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Watford

January 07, 2023

This article is about the town in Hertfordshire. For other uses, see Watford (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Walford, a fictional borough in EastEnders.

Watford (/ˈwɒtfərd/ (listen)) is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 mi (24 km) northwest of Central London, on the River Colne.

Watford
Town & borough
Watford Town Hall
Motto: 
Be Bold
Watford within Hertfordshire
Coordinates: 51°39′18″N 0°23′44.5″W / 51.65500°N 0.395694°W / 51.65500; -0.395694Coordinates: 51°39′18″N 0°23′44.5″W / 51.65500°N 0.395694°W / 51.65500; -0.395694
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
CountryEngland
RegionEast of England
CountyHertfordshire
BoroughWatford
UK Parliament constituencyWatford
Government
 • TypeDirectly elected mayor and cabinet
 • MayorPeter Taylor (Liberal Democrat)
 • MPDean Russell (Conservative)
Area
 • Borough8.301 sq mi (21.50 km2)
Elevation
233 ft (71 m)
Population
 • Borough96,800[1]
 • Ethnicity
61.9% British White
2.3% Irish White
0.1% Gypsy or Irish traveller
7.7% Other White
17.9% Asian/Asian British
5.8% Black/Black British[1]
Time zoneGMT
 • Summer (DST)UTC+1 (Summer Time (British))
Postcode area
WD
Area code01923 & 020
Websitewww.watford.gov.uk

Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and breweries. While industry has declined in Watford, its location near London and transport links has attracted several companies to site their headquarters in the town. Cassiobury Park is a public park that was once the manor estate of the Earls of Essex.

The town developed next to the River Colne on land belonging to St Albans Abbey. In the 12th century, a charter was granted allowing a market, and the building of St Mary's Church began. The town grew partly due to travellers going to Berkhamsted Castle and the royal palace at Kings Langley. A mansion was built at Cassiobury in the 16th century. This was partly rebuilt in the 17th century and another country house was built at The Grove.

The Grand Junction Canal in 1798 and the London and Birmingham Railway in 1837 resulted in Watford's rapid growth, with paper-making mills such as John Dickinson at Croxley, influencing the development of printing in the town. Two brewers, Benskins and Sedgwicks, amalgamated and flourished in the town until their closure in the late 20th century. Hertfordshire County Council designates Watford to be a major sub-regional centre. Several head offices are based in Watford. International conferences and sporting events have also taken place in Watford, including the 2006 World Golf Championship, the 2013 Bilderberg Conference and the 2019 NATO summit which all took place at The Grove.[2]

Watford became an urban district under the Local Government Act 1894 and a municipal borough by grant of a charter in 1922. The borough, which had 90,301 inhabitants at the 2011 census, is separated from Greater London to the south by Three Rivers District. Watford Borough Council is the local authority with the Mayor of Watford as its head – one of only 18 directly elected mayors in England and Wales.

History

 
The Essex Chapel in Saint Mary's Church

Early history

There is evidence of some limited prehistoric occupation around the Watford area, with a few Celtic and Roman finds, though there is no evidence of a settlement until much later.[3] Watford stands where the River Colne could be crossed on an ancient trackway from the southeast to the northwest. Watford's High Street follows the line of part of this route.[4][5] The town was located on the first dry ground above the marshy edges of the River Colne. The name Watford may have arisen from the Old English for "waet" (full of water – the area was marshy), or "wath" (hunting), and ford.[3] St Albans Abbey claimed rights to the manor of Casio (then called "Albanestou"), which included Watford, dating from a grant by King Offa in AD 793.[6]

 
Cassiobury House Estate engraving by Johannes Kip and Leonard Knyff (1707) now in the Watford Museum

The name Watford is first mentioned in an Anglo-Saxon charter of 1007, where "Watforda" is one of the places marking the boundary of "Oxanhaege". It is not mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, when this area was part of St Albans Abbey's manor of Cashio. In the 12th century the Abbey was granted a charter allowing it to hold a market here, and the building of St Mary's Church began. The settlement's location helped it to grow, since as well as trade along this north–south through route it possessed good communications into the vale of St Albans to the east and into the Chiltern Hills along the valley of the River Chess to the west. The town grew modestly, assisted by travellers passing through to Berkhamsted Castle and the royal palace at Kings Langley. A big house was built at Cassiobury in the 16th century. This was partly rebuilt in the 17th century and another substantial house was built nearby at The Grove. The houses were expanded and developed throughout the following centuries. Cassiobury became the family seat of the Earls of Essex, and The Grove the seat of the Earls of Clarendon.[3][7]

In 1762, Sparrows Herne Turnpike Road was established across the Chilterns. The toll road approximately followed the route of the original A41 road. The location of a toll house can be seen at the bottom of Chalk Hill on the Watford side of Bushey Arches; set in an old flint stone wall is a Sparrows Herne Trust plaque.[8]

In 1778, Daniel Defoe described Watford as a "genteel market town, very long, having but one street".[9]

Industrial Revolution

 
The London & Birmingham Railway, Watford (1839)

Watford remained an agricultural community with some cottage industry for many centuries. The Industrial Revolution brought the Grand Junction Canal (now Grand Union Canal) from 1798 and the London and Birmingham Railway from 1837, both located here for the same reasons the road had followed centuries before, seeking an easy gradient over the Chiltern Hills. The land-owning interests permitted the canal to follow closely by the river Gade, but the prospect of smoke-emitting steam trains drove them to ensure the railway gave a wide berth to the Cassiobury and Grove estates. Consequently, although the road and canal follow the easier valley route, the railway company was forced to build an expensive tunnel under Leavesden to the north of the town.[10]

Watford's original railway station opened in 1837 on the west side of St Albans Road, a small, single-storey red-brick building. It closed in 1858 when it was replaced by a new, larger station at Watford Junction approximately 200 metres (220 yd) further south-east. The old station house still stands today; it is a Grade-II-listed building, now in the middle of a high density housing development, it and was for many years a second-hand car dealership.[11][12] Watford Junction railway station is situated to the north east of the town centre.[13]

These developments gave the town excellent communications and stimulated its industrial growth during the 19th and 20th centuries. The Grand Union Canal, allowed coal to be brought into the district and paved the way for industrial development. The Watford Gas and Coke Company was formed in 1834 and gas works built. The canal allowed paper-making mills to be sited at Croxley. The John Dickinson and Co. mill beside the canal manufactured the Croxley brand of fine quality paper. There had been brewing in Watford from the 17th century and, by the 19th century, two industrial scale brewers Benskins and Sedgwicks were located in the town.[14] The parish church of St Mary's was extensively restored in 1871.[15] The town expanded slightly during this time. In 1851 a new street off the High Street was opened, King Street, followed by Queens Road and Clarendon Road in the early 1860s. During this time, Watford had a population of around 6,500[9] The railways also continued to expand from Watford during this period; the Watford and Rickmansworth Railway opened in 1862 as a short branch line via Watford High Street to Rickmansworth (Church Street), and another branch was added to Croxley Green in 1912. The original plan was to extend the Rickmansworth line south connecting Watford to Uxbridge; this scheme failed and both the Rickmansworth and Croxley branches closed.[16]

Watford's population had risen to 17,063 by 1891 to become very cramped. Local landowners sold land for the development of the town and it was bought up by commercial interests. Various factories and other works sprung up in Watford, mostly breweries and prints, but also engineering works, a steam laundry, a cold storage company and a cocoa processing plant. The town expanded rapidly, most of the new inhabitants moving in from London.[9]

20th century

At the start of the 20th century the town was growing fast. New roads were laid out in Callowland, North Watford, and in West Watford on farmland. Many continued to live in the cramped and unsanitary houses in the yards and alley-ways opening off the High Street.[17] Some of these people were among those who rioted in 1902 when the celebration for King Edward VII's coronation was postponed.[18] The council had a programme of slum clearance which stopped with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Building council houses resumed after the war and in the 1920s the Harebreaks estate was developed.[19]

By the 1920s, printing had become the biggest industry in Watford. The biggest printers in the town were Sun Printers Ltd and Odhams Press. Watford was the biggest printing centre in the world and many advances in printing were made in Watford. During World War II the prints were taken over by the government who used them to print propaganda. After the war, the printing industry began going into decline. Union activity was common in Watford and advances in technology meant much of the industry became obsolete. Odhams Press closed down in 1978 and The Sun moved out of Watford during the 1980s after market reforms allowed it to do so.[20]

In 1925, the Metropolitan Railway Company built a branch to Watford, opening a station close to Cassiobury Park.[21][22]

In the 1950s and 1960s, Watford was the home of the British designer furniture manufacturer Hille. At their premises on St Albans Road, designed by the modernist architect Ernő Goldfinger,[23] the designer Robin Day conceived the polypropylene stacking chair, now recognised as a classic of modern design.[24] Although Hille left the area in 1983, the listed Goldfinger building still stands on St Albans Road.[25] Mod culture found expression through clubs such as the Ace of Herts in the 1960s.[26]

The de Havilland factory at Leavesden was responsible for the manufacture of the Mosquito fighter bomber and the Halifax bomber and later became Leavesden Aerodrome, to the north of Watford. No longer operational, it was converted into Leavesden Film Studios, now famously the home of the Harry Potter films.[27]

Geography

 
St Albans Road railway station (1837)
 
Odhams Press printworks
Dome roundabout (1954)

Watford developed on the River Colne in southern Hertfordshire, England, 16 miles (26 km) northwest of central London. Ethnicity is 61.9% white British, 2.3% Irish, 0.1% Gypsy or Irish traveller, 7.7% other white, 17.9% Asian/Asian British, 5.8% black or black British.[1]

The borough had 90,301 inhabitants at the time of the 2011 census.[28] The borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the urbanised parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District. The Watford subdivision of the Greater London Urban Area, which includes much of the neighbouring districts, had a total population of 120,960 in the 2001 census.[29]

Governance

Watford has two tiers of local government, at district (borough) and county level: Watford Borough Council and Hertfordshire County Council.

