Much Hadham

Much Hadham
Hertfordshire
High Street, Much Hadham
Location
Grid reference:	TL42622088
Location:	51°51’14"N, -0°4’19"E
Data
Population:	1,994  (2001)
Post town:	Much Hadham
Postcode:	SG10
Dialling code:	01279
Local Government
Council:	East Hertfordshire
Parliamentary constituency:	Hertford and Stortford

Much Hadham is a village in Hertfordshire, in the east of the county, on the B1004 road, midway between Ware and Bishop's Stortford. It was formerly known as Great Hadham.

The village is stretched along the mile long length of its main street (High Street, Tower Hill and Widford Road). Few retail outlets remain apart from two public houses, a small supermarket with a post office, a hairdresser, two garages and a nursery. Recently the radio shop next to the Red Lion closed, though 'Much Hadham Radio Ltd' is still operating. In the High Street, residential house names show former commercial or public use, for example "Old Bakery", "Collarmaker's House" and "The Forge" Museum, although this still incorporates a working forge.

Churches

• Church of England: St Andrew’s
• Congregational church

The entrance to St Andrew’s is adorned with two sculptures by Henry Moore, who was also a resident in the nearby village Perry Green until his death in 1986.

Adjacent to the church, is a palace that had been the country home of the Bishops of London for 800 years. It may be that the Tudor dynasty began here, for Henry V's widow, Catherine of Valois, (Shakespeare's Katharine) gave birth either here or at similarly named Hadham in Bedfordshire to Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond. Edmund married Margaret Beaufort, of the House of Lancaster, and their son Henry won the throne on Bosworth Field, becoming Henry VII.

Things about the village

The Red Lion coaching inn, now converted into private houses, has existed in the village since the fifteenth century. It was a stopping point on the old road from London to Cambridge.

Legend has it that a tunnel connected the pub to St Andrew's, possibly built during the time of Oliver Cromwell to serve as an escape route for the clergy. The skeleton of an eighteen-year-old woman was discovered bricked up in a fireplace in the inn. It is thought she died after being incarcerated, some time during the nineteenth century.

The Henry Moore Foundation can be found in the nearby hamlet of Perry Green. It was the victim of a theft in December 2005 when one of the sculptures on display was stolen from the site by opportunistic thieves.

The village has an active sports association which includes Much Hadham Football Club and Hadham Villa Football Club.

Much Hadham Cricket Club (founded in 1889) withdrew from the Herts & Essex League in 2007 and no longer exists. Sawbridgeworth Cricket club have used the cricket facilities since then.

Houses in the High Street

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Much Hadham)

• The Hadhams - Little Hadham and Much Hadham Community Website