River Hiz
Dry River Hiz
Not so long ago, part of The River Hiz became dry. Quite thrilling as one never sees that happen often, and funny, because its name means ‘Dry’. Sicca (Pronounced Sicka) in Brittonic (The language of Britain at the time of the Romans, later becoming Welsh) becomes ‘Hicce’ (Pronounced Hiche) under the Anglo-Saxons and later it was named ‘Hiz‘ (Pronounced Hits) by the Normans who couldn’t pronounce it. Modern day Hitchin obviously gets its name from the river and its peoples the ‘Hicce’. The River’s name is now pronounced as it’s spelled.
Part of the river became dry once the very shallow canalised bit between The Biggin on Biggin Lane and Portmill Lane Car Park on Portmill Lane was emptied. This seems to happen twice a year to clear it of leaves and rubbish. Large tankers called ‘Honeywagons‘ (Manure collectors) come down and suck out all the gunge and workmen scrape out all the leaves and rubbish. (Usually bottles galore from being thrown in at the time of ‘The Rhythms Of The World’ festival.) If it were an Archaeological Dig, it would be great to find so many artefacts that can be reliably dated by the bottles’ often well publicised styles, in one place; But because it’s cleaned out every year, then sequences of layers can’t build up and a much longer history can’t be observed. Shame for the archaeology but good for the town’s prettiness.
Aerial View of Hitchin Market
This aerial shot taken from the top of the tower of Hitchin’s St. Mary’s Church, illustrates well that the market area is in a ‘hollow’ between raised areas. What you can’t see from here is that fact that The River Hiz runs through the middle of them and under the market. (Canalised sometime in the 1920s) From ground level, it is glaringly obvious that the designers of the more modern market (Moved many times around Hitchin) had no real thoughts of trying to fit it in to its surroundings; being concrete, brick and garish metal roofs. They could have designed it to ‘echo’ the church near it, the way that St Saviour’s Cloisters do that were built in the 1920s-30s.
Love Hearts Graffiti (Part 2)
Around Hitchin appeared some wonderful graffiti such as this one on the wall that forms part of the car park opposite St. Mary’s Church and the River Hiz. I would much rather have this sort of graffiti than the usual crass ‘scribble your name’ type that seems to dominate anywhere that teenagers hang around. Perahps we have a Banksy of our very own.
Bridge Street Bridge
Bridge Street in Hitchin takes its name from the bridge itself, crossing the River Hiz, that was built in 1784 and rebuilt in 2001. ‘Bridgefoot‘ is also mentioned in a survey dated from 1676. At one end of Bridge Street is ‘The Triangle’ (because of a triangular bit of land that had a tree with railings around it) and the other end leads to The Priory and Tilehouse Street.
Earlier on in Hitchin’s Medieval history, the road was known as Spital or Spittle Street as it led to Spital Field that had a Hospital on it. (Spital being a contraction of Hospital)
Warner’s Almshouses
Detail of the rather grand door in to the Warners Almshouses that were originally the parish Poor Houses. Then in 1760, they were rebuilt by Daniel Warner and then again in 1893 (and enlarged too) by funds left by Miss Elizabeth Ann Lucas, formerly of Hitchin who died in 1860. These Almshouses stood (and still stand) within the grounds of St Mary’s Church in the South East corner, by the River Hiz.
The River Hiz at Ransom’s Rec
The River Hiz begins in Priory Park/St. Ippolyts and then wends its way through Hitchin and runs northwards bordering the eastern edge of Bancroft Park and is culverted under Grove Road that takes it up to the west boundary of Ransom’s Rec (Park) and on up to join with the River Purwell at Grove road, then it runs North West. Not exactly a raging torrent is it! More of what I would called a stream or rivulet. But nice none the less. Ransom’s Rec(reation) ground was originally Camps Milking Farm with a pond in the middle of it, before being opened in 1929 as the public park.
The River Hiz in Bridge Street
Just recently, someone or some business decided to clear up an area of The River Hiz that runs from The Priory to under the bridge on Bridge Street. Compare the photograph now, to only a year ago in June 2006 (below) to see how different the area is. You can now see the back of The Priory, (and a little spiral staircase) a nice design feature like a little Greek Theatre, and a nice contemporary staircase that leads up to the overhanging upper floor of the late 15th/16th century timber framed building that is now 32 Bridge Street. It is a joy to see another piece of Hitchin revealed again.
