Kelshall is a small village in North East
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...
, England. It is near the town of
Royston. It has a village hall and the local church is St Faith's. Kelshall is also the name of the
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
. Kelshall also has a major road running along one of its boundaries.
In the 1880s the church was described as being "ancient, plain, and good, with a tower; and contains a few brasses and monuments".
The Kelshall Hoard
In April 2015, North Hertfordshire District Council announced that a Roman copper-alloy jug had been discovered in a field in Kelshall by a
metal detectorist
A metal detector is an instrument that detects the nearby presence of metal. Metal detectors are useful for finding metal objects on the surface, underground, and under water. The unit itself, consist of a control box, and an adjustable shaft, ...
in late 2014. A subsequent archaeological dig found a Roman grave, which contained a number of other
artefacts believed to date to between 205 and 215AD, including a silver
denarius
The denarius (, dēnāriī ) was the standard Roman silver coin from its introduction in the Second Punic War to the reign of Gordian III (AD 238–244), when it was gradually replaced by the antoninianus. It continued to be minted in very ...
of
Trajan
Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...
, three 2nd century copper-alloy coins, a quantity of
Roman glass
Roman glass objects have been recovered across the Roman empire, Roman Empire in domestic, industrial and funerary contexts. Glass was used primarily for the production of vessels, although mosaic tiles and window glass were also produced. Roman g ...
, including bottles, glasses and two polychrome dishes thought to have been made in
Roman Alexandria
The history of Alexandria dates back to the city's founding, by Alexander the Great, in 331 BC. Yet, before that, there were some big port cities just east of Alexandria, at the western edge of what is now Abu Qir Bay. The Canopic (westernmost) b ...
. In 2017, Ian Richardson, the treasure registrar for the
Portable Antiquities Scheme
The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) is a voluntary programme run by the United Kingdom government to record the increasing numbers of small finds of archaeological interest found by members of the public. The scheme begun in 1997 and now covers m ...
, judged the dishes to be amongst the five most significant finds of recent years.
The artefacts were bought by the North Hertfordshire Museum.
Governance
Kelshall has three tiers of local government at parish, district and county level: Kelshall Parish Meeting,
North Hertfordshire District Council
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north'' is ...
, and
Hertfordshire County Council
Hertfordshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Hertfordshire, in England, the United Kingdom. After the 2021 election, it consists of 78 councillors, and is controlled by the Conservative Party, ...
.
Kelshall is an
ancient parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority. ...
, and it was part of the
hundred
100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101.
In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...
of
Odsey
Odsey is a hamlet in Cambridgeshire close to the border with Hertfordshire and near the town of Baldock. It contains a hotel and has a main-line railway station ( Ashwell and Morden) which services the three closest villages: Ashwell, Steeple ...
. Kelshall was included in the
Royston Poor Law Union from 1835. 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 ...
created
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
and district councils. Kelshall was included in
Ashwell Rural District
Ashwell 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 a ...
from 28 December 1894. Despite the name, Ashwell Rural District Council was based in the town of Royston. Kelshall's population was too small to be given a parish council, and so the Kelshall
Parish Meeting
A parish meeting, in England, is a meeting to which all the electors in a civil parish are entitled to attend.
In some cases, where a parish or group of parishes has fewer than 200 electors, the parish meeting can take on the role of a parish cou ...
was established on 4 December 1894 to take over the secular functions of the parish
vestry
A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...
. Ashwell Rural District was abolished in 1935, becoming part of
Hitchin Rural District
Hitchin Rural District was a rural district in Hertfordshire, England from 1894 to 1974, covering an area in the north of the county.
Evolution
The district had its origins in the Hitchin Rural Sanitary District. This had been created unde ...
, which in turn was abolished in 1974, becoming part of
North Hertfordshire
North Hertfordshire is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Hertfordshire, England. Its council is based in Letchworth.
The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the amalgamation of the Urban district (Great Britain and Ir ...
.
Economy
![Economic activity in Kelshall](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Economic_activity_in_Kelshall.png)
According to the 2011 Census, there are 87 economically active people in Kelshall, aged between 16–74. Only 22.3% of the total population is made up of full-time employees. There are 24 retired people, which make up 19.8% of the population.
According to the 2011 Census, 44 of the economically active people are males. 43 of these are female. "The rate of unemployment in Kelshall is both lower than the average for Hertfordshire and lower than the national average, suggesting that finding a job in this area may be easier than other places"
Industry
The number of people in Kelshall that are in manufacturing is 9, (10.8%), compared to 1 person working in Real Estate Activities (1.2%) and 5 people working in Financial and Insurance Activities (6.0). There are many different industries in Kelshall, "The parish is mainly agricultural, the chief crops being wheat, oats and roots, and only a small proportion of the land is laid down to pasture".
Travel
There are many key destinations that are accessible from Kelshall, using their local bus service, these are Royston, Hitchin and Letchworth. "The village lies about 2 miles to the south of the Icknield way, with which it is connected by roads leading north, joining in the village and thence going to Therfield and the Ermine Street at Buckland". There is also a road that leads to Buckland and this is where the main part of the village is actually situated.
Population
![Kelshall population time series 1801-1961](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Kelshall_population_time_series_1801-1961.png)
The population of Kelshall, on average, is actually older than the average age of Hertfordshire, also "The population of Kelshall as a whole, is older than the national average"
As the graph shows, the population had increased from 1801 when it was 179 to the year 1851 when it was 326 and this was the peak population of Kelshall within this time period. From this year it then slowly decreased and the lowest the population stood at was 122 in 1961.
According to the 2001 census, the population stood at 151. 79 of these people were married and that was their first marriage. 43 people were single and had never been married, while 9 people had been remarried. The 2011 census shows a population of 163.
Religion
As the graph shows, in 2001 there were 124 Christians in Kelshall. This group of people made up 82% of the population. This then decreased in 2011 as the number of Christians then was only 119, representing 73% of the population. From 2001–11 the number of Muslims increased from 0–2 and the number of non-religious people also experienced some change. In 2001 this number stood at 17, this means that this group of people made up 11% of the population at the time. This then increased in 2011 to 28 people, which was then 17% of the population.
File:Religious identity, 2001.png, Numbers of people belonging to various religions, 2001
File:Religious identity, 2011.png, Numbers of people belonging to various religions, 2011
St. Faith's Church
St.Faith's Church was restored thoroughly from 1868–70. It is situated on the edge of the village and the ceilings are painted in a medieval style, which was done recently. The south door is also described as being "contemporary".
"Several small ponds lie on the east of the church, and from the formation of the ground it appears probable that there was once a moat here".
References
External links
Kelshall Parish
{{authority control
Villages in Hertfordshire
Civil parishes in Hertfordshire
Roman sites in Hertfordshire