HODDESDON

hoddesdon, an urban district in the hertford parliamentary division of hertfordshire, england, near the river lea, 17 m. n. from london by the great eastern railway (broxbourne and hoddesdon station on the cambridge line). pop. (1901), 4711. this is the northernmost of a series of populous townships extending from the suburbs of london along the lea valley as far as its junction with the stort, which is close to hoddesdon. they are in the main residential. hoddesdon was a famous coaching station on the old north road; and the bull posting-house is mentioned in matthew prior's "down hall." the lea has been a favourite resort of anglers (mainly for coarse fish in this part) from the time of izaak walton, in whose book hoddesdon is specifically named. the church of st augustine, broxbourne, is a fine example of perpendicular work, and contains interesting monuments, including an altar tomb with enamelled brasses of 1473. hoddesdon probably covers the site of a romano-british village. hodeda (_hodeida_, _hadeda_), a town in arabia situated on the red sea coast 14 deg. 48' n. and 42 deg. 57' e. it lies on a beach of muddy sand exposed to the southerly and westerly winds. steamers anchor more than a mile from shore, and merchandize has to be transhipped by means of _sambuks_ or native boats. but hodeda has become the chief centre of the maritime trade of turkish yemen, and has superseded mokha as the great port of export of south arabian coffee. the town is composed of stone-built houses of several storeys, and is surrounded, except on the sea face, by a fortified enceinte. the population is estimated at 33,000, and contains, besides the arab inhabitants and the turkish officials and garrison, a considerable foreign element, greeks, indians and african traders from the opposite coast. there are consulates of great britain, united states, france, germany, italy and greece. the steam tonnage entering and clearing the port in 1904 amounted to 78,700 tons, the highest hitherto recorded. regular services are maintained with aden, and with suez, massowa and the other red sea ports. large dhows bring dates from the persian gulf, and occasional steamers from bombay call on their way to jidda with cargoes of grain. the imports for 1904 amounted in value to l467,000, the chief items being piece goods, food grains and sugar; the exports amounted to l451,000, including coffee valued at l229,000.