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Showing posts from October, 2013

River Chess Chenies

River Chess The Chess flows eastwards TQ 01579 98408 Posh village with posh school, mill, manor etc in posh countryside Post to the west Latimer Post to the east Chenies Bedford Close 2 Old Well Cottage. This is a 17th timber-framed building Chenies School.   A school was held in the Rectory kitchen of the vicar, Lord Wriothesley Russell. 1831 to 1846. In 1845 The Duke of Bedford arranged for an Infant School to be built at what is now 49 Chenies and the following year some of the present school was built to educate the estate children. In 1887 the school was taken over by a School Board and in 1957 it was extended taking in many children of the staff at Latimer House. Chenies Bottom Mill leat. Parallel to the Chess is a broad channel built to provide a head of water to the Mill. Dodds Mill. A mill at Chenies is recorded as a fulling mill in 1324 and was the property of Missenden Abbey.  It also appears to have been a corn mill. There was a John Dodd here in 1741 after who

River Chess - Latimer

River Chess The Chess flows eastwards Post to the west Latimer Post to the east Chenies Church Lane Latimer House .  A manor house is first mentioned here in 1194 and this hillside site is that of the Elizabethan Manor House. In 1331 the manor was given to William Latimer by King Edward III and it remained in the family’s ownership until the middle of the 16th. The house is where Charles I was held in 1647 and Charles II is said to have been before escaping abroad. In the 19th it was owned by members of the Cavendish family who became the barons Chesham. The original Elizabethan house burnt out in the 1830s and was rebuilt by the Earl of Burlington, father of the first Lord Chesham in 1834-38 to designs by E Blore. It is a symmetrical red brick mansion in Tudor style. There are ranges around a courtyard with a wall, battlemented with a clock tower with a cupola. Requisitioned in the Second World War this was Number One Distribution Centre seemingly a supply depot. But really it

River Chess - Latimer

River Chess The Chess flows south eastwards Post to the north Latimer Park Post to the east Latimer Post to the south Little Chalfont Bell Lane Forest Cottages Ladies Arbour Wood Chenies Avenue Westwood Park . Football and cricket pitches plus a pavilion.   There is also tennis and a children’s play area. Latimer Road Latimer Park Farm . Previously this was called Dell Farm and this was changed to Home Farm in the 19 th and again in 1954 to the current name. 1898 map shows a saw mill and a gasometer (estate gas making plants were not unusual). Restore Hope Latimer is a local charity based in the farm complex as are number of businesses Roman Villa . This dated from about 170 AD and included the skeleton of a Roman cat. The current farm buildings cover the site. River Chess Great Water . The lake was formed in the 1750s by the damming of the River Chess. Neptune Waterfall. This is a dam which holds the water for the formation of the lakes. It is on the site of a mi

River Chess Latimer Park

River Chess The Chess flows south-eastwards Post to the west Blackwell Hall Post to the south Latimer Frith Wood Latimer Park This is a landscape park which Lancelot Brown may have advised about.   The estate passed to Elizabeth Cavendish and her husband in the early-1750 Tower , this was a folly by a waterfall on the Chess, It has now gone. The Tower Weir holds the water in the Great Water at its western end. Parkfield Wood This area is part of a much altered area of the pleasure grounds of Latimer Park. Buildings of what was the National Defence College and housing encircle the wood. It was originally planted on a hitherto open paddock in the mid 19 th from which some specimen trees remain. Stockings Spring Wood The Grove This area is a much altered part of the remains of the pleasure grounds of Latimer Park. Most of the early plantings have now gone. Tooleys Croft Cave dell. The Cave was a folly. now gone. Sources British Listed Buildings. Web site UK Parks

River Chess. Blackwell Hall

River Chess The Chess flows south eastwards SP 99443 01606 Countryside area on the further reaches of the Metropolitan Line. Posh countryside though Post to the west Chesham Bois Post to the east Latimer Park Blackwellhall Lane A William Blackwell was a local landowner in the 13 th . Blackwell Hall . The Hall fronts onto the Chess and is on the site of an important ancient manor. It is a half timber and plaster house originally 15 th . It was based on a hall with a solar at one end and another room at the other.   Later an upper floor was installed and plaster replaced by brick. Blackwell Farm.   The farmhouse is a timber framed 15th hall and crosswing house. Barn from the 16th or 17 th with a timber-frame. It is weatherboarded, on a brick plinth and has a central wagon door. The stables are now converted to housing. Sources British History. Buckinghamshire. Web site British Listed Buildings. Web site Chess Valley History Group. Web site

River Chess - Chesham Bois

River Chess The Chess flows south eastwards Post to the north Lower Bois Post to the east Blackwell Hall Blackwell Stubs A small piece of ancient woodland managed by the Woodland Trust and in a steep-sided valley. It has old beech trees and there are wood banks along the southern boundary and near the railway are some old coppiced hornbeam trees on the wood bank. Hollow Way Lane The road is thought to be part of a prehistoric trade route Cressbed Villas. Built 1901 Latimer Road Sewage Works . Now run by Thames Water. The original Chesham sewage works is across the road and nearer the river however filter beds had been built to the north of the road by the 1920s. Blackwell Hall Cottage . 18 th house in flint rubble and red brick Ivy House Farm .   The farm house is 16 th or 17 th and there are 17th and 18th barns, timber framed with weatherboarding, some with flint rubble dressing and with red brick. They form three sides of a yard with the house. Woodside Aven

