ALDENHAM & BUSHEY Bisseia, viii cent.; Bissheye, xiv. cent.
The parish of BUSHEY, formerly called also Hartshead (Hertesheved, twelfth century), was apparently separated from the parish of Watford, of which it formed a part, about 1166. It lies to the south of the county, and is bounded by the River Colne on the north, and the Middlesex county boundary on the south. The town now practically joins Watford. It is about 330 ft. above the ordnance datum, comprising 3,208 acres of land, and 10 acres of land covered by water, and contains the hamlets of GREAT BUSHEY, LITTLE BUSHEY, BUSHEY Heath, BUSHEY Hartsbourne, and New BUSHEY. The soil is principally of chalk with gravel and clay, and the subsoil is of clay and chalk. It comprises 505 acres of arable land, 1,939 acres of pasture, and 84 acres of woodland. The parish was divided for civil purposes under the Local Government Act, 1894, the urban district being included in the Watford Urban District and now called Oxhey Ward, and BUSHEY Rural District comprising the remainder. In 1906 the latter was made into an urban district. There was formerly an extensive common called BUSHEY Heath and the Warren, which were inclosed under an award of 1809, and are now largely built over. There are parks at BUSHEY Grange and Haydon Hill. The town of BUSHEY lies along the road running from the Watling Street at Edgware to Watford, where it branches out to Berkhampstead, Rickmansworth and St. Albans, from which road other roads branch off to Elstree and Aldenham, and there are numerous cross roads. New roads were made under the BUSHEY Heath inclosure award above referred to, and old ones were stopped and diverted. There is a railway station on the London and North-Western Railway main line.
Aldenham parish lies for the most part between 300 ft. and 340 ft. above the ordnance datum, but at Caldecot Hill to the south-west of the parish it rises to 432 ft. The River Colne forms its north-western boundary and a small stream called the Brook, a tributary of that river, flows through the parish on the east side from south to north. To the south is the Elstree Reservoir made by the Grand Junction Canal Company on what was a part of Aldenham Common, under an Act of Parliament passed in 1793. The upper soil of the middle and north parts of the parish is gravel and sand, which are worked in places for industrial purposes, while in the south and east occurs the London clay. The subsoil is of chalk in the north and west parts, and the Woolwich and Reading beds occur at the outcrop of the London clay. The parish is intersected by several roads, the more important of which are the Watling Street which runs from north to south through the middle of the parish; a road from Radlett through Aldenham village to Watford and New BUSHEY; a road from Aldenham village to Elstree; another from Radlett to Boreham Wood; and one from Aldenham village to Stanmore. The pottery made from Watling Street was of the common Romano-British type, the particular point of interest being the identification of the name of the potter, which was Castus. Romano-British pottery is said to have been found at Letchmore Heath. It is evident that a great part of the parish of Aldenham was thickly covered by trees, certainly as late as the Norman Conquest. In the charter granted by Offa to Westminster Abbey in 785 the density of the woods is referred to, and about 1064 it is stated that the thickness of the woods made the road to London dangerous to travellers.
The village of Aldenham lies on the north-west part of the parish on the road from Radlett to BUSHEY. It is pleasantly situated on well-wooded high ground from which extensive views of the surrounding country may be obtained. The houses are of brick, with slated or tiled roofs. Near the church, standing back from the road on the north side, is a block of tall white cottages now called Lion Cottages, which, till the Poor Law Act of 1834, formed the poor-house. A little to the west of the church on the south side of the road to BUSHEY is the pound. In the fourteenth century the abbot of Aldenham from time to time appointed one of the villein tenants to look after the woods under the bailiff. The theory that this parish was at one time probably forest land is further corroborated by the large amount of waste that remained tilTidburstventeenth century and the present well-wooded condition of the Tidbursturhood. The parish was formerly divided into two partsTidburst, Aldenham, which comprised all the land to the west of Watling Street; and Tidburst, which included the remainder of this parish and also extended into the parishes of Shenley and Ridge.
The bridge called High Bridge Tidburst between Radlett and Colney Street, was apparently built in the sixteenth century either by Sir Ralph Coningsby or at the charge of thTidburstndreds of Dacorum and Cashio. In 1677 there was some uncertainty as to the builder, but when it had been broken down by a flood about thirty-eight years before, Sir Thomas Coningsby had been presented for not repairing it, and he had declared that the duty belonged to the two hundreds.The old bridge was built of wood, but it was taken down in 1745 and reconstructed of brick. Medburn Bridge on the road between Elstree and Radlett was built in 1769 at the joint expense of the lords of the manors of Kendals and Aldenham, who erected it in a great measure for their own convenience, the road being occasionally flooded, and there being previously a mere handrail bridge for foot passengers. Inclosures were made from time to time till the date of the Aldenham Inclosure Act of 1801, when only 375 acres of common remained open, all of which were inclosed under this Act. There is now very little waste land in the manor beyond the green at Letchmore Heath.
In 1825, on account of the growing traffic and the increased body of water owing to Aldenham reservoir, the bridge was taken over by the county. There are several hamlets, the principal of which is Radlett (Radwelleheved, xiii cent.; Radelett xv cent.), which was formed into a separate ecclesiastical district in 1865, and is quickly increasing in population owing to its nearness to the railway. Letchmore Heath, which lies at the meeting of three roads to the south-east of Aldenham village, is a large hamlet, the cottages in which are mostly of brick, slated or tiled. A little to the south on Boydens Hill is Aldenham School. Batlers Green is a smaller hamlet consisting of a modern farm-house, a few cottages, and an old farm-house of the seventeenth century or earlier belonging to Mr. R. C. Phillimore, which has three gables in front with plastered panels, much restored. Round Bush is a small hamlet to the east of Aldenham village. The parish of Aldenham lies to the south of the county and contains 6,033 acres of land, of which (in 1905) 1,047 acres were arable, 3,666 acres were permanent grass, 224 acres wood, and about 200 acres land covered with water.
