Kings Langley

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This article is about Kings Langley in Hertfordshire, England. For the suburb of Sydney, Australia, see Kings Langley, New South Wales.

Kings Langley
Kings Langley High Street, looking north.
Kings Langley is located in Hertfordshire
Kings Langley
Kings Langley
Location within Hertfordshire
Population5,072 (Census 2001)
5,214 (Census 2011)[1]
OS grid referenceTL067030
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townKINGS LANGLEY
Postcode districtWD4
Dialling code01923
PoliceHertfordshire
FireHertfordshire
AmbulanceEast of England
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Hertfordshire
51°42′56″N 0°27′25″W / 51.71559°N 0.45692°W / 51.71559; -0.45692

Kings Langley is a village, former manor and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England. It is sited 23.5 miles (37.8 kilometres) north-west of London and to the south of the Chiltern Hills; it now forms part of the London commuter belt. The village is divided between two local government districts by the River Gade with the larger western portion in the Borough of Dacorum and smaller part, to the east of the river, in Three Rivers District. It was the location of Kings Langley Palace and the associated King's Langley Priory, of which few traces survive.

It is situated 2 mi (3 km) south of Hemel Hempstead and 2 mi (3 km) north of Watford.

The manor is first mentioned in surviving records as æt Langalege (Old English æt Langeleage) in a Saxon charter dated 1042–1049.[2] It appears as Langelai in the Domesday Book (1086) and as Langel' Regis (“Langley of the King”) in 1254. The name means “long wood or clearing”.[3] From the 11th to the 14th centuries the settlement is often recorded as “Chilterns Langley” to distinguish it from Abbots Langley; with increased royal involvement it is attested by 1346 as “Kyngeslangley” and by 1428 as “Langele Regis”.[4][5]

History

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Archaeological evidence indicates continuous human activity in the Kings Langley area from the Lower Palaeolithic period.[6][7]

A Roman villa of the winged-corridor type, dated to the 2nd century AD, stood in the southern part of the present village, just east of the River Gade, between what is now the Roman Gardens housing estate and Home Park Industrial Estate, probably overlying an earlier 1st-century elite Catuvellauni residence.[8] The site was first identified in 1825 during works for Kings Langley railway station,[9] and was later largely excavated between June 1981 and March 1982.[10] Identified features included a bath suite and hypocaust heating.[11]

The earliest known written reference to the manor of Langley dates to the 1040s, when the Saxon thegn Æthelwine Niger granted the land to Leofstan, abbot of St Albans Abbey.[12] Leofstan subsequently granted the western portion of the district to a knight named Turcoht, an act which may have led to the later division between Kings Langley and Abbots Langley.[13]

By 1066 the manor had been lost to the abbey and was held by Saeric and Thori as vassals of Leofwine Godwinson (c. 1035–1066).[14][15] Following the Norman Conquest, the manor formed part of the Hundred of Danish and was among the lands granted to Robert, Count of Mortain (c. 1031–c. 1095), uterine half-brother of William the Conqueror (c. 1028–1087); his tenant was a certain Ralf.[16] The assessed value declined from £8 in 1066 to £2 in 1086, a reduction likely caused by post-Conquest disruption.[17] The present village developed as a linear village along the old road from London to Berkhamsted and beyond to the Midlands.[18]

Following the forfeiture of William, Count of Mortain (before 1084–after 1140) after his failed rebellion in 1106, the manor was granted to the Chenduit family as part of the Honour of Berkhamsted.[19] The Gesta Abbatum reports that Paul (abbot 1077–1093), abbot of St Albans Abbey, recovered Kings Langley for the abbey in the late 11th century; however, the Chenduit family retained control of the manor as vassals of the Crown, suggesting either a short-lived recovery or a reassertion of specific ecclesiastical rights.[20][21]

Biodynamic allotments and building of Tudor origin on the grounds of Kings Langley Priory established by Edward II in 1308

By the 1270s Sir Stephen de Chenduit (before 1235–after 1278) had fallen into debt, and the manor was acquired by Eleanor of Castile (1241–1290), queen consort of Edward I (1239–1307).[22][23][24] Shortly afterwards a royal palace was developed to the west of the village on Le Corte Hill (now Langley Hill), with a deer park extending to the south.[25] It is unclear whether this represented a new foundation or an enlargement of an earlier complex.[26] Edward III (1312–1377) later held court at Kings Langley during the Black Death to avoid London, and the village briefly served as a seat of government.[27]

