Abbots Langley

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Abbots Langley
Abbots Langley - The Church of St Lawrence the Martyr - geograph.org.uk - 272827.jpg
St Lawrence the Martyr Church, Abbots Langley
Abbots Langley is located in Hertfordshire
Abbots Langley
Abbots Langley
 Abbots Langley shown within Hertfordshire
Population 10,472 (2001)[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
EU Parliament East of England
UK Parliament Watford
List of places
UK
England
Hertfordshire

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Abbots Langley 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.


History

This village has had a long history of successful human habitation. The first traces of human habitation in the area were recorded by renowned 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 ft 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 Ibgrave and Child families, 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 descendents (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]

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 recent Katherine Place development has brought in some high class retailers to the centre and was sold for £2.93 million in December 2005. To the south of the village are Leavesden Film Studios, on the former RAF and later Rolls-Royce airfield, where scenes from movies including GoldenEye, Sleepy Hollow and the Harry Potter series have been filmed.

Nicholas Breakspear/Pope Adrian IV

Pope Adrian IV, the only Englishman ever to have become Pope, was born as Nicholas Breakspear in Abbots Langley around the year 1100. Therefore, Abbots Langley village includes a number of roads named after its famous son (Adrian, Breakspear, Pope), and at one time included activities of the Brakspear brewery.

Sport

Cricket

Football

A number of teams play locally:[5]

  • Abbots Langley FC, the local side who currently play in the West Herts Saturday League using the facilities at the nearby Leavesden Country Park.
  • Ecocall F.C. in the Olympian Sunday Football League
  • Evergreen (Sunday) in the Watford Sunday Football League
  • Evergreen Youth in the West Herts Youth League and Watford Friendly League
  • Everett Rovers (Saturday) in the Arlon Printers West Herts Saturday League
  • Abbots Youth in the West Herts Youth League and Watford Friendly League
  • Bedmond FC in the Herts Senior County League, Watford Friendly League and Mid Herts Rural Minors League
  • Langleybury Cricket Club (WHL) in the Arlon Printers West Herts Saturday League
  • Langleybury Cricket Club (WOSL) in the Watford Sunday Football League

Notable people

See also

References

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  8. H. K. Moffatt, ‘Crighton, David George (1942–2000)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, September 2004
  9. Kenneth Garlick, ‘Evans, Dame Joan (1893–1977)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
  10. Yolanda Foote, ‘Evans, Sir John (1823–1908)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, September 2004;
  11. Bannerman, B.W. (1904). Miscellanea Genealogica Et Heraldica: Third Series. Vol 5. Mitchell Hughes and Clarke ISBN 978-1-4021-9409-2 page 298
  12. Gentleman's Magazine 1805 Letter Christ Johnson May page 405
  13. Davidson,L. A. F. (2004). ‘Greenhill, Thomas (fl. 1698–1732)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, [1] doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/11428
  14. The Times, (October 17, 1961). Man In Court On A6 Charge; pg. 6; Issue 55214; col D
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  17. George Turnbull, C.E. 437-page memoirs published privately 1893, scanned copy held in the British Library, London on compact disk since 2007. Many pages refer to when he lived in Abbots Langley.
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External links