Welwyn is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in Hertfordshire, England. The parish also includes the villages of Digswell and Oaklands. It is sometimes referred to as Old Welwyn or Welwyn Village, to distinguish it from the much newer and larger settlement of

Welwyn Garden City Welwyn Garden City ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London. It was the second garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first new towns (designated 1948). It is unique in being both a garden city and a new town and ...

, about a mile to the south.

Etymology

The name is derived from Old English ''welig'' meaning "willow", referring to the trees that nestle on the banks of the River

Mimram The River Mimram is a river in Hertfordshire, England. Geography The river valley known locally as the Mimram Valley is named after the River Mimram, which rises from a spring to the north-west of Whitwell, in North Hertfordshire, England, an ...

as it flows through the village. The name itself is an evolution from ''weligun'', the dative form of the word, and so is more precisely translated as "at the willows", unlike nearby Willian which is likely to mean simply "the willows". Through having its name derived from ''welig'' rather than ''sealh'' (the more commonly cited Old English word for ''willow''), ''Welwyn'' is possibly cognate with '' Heligan'' in Cornwall whose name is derived from ''helygen'', the Cornish word for ''willow'' that shares a root with ''welig''. The nearby modern village of Digswell (around Welwyn North railway station) was originally called 'High Welwyn' when first developed at the beginning of the 20th century.

History

Situated in the valley of the

River Mimram The River Mimram is a river in Hertfordshire, England. Geography The river valley known locally as the Mimram Valley is named after the River Mimram, which rises from a spring to the north-west of Whitwell, in North Hertfordshire, England, a ...

, Welwyn has hosted human activity since the

Palaeolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος '' lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone to ...

with stone tools from that era having been found alongside the river and further inland across the area. Settlement across the area seems to have become established during the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

according to various recovered artefacts and crop marks left by

round barrows A round barrow is a type of tumulus and is one of the most common types of archaeological monuments. Although concentrated in Europe, they are found in many parts of the world, probably because of their simple construction and universal purpose. ...

and

burial mounds A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones built ...

from that period.

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

remnants have not been detected until the Late Iron Age, with various local chieftain burials dated to the 1st Century BC gaining national prominence. The Belgae Celtic culture colonised much of South-Eastern England in the 1st century BC, with Welwyn in the area believed to have been settled by the

Catuvellauni The Catuvellauni (Common Brittonic: *''Catu-wellaunī'', "war-chiefs") were a Celtic tribe or state of southeastern Britain before the Roman conquest, attested by inscriptions into the 4th century. The fortunes of the Catuvellauni and their ...

tribe. Following the Roman invasion, Welwyn was settled by the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

. The area was marshy, and the settlement of Welwyn was a known fording point across the river since at least Roman times when the Roman road through the village was laid out, leading to the establishment of the settlement around the road and the ford. Many Roman artifacts have been found in and around the village, including the remains of several Roman villas close by. The Welwyn Roman Baths (the remains of a third-century

Roman bath house Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

) have been preserved and are open to the public. One particular excavation revealed a large Roman cemetery very close to the site of the current church, which itself is known to date back to at least Saxon times (see below). The church lies directly alongside the route of the Roman road. The archaeological record in Welwyn is nearly continuous from the late Iron Age (Celtic) through to recorded times, lacking proof of occupation only in the early Anglo-Saxon period. It is therefore likely that Welwyn has been continuously occupied for over 2000 years. Welwyn was at the heart of the territory of the Anglo-Saxon ''

Tewingas The ''Tewingas'' were a tribe or clan of Anglo-Saxon England, whose territory was centred on the settlement of Welwyn in modern-day Hertfordshire, the site of an early Minster church, and the nearby settlement of Tewin. Its name means either "the ...

'' tribe and was the site of an early

minster church Minster is an honorific title given to particular churches in England, most notably York Minster in Yorkshire, Westminster Abbey in London and Southwell Minster in Nottinghamshire. The term ''minster'' is first found in royal foundation charte ...

