The Cassiobury Estate is a suburban

residential area A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family residen ...

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

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 ...

. It is bounded to the south by

Cassiobury Park Cassiobury Park is the principal public park in Watford, Hertfordshire, in England. It was created in 1909 from the purchase by Watford Borough Council of part of the estate of the Earl of Essex, Earls of Essex around Cassiobury House which wa ...

, the main public park in the town, to the west by playing fields next to the River Gade, and to the northeast by Hempstead Road. It is mostly characterised by 1930s Mock Tudor houses. To the northwest of Cassiobury, outside the Borough of Watford in the Three Rivers District, is The Grove, the former estate and house of the Earls of Clarendon. This has been converted into a luxury hotel and with extensive grounds.

History

The suburban streets of Cassiobury were laid out in the early 1930s on land that was formerly part of the estate of

Cassiobury House Cassiobury House was a English country house, country house in Cassiobury Park, Watford, England. It was the family seat, ancestral seat of the Earl of Essex, Earls of Essex. Originally a Tudor building, dating from 1546 for Sir Richard Morrison ...

, the ancestral seat of the Earls of Essex. The house, which originally dated from the reign of

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 ...

, contained lavishly decorated interiors and a substantial art collection and was surrounded by landscaped park land. Parts of the Cassiobury estate were sold for development land in 1908, and following the death of the 7th Earl of Essex in 1916, the family put the rest of estate up for sale in order to pay for death duties. Unable to find a buyer for the house, they had Cassiobury House demolished in 1927 and the estate was partly sold to

Watford Borough Council Watford Borough Council is the local authority for the Watford non-metropolitan district in the south-west of Hertfordshire, England. The council is based in the Town Hall on Hempstead Road. The council comprises 36 councillors plus a directly-el ...

to be used as a public park, with the remaining land sold to developers such as William King & Co and Charles Brightman for housing development. With the extension of the

Metropolitan Railway The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...

to Watford in 1926, residential development around the new Watford tube station grew rapidly as the homes of

Metro-land Metro-land (or Metroland – see note on spelling, below) is a name given to the suburban areas that were built to the north-west of London in the counties of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Middlesex in the early part of the 20th century th ...

were constructed over the site of the former Essex mansion, and

Humphry Repton Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818) was the last great designer of the classic phase of the English landscape garden, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown. His style is thought of as the precursor of the more intric ...

's landscaped vistas gave way to suburban lawns. The area of land once occupied by Cassiobury House is now where Temple Close sits, close to the Cassiobury Tennis Club. Although the Essex mansion house no longer exists, traces of the area's noble past remain; the Cassiobury House

stable A stable is a building in which working animals are kept, especially horses or oxen. The building is usually divided into stalls, and may include storage for equipment and feed. Styles There are many different types of stables in use tod ...

block (built c. 1805–1815) still stands on Richmond Drive; now called Cassiobury Court, the buildings have been

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

and are now used as a

drug rehabilitation Drug rehabilitation is the process of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and street drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, heroin, and amphetamines. The general int ...

centre. Several residential street names recall former Earls of Essex; Coningesby Drive, Devereux Drive, De Vere Walk and Capelvere Walk all bear names of former Lords of Cassiobury House.

Geography

Transport

The area is currently served by a

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

station, Watford tube station, on Cassiobury Park Avenue, which is the terminus of the

Metropolitan line The Metropolitan line, colloquially known as the Met, is a London Underground line between in the City of London and and in Buckinghamshire, with branches to in Hertfordshire and in London Borough of Hillingdon, Hillingdon. Printed in mage ...

's Watford branch. This station is planned to close in the future when the line is diverted to terminate at as part of the Croxley Rail Link project; after this, Cassiobury will be served by a new Cassiobridge tube station instead, approximately south of the current station.

References

{{Watford, state=collapsed Watford Suburbs in the United Kingdom