Walkern According to legend, in the Middle Ages when Boxbury was a village its people began to build a church, but each night their carefully laid stones were reassembled on a site by the river Beane.

It was, of course, the work of the devil, who was heard to encourage the movement of the building materials with the cry Walk on ! Walk on ! But, this being Hertfordshire, what he said was Walkern. Thus, when the village thought it prudent to adopt the devils choice of site, the new settlement already had a name.
The devil had not finished with Walkern, if the trial in 1711 of Jane Wenham - the last person to be condemned to death for witchcraft in England - is any evidence. Jane lived in a hovel, now long vanished, in Church Lane. Accused among other things of bewitching sheep and farm labourers, she was sent for trial in Hertford and sentenced to death.
However, granted the Queens pardon, too terrified to return to her home, she went to Hertingfordbury where she lived for the rest of her life.
Although only four miles from Stevenage, the village maintains a rural atmosphere. There are a number of farms in the parish, several being in the High Street; Finches Farm that borders the river, and Rooks
Nest Farm whose gracious Elizabethan house has mullioned windows and most distinctive chimneys.

Further along the street, at Manor Farm, is a fine 17th-century house and octagonal dovecote, one of the three
remaining in the country.
At the northern end of the High Street is the Old Rectory, its pink-washed walls making a perfect setting for the Cedar of Lebanon standing in the foreground. The house was build in 1632 by Daniel Gorsuch for his son John, who became Rector of the church.
By the river in Church End, approached by passing Bridgefoot Farm whose lovely old farmhouse and meadows overlook the ford, stands Hertfordshires oldest village church, St. Mary the Virgin. Building of the Church commenced some 24 years before the Norman invasion of 1066 and incorporates features from every century since then.

Fairs were held in Walkern in the Middle Ages, festivities being concentrated opposite the White Lion on the Kings Highway (now the HighStreet). From 1880 a fair was held on 5th November each year until 1888
when it was abolished by order of the Secretary of State for the Home Department, owing to rowdy behavior. Several people living in the village can remember a traveling fair which came to the village green
many times during the 1920s and 30s. However, the fair as it is known today was started in 1973 and attracts many people from nearby town and villages to enjoy the various activities. The event is run by a committee as a charitable concern and benefits various organisations in the village.