Amwell, Hertfordshire

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Amwell
Amwell shown within Hertfordshire
OS grid reference	TL365125
Shire county	Hertfordshire
Region	East
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Police	Hertfordshire
Fire	Hertfordshire
Ambulance	East of England
European Parliament	East of England
List of places: UK • England • Hertfordshire

Coordinates: 51°48′N 0°19′W / 51.8, -0.31

Amwell (Great and Little), is a village in the county of Hertfordshire, England, located 1½ miles (S.E. by S.) from Ware, and about 20 miles north of London.

The church is dedicated to St John the Baptist. The East India College, was founded here in 1806, for the education of young men intended for the civil service of the East India Company in India. It is now a public school, Haileybury College.

The New River runs through the village.

On a hill above the church is an ancient mound, the remains of a fortification; and in Barrow field, on the road to Hertford, is a large barrow.

Great Amwell has been the residence of some celebrated literary characters, among whom were,

Izaak Walton, (1593 - 1683) the noted angler;
John Scott of Amwell, (1730 – 1783), author of several poems and tracts, who built a grotto, containing several apartments, which still exists; and
John Hoole, (1727 - 1803), the distinguished translator of Tasso, and biographer of Scott.
The remains or William Warner, (1558? - 1609), the poet and historian, are interred in the churchyard.

Also buried here in 1978 was olympian Harold Abrahams, depicted in Chariots of Fire.

A hamlet called Amwell also exists a mile south west of Wheathampstead, also in Hertfordshire.

[edit] References

Historical material on Amwell at Hertfordshire Genealogy - Accessed February 2007
A Brief History Of Hertford Heath based on a note written by Esme Nix of Rush Green and describing Little Amwell
Heath, Cyril The Book of Amwell Barracuda Books Limited, 1980 ISBN 0860230856
Doree, Stephen and Perman, David Amwell and Stanstead's Past in Pictures Publisher: The Rockingham Press 1997 , ISBN 1873468571