Berkhamsted ( ) is a market town in Hertfordshire, England. Located in the Bulbourne Valley, it is north-west of London and had a population of 21,245 at the 2021 census. The town is a civil parish within the borough of Dacorum, which is based in the neighbouring large new town of Hemel Hempstead. Berkhamsted, along with the adjoining village of Northchurch, is surrounded by countryside and the Chiltern Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Berkhamsted was first mentioned in 970 AD and was recorded as a burbium (ancient borough) in the Domesday Book in 1086. A (now ruined) motte-and-bailey Norman castle was built shortly after the Norman Conquest and remained a royal possession and residence for four centuries. In the 13th and 14th centuries, the town was a wool trading centre, with a busy local market. The oldest-known extant jettied timber-framed building in Great Britain, built between 1277 and 1297, survives as a shop on the town's high street.
The town's literary connections include the 17th-century hymnist and poet William Cowper, the 18th-century writer Maria Edgeworth and the 20th-century novelist Graham Greene. Arts institutions in the town include The Rex (a well regarded independent cinema) and the British Film Institute's National Archive at King's Hill, which is one of the world's largest film and television archives. Schools in the town include Berkhamsted School, a co-educational boarding independent school (founded in 1541 by John Incent, Dean of St Paul's Cathedral); Ashlyns School, a state school, whose history began as the Foundling Hospital established in London by Thomas Coram in 1742; and Ashridge Executive Education, a business school offering degree courses, which occupies the Grade I listed neo-Gothic Ashridge House.
Toponymy
The earliest recorded spelling of the town's name is the 10th century Anglo-Saxon Beorhðanstædæ. The first part may have originated from either the Old English words beorg, meaning "hill", or berc or beorc, meaning "birch"; or from the older Old Celtic word Bearroc, meaning "hilly place". The latter part, "hamsted", derives from the Old English word for homestead. So the town's name could be either mean "homestead amongst the hills" or the "homestead among the birches".
Through history, spellings of the town's name have changed. Local historian Rev John Wolstenholme Cobb identified over 50 different versions of the town's name since the writing of the Domesday Book; these include "Berkstead", "Berkampsted", "Berkhampstead", "Muche Barkhamstede", "Berkhamsted Magna", "Great Berkhamsteed" and "Berkhamstead". In 1937, the name was changed by the local council from Great Berkhampstead to Berkhamsted. The town is known locally as "Berko".
History
Early history Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman artefacts show that the Berkhamsted area of the Bulbourne Valley has been settled for over 5,000 years.
A major iron production around Northchurch is considered to be one of the most important late Iron Age and Roman industrial areas in England; this led to the settlement of a Roman town at Cow Roast, about north-west of Berkhamsted. Other evidence of settlement includes a pottery kiln on Bridgewater Road. The town's high street still follows the line of the Roman-engineered Akeman Street, which had been a pre-existing route from St Albans (Verulamium) to Cirencester (Corinium).
During the Roman occupation, which lasted until 410 AD, the Berkhamsted area appears to have been divided into two or three farming estates, with villa buildings; remains of a villa were found close to the river. A Roman-British villa, dyke and temple were found away from the castle at Frithsden. Excavations in 1954 revealed masonry foundations and tesserae floors. Together, the villa, dyke and temple form a unique complex, suggesting occupation in the late Iron Age and Roman period.
The earliest written reference to Berkhamsted is in the will of Ælfgifu (died 970 CE), the wife of King Eadwig of England (r. 955–959), who bequeathed land including Berkhamsted. Rare Anglo-Saxon pottery dating from the 7th century and 9th century water mills demonstrate the existence of Anglo-Saxon settlement. The church may have been an important minster, which became part of the medieval manor of Berkhamsted after the Norman Conquest.. The church held various synods at Berkhamsted during the medieval period.Pijper, Frederik. "The Christian Church and Slavery in the Middle Ages." The American Historical Review, vol. 14, no. 4, 1909, pp. 675–95. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1837055. Accessed 1 January 2026.
By the 14th century, the adjoining village of "Berkhamsted St Mary" or "Berkhamsted Minor" had become "North Church", later "Northchurch". In 1070 at Berkhamsted, in the presence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, King William the Conqueror vowed to keep the ancient Saxon laws and set up local courts.Pearce, Robert R. A Guide to the Inns of Court And Chancery: With Notices of Their Ancient Discipline, Rules, Orders, And Customs, Readings, Moots, Masques, Revels, And Entertainments. London: Butterworths, 1855. p. 9. HathiTrust Retrieved 1 January 2026.
Middle Ages In the 13th and 14th centuries, the town was a wool trading centre, with a busy local market. The oldest-known extant jettied timber-framed building in Great Britain, built between 1277 and 1297, survives as a shop on the town's high street.
The Domesday survey records that there was enough land for 26 plough teams, but only 15 working teams. There were two flour mills, woodland for 1,000 pigs and a vineyard. The population was calculated at either 37 or 88 households.
