Redbourn

Coordinates: 51°48′01″N 0°23′47″W / 51.8002°N 0.3965°W / 51.8002; -0.3965

Redbourn is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, lying on Watling Street, three miles from Harpenden, four miles from St Albans and five miles from Hemel Hempstead. It has a population of around 6,000 and is within the City of St Albans local government district.

History

The village has been settled at least since Saxon times and it is recorded in the Domesday Book. Its parish church, St Mary's, was built in the early 12th century. Around fifty years later a small priory was founded half a mile away on Redbourn Common, after the abbot of St Albans Abbey decided to hallow the ground. Some bones had been found on the spot, reputed to be of Saint Amphibalus the priest who converted St Alban to Christianity.

To the southwest of the village just beyond the motorway is the site of an Iron Age hill fort called the Aubreys. To the north of the village is the site of a complex of Roman temples.

In the 16th century the manor of Redbourn belonged to the Reade family: Sir Richard Reade, formerly Lord Chancellor of Ireland, on his death in 1575, left a bequest for the upkeep of the parish.