OS grid reference TL2308 Postcode district AL9 Local time Thursday 6:32 PM | Sovereign state United Kingdom | |
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Inside historic st etheldreda old hatfield hatfield house england
Old Hatfield, sometimes called Bishops Hatfield, is a historic village in Hertfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census the population was included in the town of Hatfield.
It grew up on the Great North Road , one days journey from London by horse or coach and once had many coaching inns. It was a convenient place for the Bishops of Ely to have a lodging, giving access to both the cathedral in Ely to the north and the capital to the south, and a Bishops palace grew up here adjacent to the village. This is the antecedent to Hatfield House, the wall of which abuts the village. The parish church of St Etheldreda's Church, Hatfield was named by the Bishops after their patron saint Æthelthryth .
A market was once held in Fore Street.
When Hatfield was developed as a new town after World War Two, Old Hatfield was deliberately left unspoilt by development and through traffic and so retains an historic feel.