Kings Langley

A Roman villa has been excavated just south of the village.[http://www.online-archaeology.co.uk/UKArchaeologyMap/UKArchaeologyMapViewItem/tabid/201/Default.aspx?IID=549 Site of Kings Langley Roman Villa] at Online Archaeology – UK Archaeology Resource. accessed 5 April 2010

The manor was probably a possession of the Abbey of St. Albans, the records of which have been lost. Following the Norman Conquest of 1066 the manor was one of hundreds given to Robert, Count of Mortain, uterine half-brother of King William the Conqueror. His tenant was a certain Ralf. The present village developed as a linear village along the old road from London to Berkhamsted and beyond to the Midlands.Lionel M, Munby, The History of Kings Langley In the Domesday Book of 1086, Langley was in the hundred of Danish.[http://opendomesday.org/place/TL0702/kings-langley/ Open Domesday: Kings Langley] By 1346 the place was known as Kyngeslangley and by 1428 as Lengele Regis.{{cite book |title=The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names |editor=Victor Watts|year=2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-16855-7 |page=360}}

In about 1276 the manor was purchased by Queen Eleanor of Castile{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/herts/vol2/pp234-245 |title='Parishes: King's Langley', A History of the County of Hertford: Volume 2, pp. 234–245. |editor-last=Page |editor-first=William |year=1908 |website=british-history.ac.uk |publisher=British History Online |access-date=25 October 2023}} (1241–1290), wife of King Edward I, and Kings Langley Palace was built on the hill to the west of the village with a deer park extending to the south.{{cite book|last1=Hertfordshire Federation of Women's Institutes|others=Ann Roxburgh (Forward)|title=The Hertfordshire Village Book|publisher=Countryside Books|year=1986|isbn=0-905392-71-X}} King's Langley Priory, of the Dominican Order, of which remains survive, was founded next to the palace. The palace and the grand priory church fell into disrepair at the Dissolution of the Monasteries and little remains above ground level.

The Church of All Saints was built during the 14th century on the site of an earlier church.

It was the birth-place of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York (1341–1402), 4th surviving son of King Edward III (grandson of Edward I), whose tomb survives in All Saints Church.Kings Langley Local History and Museum Society The body of King Richard II, eldest grandson and successor of King Edward III, was buried here after his probable murder at Pontefract Castle in 1400. It was later removed to Westminster Abbey, next to the Palace of Westminster.

Image:Kings Langley Church.jpg

The 18th century Sparrows Herne turnpike road (later the A41 trunk road) traversed the Chilterns via the valley of the River Gade and ran down the village high street. The 16th century Saracen's Head public house is a coaching inn which flourished in this period.

The Grand Union Canal dating from 1797, and the 1838, London and Birmingham Railway which later became the West Coast Main Line, (the main railway line from London to the north west) pass just east of the village at Kings Langley railway station. There are many businesses located near the station in Home Park Industrial Estate which is also the site of the Construction and Engineering Centre of West Herts College.

20th century housing developments have led to the village spreading out on either side of the main road. The A41 has now been diverted west of the village leaving the high street to local traffic for the first time in centuries.

File:The Priory and allotments, Kings Langley (geograph 2310899).jpg

During the Second World War, the village was home to the secret headquarters in Britain of the Polish Underground army based at Barnes Lodge just off the Hempstead Road near Rucklers Lane.[http://www.kingslangley.org.uk/barneslodge.html Kings Langley Local History & Museum Society] "RISING '44" by Norman Davies, (1994) is published by Pan, {{ISBN|0330488635}}

Kings Langley was the site of the factory making Ovaltine chocolate drink; the listed factory facade, designed c.1923 by James Albert Bowden is now all that is left and still stands alongside the railway line among a new housing development. The Ovaltine factory itself has been converted into a series of flats and duplexes.{{cite web |title=The east facade of A Wander Limited's 'Ovaltine' factory in Kings Langley. The factory was much enlarged during the 1920s, adding sympathetically to this original block (BL26455/002) Archive Item - The Bedford Lemere Collection {{!}} Historic England |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/photos/item/BL26455/002 |website=historicengland.org.uk |publisher=Historic England |access-date=10 March 2021 |language=en}}

