St Ippolyts

The name of St Ippolyts, although spelled in a variety of ways, is derived from St Hippolytus to whom the village church was dedicated. Variant spellings which have been recorded include Epolites, Ippolitts, Pallets, Nipples or St Ibbs.{{cite book |last1=Rance |first1=Daphne |title=St Ippolyts: A country parish in the nineteenth century |date=1987 |publisher=Egon Publishers |isbn=0-905858-38-7}}{{efn|In the same vein, the 1881 census mentions the following 28 place names, all of which are believed to refer to it: Iplits, Ipolits, Ipollitts, Ipollyts, Ipolytes, Ipolyts, Ippatyts, Ipplits, Ipployts, Ipplyts, Ippolett, Ippoletts, Ippolits, Ippolitss, Ippolits, Ippolitss, Ippolitts, Ippollit, Ippollits, Ippollitts, Ippollyts, Ippollytts, Ippololits, Ippolts, Ippolytis, Ippolyts, Ippolytts, Ippoplitts.}}

The name of the parish was officially changed from St Ippollitts to St Ippolyts with effect from 2 October 1996.{{cite book |title=Bulletin of Changes of Local Authority Status, Names and Areas |date=1997 |publisher=Department of the Environment |page=10 |url=https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20221201175650mp_/https://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/lgbce/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/11379/bulltein-of-changes-1994-1997.pdf |access-date=24 February 2025}} Even in the 21st Century, road signs to the village on consecutive junctions on the nearby A602 show contradictory spellings of the village name.

St Ippolyts historically formed part of the ancient parish of Hitchin. A church dedicated to St Hippolytus was built around 1087 as a chapel of ease for the southern part of Hitchin parish, and subsequently gave its name to the small village around it.{{NHLE|desc=Church of St Ippolyts|num=1347411|grade=I}} St Ippolyts became a separate parish from Hitchin in the middle ages.{{cite book |last1=Page |first1=William |title=A History of the County of Hertford, Volume 3 |date=1912 |publisher=British History Online |location=London |pages=3–12 |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/herts/vol3/pp3-12#h3-0003 |access-date=31 October 2021}}

Some features of the village are a 17th-century gabled house, a timber-framed house formerly known as the Olive Branch Inn, and a 16th-century house built around an even older timbered house.

File:St Ippolyts Church.jpg

The church was built in 1087 in a hilltop position. According to the church records, the building was funded by grants supplied by Judith de Lens, the niece of William the Conqueror. De Lens gave evidence against her husband Waltheof, a Saxon Earl, which led to his execution. The funding of the church was an attempt to make amends for this act. The church was rebuilt in the mid nineteenth century using old materials 'recycled' from the nearby abandoned Minsden Chapel. Apart from St Ippolyts, the church also serves the nearby villages of Gosmore and Langley.

The noted theologian Fenton John Anthony Hort (Fenton Hort) is amongst the former vicars of St Ippolyts church where he stayed for 15 years before taking up a fellowship and lectureship at Emmanuel College in Cambridge.

Politician George Lloyd, 1st Baron Lloyd (1879–1941) was buried in the churchyard,{{cite book|title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Volume 34|year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=127}} as is Geoffrey Lane, Baron Lane (1918-2005), former Lord Chief Justice of England.

St Ippolyts is located in between the A602 (Stevenage Road) and the B656 (Codicote Road), {{convert|2|km|abbr=on}} south-east of Hitchin, Hertfordshire. It lies approximately {{convert|80|m|abbr=on}} above sea level in a gap in the Chiltern Hills.

File:St Ippolyts Stores.jpg

The parish includes the village of St Ippolyts and the adjoining hamlet of Gosmore, and also includes southern parts of the Hitchin built up area. There is a village shop at Waterdell Lane. Wymondley grid substation is in the parish, south of the A602, but takes its name from the neighbouring parish of Wymondley. The substation covers 78 acres, and eventually cost £7.5m, built by Howard Farrow Construction.

The ancient manor of Almshoe, mentioned in the Domesday Book, is located in the south of the parish.{{Cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/herts/vol3/pp25-28|title = Parishes: Ippollitts | British History Online}}{{Cite web|url=http://opendomesday.org/place/XX0000/almshoe-bury-and-little-almshoe/|title=Almshoe [Bury] and [Little] Almshoe | Domesday Book}} Almshoe Bury—now a farmhouse and wedding venue—is a grade I listed building.{{Cite web|url=https://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101102513-almshoe-bury-st-ippolyts|title=Almshoe Bury, St Ippolyts, Hertfordshire}}

File:St Ippolyts Parish Hall.jpg

There are three tiers of local government covering St Ippolyts, at civil parish, district and county level: St Ippolyts Parish Council, North Hertfordshire District Council, and Hertfordshire County Council. The parish council meets at the Parish Hall on Waterdell Lane.{{cite web |title=St Ippolyts Parish Council |url=http://www.stippolyts-parishcouncil.org.uk/ |access-date=24 February 2025}}

For national elections, the parish forms part of the Hitchin constituency.{{cite web |title=Election Maps |url=https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/election-maps/gb/ |publisher=Ordnance Survey |access-date=24 February 2025}}

• Gosmore
• Great Wymondley
• Hitchin
• Kings Walden
• Little Wymondley
• Preston
• Stevenage

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book

| last = Rance

| first = Daphne

| author-link =

| title = St. Ippolyts: a country parish in the nineteenth century

| publisher = Egon Publishers Ltd

| year = 1987

| isbn = 0-905858-38-7}}

• {{cite book

| last = Rance

| first = Daphne

| author-link =

| title = The Yeomen of Ippolyts

| publisher = Cortney Publications

| year = 1996

| isbn = 0-904378-48-9}}

{{Commons category|St Ippolyts}}

• [http://www.stippolytschurch.org.uk/ St Ippolyts Church web site]

{{Civil parishes of Hertfordshire}}

{{authority control}}

Saint Ippolyts

Category:Areas of Hitchin

Category:Civil parishes in Hertfordshire