What, When & Ware I

Where? Ware is in Hertfordshire, on Ermine Street, the Roman road that ran from London to Lincoln. The town is famous for the Great Bed of Ware, originally from the White Hart Inn and now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington; and has a long history. Ware was once Britain's premier malting town, but that unfortunately came to an end in the 1990s.

It's an attractive place, with numerous tiled shops, old town houses, along the main street, and a variety of interesting larger buildings. Foremost amongst these are the fourteenth-century Franciscan friary (above) and St Mary's Church, of the same century (corbelled arch pictured below). The friary was converted into a private residence after the first of Henry VIII's Dissolutions. As one of the premier buildings of the town, it is now occupied by the local council, as is often the way.