Watford is one of only 15 authorities in England and Wales headed by a directly elected mayor. Dorothy Thornhill was the first directly elected mayor of Watford, elected in May 2002 and re-elected in May 2006 and May 2010. She was the first female directly elected mayor in England and the Liberal Democrats' first directly elected mayor.[30][31]

Since 1999 Watford has been divided into 12 wards.[32] Each ward has three councillors who are elected for a four-year term. Watford elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election, for the Watford constituency. Prior to the establishment of this constituency in 1885 the area was part of the three seat constituency of Hertfordshire.[33]

Town twinning

The council have made twinning links with five towns. The first was Mainz, Germany, in 1956, and the most recent is Pesaro, Italy, in 1988; the others are Nanterre,[34] Novgorod, and Wilmington, Delaware.[35] The council award an honorary status of Freedom of the Borough to certain individuals "who have in the opinion of the council, rendered eminent services to the borough"; as of 2020 there are three freemen: Elton John, and two local councillors involved in the twinning process.[36]

Administrative history

Watford
Local Board District (1850–1894)
Urban District (1894–1922)
Municipal Borough (1922–1974)
Population
 • 189116,826[37]
 • 197176,705[38]
History
 • Created15 August 1850 (Local Board District)
31 December 1894 (Urban District)
18 October 1922 (Municipal Borough)
 • Abolished31 March 1974
 • Succeeded byWatford Borough Council
 • HQWatford
Contained within
 • County CouncilHertfordshire

The ancient parish of Watford was included in the hundred of Cashio.[39] In 1835, Watford became the centre of a poor law union, and a workhouse was built in 1836–1837 at 60 Vicarage Road (then called Hagden Lane).[40]

In 1850 a local board of health was established for the town. The local board district covered part of the parish of Watford and part of the neighbouring parish of Bushey.[41] The Watford Local Board District came into effect on 15 August 1850, and the first board was elected the following month.[42]

The local board was responsible for building the town's waterworks and sewers. For a time the board held its meetings at an upper room of the waterworks on Local Board Road. In 1891 the board purchased Upton House at 14 High Street for £2,650, converting it to become their offices and meeting place, holding its first meeting in the building on 1 October 1891.[43]

Under the Local Government Act 1894, the Watford Local Board was reconstituted as Watford Urban District Council with effect from 31 December 1894. The act also stipulated that parishes could not be partly in an urban district and partly outside it. The old parish of Watford was therefore split, with the part of the parish outside the urban district becoming the parish of Watford Rural with effect from the first parish meeting on 4 December 1894. At the same time, the parish of Bushey was split, with the part within the Watford Urban District becoming a parish called Bushey Urban, which was later renamed Oxhey in 1906. Watford Urban and Bushey Urban / Oxhey were both classed as urban parishes and so did not have parish councils of their own, but were directly administered by Watford Urban District Council.[44] The two urban parishes merged in 1935 to form a single parish called Watford.[45]

Watford became a municipal borough on 18 October 1922 when it was granted a charter of incorporation.[46] The council was granted a coat of arms on 16 October 1922, two days before it became a borough.[47]

Upton House at 14 High Street continued to serve as the meeting place and offices for Watford Urban District Council and then Watford Borough Council until 1940. In 1938 work began on building Watford Town Hall at the junction of Rickmansworth Road and Hempstead Road, and the building officially opened on 5 January 1940.[48] Upton House was subsequently demolished in 1961 and Gade House built on the site.[43]

Under the Local Government Act 1972 Watford kept the same boundaries, but changed from being a municipal borough to a non-metropolitan district with borough status.[49]

Economy

 
Watford Shopping Centre entrance

Watford is a major regional centre in the northern home counties. Hertfordshire County Council designates Watford and Stevenage to be its major sub-regional centres, heading its list of preferred sites for retail development.[50]

The High Street is the main focus of activity at night having a high concentration of the town's bars, clubs and restaurants. The primary shopping area is the Harlequin Shopping Centre, a large purpose-built indoor mall with over 140 shops, restaurants and cafes built during the 1990s, opened officially in June 1992. The owners of the shopping centre, Capital Shopping Centres, changed their name to Intu, resulting in The Harlequin changing name to "intu Watford" from May 2013.[51] Carrying forward £4.5 billion of debt into 2020,[52] the company was not able to survive the retail downturn due to the COVID-19 crisis, and went into administration in June 2020.[53] The council owns part of the freehold the site, and feels that as the shopping centre is very popular (it was one of top 20 places to shop in the UK in 2019), it will remain open and viable.[54]

The town contains the head offices of a number of national companies such as J D Wetherspoon, Camelot Group, Bathstore, and Caversham Finance (BrightHouse). Watford is also the UK base of various multi-nationals including Hilton Worldwide, TotalEnergies, TK Maxx, Costco, JJ Kavanagh and Sons, Vinci and Beko. Both the 2006 World Golf Championship and the 2013 Bilderberg Conference, took place at The Grove hotel.[2] The town was home to the Scammell Lorries factory from 1922 until 1988. The site is now a residential area. Tandon Motorcycles, founded by Devdutt Tandon, were manufactured in Colne Way from 1947 until 1959.[55]

Parks

 
Daffodils in Cassiobury Park
 
Woodside Athletics Stadium
 
Cheslyn Gardens

Cassiobury Park

The name Cassiobury has had various spellings over time. It is derived from 'Caegshoe', which is believed to be the combination of 'caeg', a person's name, and 'hoe', meaning a spur of land. When the land was granted to Sir Richard Morrison in the 16th century, it was called 'Cayshobury', with 'bury' indicating a manor.[3][7]

Cassiobury Park was formed from the grounds of Cassiobury House and consists of 190 acres (0.77 km2) of open space. The house was demolished in 1927 and the Cassiobury Gates in 1970, for road widening. In July 2007, the park won a Green Flag Award, which recognises the best green spaces in the country.[56] There is a children's play area, which includes a paddling pool, play equipment, a bouncy castle, an ice cream van, a kiosk where one may buy food, and 10.25" gauge miniature railway. The Grand Union Canal passes through the park.[57] Cassiobury Park is host to the weekly 5k community event parkrun.[58]

Cheslyn House and Gardens

Awarded Green Flag status since 2009, Cheslyn has been open to the public since 1965 as a formal gardens and house.[59] The 3.5 acre gardens comprise a formal open area to the front and a semi-natural woodland area to the rear. Henry and Daisy Colbeck originally owned the house and gardens. Mr Colbeck was a renowned local architect, and designed Cheslyn House; he and his wife created the original gardens. The Colbecks travelled extensively, and this is reflected in the range of unusual and exotic plants in the gardens. Since the space has been open to the public it has been further developed, with new features added such as the pond, rock garden, large herbaceous borders and aviary.[60]

Woodside Park

Awarded Green Flag status since 2011, Woodside Playing Fields cover approximately 59 acres of playing fields, sports facilities and woodland.[61] The site comprises a range of sports facilities including an eight lane synthetic track and stadium, an indoor bowls green, a community centre, cricket squares, football pitches and Woodside Leisure Centre. Woodside Stadium is home to Watford Harriers Athletics Club and hosts national level events such as the British Milers Club Grand Prix.[62]

Heritage

There are 92 nationally listed buildings in Watford. These include St Mary's Church, which dates to the 12th century, and Holy Rood Church which dates to 1890.[12]

St Mary's is noted for its interior which was renovated in 1850 by the architect George Gilbert Scott and includes fine oak pews decorated in the Gothic Revival style. It also contains the Essex Chapel, which served at the burial place of the nobility of the Cassiobury Estate, including the Earls of Essex. The chapel contains a number of large, ornate marble tombs and memorials dating from the 16th century and later, and was described by Pevsner as "the chief glory of Watford Church".[63]

The Roman Catholic Church, Holy Rood, is a much later structure. Built in 1890 by John Francis Bentley, the architect responsible for Westminster Cathedral in London, it is noted as a particularity fine example of Gothic Revival architecture. The ornate interior contains stained glass by the designer Nathaniel Westlake.[64]

There are ten conservation areas in Watford; one Grade II Listed Park, and 240 locally listed buildings.[65]

Theatres

Watford Palace Theatre

The Watford Palace Theatre opened in 1908 and is the only producing theatre in Hertfordshire. It presents an annual traditional pantomime, world premières, dance and family shows. Situated just off the High Street, the Edwardian 600-seat theatre underwent a refurbishment in 2004. The Palace houses its own rehearsal room, wardrobe, café and bar. It also shows films and 'live' and 'as live' streams of opera and ballet during its theatre season.[66]

Pump House

The Pump House Theatre and Arts Centre is based in an old pumping station situated just off the Lower High Street. The building was converted for use as a theatre, with rehearsal rooms, and meeting place for local arts based groups. Current facilities include a 124-seat theatre, rehearsal rooms, and live music venue. Community groups currently meeting at the Pump House include Dance House (children's ballet), Pump House Clog Morris (women's Morris dancing), Pump House Jazz (jazz club), Open House (live open mic music), Woodside Morris Men (men's Morris dancing), child, youth and adult theatre groups and also the Giggle Inn comedy club.[67] In 2018, the venue hosted the inaugural Watford Short Film Festival alongside Watford Museum.[68]

