Cow Roast
| Cow Roast | |
| Hertfordshire | |
|---|---|
 The lock at Cow Roast | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SP958103 |
| Location: | 51°46’59"N, -0°36’47"W |
| Data | |
| Dialling code: | 01442 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Dacorum |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
South West Hertfordshire |
Cow Roast is a small hamlet in Hertfordshire, standing beside the Grand Union Canal, which gave it birth. The hamlet is part of the parish of Northchurch ecclesiastically (and of Wigginton parish civilly). Cow Roast is found between Tring and Northchurch (Berkhamsted) along the A4251 and the Canal. Today it comprises a row of 20th century cottages together with one or two older properties including a public house.
The place takes its name from its public house, the Cow Roast Inn.
The hamlet of Cow Roast may be a thing of the canal age, but it is on the site of a Romano-British settlement close to the route of Akeman Street. Archeological finds suggest it was occupied as late as the 5th Century, standing in the important route through the Chiltern Hills. Subsequently it was known as a drovers' route with the area around the present day Cow Roast providing grazing.
During the construction of the nearby Grand Union Canal including a lock in 1813 a bronze helmet was discovered. The present day Cow Roast Inn was built around 1800 on the site of the previous toll gate erected when the Sparrows Herne turnpike road was improved in the 1760s.
The A41 Berkhamsted to Tring road passed by Cow Roast until the bypass was opened in 2004.[1]
Pictures
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The Grand Canal flows past Cow Roast and the A41 road
