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History of Hoddesdon
By Sue Garside |
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The name ‘Hoddesdon’ is probably derived from a Saxon or Danish personal name – Hodd, Hodda, Oddo, or even Hogge. The suffix ‘don’ is Old English for a down or a hill, and so the name could refer to a holding on the higher land beyond the marshy Lea valley bottom. |
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The pre-Roman peoples in the area left few traces of their presence. Of the Romans, no evidence has been found of any sizeable settlement, but Roman pottery has been found in several sites, indicating some habitation, possibly farmsteads. The Roman road, Ermine Street, to the west of what was to be Hoddesdon, ran north from London to Lincoln and York. |
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As the Roman Empire declined, Anglo-Saxon peoples came to dominate. Their way of life was generally simpler, and only a few artefacts have been found locally. Although Ermine Street was not maintained to Roman standards by the Saxons, it was still used; and it is by derivation of its Saxon name, from the personal name, Earn(a), that we know it today. |
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The Vikings started to raid Britain in about 800, and eventually the country was divided roughly diagonally from London to Chester, the eastern part being the Danelaw. The River Lea formed part of the boundary, so communities like Hoddesdon were in border country. It was not until the early 11th century that the country was united under one ruler. |
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Following the Conquest in 1066, land was re-distributed to the victors. The changes were detailed in the Domesday Book of 1086; and this gives the first written record of the name Hoddesdon. The manor of Hoddesdon itself was an outlier of Hatfield Broad Oak manor. After the Conquest it was owned jointly with the manor of Amwell, and this resulted in part of Hoddesdon being in the parish of Amwell while the rest was in the parish of Broxbourne – a situation which lasted until the 19th century. Hoddesdon had no parish church, but it did have a chapel dedicated to St. Katherine from the 14th century. This privately built chapel was also used as a place of worship for pilgrims to Walsingham. |
| The Chapel of St. Katherine c1800 |
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