Watford Colosseum

 
Watford Colosseum has been the venue for the Snooker Shoot Out since 2017

Watford Colosseum is an entertainment venue in the town. Established in 1938, as the Assembly Rooms for Watford Town Hall, the complex was extended in 2011 with improvements which included new meeting spaces, a new restaurant and new bar facilities. Performers at the venue have included the soprano Maria Callas in September 1954[69] and the tenor Luciano Pavarotti in June 1995.[70] The Colosseum has been used to record various film soundtracks and is regularly used to host concerts by the BBC Concert Orchestra, including Friday Night is Music Night.[71] It has also housed performances by performers including The Who, Robbie Williams, and Oasis.[71]

The Colosseum is also an important venue for boxing matches with heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury building on his reputation, shortly after turning professional, in 2009.[72] The venue also has seen some important and highly popular plays taking place and it regularly holds events in support of charities. The 2020 Snooker Shoot Out professional snooker tournament was held at the Colosseum between 20 and 23 February 2020.[73]

Museums

Watford Museum, housed in a former brewery building on the Lower High Street, is home to a collection of fine art and sculpture which includes works by J. M. W. Turner, Sir Joshua Reynolds, William Blake and Jacob Epstein. The museum also hold special collections related to the Cassiobury Estate, Watford Football Club, and local heritage, as well as an archive collection of documents, printed ephemera, photographs and diaries related to Watford townsfolk, local government, nobility and businesses.[74]

 
Making of Harry Potter studio tour at Leavesden

The Hertfordshire Fire Museum is dedicated to the history of firefighting in the county. It is based in a purpose-built building at Watford Fire Station, on the same street as Watford Museum. The Museum includes a wide range of vehicles, equipment, uniforms and archive material.[75]

Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden is an 80-hectare film studio complex which has been used for a wide range of Hollywood film productions. Part of the site is open to the public and houses the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter, displaying costumes and sets from the Harry Potter films which were produced at Leavesden. The studio complex is to the north of the borough, around 2.5 miles (4.0 km) from the town centre, and a special shuttle bus provides a connection from Watford Junction station to the studios.[27]

Transport

Watford is 15 miles (24 km) northwest of central London. Post World War II road-building has resulted in Watford being close to several motorway junctions on both the M1 motorway and the M25 London Orbital Motorway.[76]

Watford is served by a number of different companies, including Arriva Kent Thameside, Arriva Shires & Essex, Carousel, London Sovereign, Lucketts of Watford, Mullanys Coaches, Red Eagle Buses, Red Rose Travel, Sullivan Buses, Uno, and Vale Travel.[77] Oyster Cards are accepted on TfL routes 142 (towards Brent Cross) and 258 (towards Harrow) into London. Intalink Explorer and Hertfordshire SaverCard is accepted on all but the London Bus routes.[78]

The hourly Green Line bus route 724 connects Watford Junction station and the town centre to London Heathrow Airport on weekdays, with a service once every two hours at weekends and on bank holidays.[79] Regular bus services run between Watford and Luton, but not directly to Luton Airport. Direct train services run from Watford Junction Station to Birmingham Airport.[80]

Elstree Airfield is 3 miles (5 km) east of Watford. Several private charter companies and flying clubs are based there. Watford is the base for 2F (Watford) Squadron, Air Training Corps.[81]

 
Watford Junction, northern terminus of London Overground

Watford is served by five railway stations and a London Underground station. Watford Junction is on the West Coast Main Line with trains from London Euston to the Midlands, the northwest and Scotland. Journey time to London Euston is typically 16 minutes non-stop. The station is mainly served by frequent suburban and regional trains operated by London Northwestern which run to Tring and Milton Keynes and the cross-London Southern service to Clapham Junction via Shepherd's Bush. Two all-stations services terminate at Watford Junction: the suburban service operated by London Overground which runs to Euston; and the Abbey Line shuttle service to St Albans Abbey.[82]

The London Overground service from Watford Junction runs south via a suburban loop and stops at Watford High Street, before continuing via Bushey to London Euston.[83]

Watford tube station is the terminus of the Watford branch of London Underground's Metropolitan line. The station is located outside the centre of Watford, close to Cassiobury Park.[84]

 
Map of railways around Watford (2013)
Stations in Central Watford
Pic Station Services Notes
  Watford Junction   National Rail

  London Overground

West Coast Mainline local & regional services

Abbey Line
Cross-London service to Clapham Junction
Watford DC Line

  Watford High Street   London Overground Watford DC Line
  Watford North   National Rail Abbey Line
  Garston   National Rail Abbey Line
  Watford tube station   London Underground Metropolitan line
 
The Grand Union Canal, seen from the Metropolitan line

Watford is on the main Grand Union Canal route northwards from London. There is little commercial use, since the advent of the motorways, but the canal is used for recreational purposes. The River Gade and the River Colne flow through Watford.[85]

Watford town centre and the surrounding area is relatively compact and the terrain is generally quite flat. Over 9 miles (14 km) of new cycle routes have been developed in the town since 2003 and a range of cycle maps are available locally. In Watford cycling to work makes up 2.2% of all journeys compared with 1.6% across the whole of Hertfordshire.[86]

National Cycle Routes 6 and 61 run across the eastern and southern sides of the town, using the off-road Ebury Way and Abbey Way. There is a continuous cycle route through the north–south axis of the town centre, including the pedestrianised parts along The Parade and High Street. Cycle parking is provided at intermittent points in the town centre and at local centres in the wider town.[87]

There is an expression, North of Watford, meaning locations north of Greater London.[88] Alternatively, North of Watford Junction was used with similar meaning referring to Watford Junction railway station's position as the last urban stop on the main railway line out of Euston.[89][90][91] The phrase's original use pre-dates the M1 motorway Watford Gap services[92][93][94] but current use may refer to either Watford or the Watford Gap services.[95]

Abandoned schemes

In 2008 a proposal was made that Regional Eurostar services could run via Watford to Paris via Kensington Olympia.[96] In 1999 the Select Committee on Environment, Transport and the Regions took the view that Watford was "well placed to become an integrated transport hub" and it recommended that "services from Watford to Paris should commence as soon as possible".[97] The Regional Eurostar scheme eventually came to nothing and was put on hold indefinitely.[98]

A scheme to introduce light rail to Watford was conceived in 2009 when it was proposed that the Abbey Line should be converted to tram-train operation and run by Hertfordshire County Council.[99] The project was cancelled due to the complications and expense of transferring the line from National Rail to the county council.[100]

In 2013 the Croxley Rail Link project was approved to extend the London Underground Metropolitan line to Watford Junction by reinstating a stretch of the former Watford and Rickmansworth Railway.[101] As part of the scheme, Watford Metropolitan station would have closed to passengers and been replaced by new stations on the reopened route at Cassiobridge and Watford Vicarage Road.[102] The project did not go ahead due to funding problems.[103]

In August 2014, the transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin indicated that the government was actively evaluating the extension of Crossrail as far as Tring, with potential Crossrail stops at Wembley Central, Harrow & Wealdstone, Bushey, Watford Junction, Kings Langley, Apsley, Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted.[104][105] This proposal was subsequently shelved in August 2016 due to "poor overall value for money to the taxpayer".[106]

Education

 
Watford Free School, built 1705, closed 1882
See also: Watford Grammar School for Boys § History of the Watford Grammar Schools

The earliest records of schooling in Watford are of a schoolmaster named George Redhead in 1595, and of a Free School receiving an annual donation of £10 in 1640. The school consisted of "a room over two houses belonging to the Church Estate, nearest the churchyard."[4] In 1704, Elizabeth Fuller of Watford Place built a new Free School for forty boys and twenty girls on her land next to the churchyard, with rooms for a master and a mistress.[13] In the mid-19th century, the recorded schools in Watford were Fuller's Free School, by now in a poor state, and the separate boys and girls national schools of St Mary's in Church Street. All offered elementary education.[107]

The Free School closed in 1882, and its endowment contributed to founding the Watford Endowed Schools, which provided secondary education and charged fees.[108] After these schools, now called the Watford Grammar School for Boys and the Watford Grammar School for Girls, moved to new sites in 1907 and 1912, the building housed the Watford Central school, which taught pupils up to the age of 14. St Mary's National Schools closed in 1922, and the site is now a car park.[109][110] The London Orphan Asylum, later Reed's School, was located near Watford Junction station between 1871 and 1940.[111]

The only independent secondary school in the borough is Stanborough School, a day and boarding school operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. There are several independent schools nearby, including Purcell School, a specialist music school.[112]

All the state-funded primary schools in Watford are co-educational. Under an earlier system, schools were divided into infant schools, covering Reception and Years 1 and 2, and junior schools, covering Years 3 to 6. Most such schools have amalgamated to form Junior Mixed Infant schools or (equivalently) primary schools, and all new schools are of this type.[113]

Although all state-funded secondary schools in Hertfordshire are comprehensive, there is a great deal of differentiation in the southwestern corner of the county, centred on Watford but also including most of the Three Rivers district and Bushey in Hertsmere district. Within this area, there are:[114]

The partially selective schools and Bushey Meads School operate common admissions tests in mathematics and non-verbal reasoning each autumn. In addition to those seeking selective places, all applicants to Bushey Meads and Queens' School are required to take the tests, so they are taken by the majority of Year 6 children in the area. The partially selective schools also operate a common test and audition procedure to select children for specialist music places.[114]

