Early history There is evidence of some limited prehistoric occupation around the Watford area, with a few Celtic and Roman finds, though there is no evidence of a settlement until much later. Watford stands where the
River Colne could be crossed on an
ancient trackway from the southeast to the northwest. Watford's High Street follows the line of part of this route. The town was located on the first dry ground above the marshy edges of the River Colne. The name Watford may have arisen from the
Old English for "waet" (full of water – the area was marshy), or "wath" (hunting), and
ford. Estate engraving by Johannes Kip and Leonard Knyff (1707) now in the
Watford Museum The name Watford is first mentioned in an
Anglo-Saxon charter of 1007, where "Watforda" is one of the places marking the boundary of "Oxanhæge". It is not mentioned in the
Domesday Book of 1086, when this area was part of St Albans Abbey's manor of Cashio. In the 12th century the Abbey was granted a charter allowing it to hold a market here, and the building of St Mary's Church began. The settlement's location helped it to grow, since as well as trade along this north–south through route it possessed good communications into the vale of
St Albans to the east and into the Chiltern Hills along the valley of the
River Chess to the west. The town grew modestly, assisted by travellers passing through to
Berkhamsted Castle and the royal palace at
Kings Langley. A big house was built at
Cassiobury in the 16th century. This was partly rebuilt in the 17th century and another substantial house was built nearby at
The Grove. The houses were expanded and developed throughout the following centuries. Cassiobury became the family seat of the
Earls of Essex, and The Grove the seat of the
Earls of Clarendon. Writing between 1724 and 1727,
Daniel Defoe described Watford as a "genteel market town, very long, having but one street." In 1762,
Sparrows Herne Turnpike Road was established across the Chilterns. The
toll road approximately followed the route of the original
A41 road. The location of a
toll house can be seen at the bottom of Chalk Hill on the Watford side of Bushey Arches; set in an old flint stone wall is a Sparrows Herne Trust plaque.
Industrial Revolution Watford remained an agricultural community with some
cottage industry for many centuries. The
Industrial Revolution brought the
Grand Junction Canal (now
Grand Union Canal) from 1798 and the
London and Birmingham Railway from 1837, both located here for the same reasons the road had followed centuries before, seeking an easy gradient over the Chiltern Hills. The land-owning interests permitted the canal to follow closely by the river Gade, but the prospect of smoke-emitting
steam trains drove them to ensure the railway gave a wide berth to the Cassiobury and Grove estates. Consequently, although the road and canal follow the easier valley route, the railway company was forced to build an expensive tunnel under
Leavesden to the north of the town.
Watford's original railway station opened in 1837 on the west side of St Albans Road, a small, single-storey red-brick building. It closed in 1858 when it was replaced by a new, larger station at
Watford Junction approximately further south-east. The old station house still stands today; it is a Grade-II-listed building, now in the middle of a high density housing development, it and was for many years a second-hand car
dealership. Watford Junction railway station is situated to the north east of the town centre. These developments gave the town excellent communications and stimulated its industrial growth during the 19th and 20th centuries. The Grand Union Canal, allowed coal to be brought into the district and paved the way for industrial development. The Watford Gas and Coke Company was formed in 1834 and gas works built. The canal allowed paper-making mills to be sited at Croxley. The
John Dickinson and Co. mill beside the canal manufactured the Croxley brand of fine quality paper. There had been brewing in Watford from the 17th century and, by the 19th century, two industrial scale brewers
Benskins and
Sedgwicks were located in the town. The parish church of St Mary's was extensively restored in 1871. Watford's population had risen to 17,063 by 1891 to become very cramped. Local landowners sold land for the development of the town and it was bought up by commercial interests. Various factories and other works sprung up in Watford, mostly breweries and prints, but also engineering works, a steam laundry, a cold storage company and a
cocoa processing plant. The town expanded rapidly, most of the new inhabitants moving in from London. Some of these people were among those who rioted in 1902 when the celebration for King
Edward VII's coronation was postponed. The council had a programme of
slum clearance which stopped with the outbreak of
World War I in 1914. Building council houses resumed after the war and in the 1920s the Harebreaks estate was developed. By the 1920s, printing had become the biggest industry in Watford. The biggest printers in the town were Sun Printers Ltd and
Odhams Press. Watford was the biggest printing centre in the world and many advances in printing were made in Watford. During
World War II the prints were taken over by the government who used them to print propaganda. After the war, the printing industry began going into decline. Union activity was common in Watford and advances in technology meant much of the industry became obsolete. Odhams Press closed down in 1978 and The Sun moved out of Watford during the 1980s after market reforms allowed it to do so. In 1925, the
Metropolitan Railway Company built a branch to Watford, opening a station close to
Cassiobury Park. In the 1950s and 1960s, Watford was the home of the British designer furniture manufacturer
Hille. At their premises on St Albans Road, designed by the
modernist architect Ernő Goldfinger, the designer
Robin Day conceived the
polypropylene stacking chair, now recognised as a classic of modern design. Although Hille left the area in 1983, the listed Goldfinger building still stands on St Albans Road.
Mod culture found expression through clubs such as the
Ace of Herts in the 1960s. The
de Havilland factory at Leavesden was responsible for the manufacture of the aircraft engines and later became Leavesden Aerodrome, to the north of Watford. No longer operational, it was converted into
Leavesden Film Studios, now famously the home of the
Harry Potter films. ==Geography==