Watford (St. Mary)

WATFORD (St. Mary), a market-town and parish, and the head of a union, in the hundred of Cashio, or liberty of St. Alban's, county of Hertford; containing, with the hamlets of Cashio, Leavesden, and Oxhey, 5989 inhabitants, of whom 3697 are in the town, 20 miles (W. S. W.) from Hertford, and 15 (N. W.) from London. This place derives its name from the Watlingstreet, which passes in the vicinity, and from a ford here over the river Colne, to which latter its origin also is attributed. It consists of one street about a mile in length, irregularly built, and is supplied with water by a forcing pump, erected by subscription. The manufacture of straw-plat, and three mills for throwing silk, employ a considerable number of persons; there are eight malt-kilns, and two extensive breweries. By means of the Grand Junction canal, which runs a mile to the westward, a communication is maintained with the metropolis and other parts. The London and Birmingham railway, also, intersects the southern part of the parish, and at a short distance from the town has a station; here the line crosses the valley of the Colne, on a viaduct 312 feet in length and 30 in breadth. The market, granted by Henry I., is held on Tuesday: the market-house is an indifferent building, supported on wooden pillars, with granaries over it. Fairs are held on the Tuesday after Whit-Tuesday, and on August 29th and 30th, for cattle and pedlery; and a statute for hiring servants in September. The powers of the county debt-court of Watford, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Watford, and part of the districts of Hendon and Hemel-Hempstead. A meeting of the magistrates takes place every Tuesday.

The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £21. 12. 1.; net income, £730; patron and impropriator, the Earl of Essex. The church, situated in the centre of the street, on the south side of the town, has two chapels annexed, with a tower; a monument has been erected in the private chapel belonging to the Capel family, in memory of the late Earl of Essex, who died in 1839. There are places of worship for Baptists, the Connexion of the Countess of Huntingdon, and Wesleyans. The free school was founded in 1708, by Elizabeth Fuller, who endowed it with a rent-charge of £52, which has been augmented by bequests, the whole producing a revenue of £178: the school-house is a handsome structure, at the south-west corner of the churchyard. A parochial free school was founded in 1641, and endowed with a rent-charge of £10, by Francis Coombe; who also left an estate, the rent of which, with the produce of bequests from others, amounting altogether to about £100 per annum, is distributed among the poor. Some almshouses for eight widows were founded by Francis, Earl of Bedford, and his countess, in 1580, and were endowed by Charles Morrison in 1583, Lady Mary Morrison in 1629, and Mary Newman in 1789, with property now yielding an income of £72. In 1824 some almshouses were erected in Lote's-lane, in lieu of a building given by Lady Dorothy Morrison, in 1614, as a free residence for a lecturer and four widows; the present income is £55. 10., and the lecturer receives about £100 a year, arising from a corn-mill given by Lady Elizabeth Russell, in 1610. The annual rent of the church lands is £151; and there are £70 per annum for apprenticing children. The poorlaw union of Watford comprises 6 parishes or places, containing a population of 18,009.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.