The Ver is a river in Hertfordshire, England. The River begins in the grounds of Lynch Lodge, Kensworth Lynch on west side of the A5 trunk road and stays on the west side for some half mile or so. It then crosses through a pipe into Markyate Cell, afterwards crosses the A5 piped and runs through Markyate, exits above ground at the southern end of Markyate, and on through Flamstead, Redbourn, St Albans and Park Street, finally joining the River Colne at Bricket Wood. The Romans built the city ofVerulamium alongside it at a time when it was navigable, expressing their preference for building in valleys rather than on hills. The Ver is a chalk stream, which is partly a seasonal winterbourne north of Redbourn. However, many of its natural features have been compromised as a result of being canalised during the construction of the artificial lakes at Verulamium Park in St Albans in the 1930s. During the 1960s and 1970s it suffered serious problems as a result of water extraction upstream. Although these abated temporarily after the closure of one of the pumping stations, the upstream part of the river is drying up completely during the summer, and the rest of the river may suffer the same fate within a few years. In 2004 a proposal for remedial work was being developed for the St Albans lakes. The river south of Redbourn has been the site of several watermills down the centuries, mainly for grinding corn but also put to such diverse uses as paper making, fulling cloth, silk spinning and diamond lapping. Eleven mills are known to have existed, of which a number can still be seen today, either as mills, or converted. Particularly worthy of note are: The bridge in St Michael's Street, adjacent to Kingsbury Mill, dates from 1765 and is believed to be the oldest extant bridge in Hertfordshire. According to a contemporary account of the Second Battle of St Albans in 1461, another bridge existed on this site previously. It is thought that the Romans had built a bridge here by the 3rd century AD. The ford alongside the current bridge, which is known to have existed for 2,000 years and is traditionally believed to be Alban's crossing point on his way to his execution, was substantially restored in 2001 by local residents' associations. Ye Olde Fighting Cockspublic house in St Albans, which claims to be the oldest pub in England, was moved in the early 1600s to the side of the Ver next to the Abbey Mill at the bottom of the Abbey Orchard, and remains in this location today. Disused watercress beds can be seen at various points along the river's length : the entire Ver valley was a national centre for the watercress growing industry. The poplar and willow plantations around Pre Mill and the former Pre Hotel on the A5183, which are a significant feature of the landscape, indicate a more modern industry: that of cricket bat manufacturing.
