Town in Hertfordshire, England
Town in England
Broxbourne
is a town in the
Borough of Broxbourne
in
Hertfordshire
, England, with a population of 15,303 at the 2011 Census.
[1]
It is located to the south of
Hoddesdon
and to the north of
Cheshunt
, 17 miles (27 km) north of
London
. The town is near the
River Lea
, which forms the boundary with
Essex
, and 5 miles (8.0 km) north of the
M25 motorway
. To the west of the town are
Broxbourne Woods
, a
national nature reserve
.
[2]
The
Prime Meridian
runs just east of Broxbourne.
Name
[
edit
]
The name is believed to derive from the Old English words
brocc
and
burna
meaning
Badger stream
.
[3]
History
[
edit
]
Broxbourne grew around inns on the
Great Cambridge Road
, now known as the A10. A number of old houses and inns dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries still line the High Street (now the A1170).
[4]
The Hertfordshire Golf and Country Club
is a 16th Century house with later alterations and additions.
The New River
The Manor of Broxbourne has an entry in the
Domesday Book
as Brochtsborne,
[5]
where
Broxbourne Mill
is listed. The manor was held in the time of
Edward the Confessor
by
Stigand
, the
Archbishop of Canterbury
, but had passed into Norman hands following the
Conquest
.
King John
granted the manor to the
Knights Hospitallers
until the
Dissolution
, when it passed to John Cock, after whose family Cock Lane is named.
[6]
The
parish church of St Augustine
was entirely rebuilt in the 15th century, although a 12th-century
Purbeck marble
font
survives. The interior has a number of monuments and
brasses
dating from the 15th to the 19th centuries. The three stage tower has a belfry with a
peal
of eight bells, three of which are dated 1615.
[7]
Broxbourne station
The
New River
which passes through the centre of the town, was constructed in the early 17th century.
Broxbourne railway station
was built in 1840. A
terra cotta
works was opened soon afterwards
[8]
by
James Pulham and Son
, who specialised in creating artificial rock garden features; some of their work survives in the gardens at
Sandringham House
and
Buckingham Palace
.
[9]
Pulham House was demolished in 1957. All that remained was one of the six brick kilns and the horse-drawn puddling wheel that ground the terracotta, which are now Grade II listed. The local council originally conserved these in 1986, and in 2016 full conservation was undertaken as part of a joint project between B3Living, Lowewood Museum and Broxbourne Borough Council, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
[10]
The area was exploited for its gravel and
sand extraction
in the twentieth century leaving numerous water-filled lakes. Several of the lakes form part of the
Lee Valley Regional Park
.
[8]
Local government
[
edit
]
St Augustine, Broxbourne with the
New River
in foreground
Broxbourne was a
civil parish
in the Ware Rural District from 1894 to 1935. In the latter year the more heavily populated eastern end of the parish, including the village of Broxbourne itself, was added to the
Hoddesdon Urban District
, while the rural western portion remained in Ware Rural District, forming part of the civil parish of
Brickendon Liberty
. In 1931 the parish had a population of 1270.
[11]
The former area of Hoddesdon Urban District merged with that of
Cheshunt Urban District
to form the Borough of
Broxbourne
in 1974, under the
Local Government Act 1972
.
The local Member of Parliament is
Charles Walker
MP, who is from the Conservative party.
Broxbourne now forms one of thirteen wards of the borough, returning three councillors.
[12]
Sport and leisure
[
edit
]
Broxbourne had a
Non-League football
club,
F.C. Broxbourne Borough
, who played at Goffs Lane, until it folded in 2020.
Media
[
edit
]
The town is within the
BBC London
and
ITV London
region. Television signals are received from the
Crystal Palace
TV transmitter
[13]
Local radio stations are
BBC Three Counties Radio
and
Heart Hertfordshire
. The town is served by the local newspaper,
Hoddesdon & Broxbourne Mercury
which is published by the
Hertfordshire Mercury
.
[14]
2012 Summer Olympics
[
edit
]
As part of the
London
2012 Summer Olympics
, Spitalbrook was chosen as the venue for
whitewater
canoe and kayak slalom events. On 8 October 2007 the
Olympic Delivery Authority
(ODA) announced that due to contamination risks at the planned Spitalbrook site, an alternative site six miles (9.7 km) south was being investigated.