Results achieved by the schools at GCSE are also widely spread, including the three highest and the two lowest scoring state schools within Hertfordshire.[117][118] The area also has by far the highest incidence in the county of children allocated to schools to which they had not applied.[119]

The Watford Campus of West Herts College is the only grade 1 further education college in the United Kingdom according to a 2011 Ofsted report. The Centre for Missional Leadership (CML) is the Watford branch of the London School of Theology, Europe's largest evangelical theological college.[120]

Sport

 
Vicarage Road, home of Watford FC in 2015

The professional football team Watford F.C. competes in the EFL Championship in the 2022–2023 season. Watford reached the 1984 and 2019 FA Cup Finals, also finishing as league Division One (now the Premier League) runners-up in 1983. They were relegated from Division One in 1988. In 1996, Watford was relegated from the new Division One (now the Football League Championship). Watford won the then Nationwide Division Two championship in 1998, then the following season (1998–99) reached the Premier League. The club was relegated the next season. After five years, Watford won the Football League Championship play-off final achieving promotion to the Premier League in 2006, this time beating Leeds United FC by three goals to nil.[121]

The club was relegated to the Football League Championship after a single season (2006–2007) in the Premier League. It was promoted to the Premier League in 2015, after finishing second in the Championship. The singer-songwriter, Sir Elton John, is a keen, long-term supporter of Watford FC and a former club chairman. He still maintains his links with Watford as Honorary Life President.[122] Between 1997 and 2013, the club shared its ground, Vicarage Road, with Saracens Rugby Football Club.[123]

Other sports teams include a non-League football team, Sun Sports FC, which plays at The Sun Postal Sports & Social Club, the Watford Cheetahs, an American football team which played home games at Fullerians RFC between 2008 and 2012, Glen Rovers, who play both hurling and Gaelic football, and Watford Town Cricket Club.[124]

Notable people

Main article: List of people from Watford

Freedom of the Borough

The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Borough of Watford.

Individuals

Military Units

References

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  123. ^ "When rugby and football collide: does groundsharing work?". Coventry Telegraph. 19 September 2014. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  124. ^ "Welcome". Watford Town Cricket Club. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
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External links

  • Watford Borough Council
  • Watford Observer newspaper
  • Watford Colosseum
  • Watford, Hertfordshire, A Vision of Britain Through Time, Department of Geography, University of Portsmouth
  • Watford Genealogy on A Guide to Old Hertfordshire
  • The Pump House Theatre and Arts Centre
  • Famous Watfordians
  • Cassiobury Park

