Lemsford is a village and
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 ...
in
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
Welwyn Garden City
Welwyn Garden City ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London. It was the second garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first new towns (designated 1948). It is unique in being both a garden city and a new town and ...
and
Hatfield and is in the Hatfield Villages Ward of the
Borough of Welwyn/Hatfield.
Lemsford Springs is a small nature reserve. Its lagoons are important for birds such as the
Green sandpiper
The green sandpiper (''Tringa ochropus'') is a small wader (shorebird) of the Old World.
The green sandpiper represents an ancient lineage of the genus ''Tringa''; its only close living relative is the solitary sandpiper (''T. solitaria''). They ...
.
The yearly Lemsford Fete garners thousands of visitors and is a traditional English country fete. Held at St. John's School and Church, activities include
maypole dancing
A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European folk festivals, around which a maypole dance often takes place.
The festivals may occur on 1 May or Pentecost (Whitsun), although in some countries it is instead erected at ...
, raffles and live music.
History
The parish was created in 1858 out of the parish of Bishop's Hatfield. However, the settlement is older.
Buildings of interest
Lemsford Mill
Lemsford Mill, which is
Grade II listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
, is a 19th-century structure on the
River Lea
The River Lea ( ) is in South East England. It originates in Bedfordshire, in the Chiltern Hills, and flows southeast through Hertfordshire, along the Essex border and into Greater London, to meet the River Thames at Bow Creek. It is one of t ...
. It probably occupies the site of one of four mills at Hatfield which were recorded in the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
in 1086. It is now the headquarters of Ramblers Holidays, having been refurbished to provide office accommodation. It features a
water wheel
A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or buckets ...
which generates electricity. The building was both regional and national winner of the British Council for Offices awards 2007 in the ‘small project’ category.
Brocket Hall and Lemsford church
In the 19th century when Lemsford became a separate parish,
Brocket Hall
Brocket Hall is a neo-classical country house set in a large park at the western side of the urban area of Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire, England. The estate is equipped with two golf courses and seven smaller listed buildings, apart fro ...
, which is on the edge of Lemsford, was part of the
Cowper estates.
The church was erected in 1859
as a memorial to the
sixth Earl Cowper. It is
Early English and
Decorated in style, with a good east window, the latter also dedicated to the memory of the earl. The tower (west) is lofty and embattled.
[
]
People from Lemsford
The society osteopath Stephen Ward
Stephen Thomas Ward (19 October 1912 – 3 August 1963) was an English osteopath and artist who was one of the central figures in the 1963 Profumo affair, a British political scandal which brought about the resignation of John Profumo, the Sec ...
, a significant figure in the Profumo affair
The Profumo affair was a major scandal in twentieth-century Politics of the United Kingdom, British politics. John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War in Harold Macmillan's Conservative Party (UK), Conservative government, had an extramar ...
of 1963, was born at Lemsford in 1912. His father was the vicar of Lemsford.
References
External links
Pictures of Lemsford
(A Guide to Old Hertfordshire)
Villages in Hertfordshire
Hydroelectricity in England
Watermills mentioned in the Domesday Book
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