Brief History of Bricket Wood

Bricket Wood is straddled across the top of a till which was deposited during the Ice Age 30,000 years ago.

A river flowed through the area (in the valley now occupied by the River Colne) from west to east into the North Sea. The river became blocked by a glacier somewhere near Hertford and a large lake was formed. Eventually the valley filled and the overflow formed the current River Thames.

The water in the valley took many years to disperse, and the water flowing around the till would have made it look like an island. Bricket means the Bright Islet.

The Anglo-Saxons created a village called Heanhamstede - the place of the High Heath - which was approximately 8 acres and mentioned in the Doomsday Book (1088). It has been estimated that about 165 people lived on the site at that time. It was abandoned by 1353 (possibly due to the Black Death in 1349). The area is now known as Common Meadow. Two dwellings were built on the eastern half of the site - The Hansteads and Green Man Cottage as they are known today.

Not much is known about the area during the 300 years following the demise of the mediaeval village.

Bricket Wood was once isolated as it was surounded by forest which extended to the boundary of St Albans.

There is the hamlet of Waterdell (now under the M1 J6 fly-over) and another of Oakhurst (its name changed around 1400 to Netherwyld) nearer to Watling Street

At the far end of Bricket Wood Common was a settlement known as Cold Harbour, but by the early 19th century had its name changed to Bricket. To avoid confusion after the railway was built, and a halt constructed about 1 mile away, it was renamed again to Old Bricket.

Documents from th 18th century reveal wheelwrights and carpenters rented areas of woodland for the raw materials for their trade.

Cottage industries grew in the 19th century. Bricket Wood was involved with a special straw plaiting known as Brazillian, for the burgeoning straw hat industry in St Albans and Luton.

In 1858 a 6.5 mile branch railway line from St Albans to Watford was built.

This information has been extracted from the book:

THE CIVIL PARISH OF ST. STEPHEN

A History of the People and Places - Volume One

© Brenda Burr and Roger Shepherd 1999

ISBN 0 9535986 0 8

St Stephen Parish Council, The Parish Centre, Station Road, Bricket Wood St Albans, Hertordshire AL2 3PJ

Tel / Fax:: 01923 681443

Item updated: 06 May 2008