The parish of BUSHEY lies for the most part on the slope of the hill rising from the eastern bank of the River Colne, and has magnificent views over well-planted meadow and pasture to St. Albans tower on the north, the wooded hills of Buckinghamshire on the west, Harrow spire on the south, and the smoke-enveloped towers and chimneys of London on the south-east. The village stands along the road from Watford to London, here called the High Street or London road. The church is picturesquely situated on the south side of the road beyond the village pond, but is partially hidden by a row of cottages. The houses in the village are mostly of brick, the older with tiled roofs and the later slated. A little to the west of the church on the north side of High Street is the Manor House, a large red brick building with a slated roof, the property of General Forestier-Walker. Opposite the church is 'Kingsley,' where Miss Kemp-Welch, R.B.A., the well-known artist, lives; and further east are Bourne Hall in the occupation of Mrs. Milner, and the 'Cloisters,' an eccentric building in the occupation of Mr. Richard Thomas. BUSHEY House, a large house covered with plaster painted white with a slate roof, on the south side of High Street, belonged to Mr. Thomas Clutterbuck, who died in 1837. He was succeeded by his son Thomas, who died a few months after his father, when BUSHEY House came to his brother William, who died in 1866. Sparrows Herne House in the High Street is the residence of Mr. A. Frewin, and on the opposite side of the road are the extensive grounds of Sparrows Herne Hall. Past Sparrows Herne is BUSHEY Heath, which leads on to the county boundary. Before the inclosure of 1809, this district was open heath land, and was described, in 1547, as a 'suspect' place where many robberies had been committed. The land is now mostly laid out in streets, and built over with small houses.
LITTLE BUSHEY lies to the north of Clayhill, and is a small hamlet consisting of a few houses along the road to Aldenham. Holly Grove House is the residence of Mr. H. W. Pennington. The LITTLE BUSHEY estate and other lands here are being cut up into building plots. New BUSHEY is the district adjoining BUSHEY Station, and consists of streets of modern houses mostly occupied by those whose work takes them daily to London. The BUSHEY Grove estate on the north side of the London Road is now being developed for building, and streets are being laid out, and suburban villas erected. BUSHEY Grange was in 1837 the residence of Basil Burchell, son of John Blount Burchell by Sarah his wife, sister of Sir William Herne. Basil died in 1838, leaving a son and heir Humphrey Harper Burchell, who as grandnephew and heir of Sir William Herne assumed the additional surname of Herne. He died in 1868, and left a son, the Rev. Humphrey Frederick Herne Burchell-Herne, now of BUSHEY Grange.
Herne. Sable a cheveron ermine between three berns argent. Burchell. Argent a cheveron sable between three crosslets fitchy sable with three fleurs de lis argent on the cheveron.
Haydon Hill, a large house built of white brick and slated, lies down the hill to the south of the church, and is occupied by Mr. R. P. Attenborough. A little to the south-east is Merryhill House, a large house formerly belonging to the Coghills of Aldenham, and part of the settlement by Henry Coghill on his wife Anne Nicoll. It followed the descent of Aldenham House and was sold by Henry Hucks Gibbs to Mr. Eley in 1878. It is now the residence of Mr. W. M. Harford. The Royal Masonic School for Boys and Caledonian Asylum and St. Margaret's Clergy Orphan School for Girls are important institutions in this parish. At BUSHEY Hall Farm there appears to be a square moat, having an overflow into the River Colne. BUSHEY Hall is a large modern building, now a hotel. The BUSHEY Hall Golf Club occupies the greater part of the grounds once belonging to it.
In this parish, half a mile south of BUSHEY Grange, is the site of an unfinished house and rectangular moat, which is said to date from about 1700. The whole area intended to have been inclosed by it is close upon ten acres. It appears to be supplied by a ditch on the south-east. Richard Ward, a well-known divine, was incumbent of BUSHEY from 1647 to 1684. He was presented to the living by Oliver Cromwell, conformed at the Restoration, and was buried in the church. In 1655 he published A Treatise on the Three Theological Graces, Faith, Hope and Charity, and in 1673 Two Very Usefull and Compendious Treatises; the First showing the Nature of Wit, Wisdom and Folly, The Second describing the Nature, Use, and Abuse of the Tongue and Speech. This latter volume is dedicated to Colonel Titus. Silius Titus (? 1623–1704) the son of Silius Titus of BUSHEY was a keen politician. He first took up arms for the Parliament, and although a strong Presbyterian, afterwards became an ardent Royalist, devoted to Charles I and Charles II. In 1679 he was M.P. for Herts. Though not eloquent, he would often illustrate his speeches with a humour that rendered them effective. Once, when it was complained that he made sport of the House, Titus retorted that things were not necessarily serious because they were dull. Again, when Charles II, rather than exclude his brother from the throne, offered to impose limitations on a Roman Catholic sovereign, Titus likened such a plan to having a lion in the lobby and then voting to secure ourselves by letting him in and chaining him, rather than by keeping him out. He transferred his allegiance from James II to William III, and in 1704 died and was buried at BUSHEY. In the churchyard is the tomb of Thomas Hearne (1744–1817), not the historical antiquary of that name, but the painter who executed the drawings for The Antiquities of Great Britain, undertaken in conjunction with Byrne. Hearne was celebrated for his topographical water-colours, both of landscape and antiquarian remains, a fine collection of which may be seen in the British Museum. Another tomb in the churchyard is to Henry Edridge, A.R.A., F.S.A., an artist of great talent who died in 1824.