Hatfield, or BISHOPS HATFIELD

Hatfield, or BISHOPS HATFIELD, a market-town of Hertfordshire, 18 miles NNW. of London by rail. There exist a few scanty remains of the 12th-century palace, once the property of the bishops of Ely, but, together with the manor, seized by Henry VIII., and successively the residence of that king, of Edward VI. and Queen Elizabeth before their accession, and of James I. Hatfield House, the seat of the Marquis of Salisbury, was built by Sir Robert Cecil in 1611, and is a fine specimen of Jacobean architecture, rich in portraits and historical manuscripts. Pop. of parish (1851) 3862; (1891) 4330. See a fine account of its history in Brewer's English Studies (1881).