Sir John Evans, in 1862, found an almond-shaped river-drift flint implement on a heap of stones in this neighbourhood.

KING’S WALDEN (about 5 miles S.W. from Hitchin) has an ancient church, carefully restored in 1868.  It stands in the park of The Bury, a large mansion, Elizabethan in style.  The embattled tower has masonry probably older than fourteenth century, and much of the nave arcade is Norman.  Note the sculptured capitals of pillars, curiously similar to those at Old Shoreham.  The chancel arch is E. Perp.; probably substituting its E.E. predecessor on very close lines; the corbels bear busts thought to resemble Henry VI. and Margaret of Anjou.  In the chancel are a double piscina, and two E.E. lancet windows.  The chancel screen is a really wonderful piece of work, in excellent preservation.  In the N. aisle is an ambry, and in the S. aisle a sedile and two piscinae, and on the N. side another ambry.  The font stands at the E. end of S. aisle, formerly the Chapel of the Virgin Mary.

Kinsbourne Green is on the Bedfordshire border, 2 miles N.E. from Harpenden.  The Kennels of the Hertfordshire Hunt are here.  The hamlet is close to Luton Hoo Park.

Kitter’s Green is a hamlet 1 mile S.E. from King’s Langley Station (L.&N.W.R.).  Abbot’s Langley old church (q.v.) is 1/2 mile N.

[Illustration:  KNEBWORTH PARK]

KNEBWORTH, famous as the home of Bulwer Lytton, lies on high ground 1 mile W. from the station (G.N.R.).  The village is small, and in itself of little interest; it was formerly called Chenepeworde, and Knebbeworth.  It is, however, ancient, and was valued in Domesday Book.

Sir Thomas Bouchier, K.G., who fought for the Earl of Richmond at Bosworth Field, sold the manor of Knebbeworth to Robert Lytton, Esq., Keeper of the Wardrobe to Henry VII., whose son William was buried in this parish.  This Sir Robert began to erect a huge Tudor mansion on the site of a fortress which had stood since the days of the Conquest; it took several generations to complete it.  The present house is the result of the work of demolition and reconstruction in the days of the novelist’s mother, and of the enlarging of 1883, when the S. wing and entrance were added; it is pseudo-Gothic.  The castellated parapet, cupola-topped turrets, griffins upon pinnacles and many mullioned windows are noticeable features from the grounds.  Within, the finest sight is the grand old banqueting hall, with its gallery for minstrels, its Elizabethan oak-screen, and wainscots by Inigo Jones.  Around, on all sides, are suits of armour, some dating from the days of Henry VII.  The room is associated with memories of Elizabeth, who was sometimes entertained at Knebworth by Sir Rowland Lytton, whom she knighted; he was buried in the chancel of the little church in the park (see below) in 1582.  The room in which Elizabeth slept on these occasions is still shown as “Queen Elizabeth’s Chamber,” and contains a finely carved over-mantel (oak) and an oaken bedstead of colossal proportions.  Among the distinguished guests so often entertained here by Bulwer Lytton were Dickens, Forster and Jerrold.