In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Kings Langley like this:
KINGS-LANGLEY, a village, a parish, and a subdistrict in Hemel-Hempstead district, Herts. The village stands adjacent to the river Gade, the Grand Junction canal, and the Northwestern railway, 4½ miles NN-W of Watford; and has a station on the railway, a postoffice‡ under Watford, and fairs on 24, 25, and 26 June. ...
The parish includes also the hamlet of Chipperfield. Acres, 3, 461. Real property, £8, 252. Pop., 1, 509. Houses, 318. The property is divided among a few. The manor was given, by Edward I., to a Dominican priory here; went to the Grimstones, the Morisons, and the Earls of Essex; and belongs now to Robert Blackwell, Esq. The priory was founded, in the 13th centuryby Roger Lucey; was the burial place, in 1312, of Piers Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall; was enlarged and enriched, by Edward II., Edward III., and Edward IV., till it became the greatest house of its order in England; and was restored, as a nunnery, by Queen Mary. A royal palace was erected, on a spot near the church, by Henry III.; was the birthplace of Edmund de Langley, fifth son of Edward III.; was occupied, during one Christmas, by Edward II., -and, till the time of Queen Elizabeth, by the dowager queens; and is now represented by some crumbling remains. Tesselated tiles are frequently found in the fields. Paper making, brewing, malting, and straw-plaiting are carried on. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Rochester. Valne, £464. * Patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church is early and later English; comprises nave and chancel, with embattled tower; contains a piscina, a brass of 1528, and a restored monument of Prince Edmund de Langley; and contained temporarily the remains of Richard II. The p. curacy of Chipperfield is a separate benefice. There are an Independent chapel, a national school, an indus trial school, and charities £49.—The sub-district contains also two other parishes. Acres, £8, 318. Pop., 2, 908. Houses, 608.
Kings Langley through time
Kings Langley is now part of Dacorum district. Click here for graphs and data of how Dacorum has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Kings Langley itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Kings Langley, in Dacorum and Hertfordshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/4376
Date accessed: 16th April 2024
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