. In 1990, a proposal was made to rename the village as "Welwyn Minster" to shake off the unpopular "Old" name. The massacre on St. Brice's day on 13 November 1002, when the Saxons turned on their newly settled Danish neighbours, is said to have commenced near Welwyn. A

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

church was built on the site of the Saxon church about 1190. The

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

of the present church (St Mary's), was built in the 13th century, the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

arch being the most obvious early structure. There are two

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

corbels at the east end of the south aisle. Patronage of the church passed through several hands until in 1549 it was sold to the Wilshere family, who lived at

The Frythe ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

until relatively recently. Much later, in the 17th century, as it lies on the old Great North Road, it became an important

staging post A stage station or relay station, also known as a staging post, a posting station, or a stage stop, is a place where exhausted horses could be replaced by fresh animals, since a long journey was much faster without delays when horses needed rest ...

and a number of coaching inns remain as

public houses A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

. After the Great Northern Railway by-passed the village due to the objections of local landowners, Welwyn became less important. Having previously been seen as a town on par with Hatfield and Stevenage, it gradually was seen as a village. The 20th century brought major expansion to the area, as estates to the south, west and north of the village were built up.

Historical descriptions

Despite this long history, at the beginning of the 20th century Welwyn was regarded as a sleepy backwater. One writer wrote that ''Welwyn, a small town in the Maran Valley, can show little of interest beyond many quaint cottages, and the church''. In 1870–1872, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Welwyn thus: A fuller history is given in William Page's ''A History of the County of Hertford'' in the

Victoria History of the Counties of England The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History or the VCH, is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of En ...

series.

Transport

Welwyn was noted for its congestion since the beginning of the 20th century, but in 1927 it got what is claimed to be the first

by-pass Bypass may refer to: * Bypass (road), a road that avoids a built-up area (not to be confused with passing lane) * Flood bypass of a river Science and technology Medicine * Bypass surgery, a class of surgeries including for example: ** Heart byp ...

in Britain. The A1 was upgraded to motorway standards north of Welwyn in the 1960s, and in 1973 the motorway was extended south past the village, by-passing the existing by-pass. Today the village is the point where the six-lane motorway merges into four lanes and is the site of extensive traffic jams in the evening peak. There had been extensive plans to widen the whole road through the area to eight lanes, and to upgrade the existing junction to create a long one-way system running the length of the village. These plans were shelved, but recently plans to provide a climbing lane at least on the section north of the village have been discussed. Buses are provided by Arriva Shires & Essex and Centrebus, with some assistance from

Hertfordshire County Council Hertfordshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Hertfordshire, in England, the United Kingdom. After the 2021 election, it consists of 78 councillors, and is controlled by the Conservative Party, ...

. Arriva's 300/301 Centraline service links Welwyn and Oaklands to the nearby towns of Stevenage,

, Hatfield, St Albans and

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500. Developed after the Second World War as a new ...

, as well as neighbouring villages

Woolmer Green Woolmer Green is a small village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England. The 2011 census figure for the population (from the Office for National Statistics) is 661 people. History Situated between the villages of Welwyn and Knebworth, Wool ...

and

Knebworth Knebworth is a village and civil parish in the north of Hertfordshire, England, immediately south of Stevenage. The civil parish covers an area between the villages of Datchworth, Woolmer Green, Codicote, Kimpton, Whitwell, St Paul's Walden ...

. The 301 additionally connects both the nearby hospitals in Stevenage and Welwyn Garden City, while the 300 provides a direct link to recreational areas such as Stanborough Lakes in Welwyn Garden City and

Verulamium Verulamium was a town in Roman Britain. It was sited southwest of the modern city of St Albans in Hertfordshire, England. A large portion of the Roman city remains unexcavated, being now park and agricultural land, though much has been built upon ...

Roman town in St Albans. Buses run every 15 minutes Monday–Friday, every 20 minutes Saturday, and hourly on Sunday. Additional bi-hourly service 314 is provided by Centrebus, connecting Welwyn to

Codicote Codicote is a large village, and civil parish about south of Hitchin in Hertfordshire, England. It has timber-framed and chequered brick houses, of special interest being the 18th-century Pond House and the half-timbered Taverners Place (form ...

and Hitchin. Green Line route 797 used to stop on the by-pass, providing an hourly direct link to areas of

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire. The term ''nor ...

and the West End, however, the service ceased in September 2016. The nearest railway station to Welwyn Village is

Welwyn North Welwyn North railway station serves the villages of Digswell and Welwyn in Hertfordshire, England. The station is located north of London King's Cross railway station, London King's Cross, on the East Coast Main Line. Train services are curren ...

in the nearby village of Digswell, about a mile east from the village, while Knebworth station, one stop nearer Stevenage, is easier for residents of Oaklands to access. Trains are operated by Great Northern and run every 30 minutes Monday to Saturday south to London King's Cross and north to Hitchin and Stevenage, with an hourly service to

Letchworth Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2011 census was 33,249. Letchworth ...

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

and to

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

. On Sundays an hourly service operates from London to Cambridge only. There is no bus link to Welwyn North station, although buses do link to nearby Welwyn Garden City station and Knebworth station.

Education

There are two state schools in Welwyn and one independent school. The larger state school is Welwyn St. Mary's

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

Primary School, situated off London Road which takes children aged between 4 and 11 years of age (Reception to Year 6). Originally built in 1940 as a secondary school, the school was later converted to a primary school. The second is Oaklands Primary School, which incorporates Acorns Preschool and Playgroup. There is also Tenterfield Nursery School which is situated on London Road close to the primary school. It takes children aged 3 to 4 years of age. Secondary state education is provided through schools in nearby towns, such as Monks Walk School and Stanborough School, in Welwyn Garden city. There is an independent all-ages (nursery through to sixth form) coeducational school on the eastern outskirts of Welwyn called Sherrardswood School.

Sports

There are a tennis club, a sports and social club, a bowls club, a football club, and a cricket pitch in the village. These last two are part of

-based clubs.

Local points of interest

In the fields surrounding the nearby Danesbury House, now converted into accommodation, is a previously dilapidated and neglected former fernery which has been reinstated to its former glor

designed by Anthony Parsons (then gardener for the Danesbury Estate) and constructed in a small chalk pit in the grounds of Danesbury Park by the younger James Pulham and Son, James Pulham in 1859. In its day it was well admired, with one W. Robinson (writing in "The English Flower Garden", published in 1883), stating that "In the

Home Counties The home counties are the counties of England that surround London. The counties are not precisely defined but Buckinghamshire and Surrey are usually included in definitions and Berkshire, Essex, Hertfordshire and Kent are also often included ...

there is probably not a better fernery than at Danesbury." On the outskirts of Welwyn are the remains of a 3rd-century Roman bath-house, which was once part of the Dicket Mead villa. Local archaeologist Tony Rook discovered the villa and bath-house in the 1960s and excavated them with a team of archaeologists and volunteers from Welwyn Archaeological Society. The remains of the bath-house are now preserved in a vault under the A1 motorway. The site is now run by Welwyn Hatfield Museum Service and is sometimes opened to the public.

is a Victorian mansion set in grounds just south of the village. It was privately occupied until 1934, then run as a hotel until the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. During the war, it was the home of Station IX, a

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

(SOE) factory designing and building weapons and tools for SOE activities in occupied Europe. After the war, it became a commercial research facility for first Unilever and then

Smith, Kline & French Smith, Kline & French (SKF) was an American pharmaceutical company. History In 1830, John K. Smith opened a drugstore in Philadelphia, and his younger brother, George, joined him in 1841 to form John K Smith & Co. In 1865, Mahlon Kline joined '' ...

. GlaxoSmithKline, its successor company, wound down the site and sold it in 2010 for residential property development. Between 1928 and 1951

Welwyn Studios Welwyn Studios was a British film studio located at Broadwater Road, Welwyn Garden City, in Hertfordshire. The facility operated between 1928 and 1950. The studios were first constructed by British Instructional Films, and converted to make sou ...

was active, mainly providing supporting features. However, like Welwyn Components (another apparently eponymous business), Welwyn Studios was located in Welwyn Garden City.

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

walked from London to visit his sister while she was staying in Welwyn; this is commemorated by a blue plaque on a building on Church Street.

Twinning

Welwyn is twinned with the village of Champagne-sur-Oise in the ''département'' of

Val-d'Oise Val-d'Oise (, "Vale of the Oise") is a department in the Île-de-France region, Northern France. It was created in 1968 following the split of the Seine-et-Oise department. In 2019, Val-d'Oise had a population of 1,249,674.

, just north of Paris. The connection is organised in Welwyn by the Welwyn Anglo-French Twinning Association (WAFTA). The twinning arrangement was entered into in 1973, as a result of a visit to Champagne-sur-Oise by the headmaster and pupils of St Mary's School, Welwyn, setting up a cultural association which has continued since then. Coincidentally, Champagne-sur-Oise is only about twenty miles from the

River Marne The Marne () is a river in France, an eastern tributary of the Seine in the area east and southeast of Paris. It is long. The river gave its name to the departments of Haute-Marne, Marne, Seine-et-Marne, and Val-de-Marne. The Marne starts in ...

