The Society and its members have published a number of works. Most can be purchased at our monthly meetings, or from the Three River Museum.
Pre-Reformation wills from Rickmansworth parish (1409 to 1539)
Edited by Dr Heather Falvey
Life and death in the medieval parish of Rickmansworth
Medieval wills provide insights into the lives of ordinary people: their family and social networks, their religious convictions and piety, their wealth, their personal and domestic possessions, their livestock and the tools of their trade. For many places such documents have not survived, but they have for the medieval parish of Rickmansworth, which encompassed the settlements at Batchworth, Chorleywood, Croxley, Maple Cross, Mill End and West Hyde, as well as Rickmansworth itself.
In all there are 213 surviving wills of Rickmansworth parishioners dating from 1409 to 1539, and probate documents relating to 35 others. As well as revealing details of life (and death) in the parish the wills also tell us about the church of St Mary’s, which was rebuilt (twice) in the nineteenth century. The wills also provide names of numerous relatives, servants and friends in the locality.
Although testators rarely stated where they lived – all were expected to attend St Mary’s and would be buried there – it is clear that they came from all over the parish. Tax assessments from 1524 do reveal in which settlement taxpayers lived and so people named in wills made about that time can be located more definitely.
Our latest book, Pre-Reformation wills from Rickmansworth parish (1409 to 1539), provides the text of all of these documents, including the tax assessments, and the introduction discusses life in the medieval parish.
Pre-Reformation wills can be purchased for £7.50 from the Three Rivers Museum, at any of the Society’s meetings, or by e-mail rick.hist.soc@btinternet.com. Or you can use the order form here: Rickmansworth Wills website order form
Roll of Honour 1914-1919 – Rickmansworth Urban District and Rickmansworth Rural Parish by Pat Hamilton, Michael Collins, Robert and Sal Williams, edited by Brian Thomson.
Croxley Green in the First World War by Brian Thomson.
A Village Boyhood in Croxley Green by Frank Paddick.
Passing Through – the Grand Junction Canal in west Hertfordshire, 1791 to 1841, by Fabian Hiscock. Published by Hertfordshire Publications (University of Hertfordshire), £16.99 (also at local Waterstones branches)
Rickmansworth Park, Hertfordshire by Adrienne Jacques
Loudwater, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire by Adrienne Jacques
Thoughts on Old Ricky by Florence Samuels (nee Knight)
Croxley Great Barn
Fullerians by P.F.V. Waters
Game, Set and Match. The History of Rickmansworth Lawn Tennis Club, 1921 – 2008 by Noel Kent and Alan Jamieson
Moor Park and the Battle of Arnhem, 1944 by Alan Jamieson
Rickmansworth Baptist Church by Rev. A.J.D. Farrer BA and Mr J. Compton
Rickmansworth Players Recollections
The First 21 Years : Three Rivers Museum of Local History 1988 – 2009 by Alan Jamieson
Copies of Rickmansworth Historian Nos 1-30 are held in the local libraries and in the Museum. Of particular note:
Rickmansworth Historian No 40 – the 40th Anniversary number, May 1994. It contains articles on: Godfrey Cornwall, a brief biography; Lords of the Manors [of the Rickmansworth area]; The old and new Market Halls and the Town Hall; Maintained by the Lord of the Manor – what were his rights, privileges and duties?; Gravel Digging in Long Valley Woods; The Manor of Croxley – Croxley Hall Farm and the Tithe Barn; From Vestry to Three Rivers, a summary of local government from 1598 to 1974.
Rickmansworth Historian No 50
To Celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the Society, 1954 – 2004. It contains a reprint of the First Editorial, by Allan Leach; The Parsonage or Rectory Farm (a very comprehensive history of an important local estate, by the late President and archivist of the Society, Wilf Broughton); and The Beginnings of the Society, an edited version of the Rickmansworth Week talk by Geoff Saul.
Rickmansworth Historical Society Newsletters No. 1 to No. 100
For details of articles in these newsletters see “Index to Newsletters”.
Rickmansworth Historical Society 