Hertford Rural District was a rural district in Hertfordshire,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

from 1894 to 1974. It covered the rural area around the county town of Hertford, but did not include the town itself.

Evolution

The district had its origins in the Hertford Poor Law Union, which had been created in 1835. In 1872 rural sanitary districts were established, giving public health and local government responsibilities to the existing boards of guardians of poor law unions for any parts of their district which did not have an existing urban authority. The Hertford Rural Sanitary District therefore covered the area of the Hertford Poor Law Union except for Hertford itself, which was a

municipal borough Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...

. Under the

Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The Act followed the reforms carried out at county level un ...

, rural sanitary districts became rural districts with effect from 28 December 1894.

Parishes

Hertford Rural District contained the following parishes:

Premises

The council initially met at the Shire Hall in Hertford, as the predecessor rural sanitary authority had done. Administrative office functions were carried out at 24 Castle Street, which was the offices of the solicitors who acted as clerks to the council. By 1933 the council was using the adjoining house at 20 Castle Street as its offices. The council remained at 20 Castle Street until c.1950, when it moved to a large house called Wallfields on Pegs Lane. The council remained based at Wallfields until its abolition.

Abolition

Hertford Rural District was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972, becoming part of the new

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

East Hertfordshire East Hertfordshire is a local government district in Hertfordshire, England. Its council is based in Hertford, the county town of Hertfordshire. The largest town in the district is Bishop's Stortford, and the other main towns are Ware, Bunti ...

on 1 April 1974. The council's former offices at Wallfields were substantially extended to become the headquarters of

East Hertfordshire District Council East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

References

{{reflist History of Hertfordshire Districts of England abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 Local government in Hertfordshire