Ware Tourist Information

Ware, lies to the east of the county, a few miles north-east of Hertford.

The settlement, pre-dating the Romans, grew up at the stragically important junction of the ancient thoroughfare Ermine Street and the navigable River Lee (or Lea).

Between 1400 and 1700 Ware town prospered as a coaching town but when this trade declined the town began to thrive from the production of malt. In the 19th century its transport links were improved by the construction of the Lee Navigation.

For 500 years until 1994 Ware was a England's premier malting town.

The town's facinating past is illustrated at the Ware Museum at The Priory Lodge. One of the museum's future projects is to recreate the famous 'Great Bed of Ware'. This vast four-poster bed, dating from Ware's coaching years, is now the centrepiece of the British Galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

One of Ware's claims to fame is that it was here in 1553 that Lady Jane Grey was declared Queen. The town has many historic buildings including The Priory founded in 1338, St Mary's Church rebuilt in 1380, old coaching inns and 18th century riverside gazebos.

The town's most intriging attractions is Scott's Grotto, a Gothic garden building constructed in the 1760s by the poet John Scott.

Today has a good selection of small shops and has a street market every Tuesday. Although mainly a residential town Ware also has an industrial area and the town's major employer, Glaxo Wellcome, has an important manufacting site on the outshirts of the town.