Bedmond, or Bedmont, together with Sheppeys, forms a large hamlet 1 mile N. from the village of Abbots Langley, and nearly 2 miles N.E. from King’s Langley Station, L.&N.W.R.

Bedwell Plash is a hamlet 1 mile S.E. from Stevenage.

Beeson’s End is pleasantly situated near the S. extremity of Harpenden Common, and about 13/4 mile nearly due E. from Redbourn Station, M.R.

Bell Bar, a hamlet in the parish of North Mimms, is near Brookman’s Park, and about 21/2 miles N. from Potter’s Bar Station, G.N.R.  (Middlesex).

Bendish lies on high ground, 21/2 miles S.W. from St. Paul’s Walden (q.v.).  The nearest station is at Luton Hoo (Beds) about 4 miles S.W.

BENGEO (3/4 mile N. from Hertford) is a village between the rivers Beane and Rib; Ware Park is close by (N.E.).  It is now in the borough of Hertford.  The old church dedicated to St. Leonard, is Early Norman; there are very few churches of older foundation in Hertfordshire.  It was restored at several times between 1884 and 1893.  The bell in the wooden cote bears date 1636; a small Norman arch divides the nave from the chancel; there are lancets and a Perp. window in the apse.  The monuments are mostly to local gentry.  Eric, seventh Baron Reay, is buried in the tiny churchyard.  The new church, erected on the hillside in 1855, is of Kentish rag.  There are terra-cotta panels by Tinworth in the reredos.  The walk from Bengeo to Hertford, past the sandy warren-hills, so beautifully clad with fir, larch, etc., with the Lea winding through the low meadows on the left, is one of the finest in the county.

BENGEO (Rural) was formerly a part of the same parish as the above.  Near by, at Chapmore End, is the Hertford County Reformatory for boys.

Bennett’s End is the name of two small hamlets, one near Leverstock Green (q.v.) and the other near Hemel Hempstead (q.v.).

BENNINGTON (41/2 miles N.E. from Knebworth Station, G.N.R.) was once the residence of Mercian kings.  The village and neighbourhood are picturesque; the roads from Walkern, Hertford and Knebworth meet where a tiny triangular green is shaded by fine elms.  The river Beane is 1 mile to the W. The church is at the S. end of the village; it dates from the fourteenth century.  The nave is wide, with clerestory; the narrow chancel has a chapel on the N. side.  The tower is embattled, and contains a ring of eight bells.  There are triple sedilia, and stalls of carved oak in the chancel; what was once a holy water basin is in the porch.  Note also (1) the oaken rood-screen, surmounted by a large cross; (2) the memorial to the Caesar family (1622-61); (3) the (supposed) tomb of Sir John de Benstede (1432), a baron who sat in Parliament in the time of Edward II., as we learn from Dugdale’s Monasticon; (4) Carved oak reredos.  Near the churchyard a large house of red brick stands on the site of the castle of the Benstedes, in ruins when Chauncy wrote two centuries back.  Bertulf, King of the Mercians, held a council here in 850. Bennington Park (11/4 mile E.) is one of three deer parks in Hertfordshire which figured in Domesday Book.