Flamstead

Coordinates: 51°49′07″N 0°26′15″W / 51.81874°N 0.43744°W / 51.81874; -0.43744

Flamstead is a village and civil parish in northwest Hertfordshire, England, close to the junction of the A5 and the M1 motorway at junction 9. The name is thought by some historians to be a corruption of the original Verulamstead.

Flamstead stands on a ridge above the River Ver, which runs on its north side; to the south the village extends downhill to the adjoining hamlet of Trowley Bottom. The first documented record of the village was in 1006, and it was also recorded in the Domesday Book eighty years later. In the Middle Ages it was important enough for a market and fair to be held there, though it is now mainly a dormitory village for neighbouring towns, several of which can be reached by bus from the village. The current population is around 1,306.

From a distance the village is dominated by the parish church of St Leonard, with its characteristic "Hertfordshire Spike" spire. St Leonard’s (Church of England) is believed to stand on the site of a ninth-century Saxon chapel, though the oldest parts of the present structure date from around 1140. Features of interest include mediaeval wall paintings, the Saunders Memorial of 1670, and a fine fifteenth century rood screen. The village also has a Methodist church,