Croxley Green
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Croxley Green | |
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| Population | 12,000 |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | |
| District | Three Rivers |
| Shire county | Hertfordshire |
| Region | East |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | RICKMANSWORTH |
| Postcode district | WD3 |
| Dial code | 01923 |
| Police | Hertfordshire |
| Fire | Hertfordshire |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| UK Parliament | South West Hertfordshire |
| European Parliament | East of England |
| List of places: UK • England • Hertfordshire | |
Croxley Green is a village of approximately 5000 dwellings and 12000 residents located between Watford (to the north-east) and Rickmansworth (to the south-west) in Hertfordshire, England.
Croxley is about 20 miles from London. Train services are currently provided by the Watford branch of the London Underground Metropolitan Line from Croxley station. The journey takes around 40 minutes to Baker Street or 60 minutes to Aldgate in the City of London. The village is further away from the now-closed Croxley Green railway station on the Croxley Green to Watford line.
Croxley Green, as suggested by the name, has a large village green which is surrounded by some of its oldest buildings (17th Century). There is extensive building from the 19th Century centred around New Road (ironically, one of the oldest roads in the village), plus a good deal of housing stock from the 1930s, built at the time of the Metropolitan Line branch. The Green houses the "Revels on The Green", an annual village fair which includes a traditional maypole dance, as illustrated on the road signs on entering the village. The revels were featured in Metro-land, the 1973 television documentary by John Betjeman, who referred to them solemnly as "a tradition dating back to 1952". The annual Mummer folk play "St. George & The Dragon" is played out during the Christmas period at a number of village hostelries.
Croxley's biggest claim to fame is the writing paper Croxley Script, which used to be produced in the village by the paper maker John Dickinson. Although Dickinson's left many years ago (to nearby Apsley, Hemel Hempstead), the legacy lives on in street names (Dickinson Square, Dickinson Avenue, Barton Way and others) some of which contain housing built by the company for mill workers at the end of the 19th Century and others named after Mill owners and management etc..
Croxley Green has an active Residents Association and Parish Council and is also the home of an array of local organisations dedicated to pastimes and leisure. The Croxley Green Society run the "Revels" and there are varying clubs including the Camera, Needlecrafters, Wine, Vineyard, Bicycle, Jazz, and Folk to mention the first few.
Croxley Green also had other famous residents. John Theodore Tussaud (1858–1943) the great-grandson of Madame Tussaud lived at The Hawthorns, 17 New Road, in the early years of the 20th century (c1903-1914). Barbara Woodhouse the dog trainer presented Training Dogs the Woodhouse Way on television in the 1980s and lived at Campions from the 1940s to the 1980s. Double Bassist George Trebar grew up in the village from 1974 to 1994. It is also the home to the 1980 BBC Mastermind winner (and sometime London black cab driver) Fred Housego.
