Bovingdon
| Bovingdon | |
|---|---|
 Bovingdon High Street looking north with The Bell public house opposite |
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 Bovingdon
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| Bovingdon shown within Hertfordshire | |
| Population | 8,999 (2011 Census. Bovingdon,Flaunden and Chipperfield Ward) |
| OS grid reference | TL013037 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | HEMEL HEMPSTEAD |
| Postcode district | HP3 |
| Dialling code | 01442 |
| Police | Hertfordshire |
| Fire | Hertfordshire |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| EU Parliament | East of England |
| UK Parliament | |
Bovingdon is a large village in Hertfordshire, England, four miles southwest of Hemel Hempstead, and it is a civil parish within the local authority area of Dacorum. It forms the largest part of the ward of Bovingdon, Flaunden and Chipperfield, which had a population of 4,600 at the 2001 census, increasing to 8,999 at the 2011 Census.
The name is first mentioned in deeds from 1200 as Bovyndon. It could originate from Old English Bufan dune meaning "above the down" or from Bofa's down, the down belonging to Bofa.
There are two churches in the village. The Baptist Church and the Anglican Church. The Baptist church started as a Wesleyan Methodist Church and changed to Baptist. St Lawrence Church was built in 1845 by Talbot Bury. The churchyard is the second largest in Hertfordshire and includes an avenue of clipped yew trees. The village also includes some old cottages. There are three pubs in the village centre, The Halfway House, The Bull and The Bell. A fourth, the Wheatsheaf, is now closed.
The village is sometimes confused with Bovington Camp in Dorset. Halfpenny Green Airfield in Shropshire was renamed from Bobbington, the name of the local village, during World War II after a B-17 tried to land there when the crew became lost.
The village is medieval in origin but it has expanded significantly since the 1940s. It now has a large commuter population. The old parts of the village are mostly around the High Street and the Green.
The Bobsleigh Inn on Box Lane, just east of the village, is a large house with some parts dating to the sixteenth century which is now a hotel and restaurant. It was the Bovingdon Country Club until 1964 when Tony Nash, the son of the owner, was part of the gold medal winning British two-man bobsleigh team at the Winter Olympics at Innsbruck in Austria. It was renamed the Bobsleigh Inn in his honour. During World War 2 many celebrities stayed at the Country Club while entertaining troops at the airfield, including Bob Hope, James Stewart and Glenn Miller.
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Wikipedia