Place Name
Named after the medieval Lord of the Manor of Higham Peter de Valognes, a Norman nobleman. Between 1070 and 1076, de Valognes was granted lands in the six counties of Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Lincolnshire. In 1086 de Valognes was sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire. When he died in 1158 he left his estate to his three daughters, Lora, Christina and Isabella, as co-heirs.