England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Abbots Langley St Lawrence

The Parish

The parish of Abbots Langley lies in southwestern Hertfordshire not too far away from the county's border with neighbouring Buckinghamshire. Abbots Langley is located roughly 4 miles north of the market town of Watford and sits just over 2 miles east of the A41 road which links Watford with Aylesbury. Abbots Langley is a much changed area, early maps show little more than a small village lining today's High Street from just north of St Lawrence's church southwestwards for a half mile or so, that small village being surrounded on all sides by open fields. The only urban development visible at that time was the grounds of the Metropolitan District Asylum to the southeast. Today Abbots Langley has been engulfed within the expansion of Greater London and sits within the M25 orbital motorway as part of a continuous urban fringe that is contiguous through Watford and Harrow to the capital. At the time of this transcript farming still dominated the local economy, cereals were grown but more lucratively was the trade in growing food crops for the metropolis. More industrial was the extensive paper mills that exploited the clear waters of the River Gade with Dickinson's mill being a prominent local employer. Nowadays Abbots Langley sits within a web of modern developments, first to arrive was the Grand Union Canal connecting London with the industrial north and Midlands which followed the Gade valley, taking a similar route the railway line from London to Aylesbury also passes through with neighbouring King's Langley receiving the station for the pair. The modern motorways of the M1, running to Abbots Langley's east, and M25, skirting north and west, encircle the former peaceful rural village. Abbots Langley is drained southwards by the Gade which meets the Colne to the east of Rickmansworth and that in turn the Thames at Staines before that river turns water eastwards passing through the capital to the North Sea. The Gade's valley rises from the river at 65 metres above the sea to the northeastern edges of Abbots Langley at 125 metres, land continues rising only marginally northwards with nearby Bedmond having the highest spot height of 137 metres. Parishes in this area of the county are larger than is normal for southern farming parishes, Abbots Langley parish covered a little over 5,200 acres and would have supported a population of around 2,100 parishioners, it is estimated that the population today exceeds that value by more than 10-fold. In Domesday times Abbots Langley was a holding of nearby St Albans Abbey and a wealthy one even then, it could muster 19 ploughs, meadows and woodland and had a mill presumably along the Gade.

The Church

St Lawrence's church sits on the western side of High Street near the northern edges of the current urban area and less than a quarter mile south of the noise and fumes of the M25,retains some of its former peace, however. The most notable and ancient feature of the church, one that moved Pevsner to describe it as "of exceptional architectural importance", is the 12th century nave arcades in the Norman Romanesque style with round-headed arches and scalloped capitals. Slightly later is the basal stages of the squat western tower, these being of the 13th century Early English Gothic period. Traces remain too of trefoil-headed windows all that remains of a similarly 13th century clerestory which was replaced by a later Perpendicular version. The next most important architectural element dates from the early 14th century in the form of the southern chancel chapel, a sumptuous piece of Decorated styling. Many of the windows of both chancel and nave show Perpendicular styling, there was a program of replacement instigated by Abbot John de la Motte during the late 14th century. Victorian restoration came in 1866 but was light, a more extensive phase of work was carried out in 1935. Regrettably a fire in 1969 damaged the interior of the chancel but funds were forthcoming to repair the damage by 1971. The High Street has a few parking bays for the fortunate with more on-street parking in its side streets. The main entrance, at the southeastern corner, is marked by a lychgate leading into the churchyard, a few trees in the southwestern quadrant restrict views from that angle but otherwise the photographer has a relatively free hand.