King's Langley Priory, a Dominican house, was founded in 1308 by Edward II (1284–1327) adjacent to the royal palace.[28][29] Both the palace and the priory church fell into ruin after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, although elements of each site survive.[30][31] Piers Gaveston, 1st Earl of Cornwall (c. 1284–1312), the favourite of Edward II, was interred with "great ceremony" in the priory church.[32][33] Having been summarily executed without trial in Warwickshire in June 1312, his burial had to be deferred since he had been excommunicated by Robert Winchelsey, Archbishop of Canterbury earlier that year.[34][35] He was buried on 2 January 1315, after Edward obtained him absolution.[36][37] The exact location of his remains is unknown.[38][39] Following his deposition on 30 September 1399, Richard II (1367–1400) died in captivity, probably of starvation, at Pontefract Castle.[40][41][42] After his body was displayed at St Paul’s Cathedral, he was interred in the priory church on 6 March 1401;[43] on 4 December 1413 his remains were removed and taken to Westminster Abbey.[44][45] Other notable burials at the priory included the fourth surviving son of Edward III, Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York (1341–1402), who was born at the palace.[46][47][48] Ralph Stafford (c. 1367–1385), a knight in the household of Richard II,[49] and Anne de Mortimer (1388–1411), an ancestor of the House of York and grandmother of Edward IV (1442–1483) and Richard III (1452–1485).[50][51][52][53]

The All Saints' Church was built in the 14th century on the site of an earlier church.[54] The tomb of Edmund of Langley was moved there following the Dissolution of the Priory (c.1539) and placed in a specially built north-east chapel in 1878.[54]

All Saints' Church, Kings Langley

The 18th century Sparrows Herne turnpike road (later the A41 trunk road) traversed the Chilterns via the valley of the River Gade and ran down the village high street. The 16th century Saracen's Head public house is a coaching inn which flourished in this period.

The Grand Union Canal dates from 1797 and the London and Birmingham Railway from 1838 which later became the West Coast Main Line, the main railway line from London to the north west. The canal and railway line pass just east of the village at Kings Langley railway station.

There are many businesses located near the station in Home Park Industrial Estate which was also the site of the Construction and Engineering Centre of West Herts College from 2007–2019, when it was moved to Hemel Hempstead.[55][56]

Housing developments in the 20th century have led to the village spreading out on either side of the main road. The A41 has now been diverted west of the village leaving the high street to local traffic for the first time in centuries.

During the Second World War, Barnes Lodge, a former country house located off Hempstead Road near Rucklers Lane,[57] served as the principal radio communications centre linking the Polish Underground (Armia Krajowa) in occupied Poland with the Polish government-in-exile and its military staff in London.[58][59] It worked in close coordination with the Polish Section of the Special Operations Executive.[60] The house was demolished in c. 1976,[61] and the present building, retaining the name Barnes Lodge, was constructed on the site of its former stables.[62]

Former Ovaltine factory, Kings Langley. This is the listed art deco façade of the former Ovaltine factory. It was redeveloped into housing in 2002.

Kings Langley was the site of the factory making Ovaltine chocolate drink; the listed factory facade, designed c. 1923 by James Albert Bowden is now all that is left and still stands alongside the railway line among a new housing development. The Ovaltine factory itself has been converted into a series of flats and duplexes.[63]

The former Ovaltine Egg Farm was converted into energy-efficient offices which house Renewable Energy Systems. The complex incorporates a highly visible 225 kW Vestas V29[64] wind turbine, nicknamed "Lofty"[65] alongside the M25.

The wind turbine overlooking the former Ovaltine Model Dairy Farm, now the offices of Renewable Energy Systems Ltd.

Kings Langley School is the local comprehensive school, situated on Love Lane to the west of the village.

