Article originally published in the physical edition of The House magazine.
The beautiful Chilterns landscapes I represent are home to a number of chalk streams, including the Mimram, Hiz, Purwell and Oughton which all rise in Hitchin & Harpenden – chalk streams are a common thread, tying our historic communities together.
The Hiz runs through the centre of Hitchin – on its banks, the market that put Hitchin on the map still operates today. As does beautiful St. Mary’s Church, a former Minster and the largest Parish Church in Hertfordshire - appropriate for a town believed to have hosted the first meeting of representatives of the Churches of Anglo-Saxon England.
Local legend tells that St. Mary’s was the Hitchin church founded by the Mercian King Offa. Indeed, the village of Pirton, site of rare chalk meadows and another chalk stream, saw the King’s rise to power; before his eventual death in Offley (to which Offa gave his name). Offa’s name remains in a local Council ward and in the title of my constituency predecessor, Lord Lilley of Offa.
Near to the source of the Mimram, St. Paul’s Walden has another royal connection, being the family home of The Queen Mother. It sits at the start of the Mimram Valley – the most easterly valley in the Chilterns Hills.
Another chalk stream, the River Lea, flows through Harpenden and Wheathampstead. The Lea was an historic boundary line notably separating the Danelaw from England. In Wheathampstead it runs not far from the earthworks at Devil’s Dyke, which once defended the capital of the Catuvellauni tribe (but weren’t quite enough to withstand a siege by the armies of Julius Caesar).
Through our rare and threatened chalk streams, you can tell the story of our communities in Hitchin & Harpenden – a rare, vibrant and unique resource, both our chalk streams and our communities are well worth a visit.
