Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire
| Rickmansworth | |
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 View from St Mary's Church tower |
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 Rickmansworth
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| Rickmansworth shown within Hertfordshire | |
| Population | 23,973 (2011 Census) |
| OS grid reference | TQ061944 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | RICKMANSWORTH |
| Postcode district | WD3 |
| Dialling code | 01923 |
| Police | Hertfordshire |
| Fire | Hertfordshire |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| EU Parliament | East of England |
| UK Parliament | |
Rickmansworth is a small town in south-west Hertfordshire, England, situated approximately 20 miles (32 km) northwest of central London and inside the perimeter of the M25 motorway. The town is mainly to the north of the Grand Union Canal (formerly the Grand Junction Canal) and the River Colne. The nearest large town is Watford, approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) to the east. Rickmansworth is the administrative seat of the Three Rivers District Council; the local authority is named from the confluence of three rivers within Rickmansworth's borders; the River Gade and the Grand Union Canal join the upper River Colne near Rickmansworth's eastern boundary and are joined by the River Chess near the town centre from where the enlarged Colne flows south to form a major tributary of the River Thames. The town is served by the Metropolitan line of the London Underground and Chiltern Railways from London Marylebone to Aylesbury.
The name Rickmansworth comes from the Saxon name Ryckmer, the local landowner, and worth meaning a farm or stockade. In the Domesday Book of 1086 it was recorded as the Manor of Prichemaresworde. Other spellings include Rykemarwurthe (1119–46), Richemaresworthe (1180), Rykemerewrthe (1248), Richemereworthe (1259), Rikesmareswrth (1287), Rikmansworth (1382), Rikmeresworth (1396) & Rykemerysworth (1418).
There was a settlement in this part of the Colne Valley in the Stone age. Rickmansworth was one of five manors with which the great Abbey of St Albans had been endowed when founded in 793 by King Offa. Local tithes supported the abbey, which provided clergy to serve the people until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539. Around the time of the Domesday Book, the population of "Prichemareworth" may have been about 200.
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