Stephen Jeffery Poulter: 3 books

Hoddesdon really came into its own between the sixteenth and mid nineteenth centuries as a coaching town providing a welcome stopping place for travellers from London setting out on the Old North Road. Broxbourne, just to the south, was a smaller and more rural settlement focused around the church...

Having grown up as a small Roman settlement where Ermine Street crossed the River Lea, Ware came into its own in the Middle Ages as an important stopping place on the Old North Road to and from London. The booming inn trade was boosted by the Great Bed of Ware, mentioned by Shakespeare among others....

It was in Hertfordshire, at Berkhamsted, that the English surrendered to William the Conqueror in 1066 - a turning point in the story of the kingdom. Ever since, the evolution of Hertfordshire has been influenced by the crown and capital. Proximity to London enabled its characteristic market towns...