Loudwater, Hertfordshire

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Loudwater
Hertfordshire
Location
Grid reference: TQ050965
Location: 51°39’27"N, 0°28’52"W
Data
Population: 1,242  (2001)
Post town: Rickmansworth
Postcode: WD3
Dialling code: 01923
Local Government
Council: Three Rivers
Parliamentary
constituency:
South West Hertfordshire

Loudwater is a village in western Hertfordshire. It is known as a millionaires' village, taking the form of a self-contained residential development within the wood in the valley of the River Chess full of very plush, expensive houses. There is variety amongst the roads and houses of Loudwater; many of the houses are quite individual. The position of Loudwater off any main through route gives it an exclusive air.

The village is all within the parish of Chorleywood but distinctive in its location and setting and now separated from Chorleywood by the M25 motorway (it is close by Junction 18 of the M25 though down in the valley one would hardly notice). It stands is on the banks of the River Chess just, north of Rickmansworth. Access is from the Rickmansworth Road, Chorleywood, or from Croxley Green.

The name Loudwater is an old name for the River Chess.[1] The 2001 population was 1,242,[2] with, in 2002, nearly a quarter being millionaires, the highest concentration of any community in the United Kingdom.[3]

History

Archaeological finds at Loudwater Farm of pottery, tiles and coins indicate that here was probably the site of a villa and of a water mill occupied by ancestral English settlers in the 4th and 5th centuries AD.[4]

Loudwater House in Loudwater, which had a park of 150 acres,[5] contained a pioneering central heating system in 1837.[6] It was later occupied by Joseph d'Aguilar Samuda, MP.[5] The house was converted into eleven flats in the mid-20th century.[7]

In the mid-19th century a paper mill was established in Loudwater using new technology developed by George Tidcombe.[8] The mill was still standing in 2008.[9]

The development of Loudwater Park into Loudwater as it is today is from the twentieth century.

Outside links

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References

  1. Gover, John Eric Bruce (1938). The place-names of Hertfordshire. Cambridge University Press. p. 73. OCLC 1124069. 
  2. "Usual resident population". 2001 Census, Key Statistics for HCC Settlements. Office for National Statistics. http://www.hertsdirect.org/infobase/docs/pdfstore/tabKS01sett.pdf. Retrieved 2009-03-21. 
  3. "Papers assess Blair's diplomatic tour". BBC News. 6 January 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1745246.stm. Retrieved 2009-03-21. 
  4. Baker, John T. (2007). Cultural transition in the Chilterns and Essex region, 350 AD to 650 AD. University of Hertfordshire Press. p. 56. ISBN 978-1-902806-53-2. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 Prince, Hugh (2008). Parks in Hertfordshire Since 1500. University of Hertfordshire Press. p. 201. ISBN 978-0-9542189-9-7. 
  6. Richardson, Charles James (1837). A Popular Treatise on the Warming and Ventilation of Buildings. J. Weale. p. 47. OCLC 248113895. 
  7. "Loudwater House". The Estates Gazette 161: p. 414. 1953. 
  8. "The Workshops of England". The People's Illustrated Journal: p. 14. 1 May 1852. 
  9. Tompkins, Herbert Winckworth (2008). Hertfordshire. BiblioBazaar. p. 126. ISBN 978-1-4375-3233-3.