Letchworth, Hertfordshire
Historical Description
Letchworth, a parish and a village in Herts, adjacent to the source of the river Hiz, and near Icknield Street, 2 miles from Hitchin railway station. Post town and money order and telegraph office, Hitchin. Acreage, 1131; population, 79. All the property, with the manor, belongs to the Alington family. An ancient camp, 7 acres in area, with steep sides, and with a rampart 5 feet high, is on the Wilbury Hills, and a tumulus is half a mile S of it. The living is a rectory in the diocese of St Albans; net yearly value, £260 with residence. The church, which dates from the end of the 13th century, is a small building of rubble and flint in the Perpendicular style. It has a memorial window and two ancient brasses. The manor house or Letchworth Hall is an ancient building of brick, erected in 1620. It is now occupied as a farmhouse.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Hertfordshire | |
Hundred | Broadwater | |
Poor Law union | Hitchin |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
Findmypast, in association with the Hertfordshire Archives & Local Studies have the Baptisms, Banns, Marriages, and Burials online for Letchworth
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Letchworth from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Letchworth)
Land and Property
A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Hertfordshire is online.
Maps
Online maps of Letchworth are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Hertfordshire newspapers online:
- Hertford Mercury and Reformer
- Herts Guardian, Agricultural Journal, and General Advertiser
- Watford Observer
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitations of Hertfordshire, 1572 and 1634. Edited by Walter C. Metcalfe, F.S.A. is available on the Heraldry page.