Langleybury is a country house and estate in

Abbots Langley Abbots Langley () is a large village and civil parish in the English county of Hertfordshire. It is an old settlement and is mentioned (under the name of Langelai) in the Domesday Book. Economically the village is closely linked to Watford and w ...

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, about northwest of the centre of the town of

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 ...

. The house stands on a low hill above the valley of the

River Gade The River Gade is a river running almost entirely through Hertfordshire. It rises from a spring in the chalk of the Chiltern Hills at Dagnall, Buckinghamshire and flows through Hemel Hempstead, Kings Langley, then along the west side of Wat ...

Owners

Raymond 1711–1756

The estate was purchased in 1711 by

Robert Raymond Robert Alwyn Raymond OAM (7 July 1922 – 26 September 2003) was an Australian Logie Award winning producer, director, writer, filmmaker and journalist. A pioneer of Australian television, he with Michael Charlton in 1961, co-founded the Aus ...

, then

Solicitor General A solicitor general is a government official who serves as the chief representative of the government in courtroom proceedings. In systems based on the English common law that have an attorney general or equivalent position, the solicitor general ...

and later

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

, subsequently Baron Raymond, who was

Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales The Lord or Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the president of the courts of England and Wales. Until 2005 the lord chief justice was the second-most senior judge of the English and ...

from 1724 until 1732. In 1720 he demolished the original house, of which little is known, and built the mansion which still stands on the site today. A park was laid out around the house in the later eighteenth century. His cipher, a griffin in a crown, can still be seen on the building.

Filmer 1756–1838

On the death of his son,

Robert Raymond, 2nd Baron Raymond Lord Raymond, Baron of Abbots Langley in the County of Hertford, was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created on 15 January 1731 for Sir Robert Raymond, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench. The title became extinct on the deat ...

, without issue in 1756, the manor was left to Sir Beversham Filmer, 5th Baronet, of East Sutton in Kent. He, dying without children in 1805, bequeathed it to his nephew, Sir John Filmer, 7th Baronet.) It then descended in the family till 1838. The Filmers were absentee landlords. In 1762 the road at the lower edge of the park became 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 ...

, and in the 1790s 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 ...

was dug along the valley bottom alongside the road.

Fearnley Whittingstall 1838–1856

In 1838 Sir Edmund Filmer (8th Bt) sold the estate to Edmund Fearnley Whittingstall (né Fearnley), a Watford brewer. He started a bank in partnership with William Smith which went into bankruptcy soon after Whittingstall's death, forcing the sale of the estate in 1856.

Jones Loyd 1856–1947

The estate was then held by William Jones Loyd (1821–1885), a partner in the London branch of Jones Loyd & Co, who was

High Sheriff of Hertfordshire The High Sheriff of Hertfordshire was an ancient Sheriff title originating in the time of the Angles, not long after the foundation of the Kingdom of England, which was in existence for around a thousand years. On 1 April 1974, under the provi ...

in 1861Herts High Shrievalty
and cousin to

Samuel Jones-Loyd, 1st Baron Overstone Samuel Jones-Loyd, 1st Baron Overstone (25 September 1796 – 17 November 1883) was a British banker and politician. Background and education Loyd was the only son of the Rev. Lewis Loyd and Sarah, daughter of John Jones, a Manchester banker. H ...

. Jones Loyd built the nearby church of St Paul in 1864. His son, Edward Henry Loyd, was

in 1894. During the

Second World War 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 ...

the house was leased to the Equity and Law Insurance Company.Three Rivers Museum
/ref>

School 1947–1996

In 1947 the estate was sold to

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 ...

who converted the house and grounds into a secondary school, named Langleybury School, which opened in 1949. In the late 1950s a modern school was built to the south of the mansion, which remained in use as part of the school and as teacher accommodation. The mansion was designated as

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 ...

in 1953.

Present day

Langleybury School closed in 1996 and for a time partly housed Hertfordshire County Council's Social Services offices. The empty modern school became a favoured film location site, notably for the '' Hope and Glory'' TV series of 1999. The site has been used in numerous TV shows and adverts, as well as films such as ''St Trinians'' and ''In The Heart Of The Sea''. The house appears in the British TV series Endeavour as "Blenheim Vale". It is also used as a CCB (close combat battle) area for people who play

Airsoft Airsoft, also known as survival game () in Japan where it was popular, is a team sport, team-based shooting sport, shooting game in which participants eliminate opposing players out of play by shooting them with airsoft pellets, spherical plast ...

(an outdoor combat game) in the buildings which are still safe to enter. A children’s farm is situated in the old farm attached to the mansion house. In conjunction with

Newby Hall Newby Hall is a country house beside the River Ure in the parish of Skelton-on-Ure in North Yorkshire, England. It is south-east of Ripon and south of Topcliffe Castle, by which the manor of Newby was originally held. A Grade I listed buildi ...

the Langleybury House was used in crafting the look of the fictitious manor house Hundreds Hall in the 2018 film ''

The Little Stranger :The Little Stranger ''is also the title of one of the Color Classics series produced 13 March 1936, in three-strip Technicolor, by Fleischer Studios. It is also the 2018 film adaptation of Waters' novel.'' ''The Little Stranger'' is a 2009 g ...

,'' which was directed by Lenny Abrahamson and starred Domhnall Gleeson and Ruth Wilson. In the article "Domestic Disturbances: Crafting The Look Of The Little Stranger" the production designer, Simon Elliott, explained how he was given free rein by the owners to modify Langleybury House for the production of the movie, including knocking down walls. The house and its stable block (dated 1726) have been converted into flats.

Notable people

Violet Cressy-Marcks Violet Olivia Cressy-Marcks (1895–1970) was a British explorer mainly active between the world wars. Personal life Violet Cressy-Marcks was born Violet Olivia Rutley on 9 June 1895, in West Wickham, Greater London, the only daughter of Ernest an ...

(1895–1970), explorer and journalist, buried at Langleybury church.

References

* Williamson, Tom & The Hertfordshire Gardens Trust ''The parks and Gardens of West Hertfordshire'' pub. The Hertfordshire Gardens Trust, 2000
I Remember Living at Langleybury House
by Jill Tidmarsh, Abbots Langley Local History Society, 2000.

External links

Langleybury Children's FarmLangleybury Cricket Club
{{Listed buildings in Hertfordshire Country houses in Hertfordshire Three Rivers District Houses completed in 1720 Defunct schools in Hertfordshire Grade II* listed buildings in Hertfordshire 1720 establishments in England