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Kelshall, Kimpton and Kings Walden
Kelshall (population 149*)
A village in hilly country south of Royston, Kelshall is one of the group of villages established by the Saxons along the line of the chalk ridge from Baldock to Royston. The church was much restored in 1870 but retains some Perpendicular work, including the large west tower, and some fragment of mediaeval painting on the roofs of the nave and aisle. The village possesses the remains of two mediaeval crosses, one on the village green and the other in the churchyard.
Kimpton (population 2,113*)
Kimpton stands in the extreme south of the District between the Mimram and Lea Valleys. It is a compact village with a spacious flint-built parish church in the unusual transitional style between Norman and Early English. The Dacre Chapel has fine Perpendicular screen, and the remains of early wall paintings in the chancel show St. Christopher and the Seven Corporal Works of Mercy. The parish contains several hamlets and isolated farmhouses reached by narrow, high-banked, winding roads.
Kings Walden (population 957*)
Set in beautiful wooded country south-west of Hitchin, Kings Walden is a scattered parish with the Kings Walden Park estate at its centre. The house, originally built in the 1880s, was replaced i 1972 by the present mansion in a mock-Georgian style. The village church is mostly of the 15th and 19th centuries with the reredos, organ case, communion rail and altar tomb all designed by Nesfield, who restored the building in 1868. There is no old glass, but the south window is superb stained glass by William M orris, clear and fresh and showing three archangels. The Baptist Chapel at Breachwood Green contains a link with John Bunyan, who preached from its pulpit in 1678.
