King's Walden is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in the

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county of

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 ...

. The name includes an

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, but this is often omitted. The main settlement is now Breachwood Green, and there are also the

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...

of King's Walden, Ley Green, Darleyhall, Lye Hill, Wandon End, Wandon Green and Winch Hill. At the south of the parish there is Lawrence End Park.

King's Walden settlement

In 1086, the community of ''Waldenei'' contained 53 households, which was considered very large when compared to other Domesday era settlements in the ancient

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...

of Hitchin. King's Walden lies in the centre of the parish, near the church, and its population in 2001 was 35.Population figures are taken fro
Hertfordshire County Council - Population and household counts for Hertfordshire settlements - 2001 census
.

Breachwood Green

Breachwood Green lies 1 mile south-west of the old village, and its population is 614. Breachwood Green was serenaded by a Hitchin comedian
Paul B. Edwards
in a song making fun of the quiet village. The village has one pub, The Red Lion, which is owned by

Greene King Greene King is a large pub retailer and brewer. It is based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. The company owns pubs, restaurants and hotels. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by CK Assets in October 2019. ...

. The village has the only school (Breachwood Green JMI) in the parish, which was built in 1859. During the 1970s there was a separate Post Office and Village Stores located in different parts of the village. The Post Office was originally located in Chapel Road next to the Red Lion. This moved a few hundred yards along the road north, near St Mary's Rise. It then moved again in the mid-1970s to the village store on retirement of the village postmistress. The Village Store closed during the 1990s and has become part of a neighbouring car showroom which was formerly the village petrol station. To the north of the village is a partially restored windmill (without sails). Breachwood Green owes it existence to the farming community, as the village was originally a collection of farms, Wheelwrights, Blackmiths and substantial stables. The village also has a large gothic Chapel. File:Kings Walden, Hertfordshire - St Mary's Church.jpg, Kings Walden, Hertfordshire - St. Mary's Church File:Breachwoodgreenschool.jpg, Breachwood Green JMI School File:Oxford Road 1.jpg, Oxford Road, Breachwood Green, looking East File:Oxford Road 2.jpg, Oxford Road looking West towards Red Lion Public House File:Kings Walden Church.jpg, St Mary's Church, King's Walden Image:Breachwood Green Windmill.jpg, Converted windmill at Breachwood Green

Ley Green

Ley Green lies ½ mile north of the old village, and its population is 86. The village has a post office and store, it had a small school which is now closed. There is a pub called The Plough. This settlement also existed in 1086.Open Domesday Online: Ley Green
accessed January 2018.

Darleyhall

Darleyhall lies ½ mile west of Breachwood Green, and its population is 30.

Lye Hill

Lye Hill lies ½ mile south of Breachwood Green, and its population is 33.

Wandon End

Wandon End lies 1 mile west of Breachwood Green.Open Domesday Online: Wandon End and Wandon Green
accessed January 2018.

Wandon Green

Wandon Green lies 1 mile south of Breachwood Green and includes Diamond End.

Winch Hill

Winch Hill lies 1 mile south-west of Breachwood Green. It is made up of several houses and a derelict farm adjacent to Eastern perimeter of

London Luton Airport London Luton Airport is an international airport located in Luton, Bedfordshire, England, situated east of the town centre, and north of Central London. The airport is owned by London Luton Airport Ltd (LLAL), a company wholly owned by ...

; much of the land here is owned by the

Crown Estates The Crown Estate is a collection of lands and holdings in the United Kingdom belonging to the British monarch as a corporation sole, making it "the sovereign's public estate", which is neither government property nor part of the monarch's priva ...

References

External links

History of Breachwood Green in the parish of King's Walden
{{authority control Villages in Hertfordshire Civil parishes in Hertfordshire