River Chess Croxley Green
River Chess
The Chess flows southwards
TQ 06742 95787
Pleasant area along the long green with posh houses, the church and the windmill.,
Post to the west Royal Masonic School for Girls
Post to the south Rickmansworth
Post to the east Croxley
Copthorne Road
Copthorne is taken to mean a coppiced tree, and the name is first noted in the 12th.
The Lodge
Copthorne House. Built in the late 19th this is a big detached house situated in substantial grounds.
Copthorne Wood
Green Lane
Short lane with posh houses and Scots Pine trees planted down the central reservation
Old Barn Lane
2 Coach and Horses Pub. 17th building later extended and altered. Timber frame. It has been noted as a pub from 1774. It has been an Ind Coope house, a Taylor Walker house and before that Cannon, Salter and Ashby.
Park Road
Scotsbridge Mill. Formerly a corn mill, a fulling mill and a papermill. Bought by Herbert Ingram, 1849, founder and owner of the lustrated London News and paper for it was made here. It was later taken over by Wandsworth paper maker William McMurray until it closed in 1885. During the 20th it was associated with photography and film, when MGM made cellulose acetate for cinematic films there. It was then used as MGM’s headquarters in Britain from 1940 until 1973. It was then taken over by the Cygnet Press. It has been a restaurant since 1988 and it is now a pub/restaurant
Scotsbridge House. 19th house now in use for offices and business.
Rickmansworth Sports Club Playing Field. Large sports facility with pitches used by local cricket and football and other sports
River Chess
Watercress beds now out of use
Scots Hill
The name of 'Scots' Bridge and 'Scots' Hill is first noted in 1556 but is thought to derive from a family name of the 14th
Scots Hill Cottage. 16th house later extended. Inside is a 16th bread oven.
2 Sportsman Pub. This building dates from at least 1838 but was not used as a pub until 1870. At one time there was a Penny farthing bicycle in the doorway and it has in the past been an Ind Coope an also a Benskins house.
Chalmers Court. Built for the British Legion Housing Association. The first residents moved in in 1979,
George and Dragon Pub. Demolished
Plough pub. Demolished.
Cherry Cottages
Rickmansworth School. This was built as Rickmansworth Grammar School in 1954 on the site of a house called Briery Hill or – commonly Fanny Barkers, who had inherited it as the daughter of the Rickmansworth vicar who had also lived there. Before the Second World War it became derelict and the ground was later used as a local fairground. It was the fifth grammar school to be built after the Second World War, and was opened in 1954, opened in 1956 by Countess Mountbatten of Burma. In 1969 the school became fully comprehensive mad was maintained as a county school by the Hertfordshire County Council until 1990, when it became a self-governing school. It is now a Foundation School as a specialist co-educational arts and science college.
The Green
The road through the Green is thought to be on the site of a Romano British Road. The green here may be mentioned in 1019 and Croc may refer to a ‘moneyer’ of that period. It was subsequently owed by the Abbey of St Albans, The green is now common land owned by Three Rivers Council. Local people had grazing rights on this as a common but a feature of the area in the past was numerous orchards surrounding the area of the Green. These have been placed by housing around the green with many dwellings with a strong Arts and Crafts design
All Saints Church. This is the Parish church which was built 1870-2 and designed by J. Norton. This followed a meeting in 1869 when it was resolved to build a Chapel of Ease here and to ask Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge for a site. The Church Commissioners paid of six pounds for the triangular plot by the turnpike road from Watford and the road to Sarratt. The foundation stone was laid by the Rt Hon. Lord Ebury in 1870. It was enlarged in 1907 by Mr.Temple-Moor, who duplicated the church and each half is on a different level. In 1940 the east end of the church was damaged by a parachute mine and it was 1952 before the church was fully restored. It is in smooth stone and yellow brick in a Gothic Revival Style All Saints, 1870-2 but in 1907 a new nave was added to the south of the old one. The church has an l round tower
Parish Hall. This replaced Berean Cottages which stood in front of the church and were demolished in the late 1920's. The Parish Hall, opened in 1932.