[15]
Subsequently, on 16 April 2008 it was announced that the venue would be built at nearby
Waltham Cross
and situated on what was (at the time of the relevant press release) the overflow car park for the showground at the
River Lee Country Park
.
[16]
The venue was initially known as Broxbourne White Water Canoe Centre and later officially named
Lee Valley White Water Centre
.
[17]
Notable residents
[
edit
]
- Sir
Edward Thackeray
, recipient of the
Victoria Cross
[18]
- Broxbourne's Hedgegrove Farm was home to
Dina St Johnston
, who founded the UK's first independent
software house
.
- Charles Deville Wells
, known as ″
the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo
" (born in Broxbourne High Road in 1841). He was baptised by the
Rev. Francis Thackeray
, who was an uncle of the writer
William Makepeace Thackeray
and father of Sir Edward Thackeray (see above).
[19]
- Pat Jennings
,
goalkeeper
who played for
Watford
,
Tottenham Hotspur
,
Arsenal
and
Northern Ireland
.
[20]
- Ray Clemence
,
goalkeeper
who played for
Tottenham Hotspur
,
Liverpool
and
England
.
[21]
- Osvaldo Ardiles
,
Midfield
who played for
Tottenham Hotspur
and
Argentina
.
[21]
- Gillian Taylforth
, actress
- Richard Watts
, nineteenth-century printer to the
University of Cambridge
, and of non-Roman scripts.
- Elizabeth Maconchy
, composer
- Christina Chong
, actress.
[22]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Broxbourne Town population 2011
- ^
"Hertfordshire's National Nature Reserve ? GOV.UK"
.
- ^
History of Broxbourne
Archived
January 9, 2015, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"Parishes: Broxbourne with Hoddesdon ? British History Online"
.
- ^
"Broxbourne ? Open Domesday"
.
- ^
"Parishes: Broxbourne with Hoddesdon ? British History Online"
.
- ^
"Parishes: Broxbourne with Hoddesdon ? British History Online"
.
- ^
a
b
"The Industrial History of Broxbourne"
. Archived from
the original
on 7 August 2008
. Retrieved
28 August
2010
.
- ^
"James Pulham & Son - Parks and Gardens UK"
. Archived from
the original
on 11 March 2012
. Retrieved
28 August
2010
.
- ^
Rowe, Anne (2007).
Hertfordshire Garden History: A Miscellany
. University of Hertfordshire Press.
- ^
"Population statistics Broxbourne AP/CP through time"
.
A Vision of Britain through Time
. Retrieved
24 October
2022
.
- ^
Councillors (Borough of Broxbourne Online), accessed September 24, 2007
Archived
October 25, 2007, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"Full Freeview on the Crystal Palace (Greater London, England) transmitter"
.
UK Free TV
. 1 May 2004
. Retrieved
11 January
2024
.
- ^
"Hoddesdon & Broxbourne Mercury"
.
British Papers
. 25 March 2014
. Retrieved
11 January
2024
.
- ^
"London 2012 News"
. 4 August 2016. Archived from
the original
on 11 October 2007.
- ^
New Canoeing venue in Broxbourne confirmed for the London 2012 Olympic Games
Archived
2008-07-20 at the
Wayback Machine
London2012.com Press Release, 16 April 2008
- ^
"London 2012 Summer Olympics ? results & video highlights"
. 20 December 2016. Archived from
the original
on 1 January 2011.
- ^
Thackeray, Francis St. John (1907).
Fragments from the Past 1832-1907
. Chiswick Press.
- ^
"La Lanterne". 23 January 1912.
- ^
Birch, Stuart (9 April 1974). "The other goal of Pat Jennings".
Belfast Telegraph
.
- ^
a
b
Hewett, Rick (25 September 1994). "Wife flies in to join £3m soccer star but he's already playing away".
Sunday Mirror
.
- ^
Butter, Susannah (3 November 2014).
"May the force be with her: Christina Chong on why joining Star Wars has been such an incredible adventure"
.
Evening Standard
.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Broxbourne
.
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