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An historic walking tour of Kings Langley (or maybe more correctly a walking tour of historic Kings Langley). Last year, circa 7BC (seven months before CoVid-19), the intrepid members of the Local History group undertook a grand tour. It took in 9 farms (mainly past but a few present), common land, 12 buildings of note, 3 public houses (sadly only one visited), medieval tracks, one palace and it’s royal drive, one friary, one church, 7 schools, a mill and a royal hunting lodge. Not bad for a small village! We started where we aimed to finish, The Rose and Crown pub. An 18C coaching inn and post house, originally a small wine tavern kept by James Goodwin in 1635. We then travelled northwards along the High Street, passing three buildings of note before crossing Langley Hill, Le Corte Hill of medieval times - the “royal way to the court”, i.e. the Palace. The first building we passed was on the corner opposite the Rose and Crown. Blue Court, was built in 1830 for the Groome family, who ran the local brewery behind the house. Groomes Brewery had 32 outlets and was bought out by Benskins in 1897. Blue Court was a hotel from 1931-1966, then fell into disrepair, but was restored in 1980, and now houses the Engineering Industry Training Board. Opposite Langley Hill is the Saracens Head the oldest surviving public house in the village dating from 16C. It has Tudor and crown badges set in the ceiling of an upstairs room. It was also a coaching inn acting as a halt for the London to Birmingham stage coach. Just beyond the pub is Dronken Lane, although as far as we know this has nothing to do with drunken people. Originally, Thomas Segham, bailiff, bought access to his ‘enclosed pasture’ below Green Lane in 1389. This became Dronken Lane, a right of way that used to run beside the Saracen’s Head, but is now a few metres to the north. At number 10 Mr Beeson owned a smithy in 1880. By 1886 it was Cooks Yard where George Cook was the wheelwright. Between 1913 and 1920 it hosted a blacksmiths forge, cobblers and farriers, before becoming a garage. Our group then tackled the climb up Common Lane, past the Pound and Kings Langley Common, which used to be rough grazing land, before resting at Barnes Lane, having just passed the first of the schools on the tour. Here we could look out towards Barnes Farm and the site of the medieval Open Fields (although not visible now). Just round the bend is Kings Langley Secondary school which replaced the village school in 1987. Then another farm, Hill Farm, although much is now residential. We paused to read an information board before crossing the Chorleywood Road to see the site of the Friary, or Priory. A Friary was established here in 1308 and it became the richest Dominican Friary in England, accommodating 100 friars. Richard II was buried in the Friary Church before his body was moved to Westminster Abbey. Edmund de Langley, was also buried in the Friary in 1402, but his coffin moved to All Saints Church in 1574. All that survives is a long narrow stone building which was the locutorium, the friars parlour and conversation room, and is now a private residence. There are 14C arches in two rooms. The adjoining barn is 16C. Close by was, until recently, the Rudolph Steiner School. Many old tombstones have been used as paving adjacent to the school. The Priory school was founded here by Miss Cross in 1910 and she ran it until 1955. She began using the Waldorf principles after a visit by Rudolf Steiner in 1922. In 1949 it became the New School and later changed its name to Rudolph Steiner School. Here we are at the site of the Royal Palace. Kings Langley Palace was built about 1276 for Eleanor of Castille, wife of Edward I. It was used as the seat of Government in 1349 during the Black Death. Edmund de Langley, the first Duke of York, was born and died here. Richard II grew up as a boy here. Shakespeare’s play Richard II features the palace and gardens. After a fire in 1431 it fell into disrepair. The wine cellar was uncovered in 1970 excavations, 100ft long. At No 80 Langley Hill there are the remaining ruins of a house built by Sir Charles Morrison, of Cassiobury, who acquired the lease of the Manor of Kings Langley in 1580 and built a large “beautiful house” in the grounds of the palace. We then ventured down the original track, which ran from the Church to the Palace and Friary and on to Balls Pond Farm, before crossing the High Street to All Saints Church. Here there are many memorials worth seeing of local landowners and farmers, names like Mariott, Sprague, Carter and Cheyney. However the main attraction is the tomb of Edmund de Langley 1341-1402, and his wife Isabel of Castile which was originally in the church of the Dominican Friars at the top of Langley Hill, but was brought to the Parish Church following the deterioration of the Friary Church, since the roof lead had been stripped for use at Windsor Castle. Edmund de Langley was born at the royal palace in King's Langley in 1341. He was the fifth son of Edward III, the 1st Duke of York, and brother of The Black Prince. The top slab was part of a larger altar stone, originally 10 ft. long, but now only 7 ft, and retaining three of its five consecration crosses. The tomb has thirteen carved shields on 3 sides (painted on one side), and include those of Edmund, King Richard II, Edward the Confessor, Charles IV and Edward Prince of Wales (The Black Prince). After a well-earned rest and lunch at the Rose and Crown the revitalised group set off down Dronken Lane, from where we could see the sites of the Ovaltine Factory, Numbers Farm and the Ovaltine Egg Farm, now a green energy research site identified by a wind turbine. We turned into Green Lane the original medieval road before the High Street was built, to emerge into Mill Lane, close to the old Rectory Farm and Glebe Farm. Down Mill Lane to Mill House and the site of Tooveys Mill. At the time of the Domesday Survey there were two mills and in a survey at the time of Edward I two water-mills are mentioned, one for corn and the other for fulling cloths. Kings Langley Mill became Toovey’s Flour Mill in 1778, when Thomas Toovey married Esther, daughter of the late John Surrey who was the miller beforehand. He built a mill house next to the mill. By 1939 flour milling had ceased and the name changed to Kings Langley Mills Ltd. Animal feedstuffs were produced until it ceased trading in 1978 and all the buildings were demolished two years later. The site and remaining Mill House was converted to residential use. The mill race remains as a feature running under residences. We wandered along the Grand Union Canal, up Dronken Lane, through Green Lane to Church House and Church Cottage, which was the Vicarage between 1630 and 1663. The Cloisters stand on the site of the village school from 1838 to 1987 until the new schools in Love Lane and Common Lane were built. Nearby we visited two other schools, Alexandra Road School and the HORSA School Hut built 1949. A short walk took us back to the Rose and Crown car park to bid our farewells. Keith Reynolds, joint-leader of WPU3A Local History Group. .

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