In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Rickmansworth like this:
RICKMANSWORTH, a small town, a parish, and a sub-district, in Watford district, Herts. The town standsat the confluence of the rivers Chess and Colne, on the Grand Junction canal, and at the terminus of the Watford and Rickmansworth railway, 3¾ miles W by S of Watford; was originally called Richmeresweorth; haspleasant environs; attracts many anglers, for sake ofsport in the neighbouring waters; is irregularly laid out; was once a market-town; and has a head post-office, ‡designated Rickmansworth, Herts, a railway station, a banking office, a good inn, a timbered market house onpillars, a church, Baptist and Wesleyan chapels, an endowed school with £24 a year, alms-houses with £10, other charities £32, an extensive brewery, a silk mill, four paper mills, cattle fairs on 20 July and 24 Nov., and a fair on the Saturday before the third Monday of Sept. ...
The church is large and good, with ancient embattled tower; has a fine painted window, 300 years old, brought from a church at Rouen; and contains a brass of 1585, and monuments of the Duke of Monmouth, the Fother-leys, the Coltes, and the Earles. The Wesleyan chapel was rebuilt in 1866, at a cost of about £2, 500; is in the early English style; and has an octagonal tower and spire75 feet high. The parish contains also Mill-End, Croxley-Green, West Hyde, Batchworth, and Chorley-Wood. Acres, 9, 937. Real property, £26, 550; of which £150 are in gas-works. Pop., 4, 873. Houses, 1,004. The property is much divided. The chief manor belonged to the Saxonkings; was given by Offa to St. Albans abbey; went, at the dissolution, to Bishop Ridley; was given, by Mary, to Bishop Bonner; reverted, in the time of Elizabeth, to the Crown; and passed to the Fotherleys and the Whitfields. Moor Park was formerly the residence of Cardinal Wolsey and the Duke of Monmouth; and is now the seat of Lord Ebury. Rickmansworth Park is the seat of J. Arden, Esq. There are several other goodresidences. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £510.* Patron, the Bishop of Rochester. The p. curacies of West Hyde and Chorley-Wood are separate benefices. Baptist chapels are at Mill-End and Chorley-Wood.—The sub-district contains also Sarratt parish, and comprises 11, 487 acres. Pop., 5, 609. Houses, 1, 146.
Rickmansworth through time
Rickmansworth is now part of Three Rivers district. Click here for graphs and data of how Three Rivers has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Rickmansworth itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Rickmansworth, in Three Rivers and Hertfordshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/707
Date accessed: 25th April 2024
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