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The Box Moor Trust is a charitable trust responsible for the management of nearly 500 acres of land within the parishes of
Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England. It is located north-west of London; nearby towns and cities include Watford, St Albans and Berkhamsted. The population at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 cens ...
and
Bovingdon Bovingdon is a village in Hertfordshire, England, south-west of Hemel Hempstead, and a civil parishes in England, civil parish within the local authority area of Dacorum. Situated close to the Buckinghamshire border, it forms the largest part ...
, in
Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. The trust was officially founded in 1594 in order to ensure that the land in the Boxmoor area remained free for residents to use and enjoy. As a result, almost all of the land that comprises the Box Moor Trust estate is open access, with just over a quarter being
common land Common land is collective land (sometimes only open to those whose nation governs the land) in which all persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...
.


History

In 1574
Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...
gifted certain Hertfordshire lands to
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester (24 June 1532 – 4 September 1588) was an English statesman and the favourite of Elizabeth I from her accession until his death. He was a suitor for the queen's hand for many years. Dudley's youth was ove ...
, some of the grounds in question had once formed the estate of the Monastery of Ashridge. Robert Dudley did not keep hold of the lands for very long as, on 11 May 1574 he sold them to
Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford ( – 28 July 1585) of Chenies in Buckinghamshire and of Bedford House in Exeter, Devon, was an English nobleman, soldier, and politician. He was a godfather to the Devon-born sailor Sir Francis Drake. He ...
and Peter Graye of Segenhoe, Bedfordshire. Peter Graye subsequently acquired both shares of the property, and passed them down to his son, Richard Grey. It was from Richard Grey that
yeomen Yeoman is a noun originally referring either to one who owns and cultivates land or to the middle ranks of servants in an English royal or noble household. The term was first documented in mid-14th-century England. The 14th century witnessed ...
John Rolfe and William Gladman, as well as landlord and shoemaker Richard Pope acquired the lands for £75 on 26 May 1581. They had feared the
common land Common land is collective land (sometimes only open to those whose nation governs the land) in which all persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...
would be enclosed and townspeople would be denied grazing rights: the price had been raised by secret public subscription. In 1594, ownership of the pastures was transferred to 67 local inhabitants ( feoffes), "''whereby their heirs and assigns might and should for ever thereafter have, hold and enjoy the said meadows and all the commodities that might or should arise thereof''". The trust, a legal entity formed in 1594, has survived over 400 years up to the present day. Twelve of the 67 feoffes were appointed as trustees with the powers to make
orders Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * H ...
and bye-laws that they deemed necessary. New trustee appointments were made in 1659, 1711, 1757 and 1787. The
highwayman A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually travelled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to foo ...
Robert Snooks was
hanged Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...
and buried at the scene of his crime on Boxmoor for the robbery of a postboy on the
Sparrows Herne Turnpike Sparrows Herne Turnpike Road from London to Aylesbury was an 18th-century English toll road passing through Watford and Hemel Hempstead. The route was approximately that of the original A41 road; the Edgware Road, through Watford, Kings Langle ...
which crossed the trust land. Snooks was the last man to be
executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...
in England for
highway robbery A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually travelled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to foo ...
on 11 March 1802. The trustees placed a grave marker in 1904 at the approximate spot, and a subsequent footstone was added in 1994, as part of the trust's 400th anniversary. The field in which the stones lay is, suitably, named Snook's Moor. St John's Church was built in 1874, on land the trust had provided in 1829.


Governance

The trust is an independent charity rather than a government institution. Originally founded and overseen by
feoffee Under the feudal system in England, a feoffee () is a trustee who holds a fief (or "fee"), that is to say an estate in land, for the use of a beneficial owner. The term is more fully stated as a feoffee to uses of the beneficial owner. The use ...
s, the Box Moor Trust was formally established by the ( 49 Geo. 3. c. clxix), sometimes known as the Boxmoor Inclosure Act 1809. As a result, the trust is governed by a twelve-strong board of
trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, refers to anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the ...
s, all of whom are elected by the beneficiaries of the trust; in this case, those residents of Hemel Hempstead and Bovingdon who are listed on the
electoral roll An electoral roll (variously called an electoral register, voters roll, voters list, poll book or other description) is a compilation that lists persons who are entitled to vote for particular elections in a particular jurisdiction. The list is ...
. The trustees hold and operate the grazing land on behalf of the beneficiaries, it having been legally transferred to them by the remaining inheritors of the original feoffees. The Boxmoor Act 1809 was subsequently updated by
Charity Commission The Charity Commission for England and Wales is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's Government that regulates registered charities in England and Wales and maintains the Central Register of Charities. Its counterparts in Scotland and ...
schemes of 1921, 1930, 1935, 1951, 1952, 1956, 1956, 1962, 1967, 1970, 1979 and 1985; the latest of which is ( SI 2000/844), and, aside from when Charity Commissioners' approval is needed for major expenditure, the trust is independent of other authorities and does not answer to local or central government.


