Ware is a town of around 18,000 people in Hertfordshire, England, close to Hertford (the county town).

History

Archaeology has shown that Ware has been occupied since at least the Mesolithic period (which ended about 4,000 BC). The Romans had a sizeable settlement here and foundations of several buildings, including a temple, have been found. A well preserved Roman skeleton of a teenage girl has been found as well. Ware was on Ermine Street, the Roman road from London to Lincoln.

The modern name of the town dates from the Anglo-Saxon period when 'weirs' were built to stop the invading Vikings from escaping in their longships after defeat by Alfred the Great in a battle near Ware. In the Domesday survey of 1085 it was the second largest town in Hertfordshire. It was also a great coaching town, being on the Old North Road, less than a day's journey from London. In the seventeenth century Ware became the source of the New River, constructed to bring fresh water to London. England's first turnpike (toll) road ran from Wadesmill to Ware. The town was once a centre of malting.

With the River Lee (aka River Lea) flowing through the centre of Ware, transport by water was for many years a significant industry. As an old brewing town (and some of the old maltings still stand, although none are functional), barley was transported in, and beer out via the river. Bargemen born in Ware were given the "freedom of the River Thames" - avoiding the requirement of paying lock dues - as a result of their transport of fresh water and food in, and dead bodies out of London during the great plague of 1665-1666. "Buryfield" in Ware is thought by many to be where the bodies were buried, but that is in fact not the case, the name apparently originating before 1666, with the burial of large numbers of Roman inhabitants of Ware1.

Tragedy struck the town on 25 January 1990 when a 15-year-old local girl struck by a falling tree was one of 39 people to die in a storm that ravaged Britain. 2

Features

It has a fourteenth-century priory, now the local council offices and a conference centre. Recent restoration work has shown that the 'priory' - it was really a friary - dates from the thirteenth century. Opposite the priory is the large fourteenth century parish church of St. Mary. It is known for its elaborate font with large carved stone figures. The town is also famous for its many 18th Century riverside gazebos, several of which have been restored recently. It is also famous for the Great Bed of Ware, which was mentioned by Shakespeare and is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Ware is also mentioned in the Canterbury Tales. GlaxoSmithKline has a large plant in the town.