Whitwell is a village in the parish of St Paul's Walden, in the

North Hertfordshire North Hertfordshire is one of ten local government districts in the county of Hertfordshire, England. Its council is based in Letchworth Garden City and the largest town is Hitchin. The district also includes the towns of Baldock and Royston ...

district of

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

, England. It lies south of

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district of Hertfordshire, England. The town dates from at least the 7th century. It lies in the valley of the River Hiz at the north-eastern end of the Chiltern Hills ...

, its

post town A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in t ...

. The built up area had an estimated population of 1,024 in 2022.

Geography

The village lies in the valley of the

River Mimram The River Mimram is a chalk stream in Hertfordshire, England. It runs from its source near Whitwell in Hertfordshire to join the River Lea at Hertford. Geography The River Mimram rises from a spring to the north-west of Whitwell, in North Her ...

, and is about above sea level. The soil is mostly clay with flints. It contains a number of early brick and

half-timbered houses Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs. If the struc ...

, several of which are of the 18th century. Waterhall Farm (an open farm and craft centre) is one of the village's attractions. The village was historically known for its

watercress Watercress or yellowcress (''Nasturtium officinale'') is a species of aquatic flowering plant in the cabbage family, Brassicaceae. Watercress is a rapidly growing perennial plant native to Eurasia. It is one of the oldest known leaf vegetabl ...

, grown in beds along the Mimram. St Paul's Walden Primary School is on Bendish Lane in Whitwell.

History

Roman coins Roman currency for most of Roman history consisted of gold, silver, bronze, orichalcum#Numismatics, orichalcum and copper coinage. From its introduction during the Roman Republic, Republic, in the third century BC, through Roman Empire, Imperial ...

have been found in Whitwell. Whitwell was once known for its ‘notorious seven’ public houses, but today only one remains; The Bull Inn. The most recent to close was The Maiden's Head in 2015, which is currently (2021) being developed as a private residence. There are over thirty listed buildings in the village. From 1926, a factory building on Hitchin Road on the east side of the village was home to engineering company C & A Roberts. The site remained until 2000, when it was demolished, and was eventually replaced by a street of houses named Roberts Court.

Governance

Whitwell forms part of the parish of St Paul's Walden. There are three tiers of local government covering St Paul's Walden, at

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

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, municip ...

, and

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

level: St Paul's Walden Parish Council,

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 council was created in 1889. It is responsible for a wide range of public services in the county, including social c ...

. The parish council meets in Whitwell, either at the village hall on Bendish Lane, known as the New Fellowship Hall, or at the pavilion at the recreation ground on Bradway.

Whitwell Players

Whitwell also has a thriving amateur dramatics society - The Whitwell Players. As far as it is possible to tell, there has been some form of am dram society in Whitwell for over a century, but The Whitwell Players, in its current guise, came into being in the 1980s. The players perform at least two or three times a year in Spring, Autumn and a Panto in December. As a result of their labours, many people have benefitted as the Players make donations to support local charities on a regular basis. Highlights include: the company's first Shakespearean production - A Midsummer Night's dream - in 2002, performed both in the village hall and in the open air at the stunning St Paul's Walden Bury gardens, as well as Much Ado About Nothing, Hobson's Choice, Allo, Allo, Blackadder, Calendar Girls, and See How They Run.

References

Villages in Hertfordshire {{Hertfordshire-geo-stub