Land changes

There have been changes to the land that makes up the Box Moor Trust estate over time. Although a rare occurrence, parcels of the trust estate have, over the years, been sold or compulsorily purchased, usually for a transport scheme. The first instance was in 1797 when parcels of land were sold to the Grand Junction Canal Company, in order for the construction of the
Grand Junction Canal The Grand Junction Canal is a canal in England from Braunston in Northamptonshire to the River Thames at Brentford, with a number of branches. The mainline was built between 1793 and 1805, to improve the route from the English Midlands, Midlan ...
to go ahead.Joan and Roger Hands (2004)
''Royalty to Commoners - Four Hundred years of the Box Moor Trust''
page 25. pub. Alpine Press. Kings Langely.
The money received enabled to the trust to construct a wharf. Boxmoor Wharf played a key part in the continued existence of the trust due to the fact that it quickly became the transport hub of the town. Initially the main coal wharf for the town, it quickly became associated with spirits and wine, in particular
port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...
and
sloe gin Sloe gin is a British red liqueur made with gin and Prunus spinosa, blackthorn fruits (sloes), which are the drupe fruit of the ''Prunus spinosa'' tree, which is a relative of the plum. As an alcoholic drink, sloe gin contains between 15 per c ...
. The wharf was then operated for nearly 40 years by L. Rose and Co who were one of the last companies to use the canals for carrying cargo, which, in this case, was mainly Lime Juice. The site is still named Boxmoor Wharf and currently leased to DIY retailer B&Q. The construction of the
London and Birmingham Railway The London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom, in operation from 1833 to 1846, when it became part of the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR). The railway line which the company opened in 1838, betw ...
was another instance in which a corridor of land was purchase from the trust, with the price being £85 per acre (and not the £130 per acre that the trustees had requested). The money raised from the construction of the railway was used to purchase the plot of land now known as Blackbirds Moor. A second railway line, the Hemel Hempstead to Harpenden Railway, was built on a parcel of trust land, for which the trust received £2,000 in 1870. Most recently, the construction of the A41 Bypass resulted in an exchange of land, with the trust receiving parcels of land now known as Gee's Meadow (which is located behind the Herdsman's Cottage), and Further Roughdown.


Additions

There have also been additions to the Box Moor Trust estate, the most recent and notable of which are listed below. As part of the trust's 400th anniversary celebrations, 167 acres of land at Westbrook Hay was purchased. This site borders the grounds of Westbrook Hay School and was formerly part of the Ryder family estate as well as being the site of the Westbrook Hay Hill Climb. The purchase of this site brought the total acreage of the trust to approximately 400 acres. The Old Barn is a part of the Westbrook Hay site, and is used as the base for the trust's education programmes. Originally built in , the Old Barn was renovated to its current state in November 2000. Not long after, in January 2000, the trust added a further 36 acres with the acquisition of the former Bovingdon Brickworks site, making this the first area of the Estate to reside solely in Bovingdon. This former clay quarry has its own team of dedicated volunteers and is grazed by sheep as an organic management tool. Pixie's Mere, a 4-acre fishing lake was acquired by the trust in 2003 and is operated under licence by a bailiff. The lake operates as a mixed fishery, and features
Bream Bream (, ) are species of freshwater fish belonging to a variety of genera including '' Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), '' Ballerus'', '' Blicca'', '' Brama'', '' Chilotilapia'', '' Etelis'', '' Lepomis'', '' Gymnocranius'', ...
,
Carp The term carp (: carp) is a generic common name for numerous species of freshwater fish from the family (biology), family Cyprinidae, a very large clade of ray-finned fish mostly native to Eurasia. While carp are prized game fish, quarries and a ...
and
Tench The tench or doctor fish (''Tinca tinca'') is a freshwater, fresh- and brackish water, brackish-water fish of the order Cypriniformes found throughout Eurasia from Western Europe including Great Britain, Britain and Ireland east into Asia as far ...
amongst others. Gadespring is the Box Moor Trust's newest acquisition. Purchased in 2011 it is the site of a former
Watercress Watercress or yellowcress (''Nasturtium officinale'') is a species of aquatic flowering plant in the cabbage family, Brassicaceae. Watercress is a rapidly growing perennial plant native to Eurasia. It is one of the oldest known leaf vegetabl ...
farm, the four acre site will be sympathetically managed for the benefit of visitors with the overall aim to make a wildlife reserve. The trust runs monthly open days to celebrate the history of the watercress farm, as well as inform local residents of their plans for the site. In January 2019 the trust held a public consultation about its plans to exchange five small parcels of land for one larger piece of land, Dellfield. The trust wished to de-register one of the smaller parcels of land to enable future development; this preregistration would remove the common land protection. In November 2020, the trust announced that their de-registration plans had failed, thus meaning their plans to develop part of the estate had also failed.


