Berkhamsted, United Kingdom

The earliest written reference to Berkhamsted is in the will of Ælfgifu (died 970 CE), the wife of King Eadwig of England (r. 955–959), who bequeathed land including Berkhamsted. Rare Anglo-Saxon pottery dating from the 7th century and 9th century water mills demonstrate the existence of Anglo-Saxon settlement. The church may have been an important minster, which became part of the medieval manor of Berkhamsted after the Norman Conquest. The church held various synods at Berkhamsted during the medieval period.

By the 14th century, the adjoining village of "Berkhamsted St Mary" or "Berkhamsted Minor" had become "North Church", later "Northchurch". In 1070 at Berkhamsted, in the presence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, King William the Conqueror vowed to keep the ancient Saxon laws and set up local courts.

In the 13th and 14th centuries, the town was a wool trading centre, with a busy local market. The oldest-known extant jettied timber-framed building in Great Britain, built between 1277 and 1297, survives as a shop on the town's high street.

The Domesday survey records that there was enough land for 26 plough teams, but only 15 working teams. There were two flour mills, woodland for 1,000 pigs and a vineyard. The population was calculated at either 37 or 88 households.

From 1066 to 1495, Berkhamsted Castle, of which only ruins are extant, was a Norman motte-and-bailey castle. was a favoured residence of royalty and the nobility, including King Henry II, Edward the Black Prince, Thomas Becket and Geoffrey Chaucer. Radiocarbon dating indicates that it was probably built post-1066. The castle was a high-status residence and, an administrative centre, it contributed to the growth of the town.

In 1227, Richard of Cornwall, was given the castle, redeveloped it as a palatial residence and the centre for the administration of the Earldom of Cornwall. In 1317, the castle was given to Edward II's Queen, Isabella of France.

Edward III gave the castle to his son, Edward, the Black Prince, under whom Berkhamsted become a centre of English longbow archery, making the longbow a decisive factor in the English victory at the Battle of Crécy. In 1400, Henry IV lived in the castle after he deposed Richard and, during this time, Geoffrey Chaucer – later famous for writing The Canterbury Tales – oversaw renovation work on the castle in his role as Clerk of Works at Berkhamsted. Henry V and Henry VI owned the castle; in 1469, Edward IV gave the castle to his mother, Cecily Neville, Duchess of York, who had a significant social and financial impact on the town and was the last person to live in the castle.

In 1833, the castle was the first building in the United Kingdom to receive statutory protection. The castle ruins are managed by the Berkhamsted Castle Trust, in partnership with English Heritage, for the Duchy of Cornwall, and are open to the public.

From the 12th to the 15th centuries, the town continued to develop separately on the old Akeman Street 0.4 miles (0.6 km) to the south of the castle and to the west of St Peter's Church. In 1156, Henry II officially recognised Berkhamsted as a town in a royal charter, which confirmed the conditions enjoyed under Edward the Confessor, and also decreed that no market could be set up within 7 miles (11 km) of the town.

The town became a trading centre on an important trade route in the 12th and 13th centuries, and received more royal charters. In 1216, Henry III relieved the men and merchants of the town from all tolls and taxes everywhere in England, and the growing wool trade brought prosperity to Berkhamsted from the 12th century until the early Tudor period.

In 1217, Henry III recognised Berkhamsted's market by royal charter. In the mid–13th century, the wealthy banker Abraham of Berkhamsted, financier to the Earl of Cornwall, lived in the town; this was unusual for a small town in a time of heightened persecution of Jews.

At this time, larger houses were built on the south side of the high street including 173 High Street, the oldest known extant jettied building in England). In 1307, Berkhamsted was a large town by English medieval standards, with an estimated population of 2,000 to 2,500. In the 14th century, Berkhamsted (recorded as "Berchamstede") was considered to be one of the "best" market towns in the country. In 1440, there is a reference to lime kilns.