Chaulden is a residential district in

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500. Developed after the Second World War as a ne ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, England located west of the town centre and bordering on open countryside. It was an early development in the construction of Hemel Hempstead new town, commenced in 1953 and has its own neighbourhood shopping centre. The name Chaulden can be traced back to 1523 as a local field name and means a chalky valley. A country house and estate called Chaulden House occupied the area during the nineteenth century. Chaulden House stables and a tower are all that now remain of the house. The tower is mid 19th century and is octagonal. It may have been a

dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot ( Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pige ...

. It is currently used by the

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

. The ancient Chaulden Lane is thought to preserve the route of

Akeman Street Akeman Street is a Roman road in southern England between the modern counties of Hertfordshire and Gloucestershire. It is approximately long and runs roughly east–west. Akeman Street linked Watling Street just north of Verulamium (near mode ...

, the

Roman Road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

along the Bulbourne valley A large part of the site was previously occupied by Pixies Hill – a children's camp run by the

National Camps Corporation The National Camps Corporation was a British government-funded non-profit organisation established under the Camps Act 1939. The role of the corporation was to construct and administer camps in the countryside that could be used for educational ...

. The old camp buildings were converted into the district's first school before permanent schools could be constructed. Building work on the new town district commenced in 1953 with the first houses occupied in December of that year. The Chaulden Neighbourhood centre – a parade of shops set in a crescent around a car park – was completed in 1958. The nearby pub the ''Tudor Rose'' also built by the New Town corporation, celebrates Hemel Hempstead's link to the Tudor

King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disag ...

who gave the town its charter. The population of the appropriate Dacorum Ward at the 2011 Census (Chaulden and Warner's End) was 9,146.

Sport

Hemel Hempstead (Camelot) Rugby Club play on Chaulden Meadow off Chaulden Lane.

References

Villages in Hertfordshire Areas of Hemel Hempstead {{Hertfordshire-geo-stub