was the last prison house of Isabella, widow of Edward II. Henry IV.
gave the castle to his wife Joan; Henry V. to his wife Katherine of
France; and Henry VI. to his wife Margaret of Anjou. Elizabeth and James
I. are both said to have visited this castle. Charles I., on 3rd May, in
the sixth year of his reign, transferred it to William Earl of
Salisbury. It was seized by the Parliament during the Great Rebellion.

The Roman Catholic Church in St. John Street stands on or near the site
of the old Priory, founded during the reign of William I. by Ralph
Limesy and by him conveyed to the Abbot of St. Albans, who placed here
six Benedictine monks under Ralph, who became their first prior. The
Priory was dissolved in the twenty-sixth year of Henry VIII.; but the
church was rebuilt by Thomas Willis in 1629. It was "demolisht by order
of the Bishop of Lincoln" towards the end of the seventeenth century.
The church of All Saints, on high ground E. from the town, was destroyed
by fire in 1891, when almost everything perished. It was immediately
rebuilt as a Perp. structure of Runcorn stone, and consecrated in 1895.
In the main, the plan of the old church has been followed, but the
aisles are longer than formerly; note the fine clerestoried nave of five
bays, and hexagonal N. porch. The old building contained monuments to
Sir John Harrison, Kt., Farmer of Customs to Charles I. (d. 1669);[4] to
Isabel Newmarch, maid of honour to Isabella, daughter of Charles VI. of
France and second wife to Richard II.; and to Johannes Prest, "porter"
(janitor) to Katherine, wife of Henry V. The two latter monuments were
removed more than 200 years ago. Note the beautiful chestnut trees in
the avenue near the church, and the many quaint epitaphs on the
tombstones in the extensive graveyard. The Church of St. Andrew is
modern; it occupies the site of an older Perp. edifice, originally
founded before the Conquest. Close by in the market place is the Shire
Hall, a large brick building of "questionable shape" erected towards the
close of the eighteenth century. Malting, brewing and general trade in
corn and its products form the larger part of the industries of
Hertford. Between this town and Ware is the spot where Cromwell put a
summary period to the insurrection of the "Levellers" by shooting a
ringleader named Arnald.

[Footnote 4: This Sir John Harrison erected the fine brick mansion in
Balls Park, S.E. from Hertford, once the property of Charles T