Marshalswick is a suburb of

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

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, located around 1.5 miles northeast of the city centre. The area was developed from the 1920s onwards. Neighbouring suburbs include Jersey Farm, Fleetville and Bernards Heath. The 1950s parish church of St Mary's was built as a daughter church of St Leonard's Church, Sandridge and later became an ecclesiastical parish in its own right in 1972.

History

The name Marshalswick has been in use since at least the thirteenth century. The name comes from John and William Marschal who owned the land between 1271 and 1377, and wick which meant 'hamlet', 'town' or 'village' in Old English. Despite the name, there was no village of Marshalswick, and until the early twentieth century it was only used for a mansion and a nearby farm, both of which fell within the parish of

Sandridge Sandridge is a village and civil parish between the city centre of St Albans ( to the south-west) and Wheathampstead in Hertfordshire, England, forming part of the contiguous built-up area of St Albans. History The original name was "Saundruag ...

. The mansion was sold in 1921 and its grounds were developed with housing as an expansion of St Albans. The former driveway to the mansion (which was demolished in 1927) is now a residential road called Marshals Drive. Following the development of the old Marshalswick Mansion grounds in the 1920s and 1930s, Marshalswick Lane and the area south of it were transferred from the parish of Sandridge to the

municipal borough A municipal borough was a type of local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of ...

of St Albans in 1935. From the 1950s onwards another large housing estate was laid out on the former Marshalwick Farm land north of Marshalswick Lane. The new estate included a neighbourhood centre at The Quadrant, including numerous shops, St Mary's Church, a community centre and library. The area north of Marshalswick Lane remains in the parish of Sandridge; the old borough of St Albans was not enlarged again after 1935 but was instead abolished in 1974 to create the

City and District of St Albans St Albans (), also known as the City and District of St Albans, is a non-metropolitan district with both borough and city status in Hertfordshire, England. Its council is based in St Albans, the largest settlement in the district. The district a ...

which includes all of the parish of Sandridge. No

successor parish Successor parishes are Civil parishes in England, civil parishes with a parish councils in England, parish council, created in England in 1974. They replaced, with the same boundaries, a selected group of Urban district (England and Wales), urban d ...

was created for the former borough and so that area became an

unparished area In England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish (the lowest level of local government, not to be confused with an ecclesiastical parish). Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unparis ...

Local facilities

Marshalswick is home to Sandringham School, which is situated on the Ridgeway. Residents of Marshalswick enjoy the use of local shops which are called 'The Quadrant'. These shops include two bakeries, a Budgens, a newsagent (including a Post Office), Frost's Estate Agents, charity shops, hairdressers, barbers, wine merchants, fast food outlets and many other shops. The Quadrant also has a

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is a British supermarket and the second-largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company was the largest UK r ...

Local petrol station, an M&S food hall and a library, which is open every day except Sunday and Wednesdays. The library includes a DVD collection, free computer use and a children’s section. "The Wick" is now a wooded park which includes a playground, large field and woodland walk area which are frequently used by local Scout groups and dog walkers. Other notable places in Marshalswick, apart from the Wick, include St Mary's

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

church, Homewood Road

United Reformed Church The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2024 it had approximately 44,000 members in around 1,250 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers. The URC is a Trinitarian church whose theolog ...

and Marshalswick

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

Free Church A free church is any Christian denomination that is intrinsically separate from government (as opposed to a state church). A free church neither defines government policy, nor accept church theology or policy definitions from the government. A f ...

. The churches are each home to local

Brownie (Girl Guides) Brownies are the section in the Girl Guides (or in the United States, Girl Scouts of the USA, Girl Scouts) organisation for girls aged seven years old to ten years old. Exact age limits are slightly different in each organisation. History Brow ...

units and their halls are used by many local groups.

Facts and figures

The average age for a person living in Marshalswick is 40 and 3.7% of residents are students. The average 4 bedroom house costs £522,000 and house prices range from £350,000 to over £6,000,000 .

References

{{reflist St Albans City of St Albans