Kings Langley was also the site of a Waldorf School, the Rudolf Steiner School Kings Langley which closed in 2019. This was built on the grounds of the old palace. There was a small display cabinet of finds from the palace period in the school entrance foyer.[66]

The village became twinned with Achiet-le-Grand in France in November 2009, in honour of Christopher Cox from the village who won a Victoria Cross in fighting near Achiet-le-Grand in the First World War.[67]

Transport

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Kings Langley railway station is a stop on the West Coast Main Line. London Northwestern Railway operates a regular service between London Euston and Milton Keynes Central.[68]

The M25 London Orbital motorway passes just south of the village on an imposing viaduct across the River Gade valley. To the north of junction 20 with the A41, a dual-carriageway bypasses Kings Langley and continues to the south of Tring where it flows into the original motorway-standard by-pass. The old route through Kings Langley is now classified the A4251.

Rucklers Lane

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The Rucklers Lane Community Hall was built for the workers of nearby Shendish Manor in 1909 as a memorial to Arthur Longman, the owner of the estate

Just to the north of Kings Langley is a small village called Rucklers Lane, named after the road it is built on. The origin of the settlement in the early 20th century was the construction of a number of mock tudor houses for the workers on the nearby Shendish Manor estate. A community hall was also built for the workers in 1909 as a memorial to Arthur Longman, the owner of the estate; it was originally intended as a chapel of ease to avoid the long walk to the parish church.[69] Further west along the lane is Phasels Wood Scout Camp and Activity Centre which opened in 1937.[70]

Mentions in literature

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Sport

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Football

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Kings Langley FC, as of 2023/2024, play in the Division 1 (Central) Division of the Southern Football League.

Cricket

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Kings Langley CC currently play in Divisions 2B, Division 7 West and Division 10 South, of the Saracens Hertfordshire Cricket League.

Bowls

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Kings Langley Bowls Club is situated in Green Park at the end of the Nap car park. It is a popular lawn bowls club with club and district competitions for bowlers of all abilities. It includes a club house with licensed bar and good social programs.

