Boxmoor
Encyclopedia
Boxmoor, or Boxmoor Village, is a district of Dacorum
in Hertfordshire
, England
. It is now part of Hemel Hempstead
. It is a district of mainly nineteenth century housing and meadowland, repeatedly cut through by transport links from London
to the The Midlands
.
a bushy inhabitant of the chalky hills that surround the location. This is linked together with the word 'mor' which signifies a marshy spot; Boxmoor's ancient watermeadows are still a major feature of the locality.
The remains of a Roman villa
have been found in the grounds of Boxmoor House School near the railway station dating from around the 1st or early 2nd century AD.
The Box Moor Trust
owns meadow land in the area alongside the River Bulbourne
. This is land purchased by tenants in secret during the sixteenth century to prevent it being enclosed and depriving them of grazing. It is still held by the same trust established at that time and is used for summer grazing and has open access for recreational use.
The ancient Box Lane runs uphill from Boxmoor to Bovingdon
. On this lane, close to the Boxmoor end, stood the historic early seventeenth century Box Lane Chapel, see section below on places of worship.
The Sparrows Herne turnpike
, set up in 1762 , was the stagecoach route from London to Aylesbury
and passed along the valley bottom through Boxmoor following the present day London Road (A4251). The Grand Junction Canal
, latterly known as the Grand Union, and the trunk canal from London to the Midlands followed along the same route in 1804. A local pub, The Fishery Inn, was an historic refreshment stop on the canal.
Robert Snooks
, in 1802, the last highwayman to be hung and buried at the scene of his crime robbed a post boy on the turnpike on Boxmoor meadows. His remains are interred in Boxmoor meadows near the place where he was hung and the likely spot is marked by two stones, erected by the Box Moor Trust
in 1904.
Boxmoor village itself was developed after 1837 when the London and Birmingham Railway
was forced, by local landed interests, to build its main line and station about a mile to the west of Hemel Hempstead town The station , originally called Boxmoor, offered fast commuting to London combined with a small country town life, attractive to wealthier commuters and this stimulated the development of Victorian era housing near the station but outside the original bounds of Hemel Hempstead.
In 1877 a branch line - known as the "Nicky Line
" - was opened by the Midland Railway
running from the station, through Hemel Hempstead to Harpenden
. Disputes between the railway companies however prevented this from ever being used for a passenger connecting service and the station's link to Hemel town was always via horse bus or on foot across the Boxmoor meadows. Hemel Hempstead railway station
was from 1912 known as "Boxmoor and Hemel Hempstead".
The area was absorbed into the expanded Hemel Hempstead new town
during the 1950s and 1960s but retains a local character. The station was then renamed from Boxmoor to Hemel Hempstead.
A four lane duel carriageway, the A41 trunk road
, was built through the district in the 1990s, connecting the M25 to Aylesbury. This crosses Boxmoor meadows in a strip of land in which all the earlier links run side by side, turnpike, canal, railway and modern trunk road.
Boxmoor Hall was built in 1889 from surplus funds by the local trust,it has been used as a magistrates court, more recently as an arts centre run by Dacorum Boriugh Council, and in 2007 the hall became privately owned as used for performing arts. Boxmoor Hall is now a licenced premises and host special occasions. www.boxmoorhall.co.uk
who use the rail station to reach London
in around 30 minutes.
once worshiped here at an earlier building on the site. It is now a private house after being sold in 1969.
St John's Church in Boxmoor was built, in 1874, on part of the Box Moor Trust
land.
let some of their land be used as a cricket pitch
that is known as the Boxmoor oval which had a pavilion
added in the 1930s.
Dacorum
The Borough of Dacorum is a local government district in Hertfordshire, England that includes the towns of Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, Tring and Kings Langley. The district, which was formed in 1974, had a population of 137,799 in 2001...
in Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is now part of Hemel Hempstead
Hemel Hempstead
Hemel Hempstead is a town in Hertfordshire in the East of England, to the north west of London and part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2001 Census was 81,143 ....
. It is a district of mainly nineteenth century housing and meadowland, repeatedly cut through by transport links from London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to the The Midlands
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
.