Artichoke Pub.17th building – this may relate to the date at which the Jerusalem artichoke was introduced to England. Later extended and altered. Timber frame cased in red brick. In 1756 it was kept by Thomas White and had stabling for one horse. It was later run by a local farmer. Currently a Chef and Brewer pub it has been previous owned by Ind Coope; Taylor Walker and before that Cannon and Clutterbuck
Halewood Cottage. 18th house in red brick
Providence Hall. This was originally a 16th hall house with a timber frame but cased in 18th brick. It appears to have been floored and heated in the 17th
Warren Cottage and Lovatts Cottage. This was originally a 17th single house. It has a part exposed timber frame
The Orchard on the Green. In the 1980s L.A.T.Rayner and Sons bought a house here called the Orchard in order to develop it and horticultural land associated with it for housing. After several years of opposition from local residents’’ groups posh housing was built here by 1993.
Croxley Guild of Sports entrance – this was Dickinson’s sports ground. Entrance gates from the cricket club the gates were the entrance to Durrants' estate owned by Christie’s director Thomas Woods. The gates were given to the cricket club
Memorial trees
Elmcote. 19th house with a considerable office/workshop extension to the rear
Horse trough near the church. Donated in the 1880s by the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association
War memorial. A memorial to the dead of the Great War and the Second World War. A plaque in front of it says 'British Korean Veterans Association Hertfordshire and District No1 branch. 9 October 1994 remember the British armed services and civilians who gave their lives in defence of freedom. Under the Charter of the United Nations. During and since the Korean War
1950 – 1952 buried beneath this stone, capsule containing soil from Oosterbeek, Arnhem, Netherlands and Pusan U.N. Cemetery Korea. Presented by V.O.K.S. Dutch Korean Veterans Association South Holland District'.
Windmill Drive
Tower mill. This mill dates from around 1820. It was a tower mill with four patent sails, a wooden cap and a fantail but it was badly damaged in a storm in 1887. It was closed on the death of the miller Ephraim Holloway in 1890. It then went into use as a steam powered saw mill. In the Second World War it became a warden's look out post with an air raid siren. It was converted in the 1960s and is now a house. There are timber steps up to first floor timber balcony running all the way around.
Sources
All Saints Church. Web site
British Listed Buildings. Web site
Croxley Green Parish Council. Web site
Greenman. Croxley Green Through its Street Names
Hertfordshire Churches
London Transport County Walks
Rickmansworth School Web site
Roll of Honour Web site
Three Rivers Council. Web site
Whitelaw. Hidden Hertfordshire
The Chess flows southwards
TQ 06742 95787
Pleasant area along the long green with posh houses, the church and the windmill.,
Post to the west Royal Masonic School for Girls
Post to the south Rickmansworth
Post to the east Croxley
Copthorne Road
Copthorne is taken to mean a coppiced tree, and the name is first noted in the 12th.
The Lodge
Copthorne House. Built in the late 19th this is a big detached house situated in substantial grounds.
Copthorne Wood
Green Lane
Short lane with posh houses and Scots Pine trees planted down the central reservation
Old Barn Lane
2 Coach and Horses Pub. 17th building later extended and altered. Timber frame. It has been noted as a pub from 1774. It has been an Ind Coope house, a Taylor Walker house and before that Cannon, Salter and Ashby.
Park Road
Scotsbridge Mill. Formerly a corn mill, a fulling mill and a papermill. Bought by Herbert Ingram, 1849, founder and owner of the lustrated London News and paper for it was made here. It was later taken over by Wandsworth paper maker William McMurray until it closed in 1885. During the 20th it was associated with photography and film, when MGM made cellulose acetate for cinematic films there. It was then used as MGM’s headquarters in Britain from 1940 until 1973. It was then taken over by the Cygnet Press. It has been a restaurant since 1988 and it is now a pub/restaurant
Scotsbridge House. 19th house now in use for offices and business.
Rickmansworth Sports Club Playing Field. Large sports facility with pitches used by local cricket and football and other sports
River Chess
Watercress beds now out of use
Scots Hill
The name of 'Scots' Bridge and 'Scots' Hill is first noted in 1556 but is thought to derive from a family name of the 14th
Scots Hill Cottage. 16th house later extended. Inside is a 16th bread oven.
2 Sportsman Pub. This building dates from at least 1838 but was not used as a pub until 1870. At one time there was a Penny farthing bicycle in the doorway and it has in the past been an Ind Coope an also a Benskins house.
Chalmers Court. Built for the British Legion Housing Association. The first residents moved in in 1979,
George and Dragon Pub. Demolished
Plough pub. Demolished.
