St Paul's Walden

St. Paul's Walden Bury is an English country house and surrounding gardens in the village of St Paul's Walden in Hertfordshire. The house is a Grade II* listed, and the gardens Grade I. A home of the Bowes-Lyon family, it is possibly the site of the birth of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.The garden wilderness, or highly formalized woodland, is a very rare survival, and the "most perfect surviving" English example. It was laid out in the 1730s with straight walks in the old formal style, when these were already becoming rather unfashionable.The house, of red brick with stone dressings and slate roofs, was built around the 1730s for Edward Gilbert (1680–1762). His daughter Mary married George Bowes of Gibside, Durham, and the estate has been in the possession of the Bowes or Bowes-Lyon family since 1720. James Paine made alterations to the house in the 1770s, which was also extended to the rear in the late nineteenth century.

Stagenhoe is a Grade II listed stately home and surrounding gardens located in the village of St Paul's Walden in Hertfordshire. It is approximately 6 miles (10 km) south of Hitchin. It was the family seat of the Earl of Caithness. Socialite Lady Euphemia Sinclair spent her childhood there and became a friend of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, whose family were neighbours. It is one of two large manors with fine grounds in the village, the other being the historic home of the Bowes-Lyon family, St Paul's Walden Bury.

Hill End Pit (also called Hill End Farm Pit or Hitch Wood Pit) is a 0.7-hectare (1.7-acre) nature reserve on the site of a former chalk pit, in St Paul's Walden in North Hertfordshire. It was formerly managed by the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust (HMWT). In February 2016 HMWT announced that three sites, Barkway Chalk Pit, Hill End Pit and Pryor's Wood, which HMWT managed on behalf of their owner, North Hertfordshire District Council, were to return to Council management as the Trust was no longer able to meet the cost. It has the largest colony of Azeca goodalli snails in Hertfordshire. Plants include viper's bugloss, cowslip and marjoram, there are butterflies such as common blue and gatekeeper, and many birds including woodpeckers.The site is a Regionally important geological site (RIGS), dating to the Turonian age of the late Cretaceous around 90 million years ago, and was formerly a Site of Special Scientific Interest. According to A Geological Conservation Strategy for Hertfordshire, published by the Hertfordshire RIGS Group: This pit is of national stratigraphic and international palaeontological importance, but has lost its original SSSI status and is now very degraded. It is the type locality of the Hitch Wood Hardground at the top of the Chalk Rock. This hardground is exceptionally fossiliferous here, and has probably yielded more fossils of all groups (notably ammonites) than any other Chalk Rock locality apart from the Kensworth Chalk Pit GCR site, Bedfordshire.The site gives its name to the siliceous sponge genus Hillendia, and is the type locality of the genus, and two fossil ammonite species, Subprionocyclus hitchinensis and Subprionocyclus branneri have been described from this site after being discovered there.It is shown on the Natural England Magic map as one of the "Geological places to visit".The site is located off a track leading from Hitchwood Lane to Hill End Farm Lane. It is difficult to find, but the site noticeboard is visible through a gap in the hedge on the left hand side of the track.

Whitwell is a village in the parish of St Paul's Walden about six miles south of Hitchin in Hertfordshire, England. Situated on a tableland, a spur of the Chilterns, Whitwell is about 122m (400 feet) above sea level. The soil is mostly clay with flints. It contains a number of early brick and half-timbered houses, several of which are of the 18th century. Waterhall Farm (an open farm and craft centre) is one of the village's attractions. With the River Mimram running north-west to south-east through Whitwell, the village has been noted (apparently since Roman times) for its production of prime watercress. In 2019, construction began on a new housing development named The Heath, located on Bendish Lane opposite St. paul’s Walden School. It opened in summer 2020, with the new road named ‘Chime Dell’ after a field formerly located on the site.

Minsden Chapel is an isolated ruined chapel in the fields above the hamlet of Chapelfoot, near Preston, Hertfordshire. Today it is a roofless shell, partly surrounded by a small wood, and accessible only by footpath. It is a Scheduled Monument and is Grade II Listed.

PHC was a co-educational independent day and boarding school for students aged 11 to 18 in Preston near Hitchin in Hertfordshire, England. The school was housed in a Queen Anne country house, formerly known as Temple Dinsley, which was redesigned by Edwin Lutyens, at the same time as the gardens were designed by his great friend, Gertrude Jekyll. The house is listed Grade II* on the National Heritage List for England, and the gardens and landscaped park are listed Grade II* on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.

Preston is a village and civil parish about 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Hitchin in Hertfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census the population was 420.The village grew up around the Templar holdings at Temple Dinsley. The first church was mentioned in 1252, when six acres (24,000 m2) of land was given to nuns from Elstow, Bedfordshire. Temple Dinsley passed on to the Knights Hospitaller after the dissolution of the Templars. When the Hospitallers were in turn dissolved in 1542, the manor went to Sir Ralph Sadleir. The current house at Temple Dinsley dates from 1714, and became Princess Helena College in 1935. The college closed in 2021.In the 17th century the village became linked with John Bunyan, who used to hold services in a natural amphitheatre now called Bunyan's Dell. Prior to 1894, Preston and neighbouring Langley were part of the parish of Hitchin, together forming a long salient to the south of the town itself. Preston and Langley became separate civil parishes as a result of the Local Government Act 1894, with effect from the first parish meeting on 4 December 1894. Preston civil parish was then included in the Hitchin Rural District between 1894 and 1974, when it became part of North Hertfordshire. The parish of Preston was enlarged in 1955 with the addition of territory from the neighbouring parishes of St Ippolyts and King's Walden.St Martin's, the local Anglican church, opened in 1900. The ruined Minsden Chapel, reputed to be haunted, is located near the village, though is actually in Langley civil parish.

Langley is a hamlet and civil parish in the non-metropolitan district of North Hertfordshire and county of Hertfordshire. The population was 175 in the 2011 census. It is located four miles south of Hitchin, on the B656 road near the large town of Stevenage. Minsden Chapel lies within the parish. Prior to 1894, Langley and neighbouring Preston were part of the parish of Hitchin, together forming a long salient to the south of the town itself. Langley and Preston became separate civil parishes as a result of the Local Government Act 1894, with effect from the first parish meeting on 4 December 1894. Langley civil parish was then included in the Hitchin Rural District between 1894 and 1974, when it became part of North Hertfordshire.

Wain Wood is an ancient woodland extending to 19.2 hectares (47 acres) near Preston in North Hertfordshire. The site is a Site of Special Scientific Interest which was notified in 1986 under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The local planning authority is North Hertfordshire District Council. It is a relic of a large forest which extended from Hitchin to Hatfield.

Kimpton is a village in Hertfordshire, England, six miles south of Hitchin, seven miles north of St Albans and four miles from Harpenden and Luton. The population at the 2011 Census was 2,167.

Bendish is a hamlet located in the parish of St Paul's Walden in Hertfordshire. In the 18th century, Bendish was a small town. It is about 3 miles east of Luton, 5 miles south of Hitchin and 4.5 miles north of Harpenden. Many services such as the grocers, the 3 pubs and the Church have all closed. Bendish is not a nucleated hamlet, due to the effects of rural to urban migration through the unemployment of residents as of the result of mechanisation. Farmers' houses were knocked down, leading to the somewhat staggered placing of the current houses today. There is no longer an active telephone box, but a post box is still in operation.

St Ippolyts (or St Ippollitts) is a village and civil parish on the southern edge of Hitchin in Hertfordshire, England. It has a population of approximately 2,000.