Detail from
Charles
Smith's map of Hertfordshire (1808 edition)
Rickmansworth, alias Rickmersworth,
is a market town on the River Colne, Grand Junction canal, and Aylesbury Road,
4 miles south-west from Watford station, 18 miles from London by rod, and 20
by railway. It is in Cashio Hundred and Watford Union, with 9,740 acres, and a
population of above 5,000. The assessment to the Income Tax was, in 1842,
£18,962. Here are cotton, flour, paper and silk mills, and an extensive
brewery. The market day is Saturday, but in consequence of its near connection
with other market towns, it has for some time been discontinued, and fairs are
held on July 20 and Nov 24 for cattle; and a statute fair on the Saturday
before the third Monday in September. The church, lately rebuilt, is dedicated
to St Mary, and is large, with a nave, two aisles, chancel and handsome
embattled tower, which is ancient; a fine painted window, 300 years old - it
was taken from the church of St John at Rouen, and sold in the revolution, and
purchased by the present vicar of Rickmansworth for 100 guineas, and monument
of the Monmouth family. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of St
Alban's and diocese of Rochester, valued at £310 per annum, and in the gift
of the Bishop of London. There are Dissenting Meeting houses, National and
British and foreign schools, and ten almshouses. Moor Park, 2 miles south, the
seat of Lord Robert Grosvenor, so much admired for the variety and beauty of
its scenery, is a magnificent mansion of Portland stone, which was the
residence of Cardinal Wolsey and the Duke of Monmouth. At Warren Hill is a
remarkable echo.
Batchworth,
Mill End,
Chorleywood and
Croxley
Green are hamlets
belonging to this parish. Batchwood is a hamlet with 605 persons. At
Chorleywood and West Hyde there are district churches, At Mill End is a
Baptist chapel.
Post Office Directory for Hertfordshire, 1851
Other accounts of the Town featured on
this site
Rickmansworth in 1807
from The Beauties of England and Wales
Historical Sketch
of Rickmansworth (1870)
Rickmansworth in 1880
from
Guide to
Hertfordshire
Some Books on Rickmansworth
