The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Hitchin
city (1991 pop. 33,480), Hertfordshire, SE England. Hitchin was the site of a monastery in Offa’s time and appears in the Domesday Book as a royal manor named Hiz. Corn and cattle are traded at a biweekly market. Industries include building contracting, engineering, tanning, parchment making, medicinal distilling, and rose growing. Henry Bessemer, the inventor, and George Chapman were born in Hitchin.
