The Amwells--Great Amwell (1421), and Little Amwell (930)--small villages not far from the Rye House. Amwell is associated with the name of the Quaker poet, John Scott, who lived there for some time after 1740. Near by is Haileybury, formerly the training college for the officials of the East India Company, but now a public school. (p. 135.) Ashridge, a domain in Little Gaddesden parish, situated on the Buckinghamshire border of the county, and celebrated for its splendid beech woods. It was formerly the property of the Dukes of Bridgewater, being acquired by the Egertons in 1604, but it is now owned by Earl Brownlow. A building, formerly the porter’s lodge, includes some remains of an old monastic college. The present house, which stands partly in Buckinghamshire, was built by the eighth Earl of Bridgewater. (pp. 115, 142.) Ashwell (1281), a village on the Cambridgeshire border of the county, with a station some distance away on the Royston and Cambridge branch of the Great Northern Railway. Ashwell, which was formerly a town, had a fair and a market in the time of William the Conqueror. It was severely visited by the plague. Its church-tower is the only one in the county built wholly of stone. (pp. 92, 113.) Baldock (2057) is a market-town on the Icknield Way, to the north-west of Hitchin, with a station on the above-mentioned branch of the Great Northern Railway. It dates from Norman times, when it was known as Baudok. During the Crusades, Baldock, like St Albans, Berkhampstead, and Hoddesdon, had a lazar-house for lepers, who were at that time numerous all over England. The list of Rectors is complete from the days of the Knights Hospitallers in 1317. The church contains much Decorated and Perpendicular work. (pp. 90, 94, 128.) Barkway (661), originally Berkway, is a small town and manor situated a few miles to the north-east of Buntingford. (p. 96.) Barnet, or Chipping Barnet, originally Chipping Bernet (7876), a large and important market-town near the Middlesex border of the county, with a station (High Barnet) on a branch of the Great Northern Railway. Near by are New Barnet and East Barnet, with a station on the main line, and having a population of 10,024. The name Barnet is a corruption of the Saxon _Bergnet_, signifying a little hill; the site of the town then forming a small rising in the midst of the great forest; the prefix Chipping = market is a word of Scandinavian origin, represented in the Swedish Jonköping and the Danish Kjøbenhavn = (Copenhagen). Barnet was the scene of a battle in 1471, when the Yorkists defeated the Lancastrians, killing their leader, Warwick the king-maker. The market was famous for its cattle; and in addition to this there is an annual horse-fair, which formerly attracted dealers from all parts of the country. (pp. 9, 53, 54, 82, 99, 128.)