The walk from Bengeo to Hertford, past the sandy warren-hills, so
beautifully clad with fir, larch, etc., with the Lea winding through the
low meadows on the left, is one of the finest in the county.

BENGEO (Rural) was formerly a part of the same parish as the above. Near
by, at Chapmore End, is the Hertford County Reformatory for boys.

_Bennett's End_ is the name of two small hamlets, one near Leverstock
Green (_q.v._) and the other near Hemel Hempstead (_q.v._).

BENNINGTON (4½ miles N.E. from Knebworth Station, G.N.R.) was once the
residence of Mercian kings. The village and neighbourhood are
picturesque; the roads from Walkern, Hertford and Knebworth meet where
a tiny triangular green is shaded by fine elms. The river Beane is 1
mile to the W. The church is at the S. end of the village; it dates from
the fourteenth century. The nave is wide, with clerestory; the narrow
chancel has a chapel on the N. side. The tower is embattled, and
contains a ring of eight bells. There are triple sedilia, and stalls of
carved oak in the chancel; what was _once_ a holy water basin is in the
porch. Note also (1) the oaken rood-screen, surmounted by a large cross;
(2) the memorial to the Cæsar family (1622-61); (3) the (supposed) tomb
of Sir John de Benstede (1432), a baron who sat in Parliament in the
time of Edward II., as we learn from Dugdale's _Monasticon_; (4) Carved
oak reredos. Near the churchyard a large house of red brick stands on
the site of the castle of the Benstedes, in ruins when Chauncy wrote two
centuries back. Bertulf, King of the Mercians, held a council here in
850. _Bennington Park_ (1¼ mile E.) is one of three deer parks in
Hertfordshire which figured in _Domesday Book_.

BERKHAMPSTEAD (Great) an interesting town in the W. of the county, is