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Radlett

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Template:Infobox England place with map Radlett is a large village to the north of London between St Albans and Elstree on Watling Street in the Hertsmere district of Hertfordshire, England. It is covered by two wards, Aldenham East and Aldenham West.

Locality

Radlett lies in the valley of Tykes Water, a stream that runs north from Aldenham Reservoir to the River Colne. Now entirely surrounded by the Metropolitan Green Belt, it is seeing significant 'infill' development and pressure to relax the Green Belt restrictions. Radlett railway station serves the village, with First Capital Connect 'all stations' services to central and south London. This is also the main line that runs from London St. Pancras to Sheffield and Leeds. Radlett is a prosperous place with many detached houses in large gardens although in the older centre there are a few streets with semi detached and terraced houses.

Watling Street, which is the main road through Radlett, has a wide variety of good local shops and restaurants, a Post Office, and the Radlett Centre with a 300 seat auditorium for various performances. Attached to the Radlett Centre is the local Public Library.

Radlett High Street is home to many shops, restaurants and services.

History

There has been a settlement known as Radlett since at least as far back as 1453 [1]. However modern Radlett has been created almost entirely since the end of the 19th Century, for despite its position on Watling Street it seems to have been ignored as a place for a substantial settlement. During the 19th century Radlett was a rural community dominated by the estates of Kendals, which owned most of the land to the west of Watling Street, and Newberries and Aldenham Lodge which owned the land to the east. The only buildings then were a pub and a few buildings at the crossroads at the bottom of Shenley Hill.

In 1823 Radlett was the site of an infamous murder. (See Radlett murder.)

In 1860 the Midland Railway was extended from Bedford into London and a station was built at Radlett connecting it with London. On 8th December 1865 the Ecclesiastical Parish of Radlett was created out of the eastern part of Aldenham and this marks the start of the modern history of the village. Development could only start when the landowners sold off their land for this purpose and this started in the final decade of the 19th century when land to the west of Watling Street was sold off. In 1910 the estate of Aldenham Lodge to the north of Shenley Hill was released for development and in 1935 the Newberries estate. Newberries mansion was demolished in the 1950s and Aldenham Lodge in 1964.

The introduction of the Metropolitan Green Belt in the 1950s set a legal framework limiting further outward growth beyond the then existing limits of the village, and since then new development has been restricted to infilling within the built-up area. Despite this, many new houses continue to be built in former large gardens, and the population now stands at over 9000.

In 2005, and 2006, there was a large campaign in the village, and surrounding areas to save the Fire Station, which was opened 100 years ago. Unfortunately, the campaign failed, and the station closed in October 2006 [2]. There is now a campaign to prevent the building of a huge distribution centre at what was previously the Radlett Aerodrome Site. If this went ahead, there would be a huge impact on the area's already strained infrastucture [3].

Transport

Radlett lies close to the M25 and M1 motorways and the A1 trunk road. There is a frequent commuter rail service that connects Radlett to central London. This rail service also provides direct services to London Gatwick and London Luton airports, whilst London Heathrow is just a forty minute drive away.

Religion

2001 Census Data

Radlett has the third lowest proportion of Christians in England and Wales, (51.9 per cent), and has a Jewish population of 24.1 per cent, the highest proportion in England and Wales.

Area All people Christian (%) Buddhist (%) Hindu (%) Jewish (%) Muslim (%) Sikh (%) Other (%) No religion (%) Not stated (%)
England and Wales 52,041,916 71.75 0.28 1.06 0.50 2.97 0.63 0.29 14.81 7.71
Radlett 8,034 51.93 0.25 2.55 24.06 0.81 0.06 0.78 10.01 9.55

Churches and Synagogues

There are four churches in Radlett; Christ Church, an Anglican church on Watling Street founded in 1864; St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in the Crosspath; St. John's Anglican church, a sister church of Christ Church, in Gills Hill Lane; and The United Free Church in Station Road. The United Free Church was formed by uniting the Methodist and United Reformed Churches in Radlett. There is also a thriving Jewish community in Radlett with two Synagogues; Radlett United Synagogue serves the Orthodox Jewish community, and Radlett & Bushey Reform Synagogue (Rabbi Paul Freedman) serves Radlett's Reform Jewish community and is one of the largest synagogues within the Reform Judaism movement in the UK.

Schools

There are nine schools in Radlett

There are no secondary schools in Radlett, however, Aldenham School, and Haberdashers' Aske's School for boys and girls are two public schools nearby.

Accommodation

There is one hotel in Radlett, the Red Lion, operated by Youngs brewery, with 24 beds, a restaurant and a conference room.

Twinning

Radlett is twinned with:

Miscellany and Trivia

  • Radlett has two Scout Groups; 1st Radlett (traditionally Christian), and 4th Radlett (traditionally Jewish).
  • Radlett contained, until 1970 the main factory of the Handley Page aircraft company with an adjacent airfield available for flight tests and that it featured as a set in many of the films made at the nearby Elstree Film Studios. There are proposals emerging in 2006 to re-use much of the abandoned airfield as a rail-served freight depot.
  • Parts of the Stanley Kubrick film A Clockwork Orange were filmed in The Warren in Radlett, and the film's script even contains references to 'Radlett Police Station'.
  • TV show, Robot Wars was filmed just north of Radlett [4].

Famous residents

  1. ^ http://www.hertfordshire-genealogy.co.uk/data/places/radlett.htm
  2. ^ http://www.saveradlettfirestation.co.uk
  3. ^ http://www.strife.biz/
  4. ^ http://www.djhistory.com/bb/displayStory.php?id=50&group=g_general
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