History
The name Boxmoor derives from the box treeBuxus sempervirens
Buxus sempervirens is a flowering plant in the genus Buxus, native to western and southern Europe, northwest Africa, and southwest Asia, from southern England south to northern Morocco, and east through the northern Mediterranean region to Turkey. Buxus colchica of western Caucasus and B...
a bushy inhabitant of the chalky hills that surround the location. This is linked together with the word 'mor' which signifies a marshy spot; Boxmoor's ancient watermeadows are still a major feature of the locality.
The remains of a Roman villa
Roman villa
A Roman villa is a villa that was built or lived in during the Roman republic and the Roman Empire. A villa was originally a Roman country house built for the upper class...
have been found in the grounds of Boxmoor House School near the railway station dating from around the 1st or early 2nd century AD.
The Box Moor Trust
Box Moor Trust
The Box Moor Trust is a charitable trust responsible for the management of certain open lands in the parishes of Hemel Hempstead and Bovingdon, in Hertfordshire.-History:In 1574 Queen Elizabeth I gifted certain Hertfordshire lands to the Earl of Leicester...
owns meadow land in the area alongside the River Bulbourne
River Bulbourne
The River Bulbourne is a river in Hertfordshire, England. It runs from Dudswell in Northchurch, through Berkhamsted , Bourne End and Boxmoor to where it joins the River Gade at Two Waters in Apsley near Hemel Hempstead. The total length of the river is 11 Km....
. This is land purchased by tenants in secret during the sixteenth century to prevent it being enclosed and depriving them of grazing. It is still held by the same trust established at that time and is used for summer grazing and has open access for recreational use.
The ancient Box Lane runs uphill from Boxmoor to Bovingdon
Bovingdon
Bovingdon is a large village in the Chiltern Hills, in Hertfordshire, England, four miles south-west of Hemel Hempstead and it is a civil parish within the local authority area of Dacorum...
. On this lane, close to the Boxmoor end, stood the historic early seventeenth century Box Lane Chapel, see section below on places of worship.
The Sparrows Herne turnpike
Sparrows Herne turnpike
The Sparrow's Herne Turnpike road was an 18th century English turnpike road from London to Aylesbury.Its route was approximately that of the later A41 trunk road, , and much of the original route is now numbered as the A4251...
, set up in 1762 , was the stagecoach route from London to Aylesbury
Aylesbury
Aylesbury is the county town of Buckinghamshire in South East England. However the town also falls into a geographical region known as the South Midlands an area that ecompasses the north of the South East, and the southern extremities of the East Midlands...
and passed along the valley bottom through Boxmoor following the present day London Road (A4251). The Grand Junction Canal
Grand Junction Canal
The Grand Junction Canal is a canal in England from Braunston in Northamptonshire to the River Thames at Brentford, with a number of branches. The mainline was built between 1793 and 1805, to improve the route from the Midlands to London, by-passing the upper reaches of the River Thames near Oxford...
, latterly known as the Grand Union, and the trunk canal from London to the Midlands followed along the same route in 1804. A local pub, The Fishery Inn, was an historic refreshment stop on the canal.
Robert Snooks
Robert Snooks
Robert Snooks was the last man to be executed in England for highway robbery, on 11 March 1802.Born in Hungerford in Berkshire, he was christened as James Blackman Snook on 16 August 1761...
, in 1802, the last highwayman to be hung and buried at the scene of his crime robbed a post boy on the turnpike on Boxmoor meadows. His remains are interred in Boxmoor meadows near the place where he was hung and the likely spot is marked by two stones, erected by the Box Moor Trust
Box Moor Trust
The Box Moor Trust is a charitable trust responsible for the management of certain open lands in the parishes of Hemel Hempstead and Bovingdon, in Hertfordshire.-History:In 1574 Queen Elizabeth I gifted certain Hertfordshire lands to the Earl of Leicester...
in 1904.
Boxmoor village itself was developed after 1837 when the London and Birmingham Railway
London and Birmingham Railway
The London and Birmingham Railway was an early railway company in the United Kingdom from 1833 to 1846, when it became part of the London and North Western Railway ....
was forced, by local landed interests, to build its main line and station about a mile to the west of Hemel Hempstead town The station , originally called Boxmoor, offered fast commuting to London combined with a small country town life, attractive to wealthier commuters and this stimulated the development of Victorian era housing near the station but outside the original bounds of Hemel Hempstead.
