Hunton Bridge

Hunton Bridge
Hunton Bridge
	Hunton Bridge Location within Hertfordshire
Population	327 (1991 Census)
OS grid reference	TL067030
District	Three Rivers;
Shire county	Hertfordshire;
Region	East;
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	KINGS LANGLEY
Postcode district	WD4
Dialling code	01923
Police	Hertfordshire
Fire	Hertfordshire
Ambulance	East of England
UK Parliament	Hemel Hempstead;
	List of places UK England Hertfordshire 51°41′37″N 0°26′04″W / 51.693714°N 0.434516°W

Hunton Bridge is a small settlement near Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, England, with a historic royal connection. Its population in the 1991 Census was 327.^[1] It is in the Three Rivers population of Langleybury.

Hunton Bridge enjoyed its greatest prosperity during 1810–26, when the Sparrows Herne Turnpike ran through the village. Prior to that date the turnpike had run along Gypsy Lane and Upper Highway. In 1810 it was rerouted along Old Mill Lane to the village, and up the hill to reconnect with Upper Highway. By 1826 the presence of the canal and the works associated with it had dried out the bottom land sufficiently for the turnpike to be rerouted along what is now the A41 avoiding the climb up Hunton Bridge Hill.

Today the village is situated between the M25 London orbital motorway and a spur of the motorway leading to Watford. The A41 trunk road runs just west of the village. The Hunton Bridge filling station just off the Watford spur (Junction 19 of the M25) is a local landmark.

History

St Paul's Church

St Paul's Church is a Grade II* listed building, dating from 1863 to 1865. It was designed by Henry Woodyer for William Jones Loyd of Langleybury House.^[2] The Old Vicarage alongside, now a private home, dates from 1879.

Public houses

Hunton Bridge currently has two public houses. It used to have five, having lost the Maltsters Arms in 1963, the Farriers Arms in 1965, and The Dog and Partridge in August 2017.^[3]

The remaining pubs are :

The Kings Head: a 300-year-old grade II listed building which has now been refurbished as a restaurant and bar. In the years when the turnpike ran through Hunton Bridge it served as a coaching inn;
the Kings Lodge, which was built in 1642 as a hunting lodge for King Charles I, also refurbished as a restaurant and bar.

1 Bridge Road

The land adjacent to the Grand Union Canal and to the north of Bridge Road was in industrial use from the opening of the canal. A coal wharf known as Hunton Bridge Wharf was established approximately 100 years after the opening, consisting of a tramway, warehouse and managers dwelling. Of these buildings only the cottage remains at 1 Bridge Road.

The Old School House

The original house was demolished and replaced with the current fine brick early Georgian building which was built in the late 1720s. Subsequent changes were made during the 1800s such as the addition of the library joining the main house to the servant wing.

The schoolhouse was used for Church of England services until the building of St Paul's church across the road in Langleybury.^[4]

Hunton Canal Bridge

The original structure was demolished in 1923 and replaced with an ornate reinforced concrete skew arch. The structure includes an ornate cornice to the parapet and balustrades. The existing western edge beam was demolished in 1983 due to a vehicular impact with a new aluminium parapet. The structure was Grade II listed in 1985.^[5]

Images of Hunton Bridge

Hunton Bridge filling station
Kings Head 2008
1 Bridge Road 1999
The Old School House 1999
St Paul's Church, Langleybury (Henry Woodyer, 1863-5)

Planning history

On 28 June 1984, Three Rivers District Council Planning Committee resolved that an area of Hunton Bridge, should be designated as a Conservation Area, and subsequently extended in 1990 in terms of the Planning (Listed Building and Conservation Areas) Act 1990.

Listed buildings within the boundary include

Grade II* Listed

Church of St. Paul
The Kings Lodge

Grade II Listed

Lych Gate
Loyd Memorial Cross
The Old School House
The Kings Head Public House
K6 Telephone Kiosk
Hunton Canal Bridge

Locally Important Buildings

1, Bridge Road
Brookside Cottages

References

^ ^a ^b "Fact file: Hunton Bridge". Hertfordshire.com. Archived from the original on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2007.
^ "Church of St Paul A Grade II* Listed Building in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire". British Listed Buildings.
^ Hastie, Scott (1996). A Hertfordshire Valley. Kings Langley: Alpine Press. p. 96. ISBN 0-9528631-0-3.
^ "Consecration of St Paul's Church, Langleybury". Hertford Mercury and Reformer. 19 November 1864. Retrieved 15 August 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "BRIDGE CARRYING WATFORD ROAD (A41) OVER THE GRAND CANAL, Abbots Langley - 1173257 | Historic England".

External links

Media related to Hunton Bridge at Wikimedia Commons

[census1991-1] "Fact file: Hunton Bridge". Hertfordshire.com. Archived from the original on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2007.

[2] "Church of St Paul A Grade II* Listed Building in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire". British Listed Buildings.

[AHV-3] Hastie, Scott (1996). A Hertfordshire Valley. Kings Langley: Alpine Press. p. 96. ISBN 0-9528631-0-3.

[4] "Consecration of St Paul's Church, Langleybury". Hertford Mercury and Reformer. 19 November 1864. Retrieved 15 August 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[5] "BRIDGE CARRYING WATFORD ROAD (A41) OVER THE GRAND CANAL, Abbots Langley - 1173257 | Historic England".

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