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Welwyn Village

Welwyn village is set in pleasant countryside either side of the main north-south rail and road links and between the new towns of Stevenage to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south and close to the city of St Albans and the towns of Harpenden, Luton and Hertford. Click our 'Location' link for a map of the area.

Welwyn village is situated in the county of Hertfordshire between the historic country towns of St. Albans, Hitchin and Hertford. It's position in the Mimram Valley attracted Iron Age settlers of which much evidence has been found. In the first century BC the Belgae first colonised the area. We know they had settlements near St. Albans, Wheathampstead, Burnham Green, and Braughing. Between these ran a trackway, which went on to Broughing and Colchester.

Later it was settled by the Romans who built villas, bath houses and cemeteries-- leaving artifacts many of which are now in the British Museum. We do not know whether any fortified site guarded the ford over the Mimram, but certainly a number of farms grew up around Welwyn. These traded their surplus produce with the larger settlements, and with the Roman Empire overseas. In burials at Prospect Place wine jars and silverware from the Mediterranean have been found.

When the stage coach was introduced in the 17th century Welwyn became an important staging post on the road to the north. The Welwyn stretch, which went from Lemsford to Corry's Mill in Stevenage, came into operation in 1726. Some of the coaching inns are still in use today. The roads were notoriously bad, however, and in the latter part of the 18th century the turnpike system was introduced to fund road maintenance. The routes of the roads have been changed a number of times to reduce congestion through the village or for the convenience of powerful landowners. The railways came in 1850 as did the viaduct at Digswell.