January 07, 2023
watford, this, article, about, town, hertfordshire, other, uses, disambiguation, confused, with, walford, fictional, borough, eastenders, listen, town, borough, hertfordshire, england, northwest, central, london, river, colne, town, borough, town, hallmotto, b. This article is about the town in Hertfordshire For other uses see Watford disambiguation Not to be confused with Walford a fictional borough in EastEnders Watford ˈ w ɒ t f er d listen is a town and borough in Hertfordshire England 15 mi 24 km northwest of Central London on the River Colne WatfordTown amp boroughWatford Town HallMotto Be BoldWatford within HertfordshireCoordinates 51 39 18 N 0 23 44 5 W 51 65500 N 0 395694 W 51 65500 0 395694 Coordinates 51 39 18 N 0 23 44 5 W 51 65500 N 0 395694 W 51 65500 0 395694Sovereign stateUnited KingdomCountryEnglandRegionEast of EnglandCountyHertfordshireBoroughWatfordUK Parliament constituencyWatfordGovernment TypeDirectly elected mayor and cabinet MayorPeter Taylor Liberal Democrat MPDean Russell Conservative Area Borough8 301 sq mi 21 50 km2 Elevation233 ft 71 m Population Borough96 800 1 Ethnicity61 9 British White2 3 Irish White0 1 Gypsy or Irish traveller7 7 Other White17 9 Asian Asian British5 8 Black Black British 1 Time zoneGMT Summer DST UTC 1 Summer Time British Postcode areaWDArea code01923 amp 020Websitewww wbr watford wbr gov wbr ukInitially a small market town the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper making mills print works and breweries While industry has declined in Watford its location near London and transport links has attracted several companies to site their headquarters in the town Cassiobury Park is a public park that was once the manor estate of the Earls of Essex The town developed next to the River Colne on land belonging to St Albans Abbey In the 12th century a charter was granted allowing a market and the building of St Mary s Church began The town grew partly due to travellers going to Berkhamsted Castle and the royal palace at Kings Langley A mansion was built at Cassiobury in the 16th century This was partly rebuilt in the 17th century and another country house was built at The Grove The Grand Junction Canal in 1798 and the London and Birmingham Railway in 1837 resulted in Watford s rapid growth with paper making mills such as John Dickinson at Croxley influencing the development of printing in the town Two brewers Benskins and Sedgwicks amalgamated and flourished in the town until their closure in the late 20th century Hertfordshire County Council designates Watford to be a major sub regional centre Several head offices are based in Watford International conferences and sporting events have also taken place in Watford including the 2006 World Golf Championship the 2013 Bilderberg Conference and the 2019 NATO summit which all took place at The Grove 2 Watford became an urban district under the Local Government Act 1894 and a municipal borough by grant of a charter in 1922 The borough which had 90 301 inhabitants at the 2011 census is separated from Greater London to the south by Three Rivers District Watford Borough Council is the local authority with the Mayor of Watford as its head one of only 18 directly elected mayors in England and Wales Contents 1 History 1 1 Early history 1 2 Industrial Revolution 1 3 20th century 2 Geography 3 Governance 3 1 Town twinning 3 2 Administrative history 4 Economy 5 Parks 5 1 Cassiobury Park 5 2 Cheslyn House and Gardens 5 3 Woodside Park 6 Heritage 7 Theatres 7 1 Watford Palace Theatre 7 2 Pump House 7 3 Watford Colosseum 8 Museums 9 Transport 9 1 Abandoned schemes 10 Education 11 Sport 12 Notable people 13 Freedom of the Borough 13 1 Individuals 13 2 Military Units 14 References 15 External linksHistory Edit St Mary s Church Watford The Essex Chapel in Saint Mary s Church Early history Edit There is evidence of some limited prehistoric occupation around the Watford area with a few Celtic and Roman finds though there is no evidence of a settlement until much later 3 Watford stands where the River Colne could be crossed on an ancient trackway from the southeast to the northwest Watford s High Street follows the line of part of this route 4 5 The town was located on the first dry ground above the marshy edges of the River Colne The name Watford may have arisen from the Old English for waet full of water the area was marshy or wath hunting and ford 3 St Albans Abbey claimed rights to the manor of Casio then called Albanestou which included Watford dating from a grant by King Offa in AD 793 6 Cassiobury House Estate engraving by Johannes Kip and Leonard Knyff 1707 now in the Watford Museum The name Watford is first mentioned in an Anglo Saxon charter of 1007 where Watforda is one of the places marking the boundary of Oxanhaege It is not mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 when this area was part of St Albans Abbey s manor of Cashio In the 12th century the Abbey was granted a charter allowing it to hold a market here and the building of St Mary s Church began The settlement s location helped it to grow since as well as trade along this north south through route it possessed good communications into the vale of St Albans to the east and into the Chiltern Hills along the valley of the River Chess to the west The town grew modestly assisted by travellers passing through to Berkhamsted Castle and the royal palace at Kings Langley A big house was built at Cassiobury in the 16th century This was partly rebuilt in the 17th century and another substantial house was built nearby at The Grove The houses were expanded and developed throughout the following centuries Cassiobury became the family seat of the Earls of Essex and The Grove the seat of the Earls of Clarendon 3 7 In 1762 Sparrows Herne Turnpike Road was established across the Chilterns The toll road approximately followed the route of the original A41 road The location of a toll house can be seen at the bottom of Chalk Hill on the Watford side of Bushey Arches set in an old flint stone wall is a Sparrows Herne Trust plaque 8 In 1778 Daniel Defoe described Watford as a genteel market town very long having but one street 9 Industrial Revolution Edit The London amp Birmingham Railway Watford 1839 Watford remained an agricultural community with some cottage industry for many centuries The Industrial Revolution brought the Grand Junction Canal now Grand Union Canal from 1798 and the London and Birmingham Railway from 1837 both located here for the same reasons the road had followed centuries before seeking an easy gradient over the Chiltern Hills The land owning interests permitted the canal to follow closely by the river Gade but the prospect of smoke emitting steam trains drove them to ensure the railway gave a wide berth to the Cassiobury and Grove estates Consequently although the road and canal follow the easier valley route the railway company was forced to build an expensive tunnel under Leavesden to the north of the town 10 Watford s original railway station opened in 1837 on the west side of St Albans Road a small single storey red brick building It closed in 1858 when it was replaced by a new larger station at Watford Junction approximately 200 metres 220 yd further south east The old station house still stands today it is a Grade II listed building now in the middle of a high density housing development it and was for many years a second hand car dealership 11 12 Watford Junction railway station is situated to the north east of the town centre 13 These developments gave the town excellent communications and stimulated its industrial growth during the 19th and 20th centuries The Grand Union Canal allowed coal to be brought into the district and paved the way for industrial development The Watford Gas and Coke Company was formed in 1834 and gas works built The canal allowed paper making mills to be sited at Croxley The John Dickinson and Co mill beside the canal manufactured the Croxley brand of fine quality paper There had been brewing in Watford from the 17th century and by the 19th century two industrial scale brewers Benskins and Sedgwicks were located in the town 14 The parish church of St Mary s was extensively restored in 1871 15 The town expanded slightly during this time In 1851 a new street off the High Street was opened King Street followed by Queens Road and Clarendon Road in the early 1860s During this time Watford had a population of around 6 500 9 The railways also continued to expand from Watford during this period the Watford and Rickmansworth Railway opened in 1862 as a short branch line via Watford High Street to Rickmansworth Church Street and another branch was added to Croxley Green in 1912 The original plan was to extend the Rickmansworth line south connecting Watford to Uxbridge this scheme failed and both the Rickmansworth and Croxley branches closed 16 Watford s population had risen to 17 063 by 1891 to become very cramped Local landowners sold land for the development of the town and it was bought up by commercial interests Various factories and other works sprung up in Watford mostly breweries and prints but also engineering works a steam laundry a cold storage company and a cocoa processing plant The town expanded rapidly most of the new inhabitants moving in from London 9 20th century Edit At the start of the 20th century the town was growing fast New roads were laid out in Callowland North Watford and in West Watford on farmland Many continued to live in the cramped and unsanitary houses in the yards and alley ways opening off the High Street 17 Some of these people were among those who rioted in 1902 when the celebration for King Edward VII s coronation was postponed 18 The council had a programme of slum clearance which stopped with the outbreak of World War I in 1914 Building council houses resumed after the war and in the 1920s the Harebreaks estate was developed 19 By the 1920s printing had become the biggest industry in Watford The biggest printers in the town were Sun Printers Ltd and Odhams Press Watford was the biggest printing centre in the world and many advances in printing were made in Watford During World War II the prints were taken over by the government who used them to print propaganda After the war the printing industry began going into decline Union activity was common in Watford and advances in technology meant much of the industry became obsolete Odhams Press closed down in 1978 and The Sun moved out of Watford during the 1980s after market reforms allowed it to do so 20 In 1925 the Metropolitan Railway Company built a branch to Watford opening a station close to Cassiobury Park 21 22 In the 1950s and 1960s Watford was the home of the British designer furniture manufacturer Hille At their premises on St Albans Road designed by the modernist architect Erno Goldfinger 23 the designer Robin Day conceived the polypropylene stacking chair now recognised as a classic of modern design 24 Although Hille left the area in 1983 the listed Goldfinger building still stands on St Albans Road 25 Mod culture found expression through clubs such as the Ace of Herts in the 1960s 26 The de Havilland factory at Leavesden was responsible for the manufacture of the Mosquito fighter bomber and the Halifax bomber and later became Leavesden Aerodrome to the north of Watford No longer operational it was converted into Leavesden Film Studios now famously the home of the Harry Potter films 27 Geography Edit St Albans Road railway station 1837 Odhams Press printworksDome roundabout 1954 Watford developed on the River Colne in southern Hertfordshire England 16 miles 26 km northwest of central London Ethnicity is 61 9 white British 2 3 Irish 0 1 Gypsy or Irish traveller 7 7 other white 17 9 Asian Asian British 5 8 black or black British 1 The borough had 90 301 inhabitants at the time of the 2011 census 28 The borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the urbanised parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District The Watford subdivision of the Greater London Urban Area which includes much of the neighbouring districts had a total population of 120 960 in the 2001 census 29 Governance EditWatford has two tiers of local government at district borough and county level Watford Borough Council and Hertfordshire County Council Watford is one of only 15 authorities in England and Wales headed by a directly elected mayor Dorothy Thornhill was the first directly elected mayor of Watford elected in May 2002 and re elected in May 2006 and May 2010 She was the first female directly elected mayor in England and the Liberal Democrats first directly elected mayor 30 31 Since 1999 Watford has been divided into 12 wards 32 Each ward has three councillors who are elected for a four year term Watford elects one