Abbots Langley is a large village and

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 authorit ...

in the English county of Hertfordshire. It is an old settlement and is mentioned (under the name of Langelai) 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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

. Economically the village is closely linked to

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

and was formerly part of the

Watford Rural District Watford Rural District was a rural district in Hertfordshire from 1894 to 1974. It initially surrounded but did not including the town of Watford, which was a separate urban district. It gradually ceded territory to other districts, and by the ...

. Since 1974 it has been included in the Three Rivers district.

History

This village has had a long history of human habitation. The first traces of human habitation in the area were recorded by archaeologist Sir John Evans (1823–1908). 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 deep. In 1045 the Saxon

thegn In Anglo-Saxon England, thegns were aristocratic landowners of the second rank, below the ealdormen who governed large areas of England. The term was also used in early medieval Scandinavia for a class of retainers. In medieval Scotland, there ...

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') the remainder being the king's Langlai. By the time of the

in 1086 the village was inhabited by 19 families. 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. 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 (That which you wish to be secret, tell to nobody) , named_for = The Holy Trinity , established = , sister_college = Churchill College, Cambridge , president = Dame Hilary Boulding , location = Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BH , coordinates ...

. 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 Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...

. 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. On Tibbs Hill Road there is a well-preserved example of a

Prince Albert's Model Cottage Prince Albert's Model Cottage was the name given to a model dwelling designed in the mid-19th century to offer an alternative form of accommodation for poor families in England. It was supported by Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria. Hist ...

. The original design and construction was for

the Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition which took p ...

of 1851, to demonstrate model housing for the poor. Subsequently, the design was replicated in several other locations, including Abbots Langley. 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.

Sport

Abbots Langley Cricket Club and Langleybury Cricket Club are both based in the village. There are a number of football clubs, including Abbots Langley F.C., Ecocall F.C., Evergreen, Everett Rovers, and Bedmond F.C.

People

Manuel Almunia Manuel Almunia Rivero (born 19 May 1977) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He competed mainly in the Spanish lower leagues in his early years, only appearing in 26 La Liga games over the course of two seasons with Rec ...

(born 1977), former professional footballer. *

Nick Blinko Nicholas John Blinko (born 4 September 1961) is a British musician and artist, best known as the lead singer, lyricist, and guitar player for the anarcho-punk band Rudimentary Peni. He is also known for being an "outsider" artist, whose pen-an ...

(born 1961), artist and singer/songwriter/guitarist of Rudimentary Peni. * Pope Adrian IV (–1159), born in Abbots Langley as Nicholas Breakspear. *

James Cecil, 1st Marquess of Salisbury James Cecil, 1st Marquess of Salisbury, (4 September 1748 – 13 June 1823), styled Viscount Cranborne until 1780 and known as The Earl of Salisbury between 1780 and 1789, was a British nobleman and politician. Background Salisbury was the so ...

(1748–1823) probably lived at Cecil Lodge 1760s–80. * Violet Cressy-Marcks (1895–1970), explorer and journalist, lived at Hazelwood (now Hunton Park) 1930–70. *

David Crighton David George Crighton, FRS (15 November 1942 – 12 April 2000) was a British mathematician and physicist. Life Crighton was born in Llandudno, North Wales, where his mother, Violet Grace Garrison, had been sent because of the bombing of Londo ...

, (1942–2000), mathematician, educated at Abbots Langley primary school. * Joan Evans (art historian) (1893–1977), historian of mediaeval art. *

John Evans (archaeologist) Sir John Evans (17 November 1823 – 31 May 1908) was an English archaeologist and geologist. Biography John Evans, son of the Rev. A. B. Evans, was born at Britwell Court, Buckinghamshire. At the age of seventeen he started to work for the p ...

