Berkhamsted

Town in the Chiltern Hills in Hertfordshire, England; population (2001) 18,800. It is situated 45 km/28 mi northwest of London, on the banks of the River Bulborne and the Grand Union Canal. The main industry in Berkhamsted is chemical manufacturing.

The novelist Graham Greene and the poet and hymn-writer William Cowper were born in Berkhamsted.

The grammar school in the town dates from 1541. The church of St Peter, dating from the 13th century but heavily restored in the 19th century, consists of many styles from different periods, especially Perpendicular. There are also the remains of an 11th-century castle where John II of France was imprisoned in 1356. The half-timbered Incent's House dates from the 16th century.