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.