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Hertfordshire HER
.
| HHER Number: | 9830 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | NORTHERN SAXON BURH, HERTFORD |
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Summary - not yet available
Monument Types
- BURH (Late Saxon - 870 AD to 1065 AD)
Full description
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 912-913 records that 'in this year, after Martinmas, King Edward had the most northerly fortress built between the Mimram, Beane and Lea' <1>. This was a fortified settlement or burh, one of a number built by Edward the Elder during the reconquest of the Danelaw by Wessex. A southern burh [9828] was also built by Edward in the following year (913) south of the Lea, probably in the area of the current Market Place and surrounding streets in Hertford.
The northern burh was presumably constructed with the military purpose of controlling the crossing of the Lea, and any river traffic passing through Hertford. It would have been defended by a bank and ditch, with a wooden palisade running along the top of the bank. If it was built on royal land it may have included the site of a royal manor [9897]. The church of St Mary the Less [2998] may have preconquest origins and, if so, may have been built on the burh defences. The area of the burh and the line of any defences is not known with any certainty. The conjectured plan in <1> shows NW and SE defences set back from the rivers.
<1> Kiln, R J, & Partridge, C R, 1995, Ware and Hertford: the story of two towns from birth to middle age, - p78, 79-82, 125-6 (Bibliographic reference). SHT8599.
Sources and further reading
| <1> | Bibliographic reference: Kiln, R J, & Partridge, C R. 1995. Ware and Hertford: the story of two towns from birth to middle age. - p78, 79-82, 125-6. |
Related records
| 2 | Part of: TOWN OF HERTFORD (Place) |
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