HEMEL HEMPSTEAD  , a

market-town and municipal borough in the Watford parliamentary division of Hertfordshire, England, 25 M . N.W. from London, with a station on a branch of the Midland railway from Harpenden, and near Boxmoor station on the London. and North Western main line . Pop . (1891) 9678; (1901) 11,264 . It is pleasantly situated in the steep-sided valley of the river Gade, immediately above its junction with the Bulbourne, near the Grand Junction canal . The church of St Mary is a very fine Norman building with Decorated additions . Industries include the manufacture of paper, iron founding, brewing and tanning . Boxmoor, within the parish, is a considerable township of modern growth . Hemel Hempstead is governed by a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors . Area, 7184 acres . Settlements in the neighbourhood of Hemel Hempstead (Hamalamstede, Hemel Hampsted) date from pre-Roman times, and a Roman villa has been discovered at Boxmoor . The manor, royal demesne in so86, was granted by Edmund Plantagenet in 1285 to the house of Ashridge, and the town developed under monastic protection .

In 1539 a

charter incorporated the bailiff and inhabitants . A mayor, aldermen and councillors received governing power by a charter of 1898 . The town has never had parliamentary representation . A market on Thursday and a fair on the feast of Corpus Christi were conferred in 1539 . A statute fair, for long a hiring fair, originated in 1803 .