Aldbury small village in Hertfordshire
Aldbury is a village in Hertfordshire, England, near the borders
of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, in a valley close to Ashridge Park. The
nearest town is Tring; Tring railway station, 1 mile west, is in the parish of
Aldbury. Uphill from the village are the Bridgewater
monument and the Ashridge estate.
Aldbury is a village of the
Old English type. In the centre is a green and pond; close by stand stocks and
whipping-post, in excellent preservation, a primary school and the Church of Saint John
the Baptist is of Early English style. The church was restored in 1867, and is
notable for the Verney Chapel, separated from the nave by a screen of stone. It
contains a monument to Sir Robert Whittingham, who was slain at the battle of Tewkesbury. The church also contains
memorials of the Hides and Harcourts, families who left charities to the poor
of the parish. In the days of Edward the Confessor the manor of Aldeberie was
held by Alwin, the king’s thegn. The ascent of the wooded slope towards the Bridgewater Monument is
one of the most beautiful districts in the county.
Aldbury is a popular
location for films and television. Among television series filmed in the
village are:
- several episodes of the sixties TV series, The
Avengers, including the complete episode Murdersville;
- the initial advertisements for the National
Lottery - despite the fact that the shop was unable to sell tickets at the
time; and
- the Shillingbury Tales series, filmed in
1980. The church, churchyard/graveyard and path to the primary school as
well as the Greyhound pub also featured in a Dave Allen sketch (the race
to the funeral between two funeral parties).
Films that have had
scenes set in Aldbury include:
- The Dirty Dozen 1967
- Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason 2004
- and the last production by Gainsborough Pictures,
"Jassy" of 1947.
Aldbury has around 800
inhabitants, a small shop, Garage, and two pubs: the Greyhound and the Valiant
Trooper. The Greyhound has featured in the movie 'Bridget Jones: The Edge of
Reason' (including a scene involving fox hunting cut from the cinema release
but on the DVD) and Inspector Morse, the TV detective series.
The parish church
at Aldbury, from a 1922 guide to Hertfordshire
The largest house is Stocks House which was the country home of Victor Lownes
and the rural base of Playboy UK;
and before that home of Mary Augusta Ward, the author of Clinton Magna
whose character Bessie Costrell lived in Aldbury. A troop of Morris men
is based here and perform outside the Greyhound.
Aldbury Parish Council is
the local administrative body and covers Aldbury village itself and the hamlet
at Tring Station - in Saxon times, Aldbury lay in Dacorum, one of the Hundreds
of Hertfordshire and in 1973, the Dacorum Borough of Hertfordshire was created
with Aldbury in it.
