Place:Reed, Hertfordshire, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Reed is a small village and civil parish in the North Hertfordshire District of Hertfordshire, England. It is situated on a chalk ridge at almost the highest point in the county, approximately 3 miles south of the market town of Royston. The Prime Meridian passes just to the east of the village, between Reed and Barkway. The modern A10 road (here following the course of the Roman Ermine Street) passes just to the west of the village.

Reed's Saxon parish church is dedicated to St. Mary. It also has a small chapel, and a 16th-century coaching inn. A converted windmill also stands in the village. There were 273 residents recorded as living in 119 households in Reed in the UK census of 2001.

There has reportedly been a settlement at Reed for 2,000 years, and the community was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 (as "Retth"). A number of houses in the village boast the remnants of ancient moats, and the village includes a number of ancient woods on its outskirts.

Research Tips

• Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies, Register Office Block CHR002, County Hall, Hertford SG13 8EJ. Indexes and Catalog
• GENUKI on Hertfordshire (individual parishes covered separately)
• Hertfordshire Family History Society
• The hundred of Odsey: Introduction and map as provided by British History Online in the Victoria County History of Hertfordshire, volume 3, pp 192-193
• The parish of Reed ibid, volume 3, pp 247-253
• Ordnance Survey map of Hertfordshire 1900 provided by A Vision of Britain through Time
• Ordnance Survey map of Hertfordshire 1944 provided by A Vision of Britain through Time