Area Guide: Hoddesdon

Hoddesdon

Recorded in the Doomsday book as Hodesdone and the name has remained. It is a market town, and a market is still held here every Wednesday. The local trade boomed with the coaching trade from London to Cambridge in the nineteenth century, and some of the original inns still remain, such as The Golden Lion, The White Swan, and The Salisbury Arms. The centre of the market is the Clock Tower which remains on the site of a 14th Century Chapel of St. Katherine.

The Rye House Gateway built in 1443 is the countries oldest brick building. Hoddesdon became its own Parish in 1844. Outside the local Co-Op to this day, the strangely split paving stone marks the fromer parish boundary