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Baldock is a historic market town in the local government district of North Hertfordshire in the ceremonial county of Hertfordshire, England where the River Ivel rises. It lies north of London, southeast of Bedford, and north northwest of the county town of Hertford. Nearby towns include Letchworth and Hitchin to the southwest and Stevenage to the south. ==History== Paleolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age settlements show the site of Baldock has been continuously occupied since prehistoric times.〔Mawer, J. E. B., Stenton, Allen and Gover, F. M. (1938) ''The Place-Names Of Hertfordshire'' (English Place-Name Society Volume XV), Cambridge University Press, ASIN: B0019T1T10 in (Archaeology Data Service archive – Baldock )〕 At the beginning of the Iron Age there was a hillfort at Arbury Banks, 5 km to the northeast of Baldock, that dominated the area. In the Late Iron Age (c. 100 BC), the local power base shifted from the hillfort to the vicinity of Baldock. The soil was easily farmed and transportation was more convenient. In the Roman and late Roman eras the community appears to have been both a market town and religious centre. The Roman settlement gradually disappeared. There is no entry for Baldock in the Domesday Book.〔 Baldock was founded by the Knights Templar (also the name of the town's secondary school) as a medieval market town in the 1140s.〔(Baldock Museum & Local History Society ). Retrieved 6 December 2012.〕 It was laid out by the Knights Templar on land in the manor of Weston in the hundred of Broadwater,〔http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TL2530/weston/ Domesday Online Map: Weston〕 granted by the earl of Pembroke, Gilbert de Clare, before his death in 1148.〔Andrews, H C (1938): Gilbert de Clare, earl of Pembroke, and his gifts, from his manor of Weston to the Knights Templars, c1138-48. Trans EHAS 10/2 (1938), 150–62.〕 The 1850 tithe map,〔http://websites.uk-plc.net/Heritage_Shop_Hertfordshire_Archives_and_Local_Studies/products/Tithe_Map_on_CD_Baldock_c1850.htm Hertfordshire County Council Heritage Shop: Tithe Map on CD – Baldock c. 1850〕 drawn up before the parish boundaries were extended in the later 19th century, clearly shows the boundaries of the land grant made from the manor of Weston in the 12th century. It is a triangular parcel of land beside the old Roman Road cut out from an older estate; it is likely that the Templars used their knowledge of mathematics when siting buildings. The main theory of the origin of the name ''Baldock'' is as a derivation from the Old French name for Baghdad: ''Baldac'' or later ''Baudac'',〔 which the Templars had been thwarted from conquering during the Crusades. Although the Templars' connections to Baghdad were "tenuous", it was widely regarded as the most prosperous market in the world and the Templars perhaps hoped that the name would confer a similar prosperity on their own market town in England.〔http://www.north-herts.gov.uk/index/leisure_and_culture/tourism_and_travel/towns_and_villages/baldock/baldock_-_history_and_further_information.htm Baldock – History and Further Information (downloaded 1 February 2015)〕 Founding contemporaneous documents use the spelling ''Baudac''. This place is first recorded as "Baldac" in the Pipe Rolls of Hertfordshire in 1168.〔https://books.google.com/books?id=UERBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA59&lpg=PA59&dq=baudac&source=bl&ots=BNxJsnyZIs&sig=j_9fsAx8_xl9bCXgCxIne2jCYC4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=v7fPVJOoOoadyAS43oLYBQ&ved=0CDcQ6AEwBzgU#v=onepage&q=baudac&f=false The Place-names of Hertfordshire (Google eBook), by Walter William Skeat, East Herts Archaeological Society, 1904. Page 59〕 It is possible the Knights Templar used a name already in use, especially since the location was already a crossroads. Other etymologies have been suggested, including Middle English "balled" meaning bald together with Old English "ac" meaning oak; and a conjectured Old English personal name "Bealdoc" meaning bold (with diminutive -oc suffix). In addition the settlement was already thriving as a late-Saxon part of Weston,〔 and may have been identified by a large old tree near the Saxon graveyard or where the Templar church was built. Marco Polo relates that in 1225 Alau the Great Lord of the Tartars captured the Calif and the great city of Baudac,〔https://books.google.com/books?id=0NBQAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA25&lpg=PA25&dq=baudac&source=bl&ots=lzy7j-sIm9&sig=t24W8KtL6TcgB7kOi8CPRtGPeEk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=TLTPVJCTPJenyAT58oBw&ved=0CFIQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=baudac&f=false Travels of Marco Polo, by L. F. Benedetto, 1931. Page 26.〕 achieving what the Crusaders had not. The connection between the great city of Baudac and the ruins of Babylon, in the facile minds of the Templars, were obscurely compared with the great city of London and the ruins of Baldock. The modern layout of the town and many buildings in the centre date from the sixteenth century, with the earliest dating from the fourteenth century.