Kings Langley Community Information Portal

Kings Langley is a village in the borough of Dacorum in the county of Hertfordshire, England on the southern edge of the Chiltern Hills.

It originated as a linear village lying on the old Sparrows Hearne turnpike road (later the A41 trunk road) which traversed the Chilterns via the valley of the River Gade. It is 2 miles south of Hemel Hempstead and 2 miles north of Watford. Twentieth century housing developments have led to the village spreading out on either side of the main road. The A41 has now been diverted west of the village leaving the high street to local traffic for the first time in centuries.

It was formerly the site of a fourteenth century royal palace used by the Plantagenet kings of England, hence the name Kings. For a time during the Black Death it was the seat of government. A priory was founded next to the palace and remains of this can still be seen.

The church of All Saints was built during the 14th century on the site of an earlier church. The body of King Richard II was buried here for a time after his probable murder at Pontefract castle in 1400. It was later removed to Westminster Abbey. The body of Edmund of Langley, the fifth son of Edward III and the first Duke of York, still rests in the memorial chapel.

The Grand Union canal and the West Coast Main Line, (the main railway line from London to the north west) pass just east of the village at Kings Langley railway station.

The London orbital motorway, the M25, passes just south of the village on an imposing viaduct across the River Gade valley.

Kings Langley was the home of the makers of Ovaltine and the imposing factory facade is now all that is left and still stands alongside the railway line among a new housing development; the factory itself has recently been converted into a series of flats and duplexes.

Kings Langley is home to a Waldorf School, the Rudolf Steiner School Kings Langley. This is built on the ground of the old palace, of which , only a small basement part of a pillar remains to be seen. There is also a small display cabinet of finds from the palace period in the school entrance foyer.

An eco friendly energy efficient office facility was opened on a hill above the village in 2004 using the buildings of the former Ovaltine Egg Farm. It incorporates a highly visible wind turbine alongside the M25. This turbine is illuminated at Christmas time.