A Town With a Story to Tell
Hitchin is one of Hertfordshire’s most historic market towns, sitting in a gentle valley carved by the River Hiz, roughly 34 miles north of London and 16 miles south of Cambridge. With a settled history stretching back more than a thousand years, the town has accumulated a remarkable layering of architecture, tradition, and character that makes it unlike almost anywhere else in the region.
Ancient Origins
The town’s name is believed to derive from the Hicce, a Saxon tribe who settled in the Hiz valley in the early medieval period, though the area had been inhabited long before their arrival. Iron Age earthworks and Roman artefacts have been discovered nearby, suggesting continuous human activity for thousands of years. By the time of the Domesday Book in 1086, Hitchin was already a well-established community with a church, a mill, and a market.
The Medieval Market Town
Hitchin’s market — one of its most enduring features — is recorded as far back as the 12th century and received its royal charter in the 13th century. On Tuesdays and Saturdays, the broad market square at the heart of the town still fills with traders, much as it has done for eight centuries. This longevity speaks to the town’s historic role as a centre of commerce for the surrounding villages and farmland.
The magnificent Church of St Mary the Virgin dominates the market town’s skyline and is one of the largest parish churches in Hertfordshire. The current building dates primarily from the 14th and 15th centuries, though a church on this site predates the Norman Conquest. Its soaring flint-and-stone exterior, carved misericords, and richly decorated interior reflect the prosperity Hitchin enjoyed during the wool trade.
The Priory and Religious Heritage
Founded in 1317, Hitchin Priory was a Carmelite friary that stood on the banks of the River Hiz. It was dissolved during Henry VIII’s reformation in the 16th century, and the buildings were subsequently converted into a private house — parts of which survive to this day as a wedding venue and event space. The Priory grounds and the river meadows around them remain one of the town’s most tranquil corners.
Quaker Roots and Social Reform
Hitchin has a quietly distinguished Nonconformist tradition. The town was home to a significant Quaker community from the late 17th century, and the Hitchin Quaker Meeting House on Paynes Park, built in 1844, remains an active place of worship. This culture of independent thinking and social conscience found expression in the British Schools on Queen Street — one of the best-preserved Lancasterian schoolrooms in England, now home to the British Schools Museum, which tells the story of education for working-class children from the early 19th century.
The Railways and Victorian Growth
The arrival of the Great Northern Railway in 1850 transformed Hitchin. The town became a junction station on the main line north from London, and for a period it was the point at which trains diverged towards Cambridge and Peterborough. The railway brought prosperity, population growth, and a wave of Victorian civic building — the handsome town hall, the corn exchange, and the terraced streets that still define much of the residential town.
Lavender Country
The chalk hills and valleys around Hitchin were once famous throughout England for lavender cultivation. From the 17th century through to the mid-20th century, local distilleries produced lavender oil and water that was sold across Britain and exported worldwide. Although large-scale commercial production has long since ceased, the tradition lives on at Hitchin Lavender at Cadwell Farm, near Ickleford, where visitors can pick their own lavender each summer — a deeply popular local institution.
The Twentieth Century
Hitchin weathered both World Wars with resilience. The town’s position in rural Hertfordshire made it a reception area for evacuees from London during the Blitz, and its industries — including engineering and pharmaceuticals — contributed to the war effort. The post-war decades brought further growth and the development of new residential areas, though the historic town centre was largely protected from the kind of wholesale demolition that scarred many English market towns in the 1960s and 70s.
Hitchin Today
Today Hitchin is a thriving community of around 40,000 people, consistently rated among the best places to live in the East of England. Its independent high street — with its bakers, bookshops, record stores, and restaurants — is a point of fierce local pride. The twice-weekly market continues, St Mary’s still holds services, and the Priory hosts weddings and events. The town retains a strong sense of its own identity, and the spirit of community that has always defined Hitchin is as lively as ever.
We Love Hitchin is proud to be part of that tradition — telling the town’s stories, celebrating its people, and keeping the community connected.