Cassiobury Park and Whippendell Wood (Watford to Watford High Street) Short Walk

8.3 km/5.2 mi with 70m ascent/descent and 1 ¾ hours walking.

This route leads through some of the remaining parts of the historic Cassiobury Estate, namely Cassiobury Park, considered to be one of the UK’s favourite parks, and Whippendell Wood, an ancient woodland and Local Nature Reserve enchanting at any time of the year. In-between the wooded Jacotts Hill, now let out to West Herts Golf Course, is crossed and the Grand Union Canal is also followed for a short stretch.
Most of the route through the park follows either the River Gade, a very good, meandering chalk river with some adjacent wetlands, or the 1.4 km long lime tree avenue that was the Carriage Drive of Cassiobury House. All in, the whole area appears surprisingly unspoilt, given its vicinity to London.
The following route to the town centre minimises exposure to the A roads criss-crossing the town.

The paths through the park are either tarmac or mud-averse hardcore, while the paths across Jacotts Hill and through Whippendell Wood are mud-prone. There is 24/7 access to all parts of the route.
Finishes back at Watford Met Line Station or on to Watford Junction Mainline Station are described.

Cut the triangular route over Jacotts Hill and through Whippendell Wood: cut 2.5 km and 50m ascent.
An Extension through Whippendell Wood adds 2.3 km and 50m ascent (map-led at the moment).
A loop through Harrocks Wood (Woodland Trust, a fine bluebell wood) adds 1.4 km to that extension.
Finish back at Watford Station: cut 2.1 km. Follow the path mentioned in the text to the Café in the Park, walk past it onto Shepherds Road and in 80m turn right for 170m along Cassiobury Park Avenue.
Finish at Watford Junction Mainline Station, directly from the park: cut 800m.
Finish at Watford Junction Mainline Station, from the town centre: add 300m.

Cassiobury Park – Cedar Café and Café in the Park.
Watford High Street Finish – Several restaurants, a taproom and The One Crown pub.
Watford Junction Finish from the Town Centre – The Golden Lion and The Estcourt Tavern.

Watford Underground Station is one of the north westerly termini of the Metropolitan Line, in Zone 7 and with a journey time from Baker Street from 42 minutes. Taking either a Chiltern Railways train from Marylebone to Harrow-on-the-Hill or a ‘Fast’ service on the Met Line as far as Moor Park and changing there can reduce the journey time to as little as 32 minutes. Watford High Street is the penultimate stop of the Lioness Line of the Overground from Euston to Watford Junction (journey time 48 minutes) and in Zone 8. A faster journey (down to as little as 20 minutes) requires changing onto a mainline train at Watford Junction (outside of the London Travelzones), Bushey (Zone 8) or Harrow & Wealdstone (Zone 5).

Watford
Watford is a town in Hertfordshire, 26 km northwest of Central London. It developed on land belonging to St. Albans Abbey where the River Colne could be crossed on an ancient trackway from the southeast to the northwest. Watford's High Street follows the line of part of this route. In the 12^th century, a charter was granted allowing a market, and the building of St. Mary's Church began. The town grew partly due to travellers going to Berkhamsted Castle and the royal palace at Kings Langley. A mansion was built at Cassiobury in the 16^th century and another substantial house was built nearby at The Grove. Cassiobury became the family seat of the Earls of Essex, and The Grove the seat of the Earls of Clarendon.
The River Gade passes Watford just west of Cassiobury Park.
The Grand Junction (now Grand Union) Canal in 1798 and the London and Birmingham Railway in 1837 resulted in Watford's rapid growth. By the 1920s, printing had become the biggest industry in Watford and for a while it was the biggest printing centre in the world. Famous companies producing in Watford have been Hille (designer furniture) and de Havilland (aircraft engines, but now film studios, i.e. Harry Potter).

River Gade
The River Gade is a chalk stream running almost entirely through Hertfordshire. It rises from a spring in the Chiltern Hills at Dagnall, Buckinghamshire and flows through Hemel Hempstead, Kings Langley, then along the west side of Watford. After passing Croxley Green it joins the River Colne in Rickmansworth.
Its principal tributary is the River Bulbourne, joining it at Two Waters, south of Hemel Hempstead. In its further stretches, it occasionally merges with the Grand Union Canal.
The Gade supported the farming of watercress beds in several places, including in Cassiobury Park where they now constitute the wetlands area passed on this walk.

Cassiobury Park and Estate
Cassiobury Park is the principal public park in Watford. It was created in 1909 from the purchase by Watford Borough Council of part of the estate of the Earls of Essex around Cassiobury House which was sold to developers in 1922 and demolished in 1927. It comprises over 77 hectares (190 acres) and extends from the A412 Rickmansworth Road in the east to the Grand Union Canal in the west, and lies to the south of the suburb of Cassiobury, which was also created from the estate. The western part by the River Gade is a 25 hectare Local Nature Reserve managed by the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust. Much of the park is covered by mown grass and scattered trees and it slopes generally downhill from east to west, into the alluvial valley of the River Gade and the meandering river and its decorative bridges add much charm.
The park and the adjacent Whippendell Woods have been used as a filming location in a number of cinema films and television programmes due to its proximity to several major film studios (i.e. Star Wars).

The manor of Cashio (then called "Albanestou"), was claimed by St. Albans Abbey to have been granted by King Offa in AD793. After the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539, Watford was divided from Cashio and Henry VIII assumed the lordship of the manor of Cassiobury. In 1546 he granted the manor to Sir Richard Morrison, who started building Cassiobury House within the extensive grounds which were much larger than they are today, reaching as far as North Watford and southwards almost to Moor Park. In 1627 the estate passed through marriage into the Capel family, the Earls of Essex. At the turn of the 18^th century, the park still comprised 280 hectares with the Home Park and the Upper Park being separated by the River Gade. The Upper Park then became the West Herts Golf Course. The upkeep of the park and of Cassiobury House became too expensive, so in 1909, 74 hectares of parkland were sold, mostly to Watford Borough Council for housing and the public park. Subsequently, the house was demolished and sold for its materials (i.e. the grand staircase was removed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York) and more land for the public park was purchased by Watford Borough Council in 1930.

St. Mary’s Church
St Mary's is the parish church of Watford and thought to be at least 800 years old. The current building is mainly 15^th century in origin, although the oldest parts are estimated to date from around 1230, with even older – 12^th century – stonework having been incorporated into the later building, suggesting that it was probably built when the charter was granted for Watford Market to the Lord of the Manor at Cashio.
The church contains a number of burials of local nobility, including the Earls of Essex, and some noteworthy monumental sculpture of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. The churchyard contains a number of listed 18^th and 19^th-century neoclassical chest tombs.

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National Rail: 03457 48 49 50 • Traveline (bus times): 0871 200 22 33 (12p/min) • TFL (London) : 0343 222 1234

Feb-26 Thomas G