Dacorum was one of the hundreds of Hertfordshire. In the Domesday Book of 1086 the area was recorded as two separate hundreds: Danais (meaning "of the Danes") and Tring. The name Danais relates to a period in Saxon times when the area formed part of the Danelaw, which covered much of what is now eastern England, although the duration and extent of Danish presence in Hertfordshire remain uncertain and continue to be debated by historians.[3]
By about 1200 the two hundreds had merged into a single hundred, which from 1196 onward was increasingly recorded in Latin as Dacorum ("of the Dacians"[4]). After the mid-13th century, Dacorum completely replaced the older names.[3] The substitution of Danais with Dacorum reflects a broader medieval usage in which the Latin name Dacia, originally denoting an ancient territory of south-east Europe centred on modern Romania, came to be applied to Denmark and later to Scandinavia as a whole. This geographical confusion was influenced by Jordanes' account that the Goths, who had settled in Dacia in south-east Europe during the Migration Period, had originally come from Scandinavia.[5][6]
From the seventeenth century onwards, hundreds gradually declined in importance as administrative divisions, with their functions passing to other bodies such as the county courts. The final administrative functions of hundreds were extinguished in 1886.[7]
The modern local government district of Dacorum was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, covering the whole area of five former districts and parts of another two, which were all abolished at the same time:[8]
The new district was named Dacorum after the medieval hundred, which had covered a similar area.[9]
The district was granted borough status in 1984, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor. Hemel Hempstead had maintained Charter Trustees from 1974 to 1984. The amalgamation of the former local authorities was symbolised in the seven oak leaves which surround a Tudor rose on the Dacorum coat of arms, issued in 1992.[10]
Hertfordshire has a two-tier structure of local government, with the ten district councils (including Dacorum Borough Council) providing district-level services, and Hertfordshire County Council providing county-level services. Most of Dacorum is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government in their areas.[13][14]
Political control
The Liberal Democrats won a majority of the seats on the council at the 2023 election. Following changes of allegiance, the party lost its majority in September 2024. Since then, the party has formed a minority administration.[15] Prior to 2023 the Conservatives had held a majority of the seats since 2003.
The first election to the council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements came into effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows:[16][17]
The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Dacorum. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 1995 have been:
The council is based at The Forum on Marlowes in Hemel Hempstead. From the council's creation in 1974 until 2017, the council was based at Dacorum Civic Centre, also on Marlowes in Hemel Hempstead. That building had previously been called Hemel Hempstead Town Hall, having been built for Hemel Hempstead Borough Council in 1966 to replace the Old Town Hall on High Street. On 16 January 2017 the council opened its new headquarters at The Forum, on the corner of Marlowes and Combe Street, immediately south of the Civic Centre, which was demolished shortly afterwards.[27]
Civic Centre, Marlowes, Hemel Hempstead: Council's headquarters 1974–2017, since demolished
Since the last boundary changes in 2007 the council has comprised 51 councillors, representing 25 wards, with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. The whole council is elected together every four years.[28]
Hemel Hempstead is an unparished area. The rest of the borough is divided into 16 civil parishes, with Berkhamsted and Tring parish councils taking the style "town council". The civil parishes are:[29]
A sprig of seven oak leaves Proper and acorns Or inflected to the sinister out of a mural crown Or.
Escutcheon
Or seven oak leaves stalks inward Vert radiating from a Tudor rose Proper.
Supporters
Two stags in trian aspect Proper attired and unguled Or gorged with a wreath Or and Gules ribbons flowing outward depending therefrom a bezant charged with oak leaves and a Tudor rose as in the Arms standing on a compartment Vert strewn with sprigs of oak leaves Proper and acorns Or.[30]
↑ Jakobsen, Johnny Grandjean Gøgsig (2012). "Why Dacia?". www.jggj.dk. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
↑ Rix, Robert (2019). The Barbarian North in Medieval Imagination. Routledge Studies in Medieval Religion and Culture. pp.65–68. ISBN978-0-367-87113-0.
↑ "Compositions Calculator". The Elections Centre. University of Exeter. Retrieved 5 March 2025. (Put "Dacorum" in search box to see specific results.)
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