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Bushey

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"The populous village of Bushey is rather more than a mile from Watford, in the parish of its name and hundred of Dacorum. The church, dedicated to St. James, is a handsome structure, with a tower surmounting its western end; the living is a rectory, in the patronage of the rector and fellows of Exeter College, Oxford. There is a chapel for independents, with a Sunday school attached; and on Bushey heath, contiguous to the village, has lately been erected a neat chapel of ease, the great increase of population in the parish having rendered this measure indispensable. The prospect from the heath is grand and extensive, embracing St. Albans, Westminster Abbey, Hampton Court and Windsor, with the course of the Thames, along the borders of Surrey and Middlesex. Population in 1831, 1,586; the number at present (1839) probably may amount to 2,300." [From Royal National and Commercial Directory and Topography of Herts, Pigot & Co., London, 1839] "BUSHEY is a large village, now practically the SE. suburb of Watford. The station (L & N.W.R,) is in the hollow between the village itself and High Street, Watford; cyclists must be careful of the descent towards that town. Near the centre of the village is a small green and pond, and here stands the partly Dec. church of St. James, rebuilt in 1871 by Sir Gilbert Scott. The E.E window, triple lancet, is to the memory of Edwards Marjoribanks of the Hall (d. 1879) and his wife. Silas Titus, whose name is remembered for his supposed authorship of the notorious pamphlet Killing noe Murder, was born at Bushey and buried in this church; there is a headstone to his daughter in the graveyard.

"BUSHEY HEATH (1 mile S.E. from the above) is on the Middlesex border. It is now an ecclesiastical district, formed in 1889,; the church, an E.E. brick structure, dates from 1838; the porches were added in 1882. The district is very healthy.

"Bushey, Little, is E. from Bushey Heath, which it almost joins. "Bushey Mill is on (the river Colne, 3/4 mile N.E. from Watford Junction."

[From Hertfordshire - Little Guide 1903, Methuen & Co., London, 1903]

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Church History

There is a picture (11 kbytes) of the parish church of St. James, Bushey; supplied by Paul R. Joiner.

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Church Records

The Parish Registers for the periods:-

  • Baptisms - 1684-1930
  • Marriages - 1684-1970
  • Burials - 1737-1941
  • Bishop's Transcripts - 1562-1824

are deposited at Hertfordshire Record Office, County Hall, Hertford, SG13 8DE. [D/P26]

Entries from the Marriage Registers for the period 1684-1837 are included in The Allen Index at Hertfordshire Record Office.

The period 1581-1875 is covered by the IGI.

Transcripts of the parish registers for the period 1560-1891 are deposited at the Society of Genealogists, 14 Charterhouse Buildings, Goswell Road, LONDON, EC1M 7BA.

S. Peter, Bushey Heath (separated from Bushey in 1889)

  • Baptisms 1888-1900 have been transcribed.
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Description & Travel

You can see pictures of Bushey which are provided by:

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Gazetteers

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History

The Domesday Book has the following entries for Bushey at Chapter 33 (folio 139 c):-

"2 Geoffrey (de Mandeville) holds BUSHEY himself. It answers for 15 hides. Land for 10
   ploughs. In Lordship 5 hides; 2 ploughs there; a third possible.
     10 villagers with 1 Frenchman and 8 smallholders have 5
       ploughs; a sixth possible.
     2 mills at 8s; pasture for the livestock; woodland, 1000 pigs.
   The total value is and was £10; before 1066 £15.
     Leofwine, a thane of King Edward's, held this manor. 1 Freeman
   there, who was not there before 1066; he has 1 hide; before
   1066 he was Queen Edith's man; he could sell"
"In CASHIO Hundred
4 In CASSIO Thorold hold 1 hide from Geoffrey. Land for 1 plough,
  but it is not there.
    Meadow for 1 plough; woodland, 30 pigs.
  The value is and was 5s; before 1066, 20s.
     Alwin Hunter, Queen Edith's man, held this land; he
  could sell. Geoffrey placed this land in Bushey, where
  it was not before 1066."

There is a long extract from Hertfordshire: London's Country Neighbour by Arthur MEE, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1939.

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Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference TQ132953 (Lat/Lon: 51.645114, -0.365369), Bushey which are provided by: