Cambridge, and was Sheriff of Herts and
Essex. He died during the reign of Richard II. _Albury Hall_, close by,
is a fine old mansion, where the "Religeous, Just and Charitable" Sir
Edward Atkins, Knight, and Baron of the Exchequer, died in 1669. The
village is usually a quiet spot, with little business, but it is
pleasantly situated; the proximity of the river and some scattered
cottages and farms enhance its attractiveness.
_Albury End_ is a small hamlet about 1 mile S.W. of Albury.
[Illustration: THE PARISH CHURCH, ALDBURY]
ALDBURY (11/2 mile E. from Tring Station) is a village on the
Buckinghamshire border, nestled in a beautiful valley close to Ashridge
Park (_q.v._). It is the "Clinton Magna" of _Bessie Costrell_, and the
author of that story, Mrs. Humphrey Ward, lived at _Stocks_, a few
minutes' walk from the village. On the Tring side Aldbury is sheltered
by swelling fields and to the E. beech woods cover the hillside, which
is topped by the "Aldbury Monument," a granite column about 100 feet
high erected to the memory of Francis, third Duke of Bridgewater, whose
labours and enterprise for the extension of canals earned for him the
well-known title "the father of inland navigation". As a village of the
Old English type Aldbury has perhaps no equal in the county. In the
centre is the green and pond, under the shadow of an enormous elm; close
by stand the stocks and whipping-post, recently in excellent
preservation. The Church of St. John the Baptist is E.E.; it was
restored in 1867. Visitors should notice the old sundial on a pedestal
in the churchyard, and the Verney Chapel, which is separated from the
nave by a screen of stone, and contains a monument to Sir Robert
Whittingham, who was slain at the battle of Tewkesbury. The church also
contains memorials of the Hides and Harcourts, families who left several
charities to the poor of the parish. In the days of Edward the Confessor
the manor of _Aldeberie_[g] was held by one Alwin, the king's thane. The
ascent of the wooded slope towards the Bridgewater monument takes the
visitor through one of the most beautiful districts in the county, and a
noble prospect stretches before him as he looks back through the beeches
towards the village in the valley beneath.
ALDENHAM (2 miles S.W. from Radlett Station M.R.) is a village
pleasantly situated near the river Colne, reached by way of Berry Grove
at the W. end of the village. The churchyard is locally famous for
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