Notable people

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References

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Citations

[edit]
  1. ^ "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 2 April 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
  2. ^ "S 1228". The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters. King's College London. Retrieved 9 September 2025. A.D. 1042 × 1049 … æt Langalege; OE æt Langeleage
  3. ^ "Kings Langley". Key to English Place-Names. University of Nottingham. Retrieved 9 September 2025.
  4. ^ Watts, Victor, ed. (2004). The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names. Cambridge University Press. p. 360. ISBN 978-0-521-16855-7.
  5. ^ "Parishes: King's Langley". British History Online. Victoria County History. 1908. Retrieved 9 September 2025.
  6. ^ "Wessex Archaeology: Volume 2" (PDF). p. 36. Retrieved 9 September 2025.
  7. ^ "A41 Berkhamsted and Kings Langley Bypasses (GL3006)" (PDF). Archaeology Data Service. Retrieved 9 September 2025.
  8. ^ "Roman villa". Kings Langley History & Museum. Retrieved 9 September 2025.
  9. ^ "Digitised text (p. 146)". Retrieved 9 September 2025.
  10. ^ "Roman villa". Kings Langley History & Museum. Retrieved 9 September 2025.
  11. ^ "Heritage Gateway: Monument 359335". Heritage Gateway. Retrieved 9 September 2025.
  12. ^ "Sawyer S 1228". Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters. University of Cambridge. Retrieved 9 September 2025.
  13. ^ Walsingham, Thomas (1867). Riley, Henry Thomas (ed.). Gesta Abbatum Monasterii Sancti Albani. Vol. I. London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green. p. 39. Retrieved 9 September 2025.
  14. ^ "Kings Langley". Open Domesday. Anna Powell-Smith. Retrieved 9 September 2025.
  15. ^ Walsingham, Thomas (1867). Gesta Abbatum Monasterii Sancti Albani. London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer. p. 54.
  16. ^ "Kings Langley". Open Domesday. Anna Powell-Smith. Retrieved 9 September 2025.
  17. ^ "Kings Langley". Open Domesday. Anna Powell-Smith. Retrieved 9 September 2025.
  18. ^ Lionel M, Munby, The History of Kings Langley
  19. ^ "Parishes: King's Langley". British History Online. Victoria County History. 1908. Retrieved 9 September 2025.
  20. ^ Walsingham, Thomas (1867). Riley, Henry Thomas (ed.). Gesta Abbatum Monasterii Sancti Albani. Vol. I. London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green. p. 54. Retrieved 9 September 2025.
  21. ^ "Parishes: King's Langley". British History Online. Victoria County History. 1908. Retrieved 9 September 2025.
  22. ^ "Parishes: King's Langley". British History Online. Victoria County History. 1908. Retrieved 9 September 2025.
  23. ^ Tilley, Christopher (2012). The Chenduits in the Fine Rolls: A Gentry Family in the Reign of Henry III (PDF) (Report). Henry III Fine Rolls Project, King’s College London. p. 8. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  24. ^ Roth, Cecil (1957). "Oxford Starrs" (PDF). Oxoniensia. XXII: 63–77. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  25. ^ Hertfordshire Federation of Women's Institutes (1986). The Hertfordshire Village Book. Ann Roxburgh (Forward). Countryside Books. ISBN 0-905392-71-X.
  26. ^ "Calendar of the Fine Rolls of the Reign of Henry III, Roll 29". Henry III Fine Rolls Project. King's College London. Retrieved 9 September 2025.
  27. ^ "Parishes: King's Langley". British History Online. Victoria County History. 1908. Retrieved 9 September 2025.
  28. ^ "Site of Dominican Priory, King's Langley (HHER MHT97)". Heritage Gateway. Hertfordshire Historic Environment Record. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  29. ^ Page, William, ed. (1971). "Friaries: King's Langley priory". A History of the County of Hertford. Vol. 4. London: Victoria County History. pp. 446–451. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  30. ^ "Site of Dominican Priory, King's Langley (HHER MHT97)". Heritage Gateway. Hertfordshire Historic Environment Record. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  31. ^ "Kings Langley Royal Palace (HER 359340 / NMR TL 00 SE 12)". Heritage Gateway. Historic England Research Records. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  32. ^ Thompson, E. Maunde (1890). "Gaveston, Piers (d.1312)". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 21. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 84. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  33. ^ "Piers Gaveston, earl of Cornwall". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 26 July 2025. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  34. ^ "Piers Gaveston, earl of Cornwall". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 26 July 2025. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  35. ^ Thompson, E. Maunde (1890). "Gaveston, Piers (d.1312)". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 21. London: Smith, Elder & Co. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  36. ^ Thompson, E. Maunde (1890). "Gaveston, Piers (d.1312)". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 21. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 84. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  37. ^ Hamilton, J. S. (2004). "Gaveston, Piers, earl of Cornwall (d.1312)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 12 September 2025. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  38. ^ "Site of Dominican Priory, King's Langley (HHER MHT97)". Heritage Gateway. Hertfordshire Historic Environment Record. Retrieved 12 September 2025. What remained of the church was demolished in 1831, although a fragment of the south wall of the chancel survives.
  39. ^ "Kings Langley Palace and Priory". Berkhamsted Castle Trust. Retrieved 12 September 2025. No traces of the monastery church or Gaveston's tomb remain.
  40. ^ "Richard II – Tyranny and fall". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 7 August 2025. Retrieved 12 September 2025. On September 29… Richard was induced to lay aside his crown; on the following day the king's statement of abdication was read in Parliament and approved.
