6 Old Ruins to Explore in Hertfordshire
Checkout places to visit in Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is one of the home counties in southern England. The county covers an area of 634 square miles. The county derives its name from a hart and a ford, used as the components of the county's coat of arms and of the flag. Hertfordshire County Council is based in Hertford, once the main market town.
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Old Ruins to Explore in Hertfordshire
A once immense mansion constructed in 1563-8 by the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, Sir Nicholas Bacon. A prolific builder, Sir Nicholas spent many years expanding and adapting the residence - the showpiece of which was undoubtedly an elaborate and expensive porch adorning the entrance. The house was built partly from bricks taken from the old Abbey buildings at St Albans, then in process of demolition following the Benedictine priory's dissolution some 25 years earlier.
Redbournbury Mill is a fully restored 18th century working watermill on the River Ver just north of St Albans. The mill produces and sells stoneground organic flour, with the adjacent bakery producing a variety of bread from the mill’s organic flours.
The Roman Theatre of Verulamium was built in about 140AD it is the only example of its kind in Britain, being a theatre with a stage rather than an Amphitheatre. Initially, the arena would have been used for anything from religious processions and dancing, to wrestling, armed combat and wild beast shows. The theatre differs from the typical Roman theatre in being built on a site that is only slightly sloping, and in its plan.
A large grotto, built by a Quaker poet in the 1760s and restored by the Ware society. It survives from an eighteenth-century rococo garden. It is a Grade I listed building and with six chambers the most extensive shell grotto in the United Kingdom. The grotto is set into the northeast face of a hill, and comprises an entrance hall and a series of six chambers extending over 65 feet into and 30 feet below the chalk hillside, together with air shafts, light wells, and connecting passages.
St Albans' Clock Tower is the only surviving medieval town belfry in England and is designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. the tower had a mechanical clock, which would have been a very rare and expensive piece of machinery at the time. The Clock Tower is 19.6 metres (64 ft) high, and has 5 floors including the roof.
Welwyn Roman Baths is a 3rd-century bath complex that formed part of the Dicket Mead Roman villa. The baths lie directly underneath the A1(M) motorway, protected by a steel vault. The baths were a small part of the Dicket Mead villa, which was originally built in the 3rd century AD.