page_title: Berkhamsted
section_title: Sites of interest
hierarchical_section_title: Berkhamsted / Sites of interest
caption_attribution_description: English: Berkhamsted Totem Pole
context_page_description: Berkhamsted is an historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, in the Bulbourne valley, 26 miles northwest of London. The town is a civil parish with a town council within the borough of Dacorum based in the neighbouring large new town of Hemel Hempstead. Berkhamsted and the adjoining village of Northchurch are surrounded by countryside, much of it in the Chiltern Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
  The High Street is on a pre-Roman route known by its Saxon name Akeman Street. The earliest written reference to Berkhamsted was in 970. The settlement was recorded as a burbium in the Domesday Book in 1086. The most notable event in the town's history occurred in December 1066. After William the Conqueror defeated King Harold's Anglo-Saxon army at the Battle of Hastings, the Anglo-Saxon leadership surrendered to the Norman encampment at Berkhamsted. The event was recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. From 1066 to 1495, Berkhamsted Castle was a favoured residence of royalty and notable historical figures, including Henry II, Edward, the Black Prince, Thomas Becket and Geoffrey Chaucer.
context_section_description: The majority of Berkhamsted's eighty-five listed or scheduled historical sites are on in the high street and the medieval core of the town (a significant number of them contain timber frames). Four are scheduled, one is Grade I, seven are Grade II*, the remaining 75 are Grade II. In addition to the sites noted in the article above (such as the castle and schools) the following structures and locations are of interest:
  173 High Street is a Victorian façade hiding what is considered to be the oldest extant jettied timber-framed building in Great Britain, dated by dendrochronology of structural timbers to between 1277 and 1297. The building was originally thought to have been a jeweller or goldsmith's shop with a workshop behind. It is now believed to have been a jettied service wing to a larger aisled hall house, which has since disappeared. It represents an early example of transition in carpentry technology, from the use of passing braces to crown posts. The 13th century origin of the structure was discovered by chance in 2000 by builders who had begun work on what appeared to be a Victorian property. The shop was, from 1869, Figg's the Chemists; post-restoration (with expertise and a £250,000 grant from English Heritage), the shop is currently used as an estate agency. Dr Simon Thurley, Chief Executive of English Heritage, said "This is an amazing discovery. It gives an extraordinary insight into how Berkhamsted High Street would have looked in medieval times."
  125 High Street, a house and shop opposite St Peter's Church, is a timber-framed building with a wing that is one bay of a 14th-century open hall. The layout suggests that it once had a second bay of similar size – a length of 26 feet (8 m) in all. This was an unusually large house; its size and central position suggests a manor house or other high status house, possibly supporting the castle. The building underwent extensive alterations in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.
  The Swan, 139 High Street, contains the remains of a medieval open hall. Parts of the roof date from the 14th century, and the street range was extended and a chimney stack added c. 1500. It sits on the ancient junction with the old Roman road of Akeman Street (High Street) and the main route between Berkhamsted and Windsor Castle (Chesham Road).
  Castle Street began life as the medieval lane from the town's high street to the drawbridge of the royal castle. At the other end of the lane was the parish church of St Peters. In the 16th century, next to the church, Berkhamsted school was founded, while in the 17th century there were seven public houses among the street's trade outlets.
  To the northwest of Berkhamsted stand the ruins of Marlin's Chapel, a 13th-century chapel next to a medieval fortified farm. The walls and moat surrounding the modern farm still remain and are reputed to be haunted.
  129 High Street is the Grade II* listed house known as Dean Incent's House. (John Incent, Dean of St Paul's, founded Berkhamsted School.) A 15th century half-timbered house, the interior has original exposed timber framing and several Tudor wall paintings. The building incorporates part of an even older structure and was used as public meeting place before the Court House was built. The house is not normally open to the public.
  The Court House, next to the church, dates from the 16th century, and is believed to lie on the site of the medieval court where the Portmote  or Borough Court was held.
  Sayer's Almshouses, were the legacy of John Sayer, chief cook to Charles II, at 235–241 High Street, comprise a single-storey row of almshouses built in 1684.
  The Bourne School, at 222 High Street, was the legacy by Thomas Bourne (1656–1729) (Master of the Company of Framework Knitters) to build a charity school in Berkhamsted for 20 boys and 10 girls. The front was rebuilt in 1854 in Jacobean-style red brick; it is not clear if any part of the building predates 1854. In 1875, the pupils were transferred to the National School and the funds used for scholarships.
  The site now occupied by the Pennyfarthing Hotel d
caption: The totem pole at Berkhamsted
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