is a town in
Hertfordshire ,
England , and has an estimated population of 30,360.
Hitchin is first noted as the site of a religious house founded by
Offa , King of
Mercia . The name comes from the
Hicce Anglo Saxon tribe who settled in northern
Hertfordshire and southern
Bedfordshire in the
6th Century . By
1086 Hitchin is described as a
Royal Manor in the
Domesday Book . Evidence has been found to suggest that
Offa had his capital here at some period, possibly on Windmill Hill. The modern name 'Hitchin' first appears in 1618 in a document called the
'Hertfordshire Feet Of Fines' .
In 1697, Hitchin (and the nearby village of Offley) were subject to what is thought to have been the most severe hailstorm in recorded UK history. Hailstones over 4 inches in diameter were reported.
The town flourished on the wool trade, and located on the
Icknield Way and by the
Seventeenth Century Hitchin was a staging post for coaches coming from
London . With the advent of the railways in the
Nineteenth Century , the town developed as a centre for the grain trade. By the close of the twentieth century, Hitchin had become a satellite dormitory town for London. Hitchin also developed a fairly strong
Sikh community based around the Walsworth area.
Hitchin is also the venue for the annual .
Hitchin is joined with the town of Harpenden to form a parliamentary constituency, (1970-83),
Shirley Williams (1964-70),
MFM Maddan (1955-64),
N T L Fisher (1950-55),
Maj. P A Jones (1945-50),
Lt Col Sir AT Wilson (1935-45),
Viscount Knebworth (1931-5) and
Guy Molesworth Kindersley (1924-??).
Hitchin is divided into five areas for the purposes of electing councillors to North Hertfordshire District Council: ,
Hitchin South and
Hitchin Rural . Hitchin tends to elect a mixture of primarily Labour councillors, followed by Conservative and Liberal Democrat councillors.
A famous connection to Hitchin is the American actor/comedian Bob Hope who died in 2003. Bob Hope was originally born in Eltham in England and emigrated to the USA in 1907 at the age of four. However, he maintained strong links with his family back in England and still has family in Hitchin. Indeed, Bob Hope "claimed to have inherited his sense of humour from his paternal grandfather from Hitchin"
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The conductor and founder of The
Promenade Concerts Henry Wood (Conductor) is buried in Hitchin at St. Mary's Church. He was taken to Hitchin Hospital on 16th
August 1944 and died there three days later.
Hitchin is
Twinned with:
