Wormley is a village and former

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

, lying between

Hoddesdon Hoddesdon () is a town in the Borough of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, lying entirely within the London Metropolitan Area and Greater London Urban Area. The area is on the River Lea and the Lee Navigation along with the New River. Hoddesdon ...

and

Cheshunt Cheshunt (/ˈtʃɛzənt/ CHEZ-ənt) is a town in the Borough of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, England, situated within the London commuter belt approximately north of Central London. The town lies on the River Lea and Lee Navigation, bordering th ...

in the

Broxbourne Broxbourne is a town in the Borough of Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, England, with a population of 15,303 at the 2011 Census.Broxbourne Town population 2011 It is located to the south of Hoddesdon and to the north of Cheshunt, north of London. ...

district, in the county of

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

, England. The village is part of the ward of Wormley and

Turnford Turnford is a village in the Borough of Broxbourne, in Hertfordshire, England, in an area generally known as the Lee Valley. It is bounded by Wormley to the north, Cheshunt to the south and west, and its eastern boundary is formed largely by ...

, which had a population of 8,146 at the 2001 census. In 1931 the parish had a population of 930. The parish was abolished in 1935 and absorbed into Hoddesdon.

Geography

Wormley is located east of the A10 road, which links

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, commonly known as the Great Cambridge Road. Wormley is sandwiched between

and Turnford with a high road of shops. It is 1 mile south of Broxbourne, and the nearest railway station is

. Wormley is close to the

River Lea The River Lea ( ) is in the East of England and Greater London. It originates in Bedfordshire, in the Chiltern Hills, and flows southeast through Hertfordshire, along the Essex border and into Greater London, to meet the River Thames at Bow Cr ...

which runs from

Luton Luton () is a town and borough in Bedfordshire, England. The borough had a population of 225,262 at the 2021 census. Luton is on the River Lea, about north-west of London. The town's foundation dates to the sixth century as a Saxon settleme ...

towards

Wheathampstead Wheathampstead is a large village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, north of St Albans. Included within the parish is the small hamlet of Amwell. The built up area of Wheathampstead had an estimated population of 4,628 in 2022, whilst ...

, then south towards London where it meets the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

. Wormley Rovers Football Club and Wormley Cricket Club are based at Wormley playing fields. Wormley also has Top Field and Cozens Grove Local Nature Reserve.

History

The name is thought to derive from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

"snake-infested ''leah''"; the last element could mean "clearing", or perhaps " woodland pasture". Wormley was one of the manors which were granted by

Harold Godwinson Harold Godwinson ( – 14 October 1066), also called Harold II, was the last crowned Anglo-Saxon King of England. Harold reigned from 6 January 1066 until his death at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, the decisive battle of the Norman ...

to the canons of

Waltham Holy Cross Waltham Abbey is a suburban town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex, within the metropolitan and urban area of London, England, north-east of Charing Cross. It lies on the Greenwich Meridian, between the River Lea in the ...

. It was entered in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 as ''Wermelai'', with a total of 28 households. Wormley remained under the control of the monastery until its dissolution in 1540 when it was granted to Sir Edward North. The

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

, called Wormleybury, on the south side of Church Lane, was totally rebuilt in 1734 and remodelled in 1767 and 1782 by Robert Mylne for Sir Abraham Hume. It has a stone

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

and steps, with an octagonal bell turret. There is interior decoration of 1779 by

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (architect), William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and train ...

. It is a Grade I

Listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. The parish church of St Lawrence has a

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

dating from the 12th century. There are several

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

es from the 15th century and a marble monument to the Purvy family dated 1617. Coal-tax-post-Broxbourne

There are two

coal-tax post Coal-tax posts are boundary marker posts found in southern England. They were erected in the 1860s and form an irregular loop between 12 and 18 miles from London to mark the points where taxes on coal were due to the Corporation of London. The ...

s in Wormley, both in unusual locations. One is in the middle of Wormley Wood and the other on the north side of a country lane at a point where it is hard to imagine any significant trade traffic passing by. They were erected following the London Coal and Wine Duties Continuance Act 1861, and thanks to them, many of the bridges across the

were paid for. On 1 April 1935 the parish was abolished and merged with Hoddesdon and Cheshunt, part also went to form Brickendon Liberty.

Community facilities

St Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence (; 31 December 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roman emperor Valerian ordered in 258. ...

's Church forms part of the Parish of Broxbourne with Wormley and is a member of the New River Group Ministry. Bushby Hall (formerly Wormley Over Sixties Club) on Wharf Road is a community centre which can be hired for functions and is also the venue for ((Bounce)) Wormley. Wormley Church of England Primary School was founded in 1864. It had 464 pupils in 2017/18.
1st Wormley Scout and Guide Group
have been present in the community since 1908 and have Squirrels, Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers all managed by a team of volunteers. In 2014, the area of Wormley and Turnford was awarded £1m from the Big Local Trust to invest in the community over the next 10 years.The Big Local Trust
Retrieved 5 March 2015

Personalities

David Bentley David Michael Bentley (born 27 August 1984) is an English former professional footballer who played primarily as a winger, but also played as a central midfielder or as a second striker. Bentley started his career with Arsenal in the Premier ...

started his footballing career at Wormley Youth Football Club.

References

External links

Wormley High Street as it looked in the pastWormley coal tax posts
{{authority control Villages in Hertfordshire Former civil parishes in Hertfordshire Hoddesdon