kiln & C Partridge, Ware & Hertford, from birth to middle age, 127-32 (Article in monograph). SHT2862.

<4> Davies, A G, & Petchey, Martin, 1974-6, A mistaken 'Saxon' cremation at Hertford; Herts Archaeology 4, 176-7 (Article in serial). SHT4812.

<5> Myres, J N L, 1969, Anglo-Saxon pottery and the settlement of England, - p104 (Monograph). SHT8027.

<6> Partridge, Clive, n.d., Hertford Railway St - Bircherley Green (Unpublished document). SHT7114.

Sources and further reading

Related records

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