"Watford - My Home Town" Top 5 Page for this destination Watford by St_Vincent

Watford Travel Guide: 22 reviews and 98 photos

My favourite view of Cassiobury Park - Watford
My favourite view of Cassiobury Park

Although I have lived in Watford since 1989 I wanted to go back a bit further when researching its history so thought a good place to start would be the Domesday Book. What I found was that Watford is not mentioned by name but it seems to be accepted that it was part of the entry for Cashio, which is as follows,

"The Abbot holds Cashio. It was rated for 20 hides; the abbot has 19 of them. The arable is 22 hides, in demesne 6 hides. There are three French men born and 36 villeins and 8 bordars who hold 15 ploughs. Three bordars besides and two serfs, four mills. There is meadow for 22 plough teams common pasture sufficient for the livestock and woodland for 1,000 swine. It is worth 28 pounds: in the time of Edward the Confessor 30 pounds. Turold held one hide of Goisfride de Maneville in Cashio. Alfred, huntsman to Queen Editha, held this land."

Cashio was at that time (1085) a Norman manor caught under the feudal system and the Lord of the Manor was the Abbot of St. Albans (now a nearby city that you can read about in my St. Albans page). The 36 villeins referred to were tenants who held 30 acres, bordars held 5 acres, and serfs were landless men or slaves. The 'three French men' may have been members of the monastery.

After the dissolution of the monasteries, King Henry VIII declared himself Lord of the Manor and subsequently sold it to Richard Morrison in 1545. He built a family estate that eventually becoming home to the Earl of Essex. After it passed through a number of family members the 8th Earl of Essex moved out due to the cost of upkeep and in 1909 most of the estate was sold to Watford Council who demolished the house and used the land for housing and a public park. So now in Watford we have an area that is referred to as the Cassiobury estate and also the wonderful Cassiobury Park which is where the above photo was taken.

  • Intro Updated Aug 14, 2007
  • Add to Trip Planner (?)
  • Report Abuse

Reviews (8)

Hotel close to Watford Junction - Watford Hotel close to Watford Junction Hotels (2)

This hotel is quite close to me in Watford but as it is new I thought I'd try it out and it also allowed me to get to an... more travel advice

How many pillows do you need? - Watford Good hotel in poor location Hotels (2)

This hotel is not far from where I live but as I had some expiring credits with a hotel booking site and they had a... more travel advice

Watford Junction Station - Watford Getting to Watford Transportation (1)

The transport links to and from Watford are excellent and the hub is Watford Junction train station, just a 20 minute... more travel advice

Shopping Mall - Watford Shopping Mall Shopping (1)

Shopping in Watford town centre is dominated by the Harlequin Centre which covers most of one side of the lower high... more travel advice

Comments (6)

  • Reply
    traceyspacey's Profile Photo
    Aug 21, 2008 at 4:24 AM

    How did you manage to get a picture of inside the Harlequin centre. My boyfriend tried and was told off by a security guard.

  • Reply
    alywang's Profile Photo
    Sep 16, 2007 at 11:39 PM

    Hi,Clive!you took a great picture of the Cassiobury Park:)

  • Reply
    iwys's Profile Photo
    Apr 17, 2007 at 6:48 AM

    You make Watford look quite idyllic. I guess we all see our hometowns like that (mine's Southampton - another place that's not exactly a tourist hotspot). Hey, you should update your Sports tip: Watford have just had another season in the Premiership.

  • Reply
    SWFC_Fan's Profile Photo
    Mar 12, 2006 at 12:44 PM

    Great tips on your home city, Clive. Here's hoping The Hornets can overhaul our two Yorkshire rivals in the coming months! :-)

  • Reply
    sourbugger's Profile Photo
    Feb 28, 2006 at 12:49 PM

    aha, you promised watford - and you duly delivered. God bless all who sail in her

  • Reply
    hunterV's Profile Photo
    Feb 11, 2006 at 5:32 AM

    Great! I admire and share your love of history!

St_Vincent's Related Pages

Watford Travel Guide

 
Explore the World
Travel Destinations
St_Vincent's Profile Photo

St_Vincent Lives Here!

St_Vincent

“Travelling with friends is a true test of friendship”

Online Now

Male

Top 1,000 Travel Writer
Member Rank:
0 0 7 9 7
Forum Rank:
0 0 3 8 4

Badges & Stats in Watford

  • 8 Reviews
  • 17 Photos
  • 1 Forum posts
  • 8 Comments
  • 6,458PageViews
  • See All Stats
  • See All Badges (9)

Have you been to Watford?

  Share Your Travels  

Latest Activity in Watford

Photos in Watford

See All Photos (17)

Top 10 Pages

See All Travel Pages (33)

Friends

See All Friends (8)

Travel Interests

See All Travel Interests (5)

Latest Watford hotel reviews

Ramada Watford
129 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 18, 2013
Premier Inn Watford - Centre West
267 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 19, 2013
Park Inn Watford
172 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 19, 2013
Jurys Inn Watford
218 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 19, 2013
Premier Inn Watford - Centre East
228 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 19, 2013
Travelodge Watford Central
8 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 18, 2013
Hilton Watford
264 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 15, 2013
Premier Inn Watford - North
146 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 17, 2013
Best Western The White House Hotel
75 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 20, 2013
Holiday Inn Express London-Watford Junction
208 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 20, 2013