Member of Parliament MP by the first past the post system of election for the Watford constituency Prior to the establishment of this constituency in 1885 the area was part of the three seat constituency of Hertfordshire 33 Town twinning Edit The council have made twinning links with five towns The first was Mainz Germany in 1956 and the most recent is Pesaro Italy in 1988 the others are Nanterre 34 Novgorod and Wilmington Delaware 35 The council award an honorary status of Freedom of the Borough to certain individuals who have in the opinion of the council rendered eminent services to the borough as of 2020 there are three freemen Elton John and two local councillors involved in the twinning process 36 Administrative history Edit WatfordLocal Board District 1850 1894 Urban District 1894 1922 Municipal Borough 1922 1974 Population 189116 826 37 197176 705 38 History Created15 August 1850 Local Board District 31 December 1894 Urban District 18 October 1922 Municipal Borough Abolished31 March 1974 Succeeded byWatford Borough Council HQWatfordContained within County CouncilHertfordshireThe ancient parish of Watford was included in the hundred of Cashio 39 In 1835 Watford became the centre of a poor law union and a workhouse was built in 1836 1837 at 60 Vicarage Road then called Hagden Lane 40 In 1850 a local board of health was established for the town The local board district covered part of the parish of Watford and part of the neighbouring parish of Bushey 41 The Watford Local Board District came into effect on 15 August 1850 and the first board was elected the following month 42 The local board was responsible for building the town s waterworks and sewers For a time the board held its meetings at an upper room of the waterworks on Local Board Road In 1891 the board purchased Upton House at 14 High Street for 2 650 converting it to become their offices and meeting place holding its first meeting in the building on 1 October 1891 43 Under the Local Government Act 1894 the Watford Local Board was reconstituted as Watford Urban District Council with effect from 31 December 1894 The act also stipulated that parishes could not be partly in an urban district and partly outside it The old parish of Watford was therefore split with the part of the parish outside the urban district becoming the parish of Watford Rural with effect from the first parish meeting on 4 December 1894 At the same time the parish of Bushey was split with the part within the Watford Urban District becoming a parish called Bushey Urban which was later renamed Oxhey in 1906 Watford Urban and Bushey Urban Oxhey were both classed as urban parishes and so did not have parish councils of their own but were directly administered by Watford Urban District Council 44 The two urban parishes merged in 1935 to form a single parish called Watford 45 Watford became a municipal borough on 18 October 1922 when it was granted a charter of incorporation 46 The council was granted a coat of arms on 16 October 1922 two days before it became a borough 47 Upton House at 14 High Street continued to serve as the meeting place and offices for Watford Urban District Council and then Watford Borough Council until 1940 In 1938 work began on building Watford Town Hall at the junction of Rickmansworth Road and Hempstead Road and the building officially opened on 5 January 1940 48 Upton House was subsequently demolished in 1961 and Gade House built on the site 43 Under the Local Government Act 1972 Watford kept the same boundaries but changed from being a municipal borough to a non metropolitan district with borough status 49 Economy Edit Watford Shopping Centre entrance Watford is a major regional centre in the northern home counties Hertfordshire County Council designates Watford and Stevenage to be its major sub regional centres heading its list of preferred sites for retail development 50 The High Street is the main focus of activity at night having a high concentration of the town s bars clubs and restaurants The primary shopping area is the Harlequin Shopping Centre a large purpose built indoor mall with over 140 shops restaurants and cafes built during the 1990s opened officially in June 1992 The owners of the shopping centre Capital Shopping Centres changed their name to Intu resulting in The Harlequin changing name to intu Watford from May 2013 51 Carrying forward 4 5 billion of debt into 2020 52 the company was not able to survive the retail downturn due to the COVID 19 crisis and went into administration in June 2020 53 The council owns part of the freehold the site and feels that as the shopping centre is very popular it was one of top 20 places to shop in the UK in 2019 it will remain open and viable 54 The town contains the head offices of a number of national companies such as J D Wetherspoon Camelot Group Bathstore and Caversham Finance BrightHouse Watford is also the UK base of various multi nationals including Hilton Worldwide TotalEnergies TK Maxx Costco JJ Kavanagh and Sons Vinci and Beko Both the 2006 World Golf Championship and the 2013 Bilderberg Conference took place at The Grove hotel 2 The town was home to the Scammell Lorries factory from 1922 until 1988 The site is now a residential area Tandon Motorcycles founded by Devdutt Tandon were manufactured in Colne Way from 1947 until 1959 55 Parks Edit Daffodils in Cassiobury Park Woodside Athletics Stadium Cheslyn Gardens Cassiobury Park Edit The name Cassiobury has had various spellings over time It is derived from Caegshoe which is believed to be the combination of caeg a person s name and hoe meaning a spur of land When the land was granted to Sir Richard Morrison in the 16th century it was called Cayshobury with bury indicating a manor 3 7 Cassiobury Park was formed from the grounds of Cassiobury House and consists of 190 acres 0 77 km2 of open space The house was demolished in 1927 and the Cassiobury Gates in 1970 for road widening In July 2007 the park won a Green Flag Award which recognises the best green spaces in the country 56 There is a children s play area which includes a paddling pool play equipment a bouncy castle an ice cream van a kiosk where one may buy food and 10 25 gauge miniature railway The Grand Union Canal passes through the park 57 Cassiobury Park is host to the weekly 5k community event parkrun 58 Cheslyn House and Gardens Edit Awarded Green Flag status since 2009 Cheslyn has been open to the public since 1965 as a formal gardens and house 59 The 3 5 acre gardens comprise a formal open area to the front and a semi natural woodland area to the rear Henry and Daisy Colbeck originally owned the house and gardens Mr Colbeck was a renowned local architect and designed Cheslyn House he and his wife created the original gardens The Colbecks travelled extensively and this is reflected in the range of unusual and exotic plants in the gardens Since the space has been open to the public it has been further developed with new features added such as the pond rock garden large herbaceous borders and aviary 60 Woodside Park Edit Awarded Green Flag status since 2011 Woodside Playing Fields cover approximately 59 acres of playing fields sports facilities and woodland 61 The site comprises a range of sports facilities including an eight lane synthetic track and stadium an indoor bowls green a community centre cricket squares football pitches and Woodside Leisure Centre Woodside Stadium is home to Watford Harriers Athletics Club and hosts national level events such as the British Milers Club Grand Prix 62 Heritage EditThere are 92 nationally listed buildings in Watford These include St Mary s Church which dates to the 12th century and Holy Rood Church which dates to 1890 12 St Mary s is noted for its interior which was renovated in 1850 by the architect George Gilbert Scott and includes fine oak pews decorated in the Gothic Revival style It also contains the Essex Chapel which served at the burial place of the nobility of the Cassiobury Estate including the Earls of Essex The chapel contains a number of large ornate marble tombs and memorials dating from the 16th century and later and was described by Pevsner as the chief glory of Watford Church 63 The Roman Catholic Church Holy Rood is a much later structure Built in 1890 by John Francis Bentley the architect responsible for Westminster Cathedral in London it is noted as a particularity fine example of Gothic Revival architecture The ornate interior contains stained glass by the designer Nathaniel Westlake 64 There are ten conservation areas in Watford one Grade II Listed Park and 240 locally listed buildings 65 Theatres EditWatford Palace Theatre Edit Watford Palace Theatre The Watford Palace Theatre opened in 1908 and is the only producing theatre in Hertfordshire It presents an annual traditional pantomime world premieres dance and family shows Situated just off the High Street the Edwardian 600 seat theatre underwent a refurbishment in 2004 The Palace houses its own rehearsal room wardrobe cafe and bar It also shows films and live and as live streams of opera and ballet during its theatre season 66 Pump House Edit The Pump House Theatre and Arts Centre is based in an old pumping station situated just off the Lower High Street The building was converted for use as a theatre with rehearsal rooms and meeting place for local arts based groups Current facilities include a 124 seat theatre rehearsal rooms and live music venue Community groups currently meeting at the Pump House include Dance House children s ballet Pump House Clog Morris women s Morris dancing Pump House Jazz jazz club Open House live open mic music Woodside Morris Men men s Morris dancing child youth and adult theatre groups and also the Giggle Inn comedy club 67 In 2018 the venue hosted the inaugural Watford Short Film Festival alongside Watford Museum 68 Watford Colosseum Edit Watford Colosseum has been the venue for the Snooker Shoot Out since 2017 Watford Colosseum is an entertainment venue in the town Established in 1938 as the Assembly Rooms for Watford Town Hall the complex was extended in 2011 with improvements which included new meeting spaces a new restaurant and new bar facilities Performers at the venue have included the soprano Maria Callas in September 1954 69 and the tenor Luciano Pavarotti in June 1995 70 The Colosseum has been used to record various film soundtracks and is regularly used to host concerts by the BBC Concert Orchestra including Friday Night is Music Night 71 It has also housed performances by performers including The Who Robbie Williams and Oasis 71 The Colosseum is also an important venue for boxing matches with heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury building on his reputation shortly after turning professional in 2009 72 The venue also has seen some important and highly popular plays taking place and it regularly holds events in support of charities The 2020 Snooker Shoot Out professional snooker tournament was held at the Colosseum between 20 and 23 February 2020 73 Museums EditWatford Museum housed in a former brewery building on the Lower High Street is home to a collection of fine art and sculpture which includes works by J M W Turner Sir Joshua Reynolds William Blake and Jacob Epstein The museum also hold special collections related to the Cassiobury Estate Watford Football Club and local heritage as well as an archive collection of documents printed ephemera photographs and diaries related to Watford townsfolk local government nobility and businesses 74 Making of Harry Potter studio tour at Leavesden The Hertfordshire Fire Museum is dedicated to the history of firefighting in the county It is based in a purpose built building at Watford Fire Station on the same street as Watford Museum The Museum includes a wide range of vehicles equipment uniforms and archive material 75 Warner Bros Studios Leavesden is an 80 hectare film studio complex which has been used for a wide range of Hollywood film productions Part of the site is open to the public and houses the Warner Bros Studio Tour London The Making of Harry Potter displaying costumes and sets from the Harry Potter films which were produced at Leavesden The studio complex is to the north of the borough around 2 5 miles 4 0 km from the town centre and a special shuttle bus provides a connection from Watford Junction station to the studios 27 Transport EditWatford is 15 miles 24 km northwest of central London Post World War II road building has resulted in Watford being close to several motorway junctions on both the M1 motorway and the M25 London Orbital Motorway 76 Watford is served by a number of different companies including Arriva Kent Thameside Arriva Shires amp Essex Carousel London Sovereign Lucketts of Watford Mullanys Coaches Red Eagle Buses Red Rose Travel Sullivan Buses