Apsley, Hertfordshire

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Apsley
London Road Apsley 2022.jpg
London Road, Apsley, looking south.
Hertfordshire UK location map.svg
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Apsley
Location within Hertfordshire
OS grid reference TL0505
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town HEMEL HEMPSTEAD
Postcode district HP3
Dialling code 01442
Police Hertfordshire
Fire Hertfordshire
Ambulance East of England
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Hertfordshire
51°44′16″N0°28′11″W / 51.7378°N 0.4697°W / 51.7378; -0.4697

Apsley is a village in Hertfordshire, England, in a valley of the Chiltern Hills below the confluence of the River Gade and Bulbourne. It was the site of water mills serving local agriculture and from the early 19th century became an important centre for papermaking. Today it is a suburb of Hemel Hempstead.

Contents

Origin of the name

The name Apsley dates from the Anglo-Saxon period and means aspen wood.

History

1798-1999

It was the construction of the trunk canal (later to be called the Grand Union Canal) between London and the Midlands through the valley in 1798 that began its industrial rise at the start of the 19th century. The canal gave an easy way of transporting the raw and manufactured products to and from the mills.

Frogmore Paper Mill, Apsley, Hertfordshire. The only surviving member of a number of nineteenth century paper mills located in the town. It is now a museum, The Paper Trail. Frogmore Mill Apsley.jpg
Frogmore Paper Mill, Apsley, Hertfordshire. The only surviving member of a number of nineteenth century paper mills located in the town. It is now a museum, The Paper Trail.

John Dickinson, the inventor of a new method of continuous papermaking, purchased Apsley Mill in 1809. [1] During the 1930s, Apsley Mill became a vast industrial complex and its owner, John Dickinson Stationery, acquired Shendish Manor for use as its sports and social club. [2]

In the 1950s the adjacent town of Hemel Hempstead was designated a New Town as part of the provision of new residential areas surrounding London and Apsley became a part of the development, also giving its name to the new school of Apsley Grammar School at Bennetts End.

21st century

St Mary's Church (1871) stands above the modern Sainsbury's supermarket in Apsley. It was built to serve and inspire the workers of the paper mill that once occupied the supermarket site. Apsley1.JPG
St Mary's Church (1871) stands above the modern Sainsbury's supermarket in Apsley. It was built to serve and inspire the workers of the paper mill that once occupied the supermarket site.

Apsley is an outer district of Hemel Hempstead and is still a busy commercial centre. The Victorian shops that grew up when it was a mill town now house newsagents, public houses, restaurants, and a range of small businesses. The former mill sites are taken up with supermarkets, retail parks and offices (including large offices on the Dolittle Meadows site occupied by Hertfordshire County Council, Epson, HSBC and until recently, British Telecom). Housing developments combining the canal-side location with the ease of access to Apsley railway station have been very successful, and Apsley Marina is a thriving location for boaters. [3]

The local parish church is St Mary's, in London Road. There is also a Methodist church.

An important local issue since the summer of 2003 is the proposal to build on land surrounding the Manor Estate in Apsley that had previously been designated as green belt land. A new housing estate, called the Aspen Estate, has since been built on the hills above the Manor Estate.

Frogmore Paper Mill is a working paper mill and visitor centre located in some of the original mill buildings. [4] Paper continued to be made until 2006 a short distance away at Nash Mill by the global Sappi group. This too closed for production in 2006 but continued as a distribution centre for some time. [5]

Apsley timeline

Landmarks

Snatchup End Cottages in London Road, were designed by Edwin Lutyens in 1898. Snatchup End Cottages, Apsley.jpg
Snatchup End Cottages in London Road, were designed by Edwin Lutyens in 1898.

Shendish Manor

A large Jacobean style country house, built on the site of an ancient manor house in 1854-56 for Charles Longman of the publishing family. Now a hotel and country club, it is a Grade II listed building. [6]

St Mary's Church, Apsley End

Built in London Road in 1871 at the instigation of, and largely funded by Charles Longman, to the design of architect Joseph Clarke. It is a Grade II listed building. [7]

Snatchup End Cottages

A group of cottages in London Road designed by Edwin Lutyens in 1898 in the Arts and Crafts style. They are Grade II* listed. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shendish Manor</span>

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George Longman (1776-1822), of 22 Bloomsbury Square, Middlesex, was a politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frogmore Paper Mill</span> Paper mill in Hertfordshire, UK

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apsley Marina</span> Human settlement in England

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References

A Hertfordshire Valley by Scott Hastie photographs by David Spain, Alpine Press Ltd, Kings Langley, 1996, ISBN   0-9528631-0-3

  1. "Apsley Mill". Apsley Paper Trail. Archived from the original on 13 January 2020.
  2. "Shendish Manor" . Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  3. Davis, Eve (2011). Hemel Hempstead Through Time. Amberley Publishing. ISBN   978-1848686069.
  4. "Frogmore Paper Mill". Visit Southeast England. Archived from the original on 6 September 2018. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  5. "Details revealed of huge 450-home development on former Sappi Paper Mill sites". Hemel Today. 4 April 2015. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
  6. Historic England. "Shendish Manor (Grade II) (1174090)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  7. Historic England. "St Mary's Church, Apsley End (Grade II) (1067764)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  8. Historic England. "Snatchup End Cottages (Grade II*) (1078070)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 13 May 2022.