In 1877 a branch line - known as the "Nicky Line
Nicky Line
The Nicky Line is the local nickname for the railway that once linked the English towns of Hemel Hempstead and Harpenden via Redbourn. It was officially known as the Harpenden and Hemel Hempstead Railway...
" - was opened by the Midland Railway
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....
running from the station, through Hemel Hempstead to Harpenden
Harpenden
Harpenden is a town in Hertfordshire, England.The town's total population is just under 30,000.-Geography and administration:There are two civil parishes: Harpenden and Harpenden Rural....
. Disputes between the railway companies however prevented this from ever being used for a passenger connecting service and the station's link to Hemel town was always via horse bus or on foot across the Boxmoor meadows. Hemel Hempstead railway station
Hemel Hempstead railway station
Hemel Hempstead railway station is on the West Coast Main Line, on the western edge of the town of Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. The station is 39 km north-west of London Euston on the West Coast Main Line...
was from 1912 known as "Boxmoor and Hemel Hempstead".
The area was absorbed into the expanded Hemel Hempstead new town
New towns in the United Kingdom
Below is a list of some of the new towns in the United Kingdom created under the various New Town Acts of the 20th century. Some earlier towns were developed as Garden Cities or overspill estates early in the twentieth century. The New Towns proper were planned to disperse population following the...
during the 1950s and 1960s but retains a local character. The station was then renamed from Boxmoor to Hemel Hempstead.
A four lane duel carriageway, the A41 trunk road
A41 road
The A41 is a formerly-major trunk road in England that links London and Birkenhead, although it has now largely been superseded by motorways. It passes through or near various towns and cities including Watford, Hemel Hempstead, Aylesbury, Solihull, Birmingham, West Bromwich, Wolverhampton,...
, was built through the district in the 1990s, connecting the M25 to Aylesbury. This crosses Boxmoor meadows in a strip of land in which all the earlier links run side by side, turnpike, canal, railway and modern trunk road.
Boxmoor Hall was built in 1889 from surplus funds by the local trust,it has been used as a magistrates court, more recently as an arts centre run by Dacorum Boriugh Council, and in 2007 the hall became privately owned as used for performing arts. Boxmoor Hall is now a licenced premises and host special occasions. www.boxmoorhall.co.uk
Economy
The area has little industry and limited commerce but its mostly Victorian family houses are in demand for those who work elsewhere in Hemel Hempstead and especially commutersCommuting
Commuting is regular travel between one's place of residence and place of work or full time study. It sometimes refers to any regular or often repeated traveling between locations when not work related.- History :...
who use the rail station to reach London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in around 30 minutes.
Religious sites
Box Lane Chapel , a non-conformist chapel founded in 1668 on land owned by the Westbrook Hay estate, was re-built in 1690 and then altered in 1856 and again in 1876. Tradition has it that Oliver CromwellOliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
once worshiped here at an earlier building on the site. It is now a private house after being sold in 1969.
St John's Church in Boxmoor was built, in 1874, on part of the Box Moor Trust
Box Moor Trust
The Box Moor Trust is a charitable trust responsible for the management of certain open lands in the parishes of Hemel Hempstead and Bovingdon, in Hertfordshire.-History:In 1574 Queen Elizabeth I gifted certain Hertfordshire lands to the Earl of Leicester...
land.
Sports
Boxmoor Cricket Club was founded in 1857 when the Box Moor TrustBox Moor Trust
The Box Moor Trust is a charitable trust responsible for the management of certain open lands in the parishes of Hemel Hempstead and Bovingdon, in Hertfordshire.-History:In 1574 Queen Elizabeth I gifted certain Hertfordshire lands to the Earl of Leicester...
let some of their land be used as a cricket pitch
Cricket pitch
In the game of cricket, the cricket pitch consists of the central strip of the cricket field between the wickets - 1 chain or 22 yards long and 10 feet wide. The surface is very flat and normally covered with extremely short grass though this grass is soon removed by wear at the ends of the...
that is known as the Boxmoor oval which had a pavilion
Pavilion (structure)
In architecture a pavilion has two main meanings.-Free-standing structure:Pavilion may refer to a free-standing structure sited a short distance from a main residence, whose architecture makes it an object of pleasure. Large or small, there is usually a connection with relaxation and pleasure in...
added in the 1930s.