  41. ^ "Richard II and Anne of Bohemia". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 12 September 2025. …died in Pontefract Castle… most probably from starvation; his body was brought for public view to St Paul's Cathedral and then was buried at a friary in Langley, Hertfordshire.
  42. ^ "Richard II (r. 1377–1399)". The Royal Family. Royal Household. Retrieved 12 September 2025. …died either by murder or by self-starvation in Pontefract Castle; Henry V had his body reburied in Westminster Abbey.
  43. ^ Given-Wilson, Chris, ed. (1993). Chronicles of the Revolution, 1397–1400: The Reign of Richard II (PDF). Manchester Medieval Sources. Manchester University Press. pp. xv. ISBN 978-0-7190-3533-2. Retrieved 12 September 2025. 6 March. Requiem mass for Richard at St Paul's, prior to his burial at King's Langley. (Old Style 1400 ≈ New Style 1401). {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: checksum (help)
  44. ^ Saul, Nigel (1997). Richard II. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. pp. 428–429. ISBN 978-0300072298. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: checksum (help)
  45. ^ "Richard II and Anne of Bohemia". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 12 September 2025. When Henry V came to the throne he ordered the removal of the body to Westminster Abbey in 1413.
  46. ^ "Richard II and Anne of Bohemia". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 12 September 2025. Edmund was born at his father's manor at King's Langley in Hertfordshire on 5 June 1341.
  47. ^ "Edmund of Langley, 1st duke of York". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 28 July 2025. Retrieved 12 September 2025. Born June 5, 1341, King's Langley, Hertfordshire… fourth surviving legitimate son of Edward III.
  48. ^ Page, William, ed. (1971). "Friaries: King's Langley priory". A History of the County of Hertford. Victoria County History. pp. 446–451. Retrieved 12 September 2025. …the conventual church of Langley… retained… the tomb of Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, interred here in 1402.
  49. ^ Given-Wilson, Chris (1987). "The King and the Gentry in Fourteenth-Century England: The Alexander Prize Essay". Transactions of the Royal Historical Society (Fifth Series). 37: 87–102.
  50. ^ "Richard, 3rd Duke of York". Encyclopædia Britannica. 29 August 2025. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  51. ^ "Edward IV". Encyclopædia Britannica. 29 August 2025. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  52. ^ Cokayne, G. E. (1912). Vicary Gibbs (ed.). The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom. Vol. II. London: The St. Catherine Press. pp. 494–495.
  53. ^ William Page, ed. (1971). "Friaries: King's Langley priory". A History of the County of Hertford: Volume 4. Victoria County History. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  54. ^ a b "Church of All Saints (List Entry 1348524)". Historic England. 26 January 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  55. ^ "Planning Committee – 17 January 2019: 18/1034/OUT – West Herts College, Kings Langley" (PDF). Three Rivers District Council. Three Rivers District Council. 17 January 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  56. ^ "West Herts College Kings Langley campus set to be demolished for flats". Watford Observer. Newsquest. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  57. ^ "Barnes Lodge, Nash Mills and Bennetts End, Rucklers Lane, from the south, 1953 (EAW048781)". Britain from Above. 22 April 1953. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  58. ^ Morriss, Agnieszka (2016). The BBC Polish Service during the Second World War (PDF) (PhD thesis). City, University of London. pp. 96–97.
  59. ^ Blackwell, Jonathan W. (2010). The Polish Home Army and the Struggle for the Lublin Region (PDF) (PhD thesis). University of Glasgow. pp. 57–59.
  60. ^ Blackwell, Jonathan W. (2010). The Polish Home Army and the Struggle for the Lublin Region (PDF) (PhD thesis). University of Glasgow. pp. 57–59.
  61. ^ "Barnes Lodge, Kings Langley". Kings Langley Local History & Museum Society. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  62. ^ "Barnes Lodge, Kings Langley". Kings Langley Local History & Museum Society. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  63. ^ "The east facade of A Wander Limited's 'Ovaltine' factory in Kings Langley. The factory was much enlarged during the 1920s, adding sympathetically to this original block (BL26455/002) Archive Item - The Bedford Lemere Collection | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Historic England. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  64. ^ "Power from the wind" (PDF). Renewable Energy Systems. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 May 2009. Retrieved 16 November 2008.
  65. ^ "Lofty the Wind Turbine". Beauford Court Low Carbon Office. Retrieved 31 May 2025.
  66. ^ Cite error: The named reference KL Hist was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  67. ^ "French twinning steams ahead". Hemel Hempstead Gazette. 9 April 2009. Archived from the original on 15 April 2009. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
  68. ^ "Train timetables and schedules". London Northwestern Railway. 15 May 2025. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
  69. ^ Bower, Stanley. "The Fourth John Prime Memorial Lecture: Rucklers Lane Hall". www.kingslangley.org.uk. Kings Langley Local History and Museum Society. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  70. ^ Brittain, Frank L (2008), Milestones of 100 Years of Hertfordshire Scouting, Hertfordshire County Scout Council (p. 62)
  71. ^ "The Nation: Magnus Carter: Jimmy's Roots". Time. 22 August 1977. Retrieved 16 February 2010.
  72. ^ "Christopher Cox VC". www.kingslangley.org.uk. Kings Langley Local History and Museum Society. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  73. ^ "griff is the uk teen talking you out of negative body image with her pop music". i-D. 8 July 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  74. ^ Kings Langley Information page Archived 8 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine

Sources

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