Hoddesdon in 1838
Hoddesdon is a hamlet chiefly in the parish of Broxbourn, in the hundred of Hertford, 17 miles from London, on the North road, through Ware and Royston. The population in 1831 was 1,990 ; the area is 2,650 acres. The town consists chiefly of two long streets. The ancient market-house, a wooden edifice supported on arches and pillars curiously carved, is in the middle of the town, and near it is a conduit by which the town’s people are supplied with water. There is a chapel, a square brick building. The site of a more ancient chapel is marked by a building called the clock-house. There are two Dissenting meeting-houses. The market, which is on Thursday, has much declined ; there is one yearly fair.
The chief business of the town is malting : there is a cotton-mill in the neighbourhood. There are some almshouses. The living of Broxbourn, of which the chapelry is a dependency, is in the deanery of Braughing, the archdeaconry of Middlesex, and the diocese of London, of the yearly value of £361, with a glebe-house : the yearly value of the chapelry of Hoddesdon is £54. The church is a large church of perpendicular character, with some elegant chapels, and ancient monuments and font. There were in that part of Hoddesdon hamlet which is in Broxbourn parish, in 1833, seven day-schools with 117 children, two national schools with 142 children, and one Sunday-school with 90 children.
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