Uno and Vale Travel 77 Oyster Cards are accepted on TfL routes 142 towards Brent Cross and 258 towards Harrow into London Intalink Explorer and Hertfordshire SaverCard is accepted on all but the London Bus routes 78 The hourly Green Line bus route 724 connects Watford Junction station and the town centre to London Heathrow Airport on weekdays with a service once every two hours at weekends and on bank holidays 79 Regular bus services run between Watford and Luton but not directly to Luton Airport Direct train services run from Watford Junction Station to Birmingham Airport 80 Elstree Airfield is 3 miles 5 km east of Watford Several private charter companies and flying clubs are based there Watford is the base for 2F Watford Squadron Air Training Corps 81 Watford Junction northern terminus of London Overground Watford is served by five railway stations and a London Underground station Watford Junction is on the West Coast Main Line with trains from London Euston to the Midlands the northwest and Scotland Journey time to London Euston is typically 16 minutes non stop The station is mainly served by frequent suburban and regional trains operated by London Northwestern which run to Tring and Milton Keynes and the cross London Southern service to Clapham Junction via Shepherd s Bush Two all stations services terminate at Watford Junction the suburban service operated by London Overground which runs to Euston and the Abbey Line shuttle service to St Albans Abbey 82 The London Overground service from Watford Junction runs south via a suburban loop and stops at Watford High Street before continuing via Bushey to London Euston 83 Watford tube station is the terminus of the Watford branch of London Underground s Metropolitan line The station is located outside the centre of Watford close to Cassiobury Park 84 Map of railways around Watford 2013 Stations in Central Watford Pic Station Services Notes Watford Junction National Rail London Overground West Coast Mainline local amp regional servicesAbbey Line Cross London service to Clapham Junction Watford DC Line Watford High Street London Overground Watford DC Line Watford North National Rail Abbey Line Garston National Rail Abbey Line Watford tube station London Underground Metropolitan line The Grand Union Canal seen from the Metropolitan line Watford is on the main Grand Union Canal route northwards from London There is little commercial use since the advent of the motorways but the canal is used for recreational purposes The River Gade and the River Colne flow through Watford 85 Watford town centre and the surrounding area is relatively compact and the terrain is generally quite flat Over 9 miles 14 km of new cycle routes have been developed in the town since 2003 and a range of cycle maps are available locally In Watford cycling to work makes up 2 2 of all journeys compared with 1 6 across the whole of Hertfordshire 86 National Cycle Routes 6 and 61 run across the eastern and southern sides of the town using the off road Ebury Way and Abbey Way There is a continuous cycle route through the north south axis of the town centre including the pedestrianised parts along The Parade and High Street Cycle parking is provided at intermittent points in the town centre and at local centres in the wider town 87 There is an expression North of Watford meaning locations north of Greater London 88 Alternatively North of Watford Junction was used with similar meaning referring to Watford Junction railway station s position as the last urban stop on the main railway line out of Euston 89 90 91 The phrase s original use pre dates the M1 motorway Watford Gap services 92 93 94 but current use may refer to either Watford or the Watford Gap services 95 Abandoned schemes Edit In 2008 a proposal was made that Regional Eurostar services could run via Watford to Paris via Kensington Olympia 96 In 1999 the Select Committee on Environment Transport and the Regions took the view that Watford was well placed to become an integrated transport hub and it recommended that services from Watford to Paris should commence as soon as possible 97 The Regional Eurostar scheme eventually came to nothing and was put on hold indefinitely 98 A scheme to introduce light rail to Watford was conceived in 2009 when it was proposed that the Abbey Line should be converted to tram train operation and run by Hertfordshire County Council 99 The project was cancelled due to the complications and expense of transferring the line from National Rail to the county council 100 In 2013 the Croxley Rail Link project was approved to extend the London Underground Metropolitan line to Watford Junction by reinstating a stretch of the former Watford and Rickmansworth Railway 101 As part of the scheme Watford Metropolitan station would have closed to passengers and been replaced by new stations on the reopened route at Cassiobridge and Watford Vicarage Road 102 The project did not go ahead due to funding problems 103 In August 2014 the transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin indicated that the government was actively evaluating the extension of Crossrail as far as Tring with potential Crossrail stops at Wembley Central Harrow amp Wealdstone Bushey Watford Junction Kings Langley Apsley Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted 104 105 This proposal was subsequently shelved in August 2016 due to poor overall value for money to the taxpayer 106 Education Edit Watford Free School built 1705 closed 1882 See also Watford Grammar School for Boys History of the Watford Grammar Schools The earliest records of schooling in Watford are of a schoolmaster named George Redhead in 1595 and of a Free School receiving an annual donation of 10 in 1640 The school consisted of a room over two houses belonging to the Church Estate nearest the churchyard 4 In 1704 Elizabeth Fuller of Watford Place built a new Free School for forty boys and twenty girls on her land next to the churchyard with rooms for a master and a mistress 13 In the mid 19th century the recorded schools in Watford were Fuller s Free School by now in a poor state and the separate boys and girls national schools of St Mary s in Church Street All offered elementary education 107 The Free School closed in 1882 and its endowment contributed to founding the Watford Endowed Schools which provided secondary education and charged fees 108 After these schools now called the Watford Grammar School for Boys and the Watford Grammar School for Girls moved to new sites in 1907 and 1912 the building housed the Watford Central school which taught pupils up to the age of 14 St Mary s National Schools closed in 1922 and the site is now a car park 109 110 The London Orphan Asylum later Reed s School was located near Watford Junction station between 1871 and 1940 111 The only independent secondary school in the borough is Stanborough School a day and boarding school operated by the Seventh day Adventist Church There are several independent schools nearby including Purcell School a specialist music school 112 All the state funded primary schools in Watford are co educational Under an earlier system schools were divided into infant schools covering Reception and Years 1 and 2 and junior schools covering Years 3 to 6 Most such schools have amalgamated to form Junior Mixed Infant schools or equivalently primary schools and all new schools are of this type 113 Although all state funded secondary schools in Hertfordshire are comprehensive there is a great deal of differentiation in the southwestern corner of the county centred on Watford but also including most of the Three Rivers district and Bushey in Hertsmere district Within this area there are 114 partially selective schools which offer a proportion of places according to ability or aptitude and the rest to siblings or those living near the school Parmiter s School Queens School Rickmansworth School St Clement Danes School Watford Grammar School for Boys and Watford Grammar School for Girls Bushey Meads School which selects 10 for technological aptitude and uses banded admissions to ensure a comprehensive intake for the remainder non selective Roman Catholic schools whose intake is evenly spread St Joan of Arc Catholic School and St Michael s Catholic High School 115 other non selective schools whose intake is markedly affected by the above partially selective schools Future Academies Watford The Grange Academy and Westfield Academy 116 Falconer School a school for boys with emotional and behavioural difficulties The partially selective schools and Bushey Meads School operate common admissions tests in mathematics and non verbal reasoning each autumn In addition to those seeking selective places all applicants to Bushey Meads and Queens School are required to take the tests so they are taken by the majority of Year 6 children in the area The partially selective schools also operate a common test and audition procedure to select children for specialist music places 114 Results achieved by the schools at GCSE are also widely spread including the three highest and the two lowest scoring state schools within Hertfordshire 117 118 The area also has by far the highest incidence in the county of children allocated to schools to which they had not applied 119 The Watford Campus of West Herts College is the only grade 1 further education college in the United Kingdom according to a 2011 Ofsted report The Centre for Missional Leadership CML is the Watford branch of the London School of Theology Europe s largest evangelical theological college 120 Sport Edit Vicarage Road home of Watford FC in 2015 The professional football team Watford F C competes in the EFL Championship in the 2022 2023 season Watford reached the 1984 and 2019 FA Cup Finals also finishing as league Division One now the Premier League runners up in 1983 They were relegated from Division One in 1988 In 1996 Watford was relegated from the new Division One now the Football League Championship Watford won the then Nationwide Division Two championship in 1998 then the following season 1998 99 reached the Premier League The club was relegated the next season After five years Watford won the Football League Championship play off final achieving promotion to the Premier League in 2006 this time beating Leeds United FC by three goals to nil 121 The club was relegated to the Football League Championship after a single season 2006 2007 in the Premier League It was promoted to the Premier League in 2015 after finishing second in the Championship The singer songwriter Sir Elton John is a keen long term supporter of Watford FC and a former club chairman He still maintains his links with Watford as Honorary Life President 122 Between 1997 and 2013 the club shared its ground Vicarage Road with Saracens Rugby Football Club 123 Other sports teams include a non League football team Sun Sports FC which plays at The Sun Postal Sports amp Social Club the Watford Cheetahs an American football team which played home games at Fullerians RFC between 2008 and 2012 Glen Rovers who play both hurling and Gaelic football and Watford Town Cricket Club 124 Notable people EditMain article List of people from WatfordFreedom of the Borough EditThe following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Borough of Watford Individuals Edit Rt Hon Lord Clarendon KG GCMG GCVO PC DL 28 July 1924 125 Rt Hon Lord Hemingford KBE PC DL 22 March 1943 125 Sir Elton John CH Kt CBE 6 October 1977 125 Sir Raphael Tuck 15 November 1980 125 Graham Taylor OBE 25 June 2001 125 Luther Blissett DL 18 October 2021 126 127 128 Military Units Edit 1st East Anglian Regiment 1959 125 Royal Anglian Regiment 1964 125 References Edit a b c Watford Monitoring Report 2017 Watford Authority Monitoring Reports Watford Borough Council pp 21 22 Archived PDF from the original on 13 November 2018 Retrieved 3 July 2022 a b Charlie Skelton 2 June 2013 The week ahead Bilderberg 2013 comes to the Grove hotel Watford The Guardian a b c d Mary Forsyth 1 December 2008 T R Slater Nigel Goose ed A County of Small Towns The Development of Hertfordshire s Urban Landscape Univ of Hertfordshire Press ISBN 9781905313440 Retrieved 29 January 2013 a b William Page 1908 Watford A History of the County of Hertford volume 2 pp 446 451 Retrieved 27 January 2013 W R Saunders 1931 History of Watford Watford Peacock William Page 1908 The hundred of Cashio Introduction A History of the County of Hertford volume 2 pp 319 322 british history ac uk Retrieved 29 January 2013 a b William Page 1908 Watford Manors A History of the County of Hertford volume 2 Victoria County History pp 451 464 Retrieved 19 May 2008 Historic England Sparrow Herne Trust Turnpike Marker Lower High Street Watford 1250997 National Heritage List for England Retrieved 27 July 2019 a b c