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Abbots Langley
Adjacent Parishes: Hemel Hempstead, Kings Langley, St Michaels, St Stephens, Watford
It is in the Cashio Hundred and was in the Watford Union
Chipperfield district was created in 1838, and included part of Abbots Langley
Another part of the parish was transferred to the new parish of Leverstock Green in 1849
See also Apsley, Hunton Bridge and Bedmond
ABBOTS LANGLEY, 1½ miles east [of Kings Langley], in Cashio Hundred, is so called from having been at an early period granted to the Abbey of St Alban's, to supply it with clothing. Nicholas Breakspeare, the only English pope, was born here. The living is a discharged vicarage, value £350, in the patronage and incumbency of the Rev. Richard Gee, M.A. The manor now belongs to Sidney College, Cambridge, and Trinity College, Oxford. The area is 5,100 acres, and the population, in 1841, was 2,115. The assessment to the Income Tax was £10,780 in 1842. Here is a National School for boys and Girls.
Abbots Langley Church [Picturesque
Hertfordshire]
HUNTON BRIDGE is a large hamlet in the parish of Abbots Langley, 1½ miles south-west, BEDMENTS is a large hamlet, 1 mile north; LEVESDEN GREEN is 1 mile south; KITTER'S GREEN is another hamlet.
From Bacon's Map of Hertfordshire, 1904[Public Houses and Beer Retailers:]
Ambrose, Mrs. Elizabeth, beer retailer, Kitter's Green
Axton, Jeremh. J, White Hart, Bedmont
Barter, George, Bell, Bedmont
Chalk, George, wheelwright & Compasses, Troley Bottom
Downer, Benjamin, King's Head
Eames, James, George, Nash Mill
Hodgson, John, Unicorn, Gallows Hill
Simons, Robt, beer retailer & butcher
Slow, John, Bell, Primrose Hill
Smith, Wm. jun., Three Tuns, Nash Mill
Trapp, John, bootmaker & beer retailer
Post Office Directory, 1851
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It shows the church of St. Lawrence. The oldest parts are the remains of 12th century Norman nave arcades with a 13th century tower: the roof, clerestory and the tower buttresses are of the 15th century. Corbels from which the roof rafters spring are carved to represent friars in various grotesque attitudes and there are medieval wall paintings (uncovered in 1935) on each side of the east window of the Corpus Christ! Chapel: one is of St.Lawrence, who was martyred by being roasted alive, holding a grid-iron. On the south aisle wall is a plaque commemorating Nicholas Breakspeare who was born at Bedmond and became, as Adrian IV, the only English Pope between 1154 and his death in 1159. The decorated font is of circa 1400 and near is a Table of Commandments. (Hertfordshire Churches) |
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Abbots Langley Church Interior |
By this time we should have arrived at the village, which occupies a pleasant position on high, well-wooded ground. The square, embattled tower of St. Lawrence's Church soon rises into view. We enter, and find an interesting structure, parts of which date back as far as the i2th century. It consists of a nave, aisles, clerestory, and a chancel with south aisle, where the windows, differing from those in other parts of the. Church, are in the Decorated style, the remainder being Perpendicular. Here in the nave are old brasses to Ralph Horwode. and family, i478. .and Thomas Cogdell and his two wives, 1607. Amongst the monuments deserving of notice is that to Lord Chief Justice Ravmond, who died in 1732. In one of the windows remains a fragment of old glass, representing St. Lawrence, the patron saint of the Church; and on the walls of the south chapel traces of old distemper paintings may be detected. (Watford and its surroundings, 1906)
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A lych gate has been lately (1902) erected as a memorial to Her late Majesty, Queen Victoria. The register dates from 1538. The living is a discharged vicarage, net yearly value £61, with 3 acres of glebe and residence, in the gift of E. Henry Lloyd esq. and held since 1893 by the Rev. Arthur Henry Parnell M.A. of Merton College, Oxford. A church room is now (1902) in course of erection, to seat about 300 persons. (Kelly's 1902). |
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The Kings Head is first recorded in 1756 and the original building was demolished in 1965 and rebuilt. In early records it should not be confused with the Kings Head, Hunton Bridge, which is in the same parish. (Hertfordshire Inns and Public Houses) The card was published by Thomas Carter, newsagent
& stationer, Abbots Langley. Mrs Mary Ann Pluck was listed as
the landlord of the Kings Head. (Kelly's
1902). A similar view a few years later. "The Lych Gate and Village, Abbots Langley". Note the young tree planted near the lych gate. Valentine Sepiatype Series JV 68613. Photographed in 1911. |
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The card was sent in January 1906 from 46 St Mary's Road, Watford, to the writer's sister, Miss Edie Randall, Coldstream Ranch, Vernon, British Columbia, Canada. It was published by Coles, Photographer, Watford. |
Abbots Langley The site of the chapel was originally a builder's yard, and was purchased in 1878, the builder's shed being used as a mission chapel, while the church was being built. Published by F. H. Dazeley, Stationer & Bookseller, High Street, Abbots Langley in the RAP series. Frank Harry Dazeley is listed as a newsagent in the 1922 Kelly's Directory for Hertfordshire |
