IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Bell Lane, BERKHAMSTED, HP4 3RD

These half-timbered cottages, one with a jettied front, date from Tudor times. They appear idyllic, but this road was the busy arterial A41 until the Berkhamsted bypass was built, and although the road has now been downgraded to the A4251, the local traffic using it is still heavy. The tower of Image can be seen over the trees on the right.

Notice the red and yellow reflective panel attached to the timber framing as a warning to drivers of large vehicles. The upper storey doesn't quite overhang the carriageway, but it comes close. The High Street is no longer part of the A41 (as it was for much of the 20th century) - so the worst threat to the building's survival has probably passed.

Timber framed house in Northchurch.

Also known as church house. The building dates from C15 and C16. See http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-355476-84-96-high-street-northchurch-hertfordsh for entry in British Listed Buildings

View south from a point close to the parish church. The High Street follows the alignment of the Roman road known as Akeman Street, and was for many years part of the A41.

Grave of Peter the Wild Boy at St Mary's Northchurch. Peter was found living wild in Germany in the early 1700s. He was brought to Britain on the orders of King George I's daughter-in-law Caroline of Ansbach, the Princess of Wales. He ended his days near to his grave. For more information please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_the_Wild_Boy

There has been a place of Christian worship on this site since before the Norman Conquest in 1066, and some of the foundations are agreed to be Saxon, making the church one of the oldest in Hertfordshire. The bulk of the church dates from the 11th to the 14th centuries with the tower being built in the 15th century. The churchyard contains the tomb of Peter the Wild Boy, a supposedly feral youth who was discovered in a wood in Hanover in 1725, unable to speak or communicate. How he got to Northchurch can be discovered in the pages of the Church's fine website here http://www.stmarysnorthchurch.com/index.asp

The oldest part of the church are the south and west walls which are C10 in origin. The church was extended between C11 and C14 and the tower was added C15. In 1880's further additions were made.

View from the bridge next to Northchurch Lock, looking to the South East towards Berkhamsted.