Watford Introduction british history ac uk Historic England The Old Station House formerly the booking office to Watford Station 1101109 National Heritage List for England Retrieved 13 July 2020 The original Watford station North Watford History Group Archived from the original on 13 April 2015 Retrieved 13 April 2015 a b Nationally Listed Buildings in Watford Watford Borough Council p 103 Archived from the original on 6 March 2012 Retrieved 13 April 2015 a b William Page ed 1908 Watford Introduction A History of the County of Hertford volume 2 Victoria County History pp 446 451 Retrieved 22 March 2008 The History of Watford Haberdashers Aske s Boys School Geography Department 4 February 2008 Archived from the original on 15 November 2010 Retrieved 11 August 2010 William Page ed 1908 Watford Churches and Charities A History of the County of Hertford volume 2 Victoria County History pp 464 469 Retrieved 19 May 2008 Oppitz Leslie 2000 3 Lord Ebury s Line Lost railways of the Chilterns Newbury Countryside Books pp 40 48 ISBN 9781853066436 Slum housing in Watford 1850s to 1930s hertsmemories org uk Coronation celebration postponed Archived from the original on 7 April 2014 Retrieved 2 April 2014 Forsyth Mary 2015 Watford A History The History Press ISBN 978 0750961592 Peter Lavin Why did Watford lose the print sunprintershistory com Wolmar Christian 2009 The Subterranean Railway How the London Underground Was Built and How it Changed the City Forever London Atlantic Books Ltd ISBN 9781848872530 Goudie F W Stuckey Douglas 1990 West of Watford L N W R L M S Metropolitan L N E R Bakerloo Watford Croxley Green Rickmansworth Bracknell Forge Books ISBN 9780904662184 History of Hille Retrieved 13 April 2015 Abrahams Charlotte 13 March 1999 The people s chair The Guardian Retrieved 13 April 2015 Hille House and Business Centre North Watford History Group Archived from the original on 4 March 2016 Retrieved 14 April 2015 Crozier David 10 September 2014 September 10 1965 Watford Observer Retrieved 24 July 2017 a b Getting Here Warner Brothers Studios Retrieved 13 July 2020 2011 Census Usual resident population and population density local authorities in the United Kingdom Accessed 8 January 2012 Census 2001 Key Statistics for urban areas in the South East Office for National Statistics Mike Wright 30 January 2012 Mayor picks up MBE Watford Observer Archived from the original on 5 November 2013 Retrieved 30 January 2013 Iain Dale 13 September 2008 The 50 most influential Liberal Democrats 41 50 The Daily Telegraph ISSN 0307 1235 OCLC 49632006 Archived from the original on 11 January 2022 Retrieved 30 January 2013 The Borough of Watford Electoral Changes Order 1998 Legislation gov uk The National Archives Retrieved 22 January 2013 Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 Schedule 7 Counties at Large Number of Members and Names and Contents of Divisions British towns twinned with French towns Archant Community Media Ltd Archived from the original on 5 July 2013 Retrieved 11 July 2013 Twinning Archived 11 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine Watford Borough Council accessed 12 October 2007 Council Watford Borough Who is the Chairman www watford gov uk Watford Urban Sanitary District A Vision of Britain through Time GB Historical GIS University of Portsmouth Retrieved 22 January 2022 Watford Urban District Municipal Borough A Vision of Britain through Time GB Historical GIS University of Portsmouth Retrieved 22 January 2022 Watford Ancient Parish Civil Parish A Vision of Britain through Time GB Historical GIS University of Portsmouth Retrieved 22 January 2022 Higginbotham Peter Watford Workhouse The Workhouse Retrieved 22 January 2022 Clark G T 1850 Report to the General Board of Health of a further inquiry held in the town of Watford in the county of Hertford London Her Majesty s Stationery Office Retrieved 18 December 2021 Simons N 1851 The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland London Eyre and Spottiswoode p 415 Retrieved 22 January 2021 An Act for confirming certain Provisional Orders of the General Board of Health 13 amp 14 Vict c 108 15 August 1850 a b Matthews Anthony 2 December 2021 How a doctor s home became Watford s first town hall Watford Observer Retrieved 23 January 2022 Local Government Act 1894 56 amp 57 Vict c 73 Watford Civil Parish A Vision of Britain through Time GB Historical GIS University of Portsmouth Retrieved 23 January 2022 The youngest borough Daily News London 19 October 1922 p 5 Retrieved 22 January 2022 East of England Civic Heraldry Retrieved 23 January 2022 Cooper John 2016 Watford History Tour Amberley Publishing ISBN 978 1445657776 The English Non Metropolitan Districts Definition Order London Her Majesty s Stationery Office 1972 Retrieved 22 January 2022 Hertfordshire an Economic Overview PDF Hertfordshire County Council November 2004 Archived from the original PDF on 27 June 2008 Retrieved 19 May 2008 intu Watford theharlequin uk com Sweney Mark 4 March 2020 Struggling shopping centre owner Intu abandons 1bn cash call The Guardian Retrieved 4 March 2020 Shopping centre giant Intu enters administration BBC News BBC 26 June 2020 Retrieved 26 June 2020 Nathan Louis 16 June 2020 What happens to intu Watford if intu goes into administration Watford Observer Wilson Steve British Motorcycles Since 1950 Volume 4 Patrick Stephens Limited 1991 ISBN 0 85059 830 3 Cassiobury Park Green Flag Awards Cassiobury Park Canal amp River Trust Retrieved 13 July 2020 Home Cassiobury parkrun Cassiobury parkrun History of Cheslyn Gardens Watford Borough Council Retrieved 13 July 2020 Cheslyn House and Gardens Green Our Herts Retrieved 13 July 2020 a guide to Watford s Parks and Open Spaces PDF Watford Council p 23 Retrieved 13 July 2020 Watford s Woodside Stadium to host British Milers Club Grand Prix tomorrow Watford Observer 23 June 2017 Retrieved 13 July 2020 Pevsner Nikolaus revised by Cherry Bridget 2002 Watford Churches The Buildings of England Hertfordshire 2nd ed New Haven Yale University Press p 385 ISBN 9780300096118 Retrieved 30 December 2014 Historic England Holy Rood Church 1101104 National Heritage List for England Retrieved 22 May 2017 Locally Listed Buildings in Watford Watford Borough Council 2010 p 245 Archived from the original on 5 March 2012 Retrieved 13 April 2015 Film Live Delayed Live Screening Events Watford Palace Theatre Retrieved 13 July 2020 The Pump House Theatre amp Arts Centre pumphouse info Watford s first ever short film festival takes place this weekend Watford Observer Maria Callas Puccini Heroines and Lyric Arias Presto Musoc Retrieved 13 July 2020 My time with Pavarotti Watford Observer 12 September 2007 Retrieved 13 July 2020 a b Watford Colosseum Refurbishment BBC News BBC 2 August 2010 Retrieved 9 February 2013 Tyson Fury Hopes Scott Belshaw Shows Up To Fight Boxing Scene 18 May 2009 Retrieved 13 July 2020 Ardalen Hermund Calendar 2019 2020 snooker org snooker org in Norwegian Archived from the original on 23 July 2019 Retrieved 1 February 2020 Watford Museum Archived from the original on 28 November 2014 Retrieved 16 November 2014 Watford Museum Telling the story of Watford past and present Fire Brigade Museum fire watfordmuseum org uk Archived from the original on 15 January 2011 Retrieved 22 May 2017 A41 M25 J20 Roads org Retrieved 13 July 2020 Routes timetables amp maps Intalink Retrieved 8 November 2021 SaverCard Hertfordshire County Council Retrieved 13 July 2020 Harlow to London Heathrow Airport Arriva Retrieved 12 July 2019 Trains from Watford Junction to Birmingham International Trainline Retrieved 13 July 2020 WElcome 2F Watford Squadron Air Training Corps Retrieved 13 July 2020 Abbey Line London Northwestern Railway Retrieved 13 July 2020 Watford High Street Rail Station London Overground Retrieved 13 July 2020 Watford Underground Station Transport for London Retrieved 13 July 2020 Plans to renovate the Watford section of the River Colne are unveiled Watford Borough Council Retrieved 13 July 2020 Annual Monitoring Report Archived from the original on 18 October 2015 Retrieved 22 August 2015 Cycling in Watford What s on in Watford Retrieved 13 July 2020 North of Watford Longman Dictionary Birmingham Daily Post 8 May 1967 Birmingham Daily Post 29 December 1970 Liverpool Echo 1 January 1972 Manchester Evening News 23 May 1949 Staffordshire Sentinel 7 November 1950 Birmingham Daily Gazette 4 February 1953 Brandon Robshaw North of Watford Gap 2017 https brandonrobshaw wordpress com 2017 08 07 north of watford gap Talks held at Parliament Regarding Regional Eurostar www publications parliament uk Retrieved 21 September 2008 Regional Eurostar services The Government s Response to the Memorandum of Inquiry by the Select Committee on Environment Transport and the Regions Department for Transport 30 January 2006 Archived from the original on 17 July 2007 Retrieved 21 September 2008 Regions cheated over Eurostar BBC 27 January 1999 Retrieved 21 September 2008 Lewis Alex 30 October 2009 Tram service promised for St Albans to Watford Abbey Flyer rail link Watford Observer Watford Newsquest Retrieved 20 August 2013 Abbey Line Light Rail Proposals Hertfordshire County Council Archived from the original on 25 October 2013 Retrieved 20 August 2013 Watford Tube extension approved BBC News 24 July 2013 Retrieved 7 November 2018 Croxley Rail Link Transport for London Archived from the original on 25 March 2013 Retrieved 8 August 2013 Watford Tube extension in doubt MP says BBC News 2018 Retrieved 7 November 2018 Crossrail extension to Hertfordshire being considered BBC News 7 August 2014 Retrieved 7 August 2014 Topham Gwyn 7 August 2014 New Crossrail route mooted from Hertfordshire into London The Guardian Retrieved 12 August 2014 Crossrail off the tracks as plans are shelved Hemel Today Johnston Publishing 5 August 2016 Retrieved 6 August 2016 Forsyth Mary 2015 Watford A History The History Press ISBN 978 0750961592 W R Carter 1894 Mrs Fuller s Free School Watford Endowed Schools Journal 3 R E Slinn 1957 A History of Elementary Education in Watford 1704 1903 University of London Institute of Education J B and L V Nunn 2003 The Book of Watford A portrait of our town 2nd ed Queen and Duke of Edinburgh to visit Reed s School today Surrey Comet Archived from the original on 6 March 2014 Murray Nigel and Cox Neil Cox Neil April 1994 States of Independence The Musical Times Musical Times Publications Ltd 135 1814 247 248 doi 10 2307 1002780 JSTOR 1002780 Best Primary Schools in Watford East of England Retrieved 13 July 2020 a b Moving On Applying for a Secondary or Upper School place Archived 16 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine Hertfordshire County Council 2007 Ofsted reports for these schools describe their intake Ofsted reports for these schools discuss the effect on their intake Hertfordshire GCSE and equivalent results Archived 13 September 2010 at the UK Government Web Archive Secondary School achievement and attainment tables 2007 Department for Children Schools and Families Secondary schools in Hertfordshire GCSE level BBC News 10 January 2008 Retrieved 3 June 2008 Admissions Update 2007 Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine Agenda Item No 4 Hertfordshire County Council Admissions Forum 14 June 2007 Journal LST Insight Autumn 2009 p 2 Leeds 0 3 Watford BBC News 21 May 2006 They Shaped the Club Archived 3 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine Watford F C History 3 February 2008 When rugby and football collide does groundsharing work Coventry Telegraph 19 September 2014 Retrieved 13 July 2020 Welcome Watford Town Cricket Club Retrieved 13 July 2020 a b c d e f g Council Watford Borough Who is the Chairman Government of the United Kingdom Watford legend Luther Blissett made Freeman of the borough Watford Observer Luther Blissett Ex Watford striker given freedom of the town BBC News 11 March 2021 Luther Blissett a worthy recipient of the Freedom of Watford The Watford Observer 23 October 2021 Retrieved 24 October 2021 External links EditWatford at Wikipedia s sister projects Definitions from Wiktionary Media from Commons News from Wikinews Quotations from Wikiquote Texts from Wikisource Textbooks from Wikibooks Travel information from Wikivoyage Resources from Wikiversity Watford Borough Council Watford Observer newspaper Watford Colosseum Watford Palace Theatre Watford Museum Watford Hertfordshire A Vision of Britain Through Time Department of Geography University of Portsmouth Watford Genealogy on A Guide to Old Hertfordshire The Pump House Theatre and Arts Centre Famous Watfordians Cassiobury Park Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Watford amp oldid 1131727742, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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