DIGSWELL, a village and a parish in Hatfield district, Herts. The village stands on the river Maran, adjacent to the Great Northern railway, 1 mile SSE of Welwyn r. station, and 4 N of Hatficld. It was known at Domesday as Dichelswelle; and it came to be a market-town, but has declined. The parish comprises 1, 623 acres; and its post town is Welwyn. Real property, £2, 422. Pop., 243. Houses, 43. The property is divided among a few. Digswell House belonged once to the Peryents; and passed to the Cowpers. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £393.* Patron, the Rev. G. E. Prescot. The church is good; and there is a free school.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))