Hemel Hempstead
Hemel Hempstead (ˌhɛməl_ˈhɛmpstᵻd) is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England. It is northwest of London, and is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500. Developed after the Second World War as a new town, it has existed since the 8th century and was granted its town charter by Henry VIII in 1539. Nearby towns are Watford, St Albans and Berkhamsted. The settlement was called by the name Henamsted or Hean-Hempsted in Anglo-Saxon times and in William the Conqueror's time by the name of Hemel-Amstede. The name is referred to in the Domesday Book as Hamelamestede, but in later centuries it became Hamelhamsted, and, possibly, Hemlamstede. In Old English, -stead or -stede simply meant "place" (reflected in German Stadt and Dutch stede or stad, meaning "city" or "town"), such as the site of a building or pasture, as in clearing in the woods, and this suffix is used in the names of other English places such as Hamstead and Berkhamsted. It is theoretically possible for a previous name to have become corrupted to something very similar to Hempstead, and that Hemel originated as a way of specifying Hemel Hempstead as opposed to nearby Berkhamsted. Hemel is reflected in the German Himmel and Dutch Hemel, both of which mean 'heaven' or 'sky', so it could be that Hemel Hempstead was in a less forested area open to the sky, while Berkhamsted (which could mean 'birch', reflected in the Dutch berk) was in a forest of birch trees. Another opinion is that Hemel came from Haemele, the name of the district in the 8th century, and is most likely either the name of the landowner or meant "broken country". The town is now known to locals as Hemel. However, before the Second World War locals called it Hempstead. Emigrants from Hemel Hempstead, led by one John Carman, migrated to the American colonies in the early 17th century and founded the town of Hempstead, New York in 1644. The first recorded mention of the town is the grant of land at Hamaele by Offa, King of Essex, to the Saxon Bishop of London in AD 705.