Brickendon is a village in the

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Brickendon Liberty in the district of

East Hertfordshire East Hertfordshire is one of ten Non-metropolitan district, local government districts in Hertfordshire, England. Its council is based in Hertford, the county town of Hertfordshire. The largest town in the district is Bishop's Stortford, and th ...

about south of the county town

Hertford Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census. The town grew around a Ford (crossing), ford on ...

, and is served by

Bayford railway station Bayford railway station serves the villages of Bayford and Brickendon in Hertfordshire, England. The station is on the Hertford Loop Line, down the line from . Services All services at Bayford are operated by Great Northern using EMUs E ...

. Centred on a traditional village green and a village pub, ''The Farmer's Boy'', there is an active community with several clubs and activities. The parish (rather than just the village) has won several awards in the Hertfordshire Village of the Year contest in recent years. The name is said to have come from a Saxon by the name of Bricca who laid claim to the hill site, the Saxon word 'don' meaning a hill; thus Bricca's Hill. In the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

the name appears as Brichendone. The manor of Brickendon was held by the canons and later the monks of

Waltham Abbey Waltham Abbey is a suburban town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex, within the London metropolitan area, metropolitan and urban area of London, England, East London, north-east of Charing Cross. It lies on the Greenwich ...

, Essex, from about 1060 until the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

Henry II Henry II may refer to: Kings * Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (972–1024), crowned King of Germany in 1002, of Italy in 1004 and Emperor in 1014 *Henry II of England (1133–89), reigned from 1154 *Henry II of Jerusalem and Cyprus (1271–1 ...

created the

liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...

of Brickendon in about 1174/84 which granted the abbot freedom from certain taxes normally due to the crown. The chapel, dedicated to the Holy Cross and

St Alban Saint Alban (; ) is venerated as the first-recorded British Christian martyr, for which reason he is considered to be the British protomartyr. Along with fellow Saints Julius and Aaron, Alban is one of three named martyrs recorded at an earl ...

, was built in 1932 on land and with funds donated by Constance Demain Saunders and her mother Minnie Kingsley. It is part of the ecclesiastical parish of Bayford within the Hartford Hundred West group of parishes. Brickendon Grange was built by Benjamin Cherry in 1859 and is now a golf club designed by CK Cotton. Fanshaws mansion, built in 1885 by Henry Wilson Demain Saunders, is now the headquarters of the

Institute of the Motor Industry The Institute of the Motor Industry is an international professional body for people working in the motor industry, providing retail industry information, standards and qualifications. In 2013, IMI launched the Professional Register, listing in ...

. The second series of

Catweazle ''Catweazle'' is a British children's fantasy television series, starring Geoffrey Bayldon in the title role, and created by Richard Carpenter for London Weekend Television. The first series, produced and directed in 1969 by Quentin Lawrence ...

was filmed around Brickendon in 1970. The former manor house at Brickendonbury was used as a spy training centre during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

as Station XVII of the

Special Operations Executive Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a British organisation formed in 1940 to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in German-occupied Europe and to aid local Resistance during World War II, resistance movements during World War II. ...

(SOE) and is now home to the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre of the

Malaysian Rubber Board The Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB; ) is the custodian of the rubber industry in Malaysia. Established on 1 January 1998, it has under its fold three agencies (Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia, RRIM, MRRDB and MRELB), which are now merged into o ...

Governance

Brickendon has three tiers of local government, at parish, district, and county level: Brickendon Liberty Parish Council,

East Hertfordshire District Council East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that eas ...

, and

Hertfordshire County Council Hertfordshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Hertfordshire, in England. The council was created in 1889. It is responsible for a wide range of public services in the county, including social c ...

. The name of the modern

is "Brickendon Liberty", referencing the area's former status as a parish liberty. The liberty of Brickendon was deemed to be part of the parish of All Saints, Hertford, but appointed its own overseers of the poor. Brickendon was included in the Hertford

Poor Law Union A poor law union was a geographical territory, and early local government unit, in Great Britain and Ireland. Poor law unions existed in England and Wales from 1834 to 1930 for the administration of poor relief. Prior to the Poor Law Amendment ...

from 1835 with its own representative on the

Board of Guardians Boards of guardians were ''ad hoc'' authorities that administered Poor Law in the United Kingdom from 1835 to 1930. England and Wales Boards of guardians were created by the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, replacing the parish overseers of the po ...

. As such, Brickendon was deemed to be a separate civil parish from 10 August 1866 under the Poor Law Amendment Act 1866. The civil parish of Brickendon at that time stretched from Brickendon village in the south right up into the town of Hertford in the north, with Castle Street, West Street and All Saints' Church all being within the civil parish of Brickendon, which was partly inside and partly outside the borough of Hertford. In 1891 the parish had a population of 1007. Under the

Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The act followed the reforms carried out at county leve ...

, parishes which straddled borough boundaries were split into separate parishes inside and outside the borough. On 4 December 1894 the parish of Brickendon was therefore abolished and split to form two parishes called "Brickendon Rural" and "Brickendon Urban". Brickendon Rural was included in the

Hertford Rural District Hertford Rural District was a rural district in Hertfordshire, England from 1894 to 1974. It covered the rural area around the county town of Hertford, but did not include the town itself. Evolution The district had its origins in the Hertford ...

. Brickendon Urban had no parish council; it was governed directly by Hertford Borough Council. On 30 September 1900 Brickendon Urban and all the other civil parishes within the borough were abolished to become a single parish called Hertford. On 1 April 1929 the civil parish of Brickendon Liberty was created when Brickendon Rural merged with the neighbouring parish of St John Rural, which had been a sparsely populated rural parish created in 1894 from the parts of the old parish of St John, Hertford which lay outside the borough. On 1 April 1935 parts of

Broxbourne Broxbourne is a town in the Borough of Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, England, with a population of 15,303 at the 2011 Census.Broxbourne Town population 2011 It is located to the south of Hoddesdon and to the north of Cheshunt, north of London. ...

Hoddesdon Rural Hoddesdon () is a town in the Borough of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, lying entirely within the London metropolitan area, London Metropolitan Area and Greater London Urban Area. The area is on the River Lea and the Lee Navigation along with the ...

and Wormley were transferred to Brickendon Liberty when these parishes were abolished. On 1 April 1939 part of Brickendon Liberty was transferred to

Little Amwell Little Amwell was a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, lying south-east of the county town of Hertford. The old village of Little Amwell forms the northern part of the modern village of Hertford Heath. The civil parish of Little ...

. Brickendon Liberty remained in Hertford Rural District until that district was abolished in 1974 to become part of

References

External links

Brickendon Liberty community website

A history of Brickendon

The Farmer's Boy

Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre

Brickendon Grange Golf Club

Institute of the Motor Industry
{{authority control Villages in Hertfordshire Former civil parishes in Hertfordshire East Hertfordshire District