Digswell. Harmer Green

Colin Wilson

Detail from 1898 OS 25" map XXVIII.4. Unsurprisingly the almshouses are not shown, but note the small size of the settlement so the buildings were probably in this area.
Courtesy of Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies

The settlement of Harmer Green is part of the parish of Digswell. It is a little to the north east of Digswell, and east of Welwyn. According to the Parliamentary Returns of 1786, three small tenements were inhabited by three poor families rent free. Maybe they weren’t almshouses as such, but the words ‘rent free’ suggest they could come into that category. This was a year after Earl Cowper purchased the manor of Digswell.

Certain tenements and land were held by the parish under a gift of an unknown donor. These buildings are not mentioned by Chauncy, Clutterbuck or Cussans.

Location

No  information has been found about the site of the almshouses, but the centre of Harmer Green is:
Georef:  535378 216029
Grid ref: 51o 49’ 44”N  0o 16’ 56”W

References

The Victoria County History of the County of Hertford ed. William Page
Vol 3  p85
(part of Victoria County History of the Counties of England ed. H Arthur Doubleday)
Issued Archibald Constable & Co 1912. Reprint by Dawsons of Pall Mall 1971 ISBN 0 7129 0477 8
This publication been digitised by British History Online (BHO) and is available online at https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/herts/vol3/pp81-85

Document stored at HALS

DP/34/8/1 (on mf 334) is the Vestry book 1732 – 1794, including Election of officers and passing of accounts only; overseers’ accounts in detail from 1782

This page was added on 23/07/2019.

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