 This
postcard of The Unicorn, Gallows Hill Road, Abbots
Langley is a Valentine's Bromotype (68758 JV)
The Unicorn building largely dates from the 17th century with evidence of earlier origins. It is situated on what was in the 18th century the main road from London to Berkhamsted. The first mention of the building as licensed premises is in 1756 when it was run by Francis Knowles who was also a sawyer. In 1768 it was owned by Nathanial Hitchcock who was a wheelwright from Hunton Bridge. In 1786 it was sold to John Smith who was a Watford brewer and subsequently it was brought by Peter Clutterbuck, brewer of Stanmore. (Hertfordshire Inns and Public Houses) |
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Abbots Langley's Manor House stood opposite Kitters Green, at the entrance to the village. The house overlooked the cricket field but faced the road. The structure that survived into the twentieth century was a seventeenth century house with three gables and a tall chimney. It had been built over the moated site of an earlier structure and internally it showed some surviving traces from the Elizabethan and Jacobean ages. From 1641, until its demolition in 1953, Abbots Langley's Manor House was owned by two principal university colleges: Sidney Sussex, Cambridge and Trinity College, Oxford. ... (Abbots Langley, A Hertfordshire Village) |
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In a long account of the house Abbots Langley, A Hertfordshire Village records that Lord Rokeby died in 1886. For the next ten years Hazelwood belonged to an Admiral Ralph Cator and he was then succeeded by the Rev. Henry Stewart Gladstone. The Rev. Gladstone at first leased the house to various London gentlemen but, in 1907, he decided to live in the house himself. He spent over £1,000 on renovations only to see the house gutted by a huge fire which occurred on the 8th [sic] of March, 1908. Undaunted, the Rev. Gladstone began the rebuilding immediately, aided by an insurance payment of £10,500. The second Hazelwood was similar to the first house, but was sited at a different angle to the ornamental grounds. |
Books
Information on the village is given in the Homeland Guide Watford and its surroundings, published in 1906 - and information can be expected to occur in other books which describe Watford and its surroundings. The Council has also published a series of Official Guides (the earliest I have seen published in 1967) which contain a short history of the town.
Abbots Langley, by S G Thickness, published in 1946, is not the easiest read and The Church and Parish of Abbots Langley, by R S Wilkinson, published circa 1959, is better - but lacks an index. Abbots Langley - An Outline History by Scott Hastie, a booklet published in 1986 is superceded by his much more significant volume, Abbots Langley, A Hertfordshire Village. This was published in 1993, with an informative text, a good index, and a very large number of photographs, and must be the local history of choice. His later book, A Hertfordshire Valley, published in 1996, includes a chapter on Abbots Langley, as well as excellent coverage of the other towns and villages along the valley.
The book Abbots Langley Then - 1760-1960 by Clive W. Clark, and published in 1997, takes an unconventional approach to presenting local history. It is what might be called "faction" - with an attempt to recreate the past and the conversations that took place. It is not my style, but each chapter has a detailed list of source references that he used in his reconstruction.
Three specialised booklets are of potential interest. I have not seen T.C.E. Green's A short account of the Church of St. Lawrence, Abbots Langley, written in 1931. In 1928 the Salvatorian Fathers settled in Langley House and their story, and the founding of Breakspear College and the building of the Roman Catholic Church St Saviours, is celebrated in Salvatorian Golden Jubilee Abbots Langley 1928-1978. A very different anniversary is recorded in The Newfangled Scheme - The First Hundred Years, This was written by C.W. Clark and records the history of the Abbots Langley Parish Council (1894-1994) as recorded in the Council minutes.
Abbots Langley Green [Picturesque
Hertfordshire]
Web Sites
Abbots Langley Local History Society includes further information on publications and web sites relating to the village. The Leverstock Green Chronicle contains detailed information on those parts of the parish which are now part of Leverstock Green. The Parish of Abbots Langley & Bedmond site relates to the present day Church of England churches while a separate site, maintained by Stuart Little, gives the history of the Church of St Lawrence the Martyr. The Abbots Langley Methodist Church site contains a useful amount of history of the Methodist Church.
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Other Links |
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Old Chestnut Tree Langley House |
 The Booksellers Retreat |
 Pope Adrian IV Breakspear Farm, Bedmond |
| Boggy Bottom: See The Bottoms of Hertfordshire | ||
See also Vital
Records
If you know of other books, websites, etc, relating to this place, please tell me.
Page updated May 2008
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