Abbots Langley

Abbots Langley (/ˈæbəts ˈlæŋli/) is a large village and civil parish in the English county of Hertfordshire. It is an old settlement and is mentioned (under the name of Langelai) in the Domesday Book. Economically the village is closely linked to Watford and was formerly part of the Watford Rural District. Since 1974 it has been included in the Three Rivers district.

Abbots Langley
St Lawrence the Martyr Church, Abbots Langley
Abbots Langley Location within Hertfordshire
Population	19,574 (2011 Census)[1]
OS grid reference	TL095015
Civil parish	Abbots Langley
District	Three Rivers
Shire county	Hertfordshire
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	ABBOTS LANGLEY
Postcode district	WD5
Dialling code	01923
Police	Hertfordshire
Fire	Hertfordshire
Ambulance	East of England
UK Parliament	South West Hertfordshire
List of places UK England Hertfordshire 51.701°N 0.416°W / 51.701; -0.416

History

This village has had a long history of human habitation. The first traces of human habitation in the area were recorded by archaeologist Sir John Evans (1823–1908).^[2] The village sits on a saucer of clay covered by a layer of gravel, and as a result water supply has never been a problem; records show that in earlier times water could be drawn from a well just 20 feet (6.1 m) deep.^{[citation needed]}

In 1045 the Saxon thegn Ethelwine "the Black" granted the upper part of Langlai to St Albans Abbey as Langlai Abbatis (Latin for Langlai of the Abbot, hence "Abbot's Langley")^{[citation needed]} the remainder being the king's Langlai. By the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 the village was inhabited by 19 families.^[3]

The area was split into four manors: Abbots Langley, Langleybury, Chambersbury, and Hyde. In 1539, Henry VIII seized Abbots Langley and sold it to his military engineer Sir Richard Lee.^[2] The Manor of Abbots Langley was bequeathed by Francis Combe in his will of 1641 jointly to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge and Trinity College, Oxford. The manors of Langleybury and Chambersbury passed through the family of William Ibgrave, the king's embroider, and the Child family, and in 1711 were conveyed to Sir Robert Raymond then Solicitor General later Attorney General and Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench. On the death of his son without issue in 1756 the manors passed to the Filmer family. The Manor of Hyde passed to Edward Strong in 1714, through his daughter to Sir John Strange, who left the manor to be shared between his children and their descendants (including Admiral Sir George Strong Nares) and then to the possession of F.M. Nares & Co which sold the estate to the British Land Company in 1858.^[4]

On Tibbs Hill Road there is a well-preserved example of a Prince Albert's Model Cottage. The original design and construction was for the Great Exhibition of 1851, to demonstrate model housing for the poor. Subsequently, the design was replicated in several other locations, including Abbots Langley.

Kitters Green developed as a separate hamlet by Manor House. The land between Kitters Green and Abbots Langley was bought from the estate of Sarah Smith by the British Land Company in 1866. It laid out plots for development along Adrian, Breakspear, Garden and Popes roads. The development of these plots led to the merger of the two settlements and the loss of Kitters Green's separate identity.^[3]

The West Coast Main Line railway passes through the western edge of the parish, where it crosses Abbots Langley railway bridge, a skewed brick arch, and Nash Mills railway bridge, originally built in cast iron but strengthened in the 1960s by encasing it in concrete. Both bridges are original features from the London and Birmingham Railway. They date from 1837 and are both Grade II listed buildings.^[5][6]

Sport

Abbots Langley Cricket Club and Langleybury Cricket Club are both based in the village. There are a number of football clubs, including Abbots Langley F.C., Ecocall F.C., Evergreen, Everett Rovers, and Bedmond F.C.^[7]