〔〔 The town thrived where the old Great North Road and the Icknield Way crossed. Despite the construction of the A1(M) motorway in 1963, which bypassed the town (and which was called the Baldock Bypass for some years), it was still a major traffic bottleneck until March 2006, when a new bypass removed the A505 road (part of the old Icknield Way to the east of Baldock) from the town. Thanks to its location, the town was a major staging post between London and the north: many old coaching inns still operate as pubs and hotels, and Baldock has a surprising number of pubs for its size. From the 1770s until 2008 the high street was very wide,〔http://www.north-herts.gov.uk/index/environment_and_planning/planning/planning_policy_and_projects-2/town_centre_strategies-2/baldock_town_centre_strategy-2.htm Baldock Town Centre Strategy (downloaded 1 February 2015)〕 a typical feature of medieval market places where more than one row of buildings used to stand. In the case of Baldock, the bottom of the High Street had three such rows, until Butcher's Row was demolished by the Turnpike authorities in the 1770s. In late 2008, a town centre enhancement plan included a narrowing of the road and subsequent widening of paved areas.〔 Since the 16th century, Baldock has been a centre for malting, subsequently becoming a regional brewing centre with at least three large brewers still operating at the end of the 19th Century, despite a decline in demand for the types of beer produced locally. The 1881 Census records approximately 30 drinking establishments (the town's population was at that time around 1900). Throughout the early 20th century a large number of pubs continued to operate, many of which were sustained by the adjacent and much larger town of Letchworth, which had no alcohol retailers prior to 1958, and had only two pubs and a single hotel bar until the mid-1990s. Its larger population had for many years visited both Baldock and Hitchin for refreshment. The Wynn almshouses, in the High Street, were founded in 1621 and were endowed "To the World's End" by John Wynne, a cloth merchant from London who left £1000 in his will of 1614 for their upkeep.〔''AA Touring Guide of England'', 1974, PAGE 138, ISBN 0-09-211550-0〕 Since 1850, the town has a railway station which today operates on the line between London Kings Cross and Cambridge. With frequent services to London, including fast services of around 30 minutes, the town is home to many commuters. The station is part of the Thameslink extension project which will connect Cambridge to Farringdon, City Thameslink and Blackfriars via the Great Northern Route. There has been human activity on the site well before the modern town was founded. Prehistoric remains on Clothall Common date back as far as c 3000 BCE. Many Roman remains have been discovered during building work in and around the town, and the core of the Roman settlement lies between Walls Field and Bakers Close. Earlier Iron Age remains have also been uncovered in the same general location, which may be the earliest town ever to develop in Britain. A medieval leper colony, on Royston Road, was located during excavations in 2003, having been thought for many years to lie to the south-east of the town on the former Pesthouse Lane (now Clothall Road), the A507. From 1808 to 1814, Baldock hosted a station in the shutter telegraph chain that connected the Admiralty in London to its naval ships in the port of Great Yarmouth. An authoritative history of "Baldock's Middle Ages" (ISBN 0-905858-97-2) was compiled by Vivian Crellin, a former headmaster of the Knights Templar School, while local archaeologists Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews and Gilbert Burleigh published 'Ancient Baldock: the story of an Iron Age and Roman town' in 2007. Baldock's position at the crossing of two important thoroughfares, the Great North Road and the Icknield Way has made it a stopping point for a number of illustrious visitors, including Charles I, who passed through Baldock en route for London after his arrest in 1648〔(). The Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin Baldock on the Church of England website〕 and supposedly Dick Turpin. Preacher John Wesley came to the town in 1747.〔() A Vision of Britain Through Time: John Wesley〕 In the 1960s and 70s Baldock was a centre of laser research at a MOD laboratory called SERL (Services Electronics Research Laboratory). This facility closed in the late 1970s and some projects and staff were transferred to RSRE (Royal Signals & Radar Establishment) near Pershore. Baldock was formerly the location of a film processing factory which closed before the company (originally based in Letchworth Garden City) could move in; local folklore has it that it was a silent film studio, but this is not the case. The building was then bought by the Full-Fashioned Hosiery Company from Halifax, later becoming the Kayser Bondor ladies stocking factory (which temporarily produced parachutes during World War II). Its Art Deco facade still stands as the largest Listed Building in the town; it was converted to a Tesco supermarket in the late 1980s. Another notable building in the town is the thirteenth century Baldock Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin at the centre of the town. Malting and brewing were formerly major industries in the town, but apart from some light industry, today it is mostly a commuter town. In the past few years, many businesses have shut down in Baldock. Baldock lost its local football team, Baldock Town F.C. in 2001, after nearly 100 years of existence. Located to the east of the town there is a large residential estate that was built in several phases. This is known as Clothall Common. Some residents are lobbying to have one green space given village green status. A significant archaeological dig took place in this part of Baldock in the late 80s. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Baldock」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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