The former Ovaltine Egg Farm was converted into energy-efficient offices which house Renewable Energy Systems. The complex incorporates a highly visible 225 kW Vestas V29{{Cite web

|url=http://www.beaufortcourt.com/pdf/BeaufortCourt/WindPower1.pdf

|title=Power from the wind

|publisher=Renewable Energy Systems

|access-date=16 November 2008

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090530012759/http://www.beaufortcourt.com/pdf/BeaufortCourt/WindPower1.pdf

|archive-date=30 May 2009

|url-status=dead

}} wind turbine, nicknamed "Lofty" alongside the M25.File:Kings Langley, Wind turbine - geograph.org.uk - 272851.jpgKings Langley School is the local comprehensive school, situated on Love Lane to the west of the village.File:Kings Langley, Former Ovaltine factory - geograph.org.uk - 272923.jpgKings Langley was also the site of a Waldorf School, the Rudolf Steiner School Kings Langley which closed in 2019. This was built on the grounds of the old palace. There was a small display cabinet of finds from the palace period in the school entrance foyer.

The village became twinned with Achiet-le-Grand in France in November 2009, in honour of Christopher Cox from the village who won a Victoria Cross in fighting near Achiet-le-Grand in the First World War.{{cite news|url=http://www.hemeltoday.co.uk/news/French-twinning-steams-ahead.5160488.jp|title=French twinning steams ahead|date=9 April 2009|work=Hemel Hempstead Gazette|access-date=13 April 2009}}

The M25, the London orbital motorway, passes just south of the village on an imposing viaduct across the River Gade valley. To the north of junction 20 with the A41, a dual-carriageway bypasses Kings Langley and continues to the south of Tring where it flows into the original motorway-standard by-pass. The old route through Kings Langley is now classified the A4251.

File:Rucklers Lane Community Hall 2017.jpg was built for the workers of nearby Shendish Manor in 1909 as a memorial to Arthur Longman, the owner of the estate]]

Just to the north of Kings Langley is a small village called Rucklers Lane, named after the road it is built on. The origin of the settlement in the early 20th century was the construction of a number of mock tudor houses for the workers on the nearby Shendish Manor estate. A community hall was also built for the workers in 1909 as a memorial to Arthur Longman, the owner of the estate; it was originally intended as a chapel of ease to avoid the long walk to the parish church.{{cite web |url=http://www.kingslangley.org.uk/RucklersLaneHall.html |title=The Fourth John Prime Memorial Lecture: Rucklers Lane Hall |last1=Bower |first1=Stanley |website=www.kingslangley.org.uk |publisher=Kings Langley Local History and Museum Society |access-date=26 February 2016 }} Further west along the lane is Phasels Wood Scout Camp and Activity Centre which opened in 1937.Brittain, Frank L (2008), Milestones of 100 Years of Hertfordshire Scouting, Hertfordshire County Scout Council (p. 62)

• William Shakespeare's Richard II (1595), Act III, Scene IV, is set in the garden of the palace at Langley.
• Emily Sarah Holt's novel The White Rose of Langley (1875) has many scenes in the palace. ([https://archive.org/details/Emily_Holt_The_White_Rose_of_Langley Download available] at Project Gutenberg)
• In the 2010 book Beautiful Darkness the character Olivia Durand is from Kings Langley.
• Mentioned by housekeeper Mrs Swabb in the 1973 play Habeas Corpus written by Alan Bennett

Kings Langley FC, as of 2023/2024, play in the Division 1 (Central) Division of the Southern Football League.

Kings Langley CC currently play in Divisions 2B, Division 7 West and Division 10 South, of the Saracens Hertfordshire Cricket League.

Kings Langley Bowls Club is situated in Green Park at the end of the Nap car park. It is a popular lawn bowls club with club and district competitions for bowlers of all abilities. It includes a club house with licensed bar and good social programs.

