London Colney

London Colney is in Hertfordshire.

Understand

London Colney is a village and civil parish in south central Hertfordshire. As of 2011 it had a population of 9,507 residents. There is almost nothing written about the London Colney area before it was mentioned in 1645, when it first appeared on a Hertfordshire map. However, in the third or fourth century A.D., Alban was captured in the London Colney area and taken to Verulamium, where he was executed after admitting he had become a Christian. St. Albans was named in his honour. London Colney grew through the years when it was on the coaching route from London to Holyhead. At one time there were 26 inns and pubs in the village to accommodate travellers, coachmen and the teams of horses. From the 19th until the late 20th century three large mental hospitals (Napsbury, Shenley, Harperbury) were in the vicinity and they employed many residents; Napsbury was inside the village boundaries. Only Harperbury, now named Kingsley Green, remains and is today much smaller.

Today London Colney is mainly a residential area. Many of its residents work in nearby St. Albans or commute into London.

Get in

London Colney connects by bus service to St. Albans and Hatfield. No buses run on Sunday. The M25 skirts the southern edge of the village.

Get around

This village can be traversed on foot. Bus service travels along High Street through the village. Many people use private vehicles to get around London Colney.

See

Quite a number of things to see are just outside the boundaries of London Colney. However, a few sites are inside the village.

• 🌍 Napsbury Park (Formerly Napsbury Hospital) (Northwest section of London Colney). Napsbury Park is on the site of Napsbury Hospital, a large mental hospital that existed from 1898 to 1998, with at least one building still in use at least to 2002. The site was listed as a Grade II Historic Park and Garden in 2001 and since then has undergone redevelopment into a residential area. Many of the old buildings were renovated into residential space, some were torn down and others have been neglected and are in a severe state. The ones renovated are good examples of how Napsbury Hospital once appeared. A number of homes are owned by Arsenal FC and Watford FC football players, since practice fields are just outside London Colney. (updated Sep 2015)
• 🌍 Broad Colney Lakes Nature Reserve, South part of London Colney (Road B5378 (Shenley Lane) borders the west side of this Nature Reserve). Open in daytime hours. This park is along the River Colne. In the 1920s gravel was extracted and three lakes were left. Woods have grown around these lakes, one of which is in the River Colne's centre. The Reserve is twenty-six acres and is traversed by several footpaths. Various edible fish are in the lakes. (updated Sep 2015)
• 🌍 All Saints Pastoral Centre (On London Colney's south side along B5378 (Shenley Lane)). Gardens open in daytime hours. Supposedly the priest who was protected by Alban in Roman times lived on this site. Alban swapped cloaks with the priest and was arrested and taken to Verulamium, where he was executed. St. Albans is named in his honour. This centre was built in 1901 as a Roman Catholic convent. After that it became used as a conference center. The grounds may be traversed by the public and they have been maintained as a peaceful garden. (updated Sep 2015)

Do

Buy

London Colney's High Street has a variety of small retail shops. Other outlets are just off High Street. However, London Colney's huge shopping area is the Colney Fields Shopping Park.

• 🌍 Colney Fields Shopping Park (Colney Fields Retail Park), J22, M25 Motorway, London Colney,Herts AL2 1AB (This shopping park is at Junction 22 of the M25 Motorway, on London Colney's southeast corner), ☎ [phone] (for contact through Morgan Williams). This large shopping centre has three main outlets, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury's and next. Other retailers include Boots, T K Maxx, Monsoon, New Look and Starbucks. Sainsbury's has a petrol station at the east end of the centre. A free car park has 1,400 spaces. (updated Sep 2015)

Eat

Drink

• 🌍 The Colney Fox, 1 Barnet Road, AL2 1BL (Barnet Road is also High Street), ☎ [phone]. Mon-Sat 12 noon-11 PM; Sun 12 noon-10:30 PM. This is a combination pub and restaurant in an attractive old wood-finished building. Beers, ales, stouts, wines and a large variety of liquors are offered. This pub has a large menu of food from which to choose. Organisations and clubs can reserve sections of the pub for meetings. (updated Oct 2015)

Sleep

• Innkeeper's Lodge St Albans, 1 Barnet Rd, ☎ [phone]. 

Connect

Go next

Just to the northwest of London Colney is St Albans.

Routes through London Colney

West London ← Watford ←

anticlockwise  clockwise

→ Potters Bar → East London