Hoddesdon’s present day image owes much to Henry III who granted a weekly market and annual fare on the Feast of St Martin’s in 1253. From this time the town grew to be a centre of commence and home to a prosperous market.
Through the centuries wealthy traders built town houses, many of which still survive. One of them, Lowewood , is now a local museum. By the 18th century Hoddesdon had developed into an important coaching centre on the route from London to Cambridge with over 30 inns.
What’s New
Hoddesdon and Broxbourne News, Sports and Weather
Jobs in Hoddesdon
Hoddesdon Town Centre Strategy 2009
Guide to Hoddesdon Shops and Businesses
Map
Coming Soon
Over the next few weeks we will be adding lots of new pages about Hoddesdon.
You can learn more about Hoddesdon shops, market, old Hoddesdon Cinema, W.S. Norris, Fordham & Co, W.R. Stone, J.H. Tripp Ltd, D.W. Reynolds, J. Hayllar & Son, Church’s, Tudor Hall, Archer and Turner Ltd, Tudor Cafe, Bradleys, S.F. Norris Ltd, Brocket Stores, L. W. Hitching, Drury Brothers, Parrott Brothers, T.M. Gardiner Ltd, W.J. Haward Ltd, R. Clarbour, Staggs and many more…
Markets and Fairs
Hoddesdon market has had a long history, and for its origin we must go back to the reign of Henry III. In 1253 a Richard de Boxe, received in addition to the grant of free warren for this manor, the grant “to hold a market at his aforesaid manor of Hoddesdon”.
Hoddesdon Bank
Hoddesdon’s first Bank opened in the High Street, on the corner of what we know today as Brocket Road in the 1870s, as a branch of the Hertford bank of Tuke, Lucas and Seebohm.
Myddleton House
Standing but a stone’s throw west of the Clock Tower, Myddelton House was built about 1600, and after some years as a private residence – probably around 1720 – became an inn known as the Queen’s Head.
Samaritan Woman in Hoddesdon
The figure of the ‘nymph’ had stood in the centre of the town for about eighty-five years at this time, and had been mentioned by many writers before Prior, and was to be referred to by many others in the 112 years it had yet to stay there.
Open for Business
It was “back to work” with a difference for Hoddesdon postmen and drivers, on September 14th 1964; for on that day the spacious new building housing the G.P.O. Sorting and Postmen’s Delivery Office in ConduitLane opened for business.
The Society of Friends in Hoddesdon
The Society of Friends, otherwise known as a “Quakers,” was early established in Hoddesdon. It is not known for certain whether George Fox, the founder, actually held meetings at Hoddesdon; but he did so at various places between London and Hertford and may have done so here.
The Local Sculptor
Mr Charles Giddings, lived in Hoddesdon for 36 years and was the man who modelled the busts of King George V and VI, which were for many years on the Hoddesdon Clock Tower. When the ground floor buildings were demolished in the late 1960s, they were both transferred to Lowewood Museum.
He specialized in the modelling of children, and his panels in relief were often based on episodes taken from the Greek mythology.
The Chapel of St. Katherine in Hoddesdon
In the tenth year of Edward III, 1336, William de la Marche, referred to in earlier charters as ‘the King’s Cook’, following a prayer to the King, obtained a grant of ‘certain void space belonging to us in Hoddesdon, so that he may build anew on the aforesaid place, a chapel in honour of St Katharine.
Yew House, Hoddesdon
There is no record of when Yew House was built but it contained traces of 17th century work. It was refronted in the early part of the 19th century. The garden had its own well, with a supply pipe from Rawdon House.
