Harlequin Executive Studios

Watford Football Club

by St_Vincent

Watford has it's own football club that currently plays in the Championship, the second highest professional league in England. They have had two seasons in the top league (the Premiership) recently, one in 1999/2000 and the other in 2006/2007 but sadly they were relegated both times after just one season. The club plays at the Vicarage Road ground where they have been since 1922. A few big name players like John Barnes have played for Watford but perhaps the most famous people associated with the club have been ex-manager Graham Taylor, who also managed the England team, and club chairman & pop superstar Elton John.

Watford - My Home Town

by St_Vincent

Although I have lived in Watford since 1989 I wanted to go back a bit further when researching its history so thought a good place to start would be the Domesday Book. What I found was that Watford is not mentioned by name but it seems to be accepted that it was part of the entry for Cashio, which is as follows,

"The Abbot holds Cashio. It was rated for 20 hides; the abbot has 19 of them. The arable is 22 hides, in demesne 6 hides. There are three French men born and 36 villeins and 8 bordars who hold 15 ploughs. Three bordars besides and two serfs, four mills. There is meadow for 22 plough teams common pasture sufficient for the livestock and woodland for 1,000 swine. It is worth 28 pounds: in the time of Edward the Confessor 30 pounds. Turold held one hide of Goisfride de Maneville in Cashio. Alfred, huntsman to Queen Editha, held this land."

Cashio was at that time (1085) a Norman manor caught under the feudal system and the Lord of the Manor was the Abbot of St. Albans (now a nearby city that you can read about in my St. Albans page). The 36 villeins referred to were tenants who held 30 acres, bordars held 5 acres, and serfs were landless men or slaves. The 'three French men' may have been members of the monastery.

After the dissolution of the monasteries, King Henry VIII declared himself Lord of the Manor and subsequently sold it to Richard Morrison in 1545. He built a family estate that eventually becoming home to the Earl of Essex. After it passed through a number of family members the 8th Earl of Essex moved out due to the cost of upkeep and in 1909 most of the estate was sold to Watford Council who demolished the house and used the land for housing and a public park. So now in Watford we have an area that is referred to as the Cassiobury estate and also the wonderful Cassiobury Park which is where the above photo was taken.

Watford, Herts, UK

by ant1970

"Watford"

A town just north of London that still enjoys many preWW2 buildings and architechture. Its "almost" London. Its multi-racial and is not a "newtown" unlike Hemel Hempstead and Milton Keynes.

The Harlequinn Shopping centre used to be the 3rd largest in Europe (is that really true?) but now due to the huge French hypermarkets I guess not.. The Coloseum is a great nightspot for those of you who love 1970's disco music on a Friday night and even Robbie Williams played here!

The nightclub at the "top of town" has changed hands and names over the years and now every Friday and Saturday night, coachloads of "clubbers" arrive at Destiny's from all over the country.

Also, if you have not guessed by now, I have a passion for Thailand. There was also a Muay Thai fight night on 2 June 2002 which sadly I missed.

World famous Sir Elton John is still chairman of Watford Football Club (the hornets). I am not a huge football/soccer fan and only went to see them play once!