Walkern, Hertfordshire
Historical Description
Walkern, a parish, with a village, in Hertfordshire, on the river Beane, 5 miles E by N of Stevenage station on the main line of The G.N.R. It. has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Stevenage. Acreage, 2992; population, 849. There are a steam flour mill and a large brewery and mineral water works. Walkern Hall is a chief residence. There are remains of an ancient castle at Walkern Bury, a, hamlet 1 mile E. The manor belongs to the Earl of Essex. The living is a rectory in the diocese of St Albans; net value, £423 with residence. Patron, King's College, Cambridge. The church, which dates from about the year 1200, is a building of flint and stone chiefly in the Perpendicular style, but with some Norman portions, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, S porch, and an embattled western tower. The chancel was rebuilt in 1878. The church has some ancient brasses and an effigy of an armed knight. There are Baptist, Congregational, and Wesleyan chapels.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Hertfordshire | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Walkern St. Mary | |
Hundred | Broadwater | |
Poor Law union | Buntingford |
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 Walkern
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Walkern from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Walkern (St. Mary))
Land and Property
A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Hertfordshire is online.
Maps
Online maps of Walkern 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.