Langleybury

Langleybury was a country house and estate in Hertfordshire, England situated 2 miles north of the town of Watford on a low hill above the valley of the River Gade.

Owners

Raymond 1711-1756

The estate was purchased in 1711 by Robert Raymond then Solicitor General later Attorney General later Baron Raymond who was Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales from 1724 until 1732.

In 1720 he demolished the original house, of which little is known and built a mansion which still stands on the site today. A park was laid out around the house in the later eighteenth century. His cipher, a griffin in a crown, can still be seen on the building.

Filmer 1756-1838

On the death of his son, Robert Raymond, 2nd Baron Raymond, without issue in 1756 the manor was left in his will to Sir Beversham Filmer, 5th Baronet Filmer of East Sutton, Kent. [http://www.leighrayment.com/baronetage/baronetsF1.htm Leigh Rayment's Baronetage] ] He, dying unmarried in 1763, bequeathed it to his nephew, Sir John Filmer (7th Bt). It followed the descent of the family till 1838. [https://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=43287 A History of the County of Hertford: volume 2] ] The Filmers were absentee landlords.

In 1762 the road at the lower edge of the park became the Sparrows Herne turnpike, and in the 1790s the Grand Union Canal and was dug along the valley bottom alongside the road.

Fearnley Whittingstall 1838-1856

In 1838 Sir Edmund Filmer (8th Bt) sold the estate to Edmund Fearnley Whittingstall (né Fearnley), a Watford brewer. [cite book
last = Whitaker
first = Allan
title = Brewers in Hertfordshire
publisher = Univ of Hertfordshire Press
date = March 2006
pages = 224
url = http://perseus.herts.ac.uk/uhinfo/university-of-hertfordshire-press/hertfordshire-publications/forthcoming-from-hertfordshire-publications/brewers-in-hertfordshire.cfm
isbn = 9780954218973
quote = When he "(George Whittingstall)" died in 1822 he left £500,000 to a distant cousin Edmund Fearnley provided that he was prepared to change his name to Edmund Fearnley Whittingstall. This was legally recognised by 1825 and Edmund F. Whittingstall became the owner of the brewery. The brewery in question had previously been Smith's, and later became, in succession, Sedgwick's, Benskin's, Ind Coope, Allied Breweries, Carlsberg-Tetley, and now Carlsberg UK] He started a bank in partnership with William Smith which went into bankruptcy soon after Whittingstall's death, forcing the sale of the estate in 1856. [cite book
title = The Jurist
date = 1857 (for 5 Sep 1856)
pages = 388
url = http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=OVEwAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA388
quote = WILLIAM SMITH, Hemel Hempsted and Watford, Hertfordshire, banker, (trading under the style or firm of Smith & Whittingstall, and formerly carrying on trade with Edmund Fearnley Whittingstall, deceased), Sept. 25 at 11, and Oct. 24 at 12, London; Off. Ass. Cannan; Sols. Sedgwick, Watford; J. & J. H. Linklater & Co., 17, Sise-lane, Bucklersbury, —Pet. f. Aug. 26.]

Loyd Jones 1856-1947

The estate was then held by William Jones Loyd (1821-1885), a partner in the London branch of Jones Loyd & Co [Jones Loyd & Co was bought by the London & Westminster Bank in 1864, which through the intermediate steps of London County and Westminster Bank (1909), London County Westminster & Parr's Bank (1918), Westminster Bank (1923), National Westminster Bank (1970), is since 2000 part of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group] , High Sheriff of Hertfordshire in 1861 [http://www.highsheriffofhertfordshire.org.uk/history.php Herts High Shrievalty] ] and cousin to Samuel Jones-Loyd, 1st Baron Overstone. [ [http://www.cilycwm.com/ci_history.php#lloyd Cilycwm history & heritage] ] Jones Loyd built the nearby church of St Pauls in 1864. [ [http://www.stpaulslangleybury.org.uk/historical.htm St Pauls, Langleybury] ]

His son, Edward Henry Loyd was High Sheriff of Hertfordshire in 1891.During the Second World War the house was leased to the Equity and Law Insurance Company. [http://www.trmt.org.uk/langleybury/ Three Rivers Museum] ]

chool 1947-1996

In 1947 the estate was sold to Hertfordshire County Council who converted the house and grounds into a secondary school, which opened in 1949. In the 1970s a modern school building was built to the south of the mansion which remained in use as part of the school and as teacher accommodation.

The school closed in 1996 and for a time partly housed Hertfordshire County Council offices. The empty modern school became a favoured film location site, notably for the Hope and Glory TV Series of 1999. The mansion is being redeveloped into apartments.

A children’s farm is situated in the old farm attached to the mansion house.

ee also

* Abbots Langley
* Hunton Bridge

References

* [http://www.langleyburycc.co.uk/ Langleybury Cricket Club]
* Williamson , Tom & The Hertfordshire Gardens Trust "The parks and Gardens of West Hertfordshire" pub. The Hertfordshire Gardens Trust, 2000 ISBN 0-9538417-1-5
* [http://www.allhs.btinternet.co.uk/Journal_articles/Living_at_Langleybury_House_Issue_14.html I Remember Living at Langleybury House] by Jill Tidmarsh, Abbots Langley Local History Society, 2000.
* [http://www.langleyburyfarm.org/ Langleybury Childrens Farm]