St Ippolyts
| St Ippolyts | |
| Hertfordshire | |
|---|---|
 St Ippolyts | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TL197270 |
| Location: | 51°55’44"N, 0°15’29"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 2,014 |
| Post town: | Hitchin |
| Postcode: | SG4 |
| Dialling code: | 01462 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | North Hertfordshire |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Hitchin and Harpenden |
St Ippolyts (or St Ippollitts) is a village on the southern edge of Hitchin in Hertfordshire. It has a population of approximately 2,000.
St Ippolyts is located in between the A602 (Stevenage Road) and the B656 (Codicote Road), a mile or so south-east of Hitchin, Hertfordshire. It stands on the slopes in a gap in the Chiltern Hills.
Some features of the village are a 17th-century gabled house, a timber-framed house formerly known as the Olive Branch Inn, and a 16th-century house built around an even older timbered house.
Parish church
The village's church is St Ippolyt's, named after the probably fictional Saint Hippolytus. This gives a name to the village. It was built in 1087 and stands in a beautiful setting on the hillside above the village.
According to the church records, the building was funded by grants supplied by Judith de Lens, the niece of William the Conqueror. De Lens gave evidence against her husband, a native English Earl, which led to his execution. The funding of the church was an attempt to make amends for this act. The church was rebuilt in the mid nineteenth century using old materials 'recycled' from the nearby abandoned Minsden Chapel. Apart from St Ippolyts, the church also serves the nearby villages of Gosmore and Langley.
The noted theologian Fenton John Anthony Hort (Fenton Hort) is amongst the former vicars of St Ippolyts church where he stayed for 15 years before taking up a fellowship and lectureship at Emmanuel College in Cambridge .
Politician George Lloyd, 1st Baron Lloyd (1879-1941) was buried in the churchyard.[1]
Name
The name of St Ippolyts is derived from the parish church. According to Daphne Rance in her book on the parish "St. Ippolyts: a country parish in the nineteenth century" (1987) at various times also known as Epolites, Pallets, Nipples or St Ibbs. In the same vein, the 1881 census mentions the following 28 place names, all of which are believed to refer to it: Iplits, Ipolits, Ipollitts, Ipollyts, Ipolytes, Ipolyts, Ippatyts, Ipplits, Ipployts, Ipplyts, Ippolett, Ippoletts, Ippolits, Ippolitss, Ippolits, Ippolitss, Ippolitts, Ippollit, Ippollits, Ippollitts, Ippollyts, Ippollytts, Ippololits, Ippolts, Ippolytis, Ippolyts, Ippolytts, Ippoplitts.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about St Ippolyts) |
References
- ↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Volume 34. Oxford University Press. 2004. p. 127.
Books
- Rance, Daphne: St Ippolyts: a country parish in the nineteenth century (Egon Publishers Ltd), 1987. ISBN 0-905858-38-7
- Rance, Daphne: The Yeomen of Ippolyts (Cortney Publications), 1996. ISBN 0-904378-48-9
