Where to Stay in Hemel Hempstead, England

What is Hemel Hempstead known for?

St Mary's Church, Hemel Hempstead and the Charter Tower survive from the old settlement, and the High Street Green Roman barrow and the Romano-Celtic temple complex at Wood Lane End take the record back much further. Frogmore Paper Mill still stands, and Piccott's End Mill House marks a second milling site in the same district. Highfield Park gives the green. Watford, St Albans and Berkhamsted lie within easy reach.

What are the main landmarks in Hemel Hempstead?

St Mary's Church, Hemel Hempstead and the Charter Tower are the two survivals the old town is known by. Frogmore Paper Mill runs the industrial line, with Piccott's End Mill House and Piccotts End House marking the older hamlet. The Roman layer is real.

The High Street Green Roman barrow and the Romano-Celtic temple complex at Wood Lane End both lie in the district, and Old Gorhambury House and Gaddesden Hall carry the country-house side of the list. Highfield Park and the Pennine Way stadium round it off.

What is the history of Hemel Hempstead?

The Roman period left traces. The High Street Green Roman barrow and the Romano-Celtic temple complex at Wood Lane End sit in the ground around Hemel Hempstead, evidence of settlement long before the town had a name or a charter. St Mary's Church, Hemel Hempstead served the old parish, and the Charter Tower survives from the town that grew around it.

Milling came with the water. Frogmore Paper Mill and Piccott's End Mill House both worked the streams that run through Dacorum, and Piccotts End House stood in the hamlet that grew beside one of them. Hertfordshire grew around London.

Hemel Hempstead lies 39 km north-west of London, near enough to Watford, St Albans and Berkhamsted that it grew into a town of its own scale rather than a village on the way to somewhere. Houses from the older phases still stand between the newer streets: Old Marlowes House, Little Marlowes House, Greenend House, Bennett's End House and the Roughdown Villas. Churches followed the growth, the Church of Holy Trinity, the Church of St John the Evangelist and St Francis of Assisi among them.

Dacorum administers the town. Highfield Park, Gaddesden Hall and Old Gorhambury House survive from the landscape the streets were laid across.

Where is Hemel Hempstead?

Hertfordshire holds it. Hemel Hempstead stands in the Dacorum district, 39 km north-west of London, with Watford, St Albans and Berkhamsted as the nearest towns of any size. Streams cut through the built ground, and the mill sites at Frogmore Paper Mill and Piccott's End Mill House mark where the water was worth using.

Highfield Park keeps some of it green. Piccotts End sits at the edge.

What is the climate of Hemel Hempstead?

The valley holds the damp. Hemel Hempstead sits far enough from London to lose the worst of the city's warmth, and the low ground along its streams collects mist on cold mornings while the higher streets stay clear. Rain comes steadily through the Hertfordshire year rather than in bursts, and neither the summers nor the winters push far past what a coat can handle.

Frost sits in the hollows.

How do you get to Hemel Hempstead?

Hemel Hempstead sits 39 km north-west of London, and the roads carry most arrivals, with Watford, St Albans and Berkhamsted all close enough for a short run. London Road runs through it. Once inside the town, the old core around St Mary's Church and the Charter Tower is walkable, while Piccotts End, Highfield Park and the Pennine Way stadium sit far enough out to want wheels.

Dacorum starts at the edge.