From 1066 to 1495, Berkhamsted Castle, of which only ruins are extant, was a Norman motte-and-bailey castle. was a favoured residence of royalty and the nobility, including King Henry II, Edward the Black Prince, Thomas Becket and Geoffrey Chaucer. Radiocarbon dating indicates that it was probably built post-1066. The castle was a high-status residence and, an administrative centre, it contributed to the growth of the town.. In 1227, Richard of Cornwall, was given the castle,. redeveloped it as a palatial residence and the centre for the administration of the Earldom of Cornwall. In 1317, the castle was given to Edward II's Queen, Isabella of France.
Edward III gave the castle to his son, Edward, the Black Prince, under whom Berkhamsted become a centre of English longbow archery, making the longbow a decisive factor in the English victory at the Battle of Crécy. In 1400, Henry IV lived in the castle after he deposed Richard and, during this time, Geoffrey Chaucer – later famous for writing The Canterbury Tales – oversaw renovation work on the castle in his role as Clerk of Works at Berkhamsted. Henry V and Henry VI owned the castle; in 1469, Edward IV gave the castle to his mother, Cecily Neville, Duchess of York, who had a significant social and financial impact on the town and was the last person to live in the castle.
In 1833, the castle was the first building in the United Kingdom to receive statutory protection. The castle ruins are managed by the Berkhamsted Castle Trust, in partnership with English Heritage, for the Duchy of Cornwall, and are open to the public.
From the 12th to the 15th centuries, the town continued to develop separately on the old Akeman Street to the south of the castle and to the west of St Peter's Church. In 1156, Henry II officially recognised Berkhamsted as a town in a royal charter, which confirmed the conditions enjoyed under Edward the Confessor, and also decreed that no market could be set up within of the town.
The town became a trading centre on an important trade route in the 12th and 13th centuries, and received more royal charters. In 1216, Henry III relieved the men and merchants of the town from all tolls and taxes everywhere in England, and the growing wool trade brought prosperity to Berkhamsted from the 12th century until the early Tudor period.
In 1217, Henry III recognised Berkhamsted's market by royal charter. In the mid–13th century, the wealthy banker Abraham of Berkhamsted, financier to the Earl of Cornwall, lived in the town; this was unusual for a small town in a time of heightened persecution of Jews.
At this time, larger houses were built on the south side of the high street including 173 High Street, the oldest known extant jettied building in England). In 1307, Berkhamsted was a large town by English medieval standards, with an estimated population of 2,000 to 2,500. In the 14th century, Berkhamsted (recorded as "Berchamstede") was considered to be one of the "best" market towns in the country. In 1440, there is a reference to lime kilns.
The town benefited when Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall founded Ashridge Priory in 1283, away and within the castle's park. At the foundation of the abbey, the Earl donated a phial claimed to contain Christ's blood. Pilgrims from all over Europe passed through the town to see the holy relic; the abbey grew quite wealthy as a result. In the 15th century, the town was reaffirmed as a borough by a royal charter granted by Edward IV (1442–1483), which decreed that no other market town was to be set up within . In the 13th and 14th centuries, the town was a wool trading centre, with a busy local market. The oldest-known extant jettied timber-framed building in Great Britain, built between 1277 and 1297, survives as a shop on the town's high street.
In around 1583, a new market house was erected west of St Peter's Church, at the end of Middle Row (alternatively named Le Shopperowe or Graball Row); it was destroyed in a fire in 1854. In 1612, Berkhamsted Place was bought by Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales for £4,000. Henry died later that year and bequeathed the house to his brother Charles (later King Charles I). In 1618, James I reaffirmed Berkhamsted's borough status with a charter.
Following surveys in 1607 and 1612, the Duchy of Cornwall enclosed from the Common (now known as Coldharbour Farm), despite local opposition led by Rev Thomas Newman.
Born in Berkhamsted, Colonel Daniel Axtell (1622 – 19 October 1660), played an important part in the English Civil War and participated as in Pride's Purge of the Long Parliament (December 1648), arguably the only military coup d'état in English history. During Cromwell's Protectorate, he appropriated Berkhamsted Place. Shortly after the Restoration of the monarchy Axtell was hanged, drawn and quartered as a regicide. After the Restoration, the town lost its charter granted by James I and its borough status. The population of the town in 1640 and in the 1690s was estimated at 1075 and 767, respectively. The town was a centre of religious nonconformity from the 17th century: over a quarter of the population were Dissenters in the second half of the century.
Modern era With the coming of the Industrial Age, Berkhamsted became a gateway through the Chilterns, between the markets of London and the industrial Midlands; the town's population expanded again. In 1868, middle-class villas began to appear south of the High Street. In 1887, John Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles recorded the population at 4,485.
In the mid-18th century, wood milling and woodturning were the town's most prominent industries,