River Chess - Lower Bois

River Chess The Chess flows south eastwards Post to the south Chesham Bois Bottom Lane Bridleway Bunns Lane Bridleway Latimer Road Cannon Mill . This was a corn mill which was once been known as Canham Mill or Middle Mill and is said to have records from the 12 th . It is also said to have been owned by the canons of Missenden Abbey. Last worked in 1937 and demolished around 1960 Watercress beds – these were found all down the Chess and some relics remain. A railway ran at the back of Weir House. Weirhouse Mill . 18 th building restored and enlarged with Painted weatherboarding and brick. A wing over the river was demolished. This was a corn mill and in the 18 th used as a paper mill – ornamental writing paper made here by Bancks was shown at the Great Exhibition in 1851. It reverted to corn in 1858 and ended work in the 1940s. Mill House to Weirhouse Mill. 18 th building in whitewashed brick Hardware warehouse and industrial buildings. Pow Wow water cooler plant. T

River Gade - Croxley Green

River Gade The Gade flows south westwards TQ 08784 95869 A once industrial area along the canal with sites now being taken for housing. Post to the north Rousebarn Post to the west Croxley Baldwin’s Lane Named for the Baldwin family who were 16 th land holders in the area. Beechcroft Avenue Part of a 1930s development on Caius College land. Beggars Bush Lane The lane once provided access from the east to Croxley Mills. Cassio Wharf .   Residential narrow boats are moored on the canal. The wharf dates from the early 1830s and was used for the transhipment of bricks and general cargoes. Blackmoor Lane Office and trading area parallel with the south side of the canal. Byewaters New housing on the site of the Croxley Mills. Croxley Mills. Built by John Dickinson in 1826 purchasing the site from Caius College Cambridge which needed a private act of Parliament.  A mill head was built to the Gade at Cassio Bridge and a mill tail to join the canal below the mills. The

River Gade. Rousebarn

River Gade The Gade flows southwards Post to the north Jacotts Post to the east Rickmansworth Road Post to the south Croxley Green Lodge End Cassiobridge House . The house was demolished before in 1965. There has been a house here since the 18th with orchards, greenhouses and a poultry farm. In 1939 it was sold to Associated Film Distributors as their headquarters and was demolished when they left. Grand Junction Canal This section was part of the Grand Junction Canal, built to link the Oxford Canal at Braunston with the Thames at Brentford. Rousebarn Lane Lock Cassiobury Lock Viaduct across the Gade and Grand Junction Canal for the Metropolitan Railway. The viaduct was built in 1912 by the London & North Western Railway. Train services were withdrawn in 1996 and the track is now cut back Bridgewater Boats Marina. . Rousebarn Lane This is named after a 16th local farmer West Herts Golf Club on a part of the Cassiobury estate. The clubhouse dates from 1911 an

River Gade - Rickmansworth Road

River Gade The Gade flows southwards while looping east and west Post to the north Cassiobury Park Post to the west Rousebarn Cassiobury Park In 1908 Watford Urban District Council bought 50 acres of the grounds of Cassiobury House for £16,000 and a further 25 acres in 1913 for £7,000. Bowls – This is leased to the Watford Bowls Club Tea Pavilion . This was upgraded in 2003, and is leased to Cha Cha Cha Ltd. It is thought that it was built in the 1920s although it may have also been a day nursery. It was partly rebuilt in 2001 following a fire. Tennis . The courts and a building are used by a Tennis Club Watercress Beds . These ceased operation in the 1970s Croquet Lawn . The lawn and a building are used by a Croquet Club Bandstand . In the 1970s this was moved to outside the town hall. Nature Reserve alongside the Gade and stretching south of the Cassiobury Park Avenue. The nature reserve is made up of parkland, scrubland, grassland, swamp and water-cress beds. There ar

River Gade Cassiobury

River Gade The Gade flows east and south TQ 09961 96539 Area of parks and sports fields to the north of Watford. Relatively posh suburban area surrounding it, Post to the west Jacotts Post to the south Rickmansworth Road Belmount Wood Avenue Cassiobury Junior School and Infant School . Opened in 1968. The schools' badge has a coronet plus the arms of the Capel family, the Earls of Essex who owned the area of the estate Sun Postal Sports Ground Football Club. The club was founded in 1898 as Sun Engraving Football Club and in 1995 amalgamated with Watford Postal Football Club. Watford Boxing Club Cassiobury Drive 53 First Church of Christ Scientist .  It was designed by Arthur Percival Starkey as the first building here in the 1930s.    It is two storey in multicoloured brick with a reading room to the side and a square brick tower Cassiobury The manor of Cassio was in the ownership of the Abbey of St Albans, and in the Domesday Book. At the dissolution it was grant

River Gade Jacotts

River Gade The Gade flows southwards Post to the north Grove Mill Post to the east Cassiobury Post to the south Rousebarn Grand Union Canal Iron Bridge Lock Winding Hole Iron Bridge Lock Cassiobury Park Bridge. The canal lock was built 1796 – 1797 and this pedestrian bridge provides an historic route across it. It is in m ulticoloured brick, with stone coping. There are metal plaques numbering it  “167”. Local Nature Reserve. This designation applies to the area between the Gade and the Canal River Gade Weir . The weir marks the site of a mill. This was a corn mill and probably on the site of one of four Domesday mills.   In the 19 th it was ornamental and used to pump water to Cassiobury House. It was purchased by Watford Council in 1930 and was demolished because of decay in in 1956. The weir remains. Watford Grammar School New Playing Fields The field is shared with the Old Boys Association West Herts Golf Course The area covered by the course - which ex