Aldbury

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not to be confused with Albury.
Aldbury


The stocks and pond at the centre of the village
Aldbury (Hertfordshire)
Aldbury

Aldbury shown within Hertfordshire
OS grid reference SP9612
Shire county Hertfordshire
Region East
Constituent country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Police Hertfordshire
Fire Hertfordshire
Ambulance East of England
European Parliament East of England
List of places: UK • England • Hertfordshire

Coordinates: 51°47′N 0°36′W / 51.79, -0.6

Aldbury is a village in Hertfordshire, England, near the borders of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire nestled in a valley close to Ashridge Park. The nearest town is Tring; Tring railway station, 1.0 miles to the west, is in the parish of Aldbury. Uphill from the village are the Bridgewater monument and the Ashridge estate.

As a village of the Old English type Aldbury has perhaps no equal in the county. In the centre is the green and pond; close by stand the stocks and whipping-post, in excellent preservation, a primary school and the Church of Saint John the Baptist is of Early English style. The church was restored in 1867, and is notable for the Verney Chapel, which is separated from the nave by a screen of stone, and contains a monument to Sir Robert Whittingham, who was slain at the battle of Tewkesbury. The church also contains memorials of the Hides and Harcourts, families who left several charities to the poor of the parish. In the days of Edward the Confessor the manor of Aldeberie was held by one Alwin, the king’s thegn. The ascent of the wooded slope towards the Bridgewater Monument takes the visitor through one of the most beautiful districts in the county, and a noble prospect stretches before him as he looks back through the beeches towards the village in the valley beneath.

As a result of its charm and state of preservation, it is a popular rural location for films and television. Amongst the television series filmed in the village are:

  • several episodes of the popular sixties TV series, The Avengers, including the complete episode Murdersville;
  • the initial advertisements for the National Lottery - despite the fact that the shop was unable to sell tickets at the time; and
  • the short-lived Shillingbury Tales series, filmed in 1980. The church, churchyard/graveyard and path to the primary school as well as the Greyhound public house also featured heavily in a classic Dave Allen sketch (the race to the funeral between two funeral parties).

Films that have had scenes set in Aldbury include:

It is a small village of around 800 inhabitants, with a small shop and two traditional country pubs: the Greyhound and the Valiant Trooper, both are run by the same landlord currently. The Greyhound has featured in the movie: Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (including a scene involving fox hunting that was cut from the cinema release but is on the DVD release) and Inspector Morse - the TV detective series.

The parish church at Aldbury, from a 1922 guide to Hertfordshire
The parish church at Aldbury, from a 1922 guide to Hertfordshire

The largest house in the village is Stocks House which, among its various incarnations, was the country home of Victor Lownes and the rural base of Playboy UK; and before that home of Mary Augusta Ward, the author of Clinton Magna whose character Bessie Costrell lived in Aldbury. A troop of Morris men is based here and perform on certain key dates outside the Greyhound public house.

Aldbury Parish Council is the local administrative body and covers Aldbury village itself and the hamlet at Tring Station - in Saxon times, Aldbury lay in Dacorum, one of the Hundreds of Hertfordshire and in 1973, the Dacorum Borough of Hertfordshire was created with Aldbury in it.

[edit] References