Potten End Village History.
Village has perfect clay soil
According to Viviane J.M Bryant and her book of Potten End History.
The Medieval Potter could not practice his craft in the main village. He needed to dig deep holes to extract clay without having to fill them up again. They needed to build kilns and have wood smoke burning without bothering neighbours. They set up in the far corner of Great Gaddesden Parish and manor of Southall, destined to become Little Potten End.
The soil in this area was ideal and the clay lay not too far from the surface, perfect for extraction. Clamp type Kilns were built and plentiful wood /fuel in the area made it an ideal location.
Old pottery still buried
Broken pieces of medieval pottery have been found in two main areas of Potten End Village.
At Binghams Park and in the triangle of which Water End Road and Hempstead Lane form the sides, with Potten End Farm as the base.
Near the Green, at the apex of the triangle. In the early years of this century, a worker at the local nursery found a large piece of pottery embedded in the roots of a tree. Some gardens have turned up many examples, particularly in Rambling Way and along the South side of Water End Road. There may still be some ceramics hidden in the gardens of the village, these would be rare examples of Potten End Pottery
Potten End, its in the name
The best evidence of the original name occurs in the Court Rolls of the manor of Southall. In these records the village is called Pottern End.
The form Pottern is a contraction of the Old English pottera aern and aern meant a building used for making or storing things. Pottern therefore meant the place pots were made.
However its noted in Vivian J. Bryants book that until the middle of the nineteenth century the name, whether Pottern, Potters or Potten, belonged only to the Great Gaddesden portion of the village. Inhabitants of the other portions were described as living at Little Heath, or Martins Pond, or on Berkhamsted Common, or in the Hamlet of Frithsden a large area which legally designated not only Frithsden but also the houses in the block formed by The Front and The Back.
Viviane J.M Bryant