Find a 1st Associated Chartered Surveyor in Ware.

To find out some interesting facts about Ware and places to visit in Ware and the surrounding areas you can click on the boxes above.

To get a quote on a survey in Ware, carried out by an Independent Building Surveyor, click on the 'Get a Survey Quote' box above.

We carry out residential structural surveys and commercial surveys in Ware. Ware is commuting town in east Hertfordshire not far from Hertford and is said to be one Western Europe 's longest occupied sites with evidence of settlements dating back to the Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age, five to ten thousands years ago. Artefacts from these settlements can be seen in Ware Museum along with Bronze Age exhibits and the town has evidence of Iron Age fortifications.

It seems that people settled in the area due to the location of an ancient road meeting with the River Lea. Later the road was named ‘ Ermine Street ' then the Old North Road in medieval days. The Romans widened and paved the road and a town grew up around it.

The road linked London to Lincoln and the Romans had a fairly large settlement in Ware and foundations have been excavated of buildings which include a temple. Around the Roman site many graves have been found and it is believed that this is why the area became known as Buryfield in the 16 th century.

Ware became a frontier town in 886 dividing Wessex and the Danelaw. In 895 the Danes established fortifications along the River Lea and so Alfred the Great deterred the course of the river by putting in place weirs so the Vikings could not use their boats. It is believed that Ware gets its name from the Saxon ‘Waras' named after Alfred the Great's weirs.

Following the Norman Conquest Ware expanded and a charter was obtained to build a priory. Ware is mentioned in the Domesday Book Ware and is recorded as the second biggest town in Hertfordshire. In the 12 th century the town centre layout was expanded, roads diverted and a new bridge was built and the town was set out very much as it looks today. The High Street was wide enough to hold a market, shops and a fair. Henry III visited the town and approved of the improvements and granted charters for the market and yearly fair and also a charter for tolls of the ships travelling to London from Ware Bridge and for vehicles that crossed the bridge. This did not go down too well with nearby Hertford who felt that this was all to the detriment of their town.

Ware, being located on the Old North Road linking London to York and Scotland brought travellers through the town for various reasons such as military, trade or pilgrimage and so the town became a busy coaching town as it was less than an hours journey to London and was also on the route to the shrine in Walsingham in Norfolk . Businesses set up to serve the travellers and between the 1400 and the 1700s many inns and hostelries were built. Many of these inns are still in Ware today but have been converted into retail shops, but the wagonways are still a characteristic of the High Street.

During the 1600s Ware became the source of the New River which was built to carry fresh water to London .

Malting became a huge industry in Ware in the 1600s and in 1663 a turnpike had to be set up to cater for all the traffic caused by the trading etc. This was England 's first turnpike. The town still has many of the malthouses left in the town that are now used for other businesses. Malting ended in Ware in 1994; it had been a business in the town for around 600 years.

The landlords of the inns attracted business to their establishments by creating riverside gardens with gazebos and summerhouses which can still be seen today. The Great Bed of Ware was also an attraction (this is a huge bed) and anyone staying in the room with the bed went through an elaborate and bawdy ritual. The bed is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum .

Our surveyors are not timed or targeted to do as many surveys in one day or in a week in Ware and the surrounding area. They are all Independent Chartered Surveyors and are able to take as much time as the survey requires to do a professional job. The surveyor needs time to understand the building he is surveying and to fully examine the property for potential problems, such as rising damp or lateral or penetrating dampness. Our surveyors are also available to speak to you either at the property and / or on the telephone after the survey to talk through their findings.

1st Associated Chartered Surveyors cover the whole of the UK including all areas of Hertfordshire for example in:

1st Associated provide house surveys, commercial surveys, engineers reports, property training plus more all carried out by RICS surveyors in Ware and the surrounding areas.

Contact us today for a free, no obligation quotation, including building surveys, structural surveys, homebuyers reports and pre sales reports, for Ware and the surrounding towns and villages.

Our Residential Building Surveys and our Commercial Building Surveys are tailor made to suit your requirements. When you book your survey in Ware we will ask you to grade your property knowledge from 1 - 4, with 1 being 'next to no property knowledge' and 4 being 'excellent property knowledge'. From this we can tailor make your survey. Depending upon your knowledge level we will add additional photographs to the survey or will give you more definitions of building terminology, or add extra sketches to help describe particular areas of concern or to show you for example what type of roof your proposed property has or what type of brickwork the property is built in. By doing this we can make sure that you completely understand the property you are buying in Ware and that you understand what the issues are.

Get a survey quote:

Residential Building Survey Quote

Commercial Building Survey Quote or Schedule of Condition Quote

We carry out Structural Surveys, Structural Building Surveys on Residential properties and Commercial properties throughout Hertfordshire.

We are always keen to meet our clients at the property we are surveying on their behalf; this can help with a quick sale as we can speak to you in person and point out any problems we may find with the property and give you our professional advice on the spot. Our surveys are produced quickly so that you can go to our website and download your survey using a unique password.