London Colney () is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For gov ...

, England. It is located to the north of London, close to Junction 22 of the

M25 motorway The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a major road encircling most of Greater London. The motorway is one of the most important roads in the UK and one of the busiest. Margaret Thatcher opened the final section in 1986, making the M25 the lon ...

. It is near

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman ...

and part of the St Albans District. At the time of the 2001 census the population of London Colney ward was 7,742, increasing to 9,507 at the 2011 Census. It is considered a satellite or dormitory village of St Albans, where some villagers travel to work and shop.

History

Colney was first recorded in the 13th century. It takes its name from the River Colne, with the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

suffix ''ēa'', meaning "river". The name London Colney, first recorded in 1555, referred to "Colney on the road to London", and distinguished the place from

Colney Street Colney Street is a hamlet in the English county of Hertfordshire. It lies on the A5183 road, this was formerly the A5 road and, before that, Roman Britain's Watling Street. In addition its northern boundary is delineated by the M25 motorway. ...

. The village was on the boundary of the 1860s London Coal Tax area; two posts still stand. London Colney was historically part of the ancient parish of St Albans St Peter. In 1894 it became part of the civil parish of St Peter Rural, which was abolished in 1947 when London Colney became a separate civil parish. London Colney Primary School was initially due to open on 4 September 1939. It was then closed on the same day, as war was declared. It opened properly a day later. In the early morning of 12 May 1941, a German spy, Karel Richter, descended by parachute near London Colney. Richter buried his equipment and hid for a couple of days. Driven out by hunger (he had mistakenly buried his food parcel as well), Richter was approached by two lorry drivers who asked him the way to London. Suspicious of Richter's non-committal reply and foreignness, the lorry drivers then approached Constable Alec Scott and mentioned the strange man. Scott found Richter who asked to be taken to a hospital as he was feeling unwell. Scott called his superiors who quickly sent a car to pick up Richter and take him to jail.

Local features

The village has several estate agents; a motorcycle showroom; a tattooist; several takeaways; hairdressers; supermarkets, one incorporating a post office; a tanning salon; and a turf accountant. There is also a retail park, Colney Fields, which contains a

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company ...

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...

's,

Next Next may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare * ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage * '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film Lit ...

, Boots,

Monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...

and

TK Maxx TK Maxx is a subsidiary of the American apparel and home goods company TJX Companies based in Framingham, Massachusetts. The stores operate throughout the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, Germany, Poland, Austria and the Netherlands, ...

. There are several doctor's practices and a library. Associated with the village there are walks, nature reserves and ponds. The Mosquito Aircraft Museum, now known as the de Havilland Aircraft Museum, established in 1959, is located at Salisbury Hall on the south side of the M25 motorway. London Colney has a great selection of open-water fishing in the River Colne and associated lakes.

Geography

The High Street crosses the River Colne (a tributary of the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

joining at

Staines-upon-Thames Staines-upon-Thames is a market town in northwest Surrey, England, around west of central London. It is in the Borough of Spelthorne, at the confluence of the River Thames and Colne. Historically part of Middlesex, the town was transferred t ...

) at the multi-arched brick-built Telfords Bridge (a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

). The original fording point can still be seen on the Western side of the bridge, with the Bull and Green Dragon pubs conveniently situated on opposite sides of the ford. Nearby flooded gravel pits form a nature reserve for wild birds. The A6 used to pass through the village. The bypass was built in 1959, to join with the A414 at the north end of the village. The A6 became the A1081 in 1986, with the M25 erasing the original South Mimms Bypass and the dualled section south of London Colney.

The Parish

London Colney Parish Council publishes a quarterly magazine, called ''The London Colney News''. The magazine has been produced continuously since 1984.

Sport and leisure

Arsenal F.C. Arsenal Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, London, England. Arsenal plays in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The club has won 13 league titles (inclu ...

has its training ground near Bell Lane, London Colney. Watford F.C. also train in London Colney on Arsenal F.C.'s old training ground, University College London Union's (UCLU) Sports Grounds, which is situated between the Arsenal Training Centre and the de Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre. London Colney has a

non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is s ...

team, London Colney F.C., who play at Cotlandswick Playing Fields.

Transport

The 84 bus route runs through London Colney towards St Albans from Barnet, and Uno bus routes 602, 636, 658 and 659 also connect the village with

, Hatfield,

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

Borehamwood Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 31,074, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly know ...

and

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...

Local residents

The actor

Philip Madoc Philip Madoc (born Philip Arvon Jones; 5 July 1934 – 5 March 2012) was a Welsh actor. He performed many stage, television, radio and film roles, and was recognised for having a "rich, sonorous voice" and often playing villains and office ...

lived in the village for a number of years. A minor scandal occurred in 2004, when local resident Jake 'the Snake' Roberts was convicted of cruelty to animals after allowing his pet snake to starve to death. The story appeared in the '' Herts Advertiser'' newspaper, and noted that the former WWE wrestler lived in Whitehorse Lane.

References

Other sources

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External links

1st London Colney Scout GroupLondon Colney Parish CouncilLondon Colney Parish Magazine
{{authority control Villages in Hertfordshire Civil parishes in Hertfordshire City of St Albans