Local facilities and attractions
The parish of Colney Heath includes the village of Colney Heath, and the areas to the North of the A414 of Highfield, Hill End, Sleapshyde, Smallford and Tyttenhanger. Colney Heath village has around 3,000 inhabitants with a church http://www.stmarkscolneyheath.co.uk, the junior school, the football and social club, a village shop and post office, and two pubs, the Crooked Billet and Chalk Drawers Arms. Colney Heath is twinned with Boissy sous St Yon in France.
The Colney Fields Shopping Park is 2 miles from the Village Hall via Coursers at M25 junction 22 on the M25 satisfying most shopping requirements.
The Willows Activity Farm http://www.willowsactivityfarm.com/.is along Coursers Road.
Hotels nearby include Mercure Hatfield Oak near Hertfordshire University and the Holiday Inn Express at Colney Fields.
A Brief History of the village
based on "The Book of Colney Heath St Albans" by the late Bryan Lilley who lived in Colney Heath for 26 years.
In Roman times travellers to Verulamium - today known as St Albans - used a track across the heath. In 1777 a map showed a few building on the north bank of the river Colne in Banke Street - today known as High Street.
In the early 1800s there were around 450 inhabitants. The first school was opened in 1814. The old schoolmaster’s house still stands next to the Village Hall. Throughout the early 19th century the Heath remained a wild and lawless place. The river Colne was the boundary between the Metropolitan and County police forces enabling wrongdoers to escape across the river whenever the police arrived. There are records of cockfights, prize boxing fights and cardsharping on the common and it is said that every tenth house was a pub.
St Marks Church was completed in 1845 at a cost of £1,500. Its outside stone staircase was modelled on the Norman one at King's College Canterbury.
In 1865 a single-track branch line from Hatfield to St. Albans Abbey railway station was built and in 1879 a station serving Colney Heath was opened in Smallford Lane. Passenger services ended in 1951 and the line was closed in 1968. The line of the railway is now a scenic walkway and cycle route between St.Albans and Hatfield.
The Colney Heath Parish Council was established in 1947. Management of the heath is the responsibility of the Parish Council.
There are three Coal Posts in Colney Heath - two on the Common and one in Coursers Lane. They are among some 36 Coal Posts in south Hertfordshire which mark London's ancient customs boundary. They originated in the 17th century when the city was empowered to levy a duty on coal and wine to help pay for the cost of rebuilding London after the Great Fire in 1666. Duties on coal and wine were levied until 1897.
The Colney Fields Shopping Park is 2 miles from the Village Hall via Coursers at M25 junction 22 on the M25 satisfying most shopping requirements.
The Willows Activity Farm http://www.willowsactivityfarm.com/.is along Coursers Road.
Hotels nearby include Mercure Hatfield Oak near Hertfordshire University and the Holiday Inn Express at Colney Fields.
A Brief History of the village
based on "The Book of Colney Heath St Albans" by the late Bryan Lilley who lived in Colney Heath for 26 years.
In Roman times travellers to Verulamium - today known as St Albans - used a track across the heath. In 1777 a map showed a few building on the north bank of the river Colne in Banke Street - today known as High Street.
In the early 1800s there were around 450 inhabitants. The first school was opened in 1814. The old schoolmaster’s house still stands next to the Village Hall. Throughout the early 19th century the Heath remained a wild and lawless place. The river Colne was the boundary between the Metropolitan and County police forces enabling wrongdoers to escape across the river whenever the police arrived. There are records of cockfights, prize boxing fights and cardsharping on the common and it is said that every tenth house was a pub.
St Marks Church was completed in 1845 at a cost of £1,500. Its outside stone staircase was modelled on the Norman one at King's College Canterbury.
In 1865 a single-track branch line from Hatfield to St. Albans Abbey railway station was built and in 1879 a station serving Colney Heath was opened in Smallford Lane. Passenger services ended in 1951 and the line was closed in 1968. The line of the railway is now a scenic walkway and cycle route between St.Albans and Hatfield.
The Colney Heath Parish Council was established in 1947. Management of the heath is the responsibility of the Parish Council.
There are three Coal Posts in Colney Heath - two on the Common and one in Coursers Lane. They are among some 36 Coal Posts in south Hertfordshire which mark London's ancient customs boundary. They originated in the 17th century when the city was empowered to levy a duty on coal and wine to help pay for the cost of rebuilding London after the Great Fire in 1666. Duties on coal and wine were levied until 1897.