The border of Hertfordshire and Essex seems to have been the heartland of the Deller family – at least in the 16th and 17th centuries. At this time it would be more accurate to call them Dellows because this was by far the most common spelling of the name, along with variants such as Dello and Delloe. The change to Deller and Dellar seemed to have occurred as the families moved westwards towards Berkshire, northwestwards towards Cambridgeshire and southwards towards London – mainly in the 18th century.

The largest population centre of Dellows in Hertfordshire at this time was northwest of Bishop’s Stortford around villages such as Braughing, Great Hormead and Layston. There seems to have been an outbreak of rabies in the region in 1734 because in the parish register of Therfield for that period there are two notices that were displayed at the parish church. They are recipes prepared by two doctors to combat “The Bite of a Mad Dog”. I have included both of these in the Gallery section even though one of them is quite difficult to read. In part it says “This Recipe was taken out of Calthrop Church in Lincolnshire where many in ye town were bitten with a mad dog & all that took this medicine did well and all that did not dyed mad”!! The second recipe is much easier to read although the addendum written by the vicar is a little alarming “Subsequent practise has shown that this prescription of Dr. Mead’s is by no means to be depended upon”!