Today

The trust has a herd of
Belted Galloway The Belted Galloway is a traditional Scottish breed of beef cattle. It derives from the Galloway (cattle), Galloway stock of the Galloway region of south-western Scotland, and was established as a separate breed in 1921. It is adapted to liv ...
s, as well as a flock of sheep which is made up of Charollais, Norfolk Horns and Ryelands. The horses and ponies that graze Harding's Moor and Station Moor during the summer months are not owned by the trust, but are grazed on the trust's land by local graziers via the use of pasture tickets. Other parcels of the trust estate are used for a variety of reasons. The trust plays home to three separate sports teams, Camelot RUFC Rugby Club play home games on Chaulden Meadow, Hemel Hempstead Town Cricket Club play at Heath Park, whilst Boxmoor Cricket Club call Blackbirds Moor home. Sheethanger Common, which is also owned by the trust formed, up until 2011, the grounds of the Boxmoor Golf Club. The trust estate is also actively used by local community, with St John's Church in Boxmoor residing on Trust land. In addition, the trust hosts several community events. The annual Autumn Festival is held every October on Blackbirds Moor, and features local artisans and produce sellers, Conker competitions and autumnal arts and crafts. Music on the Moor was a biannual music festival that was previously operated by the Box Moor Trust. The River Bulbourne flows through part of the Box Moor Trust estate, and in January 2017 was the site of a major river restoration project. Working in conjunction with the
Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...
the trust restored a kilometer stretch of the River where it flows through Boxmoor. The river in this location had been heavily modified in the past, and as a result was overly deep, straight and wide. As such, the restoration work was carried out in order to return the river to a more natural state. The bulk of this work was carried out in January 2017, whilst the creation of ephemeral ponds is due to take place in October, 2017. Roughdown Common, a former chalk quarry, was purchased by the trust in 1886 and is one of Hertfordshire's few remaining examples of unimproved
calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime (mineral), lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of Science, scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcare ...
grassland. The combination of the scarcity of calcareous grassland, and the wide variety of flora found at the site, led it being designated as a
Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...
in 1953. Flora prevalent on Roughdown Common includes Autumn Gentian, Bee Orchid, Cowslips and Pyramidal Orchid. Roughdown Common is also the only known place in Hertfordshire in which
Juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...
is able to regenerate naturally. Providing a habitat for wildlife is important part of the trust's work. The recent river restoration carried out on the River Bulbourne saw the creation of a dedicated Kingfisher nesting box alongside the river, and a second nesting box has also been built at Gadespring. A long-held ambition of the trust is to see the reintroduction of Water Voles along the Bulbourne Valley. This ambition was realised in September 2019, when the Trust reintroduced 177 Water Voles in to the River Bulbourne as part of a three-year plan. The Jersey Mocha was discovered in Hertfordshire for the first time on Roughdown Common in September 2016. The trust is supported by volunteers, and currently has in excess of 300. Volunteering experiences are varied, and can range from fund-raising, wildlife surveys, to archiving and education. In recent years, the trust has set up a 'Friends of the Box Moor Trust' programme, which disseminates information via newsletters and email to those who sign up. In 2019, the trust celebrated its 425th anniversary. As part of the anniversary celebrations, the trust teamed with Puddingstone Distillery to release a gin made with Juniper harvested from Roughdown Common.


References


External links


The Box Moor Trust

The Box Moor Trust on Facebook

The Box Moor Trust on Twitter
* {{EW charity, 206142 Protected areas of Hertfordshire Dacorum Hemel Hempstead Charities based in Hertfordshire 1594 establishments in England Organisations based in Hertfordshire Organizations established in the 1590s Nature conservation organisations based in the United Kingdom Country estates in England British landowners Environmental charities based in the United Kingdom