, whose name is said to be the origin of the alternative name of Welwyn's

river – the Maran. This connection was brought about by a migration of the Catalauni, the Belgic tribe from the Champagne region of France, into England stretching north of the Thames from London, where the tribe was known as the

. In that respect, WAFTA claims to have resurrected a twinning link first forged nearly 2,000 years ago.

Notable people

* Gabriel Towerson (c. 1635–1697), theologian, was Rector of Welwyn from 1662 until his death. *

Edward Young Edward Young (c. 3 July 1683 – 5 April 1765) was an English poet, best remembered for ''Night-Thoughts'', a series of philosophical writings in blank verse, reflecting his state of mind following several bereavements. It was one of the mos ...

(1683–1765), poet, philosopher and theologian, author of ''

Night-Thoughts ''The Complaint: or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality'', better known simply as ''Night-Thoughts'', is a long poem by Edward Young published in nine parts (or "nights") between 1742 and 1745. It was illustrated with notable engrav ...

'', was a later Rector of Welwyn. *

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

(1774–1852), an economist, leased St John's Lodge, Welwyn, with a park of 130 acres, in 1819 and bought it in 1824, changing the name to Danesbury.The National Archives, ''Estate and family papers of the Blake family of Danesbury, Welwyn, 1776–1924.''
/ref> He was

High Sheriff of Hertfordshire The High Sheriff of Hertfordshire was an ancient Sheriff title originating in the time of the Angles, not long after the foundation of the Kingdom of England, which was in existence for around a thousand years. On 1 April 1974, under the provisio ...

in 1836. *

William Wilshere William Wilshere (1806 – 10 November 1867) was a British Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1837 to 1847. Life He was the son of Thomas Wilshere of The Frythe and his wife Lora, daughter of Charles Beaumont of Houghton, H ...

(1806–1867), a Whig politician, lived at The Frythe, near Welwyn, and in 1846 built a Gothic revival country house. * Sir Arthur Davidson (1856–1922), equerry, grew up in Welwyn. *

Basil Sanderson, 1st Baron Sanderson of Ayot Basil Sanderson, 1st Baron Sanderson of Ayot, MC (19 June 1894 – 15 August 1971), was a British businessman and public servant. Early life Basil Sanderson was born on 19 June 1894. His father, Harold Arthur Sanderson, was the general manager ...

(1894–1971) lived at Welwyn and took his title from Ayot, in the parish. *

Eileen Soper Eileen Alice Soper (26 March 1905 – 18 March 1990) was an English etcher and illustrator of children's and wildlife books. She produced a series of etchings, mainly of children playing, and illustrated books for other writers, notably for Enid B ...

(1905–1990), illustrator, and her sister Eva Soper, also an artist, moved into Wildings, Harmer Green, Welwyn, in 1908, when it was built by their father, the artist George Soper, and lived there for the whole of their lives. * Alan Stewart Orr (1911–1991), barrister and Lord Justice of Appeal, lived at Harmer Green. * Sir Martin Gilliat (1913–1993), long-serving Private Secretary to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, lived at the Manor House, Welwyn."Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Martin Gilliat", obituary in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' dated 29 May 1993, p. 17 * Matthew Marsh (born 1968), racing driver, is a native of Welwyn. *

Rebecca Llewellyn Rebecca Llewellyn (born 5 October 1985) is a retired tennis player from Wales. In her career, she won one title in singles and seven in doubles on the ITF Women's Circuit. She reached career-high rankings of world No. 280 in singles and No. 30 ...

(born 1985), a tennis player, lives at Welwyn. * Simon Pearce (born 1986), historian and podcaster. *Major-General

Eric Miles Major-general (United Kingdom), Major-General Eric Grant Miles Order of the Bath, CB Distinguished Service Order, DSO Military Cross, MC (11 August 1891 – 3 November 1977) was a senior British Army Officer (armed forces), officer who saw activ ...

, British Army officer who served in both of the

World war A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

s, commanding the

56th (London) Infantry Division The 56th (London) Infantry Division was a Territorial Army infantry division of the British Army, which served under several different titles and designations. The division served in the trenches of the Western Front during the First World Wa ...

in the longest approach march in history.

References

External links

{{Authority control Welwyn Villages in Hertfordshire Civil parishes in Hertfordshire Welwyn Hatfield