(1823–1908), archaeologist and geologist, married and buried, St Lawrence Church, Abbots Langley. * Elizabeth Greenhill, (1615–1679), mother of 37 single births and one set of twins.Bannerman, B.W. (1904)
Miscellanea Genealogica Et Heraldica: Third Series. Vol 5.
Mitchell Hughes and Clarke -page 298 * Thomas Greenhill (1669–1740), surgeon to

Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk, (11 January 1655 – 2 April 1701) was an English nobleman, politician, and soldier. He was the son of Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk, and Lady Anne Somerset, daughter of Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquess of ...

and 39th and last child of Elizabeth Greenhill.Davidson,L. A. F. (2004). 'Greenhill, Thomas (fl. 1698–1732)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press

* James Hanratty#The murder, Michael Gregsten (1924–1961), physicist at the Road Research Laboratory, victim of

James Hanratty James Hanratty (4 October 1936 – 4 April 1962), also known as the A6 Murderer, was a British criminal who was one of the final eight people in the UK to be executed before capital punishment was effectively abolished. He was hanged at Bedfo ...

in the 1961 "A6 murder" for whose death he hanged. *

Ollie Halsall Peter John "Ollie" Halsall (14 March 1949 – 29 May 1992) was an English guitarist best known for his role in the Rutles, the bands Timebox, Patto and Boxer, and for his contribution to the music of Kevin Ayers. He is also notable as one of ...

(1949–1992), influential rock/jazz guitarist and vibraphone player, lived here and recorded an album titled "Abbot's Langley" in 1980. * Robert Kindersley, 1st Baron Kindersley (1871–1954), businessman, stockbroker, merchant banker, and public servant, lived at Langley House 1906–23. * Hugh Kindersley, 2nd Baron Kindersley (1899–1976) * Joe Lane (1892–1959), former professional footballer. *

Marghanita Laski Marghanita Laski (24 October 1915 – 6 February 1988) was an English journalist, radio panellist and novelist. She also wrote literary biography, plays and short stories, and contributed about 250,000 additions to the ''Oxford English Diction ...

(1915–88), journalist and novelist, lived at Abbots House 1937–45. * Eryl McNally, former Labour MEP. * Henry Montagu, 6th Baron Rokeby (1798–1883), soldier, lived at Hazelwood 1838–86. * James Vincent Murphy, (1880–1946), propagandist for

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

that translated Mein Kampf while resident in Abbots Langley *

Robert Raymond, 1st Baron Raymond Robert Raymond, 1st Baron Raymond, (20 December 167318 March 1733) was a British judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1710 and 1724. Life Raymond was the son of the judge Sir Thomas Raymond. He was educated at Eton a ...

(1673–1733), politician and judge, lived at Langleybury 1711–33. *

Haile Selassie Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (' ...

(1892–1975), spent the early part of his exile from

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

at Hazelwood. * Edward Skoyles (1923–2008) researcher and

quantity surveyor A quantity surveyor (QS) is a construction industry professional with expert knowledge on construction costs and contracts. Qualified professional quantity surveyors are known as Chartered Surveyors (Members and Fellows of RICS) in the UK and Ce ...

. * William Henry Smith (politician) (1825–91), member of the

W H Smith WHSmith (also written WH Smith, and known colloquially as Smith's and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son) is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and ...

station newsagent and bookselling family, lived at Cecil Lodge 1864–70. * George Turnbull (1809–1878), civil engineer (the '' "first railway engineer of India"), ''retired to Rosehill, Abbots Langley. *

Bradley Walsh Bradley John Walsh (born 4 June 1960) is an English actor, comedian, singer, television presenter, and former professional footballer. Walsh is known for his roles as Danny Baldwin in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' (2004–2006), a ...

(born 1960), entertainer lived in Breakspear Road. * Mark Walsh (born 1965), professional darts player within the Professional Darts Corporation. * Nicky Stevens (born 1951), singer with The Brotherhood of Man, lived in Abbots Road. *Tom Hardy (Broadcaster) (born 1954), disc-jockey with Radio Caroline in the late 1970s, lived in Parsonage Close. *

Liz Kendall Elizabeth Louise Kendall (born 11 June 1971) is a British Labour Party politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester West since 2010. Kendall was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge, where she read history. From 2011 to 2 ...

(born 1971), Labour MP, lived in Langley Road * Judy Grinham (born 1939), former British competitive swimmer, Olympic gold medallist, and former world record-holder lives in The Crescent.

References

;Footnotes ;Notes

External links

Abbots Langley Parish Council A History of the County of Hertford: Abbots Langley
{{authority control Villages in Hertfordshire Three Rivers District Civil parishes in Hertfordshire

History

Sport

People

See also

References

External links