Welwyn, Hertfordshire

Description
Welwyn, a small town and a parish in Herts. The town is situated on the Great North Road, 5 miles N from Hatfield, 7 W from Hertford, and 25 from London, It has a station on the main line of the G.N.R., and is crossed by the river Maran or Mimran. Welwyn consists chiefly of two well-built streets, and has a head post office, two good hotels, a parish hall erected in 1887, a police station, and a workhouse. It is the head of a union and petty sessional division. The parish includes Woolmer Green hamlet, and comprises 3063 acres; population of the civil parish, 1745; of the ecclesiastical, 1754. There is a parish council consisting of ten members. The manor belongs to the rector of Welwyn. Danesbury, the Frythe, the Grange, and Lockleys are chief residences. The living is a rectory in the diocese of St Albans; gross value, £474 with residence. Patron, All Souls College, Oxford. The church, which stands in the centre of the town, is an ancient building chiefly in the Decorated style, consisting of chancel with S aisle, vestry and organ chamber, nave, aisles, S porch, and a western embattled and pinnacled tower. It has some good stained windows. Dr Young was rector, and wrote here his " Night Thoughts." Woolmer Green is a hamlet 2 miles N.E. It has an ancient manor house now occupied as a farmhouse.