In 2004 a study by The Social Disadvantage Research Centre at the University of Oxford named Chorleywood as the “happiest place” to live in the UK. Of the 32,482 communities surveyed, Chorleywood came out top. More recently, Chorleywood has been ranked as the “least deprived” area in the country by the Department of Communities and Local Government.[2][3]
History
Cricket Ground Chorleywood CommonMap of "Metro-land", from the 1924 Metro-land booklet published by the Metropolitan Railway
Settlement at Chorleywood dates to the Paleolithic era when the plentiful flint supply led to swift development of tools by man. The Romans built a village on the ancient site complete with a mill and brewery.[4]
Though variants have been proposed, the name has been derived from the Anglo-Saxonleah, meaning a clearing or a wood, of the ceorla or peasants.[5] A line runs through Chorleywood that once divided the Kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex and now divides the counties of Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Edward the Confessor gave Chorleywood to the Monastery of St Albans.[4]
By 1278, it was known, perhaps duplicating the "woodland" element, as 'Bosco de Cherle' or 'Churl's Wood', Norman for 'Peasant's Wood'.[4] Upon the Dissolution of the Monasteries, it passed to the Bishopric of London, being renamed 'Charleywoode'. It became Crown property during the reign of Elizabeth I. The Turnpike Act (1663) gave Chorleywood a chance to exploit its strategic position, allowing locals the opportunity to charge civilians to use the road from Hatfield to Reading.[4]
Chorleywood is most famous for its Quakers. Non-conformists flocked to Chorleywood, promised sanctuary by the locals. William Penn founded the Pennsylvania Colony with settlers from Chorleywood, Rickmansworth and nearby towns in southern Buckinghamshire, having lived and married in Chorleywood.[4]
Chorleywood House, a Regency mansion, was built in 1822 by John Barnes, replacing an earlier house. John Saunders Gilliat, the Governor of the Bank of England in 1883–1885, lived in it. In 1892, the house was bought by Lady Ela Sackville Russell, eldest daughter of the 9th Duke of Bedford. She modified and enlarged the house turning the grounds into a model estate with market gardens.
The railway was extended to Chorleywood on 8 July 1889.
In the early 1960s, researchers at the British Baking Industries Research Association in Chorleywood improved upon an earlier American bread-making process. This resulted in the Chorleywood bread process which is now used in over 80% of commercial bread production throughout the UK.[6]
Chorleywood CommonChorleywood Urban District in 1971 was a small authority separated from Watford Rural District
Chorleywood Common is 0.8 square kilometres (200 acres) of wooded common land. It is a County Heritage Site, with significant biodiversity. Since cattle grazing ended soon after the First World War, the land has been used for recreational purposes. Chorleywood Golf Club maintains a nine-hole golf course on the Common.
In the 19th century, the MCC established a cricket pitch on the Common, which is used by Chorleywood Cricket Club's senior and junior teams to this day.
The two wards, Chorleywood North & Sarratt and Chorleywood South & Maple Cross, are divided by the railway line. Chorleywood South & Maple Cross includes most of Chorleywood village and Maple Cross. Chorleywood North & Sarratt includes the north area of Chorleywood, Loudwater, Sarratt and Belsize.
Hertfordshire is one of the home counties in southern England. It is bordered by Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For government statistical purposes, it is placed in the East of England region. The county covers an area of 634 square miles (1,640 km2). The county derives its name from a hart (stag) and a ford, used as the components of the county's coat of arms and of the flag. Hertfordshire County Council is based in Hertford, once the main market town.
Watford is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 17.5 miles northwest of Charing Cross.
Rickmansworth is a town in southwest Hertfordshire, England, about 17 miles (27 km) northwest of central London and inside the perimeter of the M25 motorway. The town is mainly to the north of the Grand Union Canal and the River Colne. The nearest large town is Watford, about 5 miles (8 km) to the east. Rickmansworth is the administrative seat of the Three Rivers District Council. The confluence of the River Chess and the River Gade with the Colne in Rickmansworth inspired the district's name. The enlarged Colne flows south to form a major tributary of the River Thames. The town is served by the Metropolitan line of the London Underground and Chiltern Railways from London Marylebone to Aylesbury.
Three Rivers is a local government district in south-west Hertfordshire, England. Its council is based in Rickmansworth.
Croxley Green is both a village and a suburb of Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire, England. It is also a civil parish. Located on the A412 between Watford to the northeast and Rickmansworth to the southwest, it is approximately 20 miles (32 km) northwest of central London.
Hemel Hempstead is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election.
South West Hertfordshire is a constituency in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, represented since 2019 by Gagan Mohindra, a Conservative.
Watford is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Conservative Party representative Dean Russell.
Watford Rural District was a rural district in Hertfordshire from 1894 to 1974, consisting of adjoining land to the west, north and east of the separate urban district of Watford.
The London Traffic Area was established by the London Traffic Act 1924 to regulate the increasing amount of motor traffic in the London area. The LTA was abolished in 1965 on the establishment of the Greater London Council.
Sarratt is both a village and a civil parish in Three Rivers District, Hertfordshire, England. It is situated 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Rickmansworth on high ground near the county boundary with Buckinghamshire. The chalk stream, the River Chess, rising just north of Chesham in the Chiltern Hills, passes through Sarratt Bottom in the valley to the west of the village to join the River Colne in Rickmansworth. The conditions offered by the river are perfect for the cultivation of watercress. Sarratt has the only commercially operating watercress farm in Hertfordshire. The valley to the east of Sarratt is dry.
Maple Cross is a village in Hertfordshire, England, which up until the Second World War consisted of an inn, a blacksmith's shop and a few cottages. Today there are around 800 postwar council houses. Some of these have been sold into private ownership. The area is close by junction 17 of the M25 motorway, which makes up the western boundary of the village. It lies on the western fringe of Rickmansworth, about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) west of Watford and 6 miles north of Uxbridge.
Loudwater is a private housing estate in the parish of Chorleywood, separated from the latter by the River Chess, north of Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire and just to the east of Junction 18 of the M25 motorway. Loudwater is an old name for the River Chess. The 2001 population was 1,242.
Maple Cross and Mill End is a ward in Three Rivers, in England, the United Kingdom. It is located in the far south-west Hertfordshire, in the East of England region. The ward includes the eponymous villages of Maple Cross and Mill End, lying between Chorleywood West to the north; Penn, Rickmansworth, and Harefield to the east; and Chalfont St. Giles and Chalfont Common to the west.
Three Rivers District Council is the local authority for the Three Rivers non-metropolitan district of England, the United Kingdom. Three Rivers is located in the south-west of Hertfordshire, in the East of England region. The Council itself is based in Rickmansworth, the largest settlement in the district, but also comprises Abbots Langley, Chorleywood, Croxley Green, Maple Cross, Mill End, Sarratt and South Oxhey.
This page provides brief details of primary schools in the borough of Three Rivers in Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom.
Mill End is a semi-rural village in Hertfordshire, England, which has in recent times become a contiguous part of Rickmansworth. Most of it is unparished ; part comes under Chorleywood Parish Council. By the time of the 2011 Census a new civil parish had been formed called Maple Cross and Mill End. All of Mill End forms part of Three Rivers District and so is administered by Three Rivers District Council and Hertfordshire County Council.
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