Ickleford

The Church of St Katharine of Alexandria is the Church of England parish church for Ickleford in Hertfordshire. It comes under the diocese of St Albans.The building is of medieval origin and is listed Grade I.

The River Oughton is a two mile long tributary of the River Hiz in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. It rises at Oughtonhead and flows north-east between Oughtonhead Common and Oughtonhead Nature Reserve. It forms the boundary of Hitchin parish.The river has clear water from chalk springs in the Chiltern Hills, and it has a rich aquatic and insect life. Plants include spring water crowfoot, and there are mammals such as the water shrew, and birds include kingfishers and water rails.

Bearton was a small hamlet lying to the north of Hitchin in Hertfordshire, England. It was incorporated into Hitchin over a century ago, and now forms part of the Hitchin Bearton ward of North Hertfordshire District Council. In the UK Census 2011 the population of Hitchin Bearton was 8,489.The name Bearton survives in a number of street names - Bearton Road, Bearton Green, Bearton Avenue and Bearton Close. Bearton Lodge, on the corner of Bedford Road and Bearton Road, dates from the early 19th century. In the First World War, it was used as the guard house for the Royal Engineers Signal Depot Camp. It is now in private ownership.The ward of Hitchin Bearton elects three councillors to North Hertfordshire District Council. Traditionally it has been a Labour ward, but in the May 2010 district council elections the Liberal Democrats won their first seat in the ward.Bearton Green was the name of a large area of land to the north of Hitchin. The name survives as a 1930s built residential road. Adjacent to Bearton Green is a playing field known locally as St Michael's, as it was once the playing field of St Michael's College. The college itself was on the site now occupied by Hitchin police station.

Hitchin Oughton is one of the five electoral wards in Hitchin, England. It contains the Westmill estate and is named after the River Oughton. It invariably returns a Labour councillor.

Westmill is a residential area of Hitchin in Hertfordshire, England. It was originally built as a council housing estate in the 1920s. There is a primary school, Oughton Junior, Infant and Nursery School. It forms part of Oughton ward for local government purposes. It is close to the Oughtonhead Common, a Local Nature Reserve, and Oughtonhead Lane, a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Hitchin Town Football Club is an English semi-professional football club based in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. They are currently members of the Southern League Premier Division Central. Founded in 1865 and known as 'The Canaries', Hitchin Town have been based at Top Field since their foundation, and claim lineage from the defunct Hitchin Football Club, formed in 1865 and liquidated in 1911. The club have played in a number of local leagues, starting off in the Spartan League before moving to first the Athenian League in 1939, then the Isthmian League in 1963 and finally the Southern League in 2004. Their most recent league honour has been the Southern League Division One Central, finishing play-off winners in 2010–11, their second season in the competition.

Butts Close is an 11-acre (45,000 m2) park in the town of Hitchin, Hertfordshire that used to once be a sporting ground for archery. The name refers to the archery butts that used to be on it during the Late medieval and Tudor times. During those years it was much larger but in the last centuries buildings such as a leisure centre and grammar school have been built on it. The remaining Butts Close is still used for modern fêtes and other special occasions though.

The River Purwell is a chalk stream in Hertfordshire, England. The entire course of the stream is near Hitchin. Its source is springs which rise out of the chalk bedrock at St Ippolyts, forming Ippollitts Brook. It is known as the Purwell by the time it reaches Ninesprings on the border of the parishes of Great Wymondley and Hitchin. It flows on to join the River Hiz.The river and associated wetlands are protected by nature reserves at Ninesprings and Purwell Meadows.

Oughtonhead Lane is a 0.9-hectare (2.2-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Hitchin in Hertfordshire. The local planning authority is North Hertfordshire District Council. The site has been identified as of national importance in the Geological Conservation Review.The site probably dates to the Hoxnian interglacial 420,000 to 300,000 years ago. It was then a marsh fed by springs, and it has a tufa which contains fossil land snails and mammal bones which show the climate and local environmental conditions.The site is a public lane and a shallow trench would be required to expose the geology.

Hitchin Boys' School (HBS) is an 11–18 boys academy-status secondary school, with sixth form, located in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England. Founded in 1632 by John Mattocke, the single-sex school currently educates around 1,500 boys. The sixth form is part of a consortium for wider teaching with other schools in the town, mixing some classes with pupils from Hitchin Girls' School and The Priory School.

The Hitchin Flyover is a grade-separated single-track railway viaduct near Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England, which carries the Down Cambridge Flyover line over the East Coast Main Line. Constructed between 2012 and 2013, it connects the westernmost track of the East Coast Main Line with the Cambridge line. The flyover was built to increase the throughput at Cambridge Junction, a congested flat junction, which put severe constraints on capacity on both lines.

Oughtonhead Common is a 17.4 hectare Local Nature Reserve in the Westmill district of Hitchin, Hertfordshire. It is owned and managed by North Hertfordshire District Council. and home to the Oughtonhead Common nature reserve.The River Oughton flows along the edge of the site with the Common lying on its floodplain. A layer of sedge and wood peat up to a metre thick underlies the floodplain. The Common supports a wide variety of wildlife habitats. It is grazed by English Longhorn cattle, and there is a football pitch. The Friends of Oughtonhead Common assist with maintaining the site. It is part of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. In 2022, Oughtonhead Common was awarded a Green Flag for the seventh consecutive year.