Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Hemel Hempstead. You may be able to find further references to Hemel Hempstead in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
Hemel Hempstead market town and parish with railway station Bartholomew
HEMEL-HEMPSTEAD a town, a parish, a sub-district, and a district Imperial

This additional information from our descriptive gazetteers is for locations within the parish or parishes associated with Hemel Hempstead.

Place Type of entry Source
Box Moor ecclesiastical district and railway station Bartholomew
High Street Green village Bartholomew
LEVERSTOCK-GREEN a chapelry Imperial
Two Waters village Bartholomew
TWO-WATERS a village Imperial

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Hemel Hempstead within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
William Cobbett June 19th to 24th, 1822: Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire 8
William Camden Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 2
Daniel Defoe Letter 6, Part 1: Middlesex, Hertford and Buckinghamshire 2

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Two Waters 0 2
Frogmore 0 2
Box Moor 0 2
High Street Green 0 2
Apsley End 0 1
Leverstock Green 0 2
Nash Mills 0 2
Bourne End 0 2
Potten End 0 1
Great Gaddesden 1 2
Kings Langley 1 3
Nettleden 0 2
St Margarets 0 2
Dacorum 0 2
Bovingdon 0 2
Gorhambury 5 2
Abbots Langley 1 3
Redbourn 10 2
Chipperfield 0 1
Berkhamsted 3 3

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Hemel Hempstead. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
HAMELAMSTEDE John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
HEHAN HAMSTED William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
HEMEL HEMPSTEAD John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
HEMPSTEAD William Cobbett Rural Rides (Letchworth: Temple Press, 1932).
HEMSTEAD Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
HEMSTED William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.