People

• Manuel Almunia (born 1977), former professional footballer.^{[citation needed]}
• Nick Blinko (born 1961), artist and singer/songwriter/guitarist of Rudimentary Peni.
• Pope Adrian IV (fl. 1100–1159), born in Abbots Langley as Nicholas Breakspear.
• James Cecil, 1st Marquess of Salisbury (1748–1823) probably lived at Cecil Lodge 1760s–80.^[8]
• Violet Cressy-Marcks (1895–1970), explorer and journalist, lived at Hazelwood (now Hunton Park) 1930–70.^[8]
• David Crighton, (1942–2000), mathematician, educated at Abbots Langley primary school.^[9]
• Joan Evans (art historian) (1893–1977), historian of mediaeval art.^[10]
• John Evans (archaeologist) (1823–1908), archaeologist and geologist, married and buried, St Lawrence Church, Abbots Langley.^[11]
• Elizabeth Greenhill, (1615–1679), mother of 37 single births and one set of twins.^[12][13]
• Thomas Greenhill (1669–1740), surgeon to Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk and 39th and last child of Elizabeth Greenhill.^[14]
• Michael Gregsten (1924–1961), physicist at the Road Research Laboratory, victim of James Hanratty in the 1961 "A6 murder" for whose death he hanged.^[15]
• Ollie Halsall (1949–1992), influential rock/jazz guitarist and vibraphone player, lived here and recorded an album titled "Abbot's Langley" in 1980.
• Robert Kindersley, 1st Baron Kindersley (1871–1954), businessman, stockbroker, merchant banker, and public servant, lived at Langley House 1906–23.^[8]
• Hugh Kindersley, 2nd Baron Kindersley (1899–1976)
• Joe Lane (1892–1959), former professional footballer.
• Marghanita Laski (1915–88), journalist and novelist, lived at Abbots House 1937–45.^[8]
• Eryl McNally, former Labour MEP.
• Henry Montagu, 6th Baron Rokeby (1798–1883), soldier, lived at Hazelwood 1838–86.^[8]
• James Vincent Murphy, (1880–1946), propagandist for Hitler that translated Mein Kampf while resident in Abbots Langley^[16]
• Robert Raymond, 1st Baron Raymond (1673–1733), politician and judge, lived at Langleybury 1711–33.^[8]
• Haile Selassie (1892–1975), spent the early part of his exile from Ethiopia at Hazelwood.^[17]
• Edward Skoyles (1923–2008) researcher and quantity surveyor.
• William Henry Smith (politician) (1825–91), member of the W H Smith station newsagent and bookselling family, lived at Cecil Lodge 1864–70.^[8]
• George Turnbull (1809–1878), civil engineer (the "first railway engineer of India"), retired to Rosehill, Abbots Langley.^[18][19][20]
• Bradley Walsh (born 1960), entertainer lived in Breakspear Road.
• Mark Walsh (born 1965), professional darts player within the Professional Darts Corporation.
• Nicky Stevens (born 1951), singer with The Brotherhood of Man, lived in Abbots Road.
• Tom Hardy (born 1954), disc-jockey with Radio Caroline in the late 1970s, lived in Parsonage Close.^[21]
• Liz Kendall (born 1971), Labour MP, lived in Langley Road
• Judy Grinham (born 1939), former British competitive swimmer, Olympic gold medallist, and former world record-holder lives in The Crescent.
• KSI (born 1993), rapper, actor, boxer and YouTube personality.

See also

• Bedmond
• Garston Manor, a grade II listed^[22] Georgian Country House located within the parish
• Hunton Bridge
• Kings Langley
• Langleybury
• Leavesden Hospital

References

Footnotes

Notes

1. "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
2. Hastie, Scott (1993). Abbots Langley—A Hertfordshire Village. Abbots Langley: Abbots Langley Parish Council. ISBN 0-9520929-0-5.
3. Clark, Clive W. (1997). Abbots Langley Then 1760–1960. Cockfosters, Hertfordshire: Clive W. Clark. ISBN 0-9531473-0-4.
4. William Page, ed. (1908). "Abbots Langley". A History of the County of Hertford. Victoria County History. Vol. 2. pp. 323–328. Retrieved 11 March 2009.
5. Historic England. "Nash Mills railway bridge (1172991)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
6. Historic England. "Bridge carrying railway over north end of road, Railway Terrace (1100891)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
7. "TheFA.com – Find a Club". Archived from the original on 9 May 2008. Retrieved 23 May 2008.
8. Hastie, Scott (1993). Abbots Langley—A Hertfordshire Village. Abbots Langley: Abbots Langley Parish Council. ISBN 0-9520929-0-5.
9. H. K. Moffatt, "Crighton, David George (1942–2000)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, September 2004.
10. Kenneth Garlick, "Evans, Dame Joan (1893–1977)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.
11. Yolanda Foote, "Evans, Sir John (1823–1908)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, September 2004.
12. Bannerman, B.W. (1904). Miscellanea Genealogica Et Heraldica: Third Series. Vol 5. Mitchell Hughes and Clarke ISBN 978-1-4021-9409-2-p. 298.
13. Gentleman's Magazine, May 1805 Letter Christ Johnson May p. 405.
14. Davidson, L. A. F. (2004). "Greenhill, Thomas (fl. 1698–1732)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/11428
15. The Times (17 October 1961). "Man in Court on A6 Charge"; p. 6; Issue 55214; col. D.
16. Barnes, James J.; and Patience P. Barnes (1987). James Vincent Murphy : Translator and Interpreter of Fascist Europe, 1880–1946. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 0-8191-6054-7.
17. Hastie, Scott (1996). A Hertfordshire Valley. Kings Langley: Alpine Press. p. 96. ISBN 0-9528631-0-3.
18. George Turnbull, C.E. 437-page memoirs published privately 1893; National Library Edinburgh; scanned copy in the British Library, London on compact disk. Many pages refer to when he lived in Abbots Langley.
19. Hastie, Scott (1993). Abbots Langley—A Hertfordshire Village. Abbots Langley: Abbots Langley Parish Council. ISBN 0-9520929-0-5. Rosehill was built in the 1820s and demolished c. 1952. The house stood on Gallows Hill where the Gade View flats are today.<...>Between 1875 and 1887, the house was home to George Turnbull whose wife survived him and lived on there until 1899.
20. Luncarty's Engineer: A short biography by John Andrews of Luncarty, West Stormont Historical Society, 2018, pp. 41–50, 51 pages.
21. "The Pirate Radio hall of fame, disc-jockeys of the 70's". offshoreradio.co.uk. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
22. "British Listed Buildings". Retrieved 5 April 2011.

External links

• Abbots Langley Parish Council
• History and Development of Abbots Langley Parish Church
• A History of the County of Hertford: Abbots Langley
• Abbots Langley (A Guide to Old Hertfordshire)