Broxbourne grew around inns on the
Great Cambridge Road, now known as the A10. A number of old houses and inns dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries still line the High Street (now the A1170).
The Hertfordshire Golf and Country Club is a 16th Century house with later alterations and additions. The Manor of Broxbourne has an entry in the
Domesday Book as Brochtsborne, where
Broxbourne Mill is listed. The manor was held in the time of
Edward the Confessor by
Stigand, the
Archbishop of Canterbury, but had passed into Norman hands following the
Conquest.
King John granted the manor to the
Knights Hospitallers until the
Dissolution, when it passed to John Cock, after whose family Cock Lane is named. The
parish church of St Augustine was entirely rebuilt in the 15th century, although a 12th-century
Purbeck marble font survives. The interior has a number of monuments and
brasses dating from the 15th to the 19th centuries. The three stage tower has a belfry with a
peal of eight bells, three of which are dated 1615. The
New River which passes through the centre of the town, was constructed in the early 17th century. A
terra cotta works was opened in the mid 19th century. by
James Pulham and Son, who specialised in creating artificial rock garden features; some of their work survives in the gardens at
Sandringham House and
Buckingham Palace.
Broxbourne railway station was built in 1840. The station was substantially redeveloped in the mid-20th century. It has been
Grade II listed since March 2009; Pulham House was demolished in 1957. All that remained was one of the six brick kilns and the horse-drawn puddling wheel that ground the terracotta, which are now Grade II listed. The local council originally conserved these in 1986, and in 2016 full conservation was undertaken as part of a joint project between B3Living, Lowewood Museum and Broxbourne Borough Council, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The area was exploited for its gravel and
sand extraction in the twentieth century leaving numerous water-filled lakes. Several of the lakes form part of the
Lee Valley Regional Park. == Local government ==