{{more citations needed|section|date=October 2020}}

• Ancestors of U.S. President Jimmy Carter (1924-2024) with the Carter surname lived in village 1361–1588"[https://web.archive.org/web/20080831100048/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,915294,00.html The Nation: Magnus Carter: Jimmy's Roots]". Time. 22 August 1977. Retrieved 16 February 2010.
• Christopher Augustus Cox VC (1889–1959), soldier decorated for working as a stretcher bearer under heavy fire in France, 1917{{cite web |url=http://www.kingslangley.org.uk/C%20Cox%20VC.html |title=Christopher Cox VC |website=www.kingslangley.org.uk |publisher=Kings Langley Local History and Museum Society |access-date=26 February 2016 }}
• Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York (1341–1402), the fourth surviving son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault and the founder of the House of York
• Captain Alan Rice-Oxley DFC (1898–1961), RAF officer, First World War fighter ace
• Griff (born 2001), singer and songwriter{{Cite news|url=https://i-d.vice.com/amp/en_uk/article/paj9xb/griff-is-the-uk-teen-talking-you-out-of-negative-body-image-with-her-pop-music|title=griff is the uk teen talking you out of negative body image with her pop music|work=i-D|date=8 July 2019|access-date=23 October 2020}}
• Benny Green (1927–1998), saxophonist and radio personality[http://www.dacorum.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=2745 Kings Langley Information page] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608005655/http://www.dacorum.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=2745 |date=8 June 2011 }}
• Bruce Grocott, Baron Grocott (b. 1940), former Labour MP for The Wrekin and Telford and current Chancellor of the University of Leicester
• Graham Taylor OBE, (1944–2017), former England football manager and former manager and chairman of Watford F.C.
• Luke Donald (b. 1977), professional golfer and former world no.1 lived in Kings Langley and attended the Rudolph Steiner School
• Frank Toovey Lake, (1849–1868) a member of the mill-owning Toovey family and a Victorian sailor who died in Japan while a member of Richard Henry Brunton's lighthouse survey party
• Steven Finn (b. 1989), former England cricket international
• Anthony Joshua (b. 1989), former World Heavyweight Champion attended Kings Langley School
• Stuart Slater (b. 1969), former West Ham United footballer
• John Milbank (b. 1952), Anglican theologian
• Ondine Achampong (b.2004) British artistic gymnast world, European commonwealth medalist

See full reference details below.

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |last=Munby (ed) |first=Lionel M. |author2=Various |title=The History of Kings Langley |year=1963 |publisher=Kings Langley branch of the Workers' Educational Association }}
• {{cite book |last1=Hastie |first1=Scott |others=David Spain (photographs) |title=Kings Langley, A Hertfordshire Village|year=1991 |publisher=Alpine Press Ltd |location=Kings Langley |isbn=0-9507647-1-X }}
• {{cite book |last1=Hastie |first1=Scott |others=David Spain (photographs) |title=A Hertfordshire Valley |publisher=Alpine Press Ltd |location=Kings Langley |isbn=0-9528631-0-3

}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20040420095414/http://www.kingslangley.org.uk/index.htm Kings Langley, its history and local architecture] Kings Langley Local History and Museum Society. Accessed January 2008
• [http://www.online-archaeology.co.uk/UKArchaeologyMap/UKArchaeologyMapViewItem/tabid/56/Default.aspx?IID=549 Kings langley Roman Villa] at UK Archaeology Map. Accessed January 2008
• Hertfordshire Federation of Women's Institutes; Ann Roxburgh (Forward) (1986). The Hertfordshire Village Book. Countryside Books. Section on Kings Langley. {{ISBN|0-905392-71-X}}.

{{Sister project links|voy=Kings Langley|wikt=no}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060415082418/http://www.kingslangley.herts.sch.uk/ Kings Langley Secondary School]
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070708164035/http://www.rsskl.org/ Rudolf Steiner School Kings Langley]}}
• [http://www.hertfordshire-genealogy.co.uk/links/kings-langley.htm Kings Langley (A Guide to Old Hertfordshire)]
• [http://www.kings-langley-churches.org.uk/ Kings Langley Churches]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060717013240/http://www.kingslangleybakau.org/ Kings Langley and Bakau (Gambia) Link]

{{Civil parishes of Hertfordshire}}

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Category:Villages in Hertfordshire

Category:Dacorum

Category:Civil parishes in Hertfordshire

Category:Burial sites of the House of York

Category:Burial sites of the House of Plantagenet

Category:Burial sites of the Mortimer family