ALDENHAM (2 miles S.W. from Radlett Station M.R.) is a village pleasantly situated near the river Colne, reached by way of Berry Grove at the W. end of the village.  The churchyard is locally famous for the tombs of a man and woman named Hutchinson, which, singularly enough, have been riven apart and almost destroyed by three sycamore trees about a century old.  The Church of St. John the Baptist is largely Perp. with earlier portions, and is worth a visit, if only for the oaken nave-roof, believed to date from about 1480, and for the font of Purbeck marble, probably 750 years old.  An object of greater interest in some eyes is the fine parish chest, formed from one massive piece of oak nearly ten feet in length, and furnished with iron clamps and hinges of great size; there are few finer old parish chests in England.  Note also (1) the triple sedilia in chancel; (2) the many brasses dating from 1450, several of which are to the Cary family; (3) two palimpsest brasses in the vestry, one of which bears a portion of a mutilated inscription to one Long, an alderman of London, who died in 1536.  The church was restored in 1882 by Sir A. W. Blomfield, F.S.A. Aldenham House, property of Lord Aldenham, dates from the days of Charles II., and stands in a park of about 300 acres.

Aldenham Abbey, once known as Wall Hall, stands close to the parish church; it is about a century old, and belongs to the Stuart family.

Aldwick Farm is 1 mile N.E. from Marston Gate Station, L.&N.W.R.

Allen’s Green, a hamlet 2 miles N.W. from Sawbridgeworth, contains little of interest.

Almshoebury (11/2 mile W. of Stevenage Station, G.N.R.) is about fifteen minutes’ walk from the ruins of Minsden Chapel (q.v.).

AMWELL is a tiny hamlet 1 mile S.W. of Wheathampstead Station, G.N.R.

AMWELL, GREAT, a parish and village 11/2 mile S.E. of Ware Station, G.E.R., is very prettily situated near the New River, and is known by name to many who have never visited the neighbourhood, for the village is frequently mentioned in the essays and letters of Charles Lamb.  The church stands on a wooded slope; near by are the village stocks, the tiny island upon which stands a monument to Sir Hugh Myddelton, the projector of the New River, and the stone bearing some lines written by John Scott, the Quaker.  The grotto constructed by the poet may still be seen near the railway station at Ware.  The church is an architectural conglomeration, with several stained windows, one of which was contributed by the children of the parish as an Easter offering nearly seventy years ago.  The structure was restored in 1866.  There is a piscina in the chancel, and one in the S. wall of the nave; there are also two hagioscopes.  “The chancel arch,” writes Canon Benham, “seems to me Anglo-Saxon, and the chancel is a most curious apse.”  Thomas Warner, a friend of Shakespeare, and Isaac Reed, a Shakespearian commentator, were both buried here.