Friday 26 December 2008
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.
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 Cromwell once worshiped here at an earlier building on the site. It is now a private house after being sold in 1969.
The Sparrows Herne turnpike, set up in 1762 , was the stagecoach route from London to Aylesbury and passed along the valley bottom through Boxmoor. This was followed by the Grand Junction Canal, laterly known as the Grand Union, and the trunk canal from London to the Midlands in 1795. A local pub, The Fisheries, was an historic refreshment stop on the canal.
Robert Snooks, in 1802, the last highwayman to be hung at the scene of his crime, lies buried beneath a meadow here, the spot of his execution is marked by a stone.
Boxmoor was developed in the mid nineteenth century when the London and Birmingham Railway was forced, by local landed interests, to build its main line and station to the west of Hemel Hempstead in 1837. Boxmoor offered fast commuting to London combined with a small country town life, attractive to wealthier commuters. The nearby Hemel Hempstead railway station was formerly known as "Boxmoor and Hemel Hempstead", with a branch line - known as the "Nicky Line" - running through Hemel Hempstead to Harpenden. Disputes between the railway companies prevented this from ever being used as a connecting service.
St John's Church in Boxmoor was built, in 1874, on part of the Boxmoor trust land.
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 1960s, coonecting the M25 to Aylesbury.
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 commuters who use the rail station to reach London in around 30–40 minutes.
The remains of a Roman villa have been discovered under the station car park.
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 Cromwell once worshiped here at an earlier building on the site. It is now a private house after being sold in 1969.
The Sparrows Herne turnpike, set up in 1762 , was the stagecoach route from London to Aylesbury and passed along the valley bottom through Boxmoor. This was followed by the Grand Junction Canal, laterly known as the Grand Union, and the trunk canal from London to the Midlands in 1795. A local pub, The Fisheries, was an historic refreshment stop on the canal.
Robert Snooks, in 1802, the last highwayman to be hung at the scene of his crime, lies buried beneath a meadow here, the spot of his execution is marked by a stone.
Boxmoor was developed in the mid nineteenth century when the London and Birmingham Railway was forced, by local landed interests, to build its main line and station to the west of Hemel Hempstead in 1837. Boxmoor offered fast commuting to London combined with a small country town life, attractive to wealthier commuters. The nearby Hemel Hempstead railway station was formerly known as "Boxmoor and Hemel Hempstead", with a branch line - known as the "Nicky Line" - running through Hemel Hempstead to Harpenden. Disputes between the railway companies prevented this from ever being used as a connecting service.
St John's Church in Boxmoor was built, in 1874, on part of the Boxmoor trust land.
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 1960s, coonecting the M25 to Aylesbury.
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 commuters who use the rail station to reach London in around 30–40 minutes.
The remains of a Roman villa have been discovered under the station car park.
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