Cherry Cottages
Rickmansworth School. This was built as Rickmansworth Grammar School in 1954 on the site of a house called Briery Hill or – commonly Fanny Barkers, who had inherited it as the daughter of the Rickmansworth vicar who had also lived there. Before the Second World War it became derelict and the ground was later used as a local fairground. It was the fifth grammar school to be built after the Second World War, and was opened in 1954, opened in 1956 by Countess Mountbatten of Burma. In 1969 the school became fully comprehensive mad was maintained as a county school by the Hertfordshire County Council until 1990, when it became a self-governing school. It is now a Foundation School as a specialist co-educational arts and science college.
The Green
The road through the Green is thought to be on the site of a Romano British Road. The green here may be mentioned in 1019 and Croc may refer to a ‘moneyer’ of that period. It was subsequently owed by the Abbey of St Albans, The green is now common land owned by Three Rivers Council. Local people had grazing rights on this as a common but a feature of the area in the past was numerous orchards surrounding the area of the Green. These have been placed by housing around the green with many dwellings with a strong Arts and Crafts design
All Saints Church. This is the Parish church which was built 1870-2 and designed by J. Norton. This followed a meeting in 1869 when it was resolved to build a Chapel of Ease here and to ask Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge for a site. The Church Commissioners paid of six pounds for the triangular plot by the turnpike road from Watford and the road to Sarratt. The foundation stone was laid by the Rt Hon. Lord Ebury in 1870. It was enlarged in 1907 by Mr.Temple-Moor, who duplicated the church and each half is on a different level. In 1940 the east end of the church was damaged by a parachute mine and it was 1952 before the church was fully restored. It is in smooth stone and yellow brick in a Gothic Revival Style All Saints, 1870-2 but in 1907 a new nave was added to the south of the old one. The church has an l round tower
Parish Hall. This replaced Berean Cottages which stood in front of the church and were demolished in the late 1920's. The Parish Hall, opened in 1932.
Artichoke Pub.17th building – this may relate to the date at which the Jerusalem artichoke was introduced to England. Later extended and altered. Timber frame cased in red brick. In 1756 it was kept by Thomas White and had stabling for one horse. It was later run by a local farmer. Currently a Chef and Brewer pub it has been previous owned by Ind Coope; Taylor Walker and before that Cannon and Clutterbuck
Halewood Cottage. 18th house in red brick
Providence Hall. This was originally a 16th hall house with a timber frame but cased in 18th brick. It appears to have been floored and heated in the 17th
Warren Cottage and Lovatts Cottage. This was originally a 17th single house. It has a part exposed timber frame
The Orchard on the Green. In the 1980s L.A.T.Rayner and Sons bought a house here called the Orchard in order to develop it and horticultural land associated with it for housing. After several years of opposition from local residents’’ groups posh housing was built here by 1993.
Croxley Guild of Sports entrance – this was Dickinson’s sports ground. Entrance gates from the cricket club the gates were the entrance to Durrants' estate owned by Christie’s director Thomas Woods. The gates were given to the cricket club
Memorial trees
Elmcote. 19th house with a considerable office/workshop extension to the rear
Horse trough near the church. Donated in the 1880s by the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association
War memorial. A memorial to the dead of the Great War and the Second World War. A plaque in front of it says 'British Korean Veterans Association Hertfordshire and District No1 branch. 9 October 1994 remember the British armed services and civilians who gave their lives in defence of freedom. Under the Charter of the United Nations. During and since the Korean War
1950 – 1952 buried beneath this stone, capsule containing soil from Oosterbeek, Arnhem, Netherlands and Pusan U.N. Cemetery Korea. Presented by V.O.K.S. Dutch Korean Veterans Association South Holland District'.
Windmill Drive
Tower mill. This mill dates from around 1820. It was a tower mill with four patent sails, a wooden cap and a fantail but it was badly damaged in a storm in 1887. It was closed on the death of the miller Ephraim Holloway in 1890. It then went into use as a steam powered saw mill. In the Second World War it became a warden's look out post with an air raid siren. It was converted in the 1960s and is now a house. There are timber steps up to first floor timber balcony running all the way around.
Sources
All Saints Church. Web site
British Listed Buildings. Web site
Croxley Green Parish Council. Web site
Greenman. Croxley Green Through its Street Names
Hertfordshire Churches
London Transport County Walks
Rickmansworth School Web site
Roll of Honour Web site
Three Rivers Council. Web site
Whitelaw. Hidden Hertfordshire
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