Berkhamsted is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, in the Bulbourne valley, 26 miles northwest of London. The town is a civil parish with a town council within the borough of Dacorum which is based in the neighbouring large new town of Hemel Hempstead. Berkhamsted and the adjoining village of Northchurch are together encircled by countryside, much of it in the Chiltern Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The High Street is on a pre-Roman route known by its Saxon name Akeman Street. The earliest written reference to Berkhamsted was in 970. The settlement was recorded as a burbium in the Domesday Book in 1086. The most notable event in the town's history occurred in December 1066. After William the Conqueror defeated King Harold's Anglo-Saxon army at the Battle of Hastings, the Anglo-Saxon leadership surrendered to the Norman encampment at Berkhamsted. The event was recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. From 1066 to 1495, Berkhamsted Castle was a favoured residence of royalty and notable historical figures, including Henry II, Edward, the Black Prince, Thomas Becket and Geoffrey Chaucer.