Hemel Hempstead Rural District
{{short description|Former English rural district}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2012}}
{{coord|51.754|-0.475|display=title|region:GB_scale:100000}}
{{Infobox historic subdivision
|Name= Hemel Hempstead Rural District
|subdivision_type= Rural district
|HQ= Hemel Hempstead
|image= 250px
Council Offices: The Bury, Queensway, Hemel Hempstead
|Start= 28 December 1894
|End= 31 March 1974
|Replace= Dacorum
| membership_title1= County Council
| membership1= Hertfordshire
|PopulationFirst= 6,012
|PopulationFirstYear= 1901
|PopulationLastYear= 1971
}}
Hemel Hempstead Rural District was a rural district in Hertfordshire, England from 1894 to 1974.
Evolution
The district had its origins in the Hemel Hempstead Rural Sanitary District. This had been created in 1872, giving public health and local government responsibilities for rural areas to the existing boards of guardians of poor law unions. Under the Local Government Act 1894, rural sanitary districts became rural districts from 28 December 1894. The district originally included the town of Hemel Hempstead, but when the town was made a municipal borough in 1898 it was removed from the rural district.{{cite web |last1=Higginbotham |first1=Peter |title=Hemel Hempstead Workhouse |url=https://www.workhouses.org.uk/HemelHempstead/ |website=The Workhouse |access-date=24 December 2021}}{{cite web |title=House of Lords, 13 June 1898 |url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/1898-06-13/debates/5b3183e5-d82e-4443-9d9c-5d211879104d/MunicipalCorporations |website=Hansard 1803-2005 |access-date=24 December 2021}}
Parishes
The district contained the following civil parishes:
| class="wikitable sortable" | |||
| Parish || From || To || class="unsortable" | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Bovingdon | 28 Dec 1894 | 31 Mar 1974 | |
| Chipperfield | 1 Apr 1958 | 31 Mar 1974 | Created from part of Kings Langley.{{cite web |title=Chipperfield Civil Parish |url=https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10170862 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=25 December 2021 |quote=Ministry of Housing and Local Government Order No. 7179. The County of Hertford (Parishes of Kings Langley and Chipperfield) Confirmation Order, 1958}} |
| Flamstead | 28 Dec 1894 | 31 Mar 1974 | |
| Flaunden | 28 Dec 1894 | 31 Mar 1974 | |
| Great Gaddesden | 28 Dec 1894 | 31 Mar 1974 | |
| Hemel Hempstead | 28 Dec 1894 | 7 Jun 1898 | Removed from rural district on becoming a municipal borough. |
| Kings Langley | 28 Dec 1894 | 31 Mar 1974 | |
| Markyate | 30 Sep 1897 | 31 Mar 1974 | Parish created on abolition of Markyate Rural District |
After Hemel Hempstead itself became a borough, the Hemel Hempstead Rural District district constituted two detached parts, north and south of Hemel Hempstead. Bovingdon, Chipperfield, Flaunden and Kings Langley were in the southern part, with Flamstead, Great Gaddesden and Markyate in the northern part.
Premises
In its early years, the council met at the Union Workhouse on Redbourn Road in Hemel Hempstead.{{cite book |title=Kelly's Directory of Hertfordshire |date=1908 |location=London |page=112 |url=http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4/id/317084 |access-date=24 December 2021}} By 1912 the council had moved to offices on the south-west side of the junction of Bury Road, The Broadway, and Marlowes. (Bury Road and The Broadway have since been renamed to both become part of Queensway.) This building was called 1 The Broadway until the 1930s, when it was renamed 2 Marlowes.{{cite journal |title=Hemel Hempstead Rural District |journal=The London Gazette |date=10 December 1912 |issue=28670 |page=9409 |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/28670/page/9409 |access-date=25 December 2021 |quote=1, The Broadway, Hemel Hempstead}}{{cite journal |title=Rural District of Hemel Hempstead |journal=The London Gazette |date=10 January 1939 |issue=34588 |page=225 |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/34588/page/225 |access-date=25 December 2021 |quote=2, Marlowes, Hemel Hempstead}}
In 1954 the council acquired The Bury, a large eighteenth century house on the north side of Bury Road and converted it to become their offices.{{cite news |title=Hemel Hempstead Rural District Council: Alterations and additions to new office accommodation at "The Bury", Bury Road, Hemel Hempstead |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ |access-date=24 December 2021 |work=Luton News |date=25 March 1954 |page=12}} The council's former offices at 2 Marlowes were demolished shortly afterwards to make way for the Hemel Hempstead College of Further Education (later Dacorum College, now part of West Herts College), which opened in 1962.{{cite web |title=Colleges of Further Education (Major building projects) |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1962/jun/08/colleges-of-further-education-major |website=Hansard 1803-2005 |access-date=25 December 2021 |date=8 June 1962}} The council remained based at The Bury until its abolition in 1974.{{cite journal |title=Imposition of 30 m.p.h. Speed Limit{{mdash}}C. 65, Pickford Road, Markyate |journal=The London Gazette |date=8 February 1974 |issue=46204 |page=1775 |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/46204/page/1775 |access-date=25 December 2021}}
Abolition
Hemel Hempstead Rural District was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972, becoming part of the district of Dacorum on 1 April 1974.{{cite book|title=Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70|publisher=The Stationery Office Ltd|isbn=0-10-547072-4|year=1997}}