Heordshire | Page 4

Hall and Bushey Lodge, flows through Watford to
Rickmansworth where, uniting with the Gade and Chess, it enters
Middlesex near Stocker's Farm.
6. The Gade rises near Little Gaddesden, skirts Hemel Hempstead
Church on the W. side, and passing King's Langley and Hunton Bridge,
flows through Cassiobury Park and joins the Chess and Colne at
Rickmansworth.
7. The Hiz, rising at Well Head, S.W. of Hitchin, crosses that town,
joins the Purwell at Grove Mill and leaves the county at Cadwell.
8. The Ivel rises near Baldock, flows to Radwell Mill and shortly
afterwards enters Bedfordshire.
9. The Lea is the largest river in Hertfordshire. It rises near Leagrave
(in Bedfordshire) and flows through the county from N.W. to S.E.
Entering Hertfordshire at Hide Mill, it flows past Wheathampstead,
Hatfield, Hertford, Ware, and, leaving the county near Waltham Abbey,
enters the Thames at Blackwall. Its entire length is about 50 miles. The
waterway known as the Lea and Stort Navigation is navigable to
Bishop's Stortford.

10. The Maran, or Mimram, rises in the parish of King's Walden, skirts
Whitwell on the N., running parallel with the village street, and passing
through Welwyn and near Tewin enters the Lea at Hertingfordbury.
11. The Purwell, or Pirall, rises in the parish of Ippollits and passing W.
of Great Wymondley runs to Purwell Mill, and joins the Hiz at Grove
Mill.
12. The Quin rises in the neighbourhood of Wyddial, and passing
Quinbury, unites with the Rib at Braughing.
13. The Rhee, rising a little E. of Ashwell, has but a few miles to flow
before it enters Cambridgeshire.
14. The Rib rises at Corney Bury, flows E. of Buntingford, thence
turning W. it flows under the bridge at the Adam and Eve, runs to
Westmill, Standon and Thundridge, finally uniting with the Lea at
Hertford.
15. The Stort enters Hertfordshire from Essex at a point near Cannon
Wood Mill, and after passing through Bishop's Stortford forms the
extreme E. boundary of the county for some distance before quitting it
near Cheshunt.
16. The Ver rises near Flamstead, is crossed by the Dunstable Road,
N.W. of Redbourn, then recrossed by it. It then skirts St. Albans on the
S. and joins the Colne near Park Street.
In addition to the cutting of the Lea and Stort Navigation already
mentioned, there are other artificial waterways:--
The Aylesbury Canal (a branch of the Grand Junction Canal) crosses
the extreme western neck of the county, from S. of Puttenham to S. of
Gubblecote.
[Illustration: GRAND JUNCTION CANAL AT TRING The highest
water level in England]

The Grand Junction Canal is largely utilised by barges traversing the
W. of Hertfordshire. It is conspicuous at Rickmansworth, Boxmoor,
and Berkhampstead; it enters Bedfordshire near Marsworth Reservoir.
The New River was constructed by Sir Hugh Myddelton, a London
goldsmith, in 1609-13, and is largely fed by springs at Chadwell near
Hertford. Its course in Hertfordshire is mostly close to and parallel with
that of the Lea. The New River caused the financial ruin of its projector;
one of its shares is now worth a large fortune. The whole story of this
undertaking is very interesting; but as the New River was cut in order
to bring water to London that story belongs to a volume on Middlesex.
III. CLIMATE
The chief elements of climate are temperature and rainfall. A general
idea of the mean temperature and rainfall of Hertfordshire, both
monthly and annual, may be gained from an inspection of
Bartholomew's _Atlas of Meteorology_ (1899). From that work it
appears that the mean annual temperature of the county, if reduced to
sea-level (that is, the theoretical mean for its position) would be 50° or
a little above it, but that the actual mean varies from 46°-48° on the
Chiltern Hills to 48°-50° in the rest and much the greater part of
Hertfordshire; also that the mean annual rainfall is between 25 and 30
inches, the latter amount only being approached towards the Chilterns.
Thus altitude is seen to have a great effect on both these elements of
climate.
Hertfordshire is hilly though not mountainous, a great extent of its
surface being considerably elevated above sea-level, with a general
south-easterly inclination; it has a dry soil; is well watered with
numerous rivers of clear water--already enumerated--chiefly derived
from springs in the Chalk; is well but not too densely wooded; and its
atmosphere is not contaminated by manufacturing towns. It thus
maintains the reputation for salubrity which it gained more than three
centuries ago, our earliest county historian, Norden, remarking on the
"salutarie" nature of the "aire".
Observations taken at the following meteorological stations during the

twelve years 1887 to 1898 have been printed annually in the
Transactions of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society, and a brief
summary of some of the chief results will