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Hertfordshire
Art, History & Archaeology Sites & Museums

One of the Home Counties, Hertfordshire sits just to the north of Greater London. Evidence for prehistoric habitation can still be seen at earthen mounds on Therfield Heath and Highley Hill, as well as at putatively Iron Age linear earthworks like the Devil’s Dyke in Wheathampstead. Roman activity in the county is also very evident, especially at the city of Saint Albans, a settlement known to the Romans as Verulamium. Here, both the Roman city walls and their theatre can still be seen, while the Roman baths similarly survive at Welwyn. Medieval Hertfordshire can be glimpsed at fortifications like Berkhamsted Castle, as well as at religious structures like the Sopwell Nunnery and Saint Albans Cathedral. The county is also home to several prominent early modern buildings like Hatfield House and the ruined Old Gorehambury House. More recent stately homes in Hertfordshire include the 18th-century Berrington Hall and the largely 19th-century Knebworth House.

Archaeology & History Sites in Hertfordshire

The Hypocaust, St Albans

This new, state-of-the-art building was specifically constructed to house the impressive mosaic floor of a major townhouse in the Roman city of Verulamium. What we see today, about half the size it originally was, is the floor of what would have been the reception room of the townhouse. You are able to admire the magnificent mosaic decoration in its original place, as well as the hypocaust system used to heat the house that the Romans brought to Britain.

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Museums & Art Galleries in Hertfordshire

Redbourn Village Museum

With artefacts, maps and pictures ranging from the Stone Age to the 19th century, the museum tells the history of the small Hertfordshire village of Redbourn. The museums is housed in what was a former 19th century Silk Mill manager’s house, that was in the 1940s converted into Brooke Bond’s tea and coffee packaging factory – one of the largest in the country. A Victorian parlour from 1900, Redbourn Priory and the Redbourn House Portico are some of the highlights of this charming local history museum.

Verulamium Museum

Built on the site of one of Roman Britain’s largest cities, the Verulamium Museum was established to house Iron Age and Roman finds excavated by Sir Mortimer Wheeler and his wife. Today the museum is considered one of the best Roman museums in England. Highlights of the museum’s exhibits include some of the finest mosaic floors and rare fragments of painted wall plaster. Highlights on display in the museum include the bronze statuette known as the Verulamium Venus and the Sandridge Hoard of 159 Roman coins.