Place:Elstree, Hertfordshire, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Elstree is a village now in the Hertsmere District or Borough of Hertfordshire, England, on the road formerly known as the A5, which followed the course of Roman Watling Street, approximately thirteen miles northwest of London.

Prior to the formation of Hertsmere District, Elstree was a civil parish in Elstree Rural District (1935-1974) and before that a civil parish in Barnet Rural District (1894-1935). Its largest settlement was Borehamwood which is now a large urban area just outside Greater London. Since 1974 Elstree civil parish has been renamed Elstree and Borehamwood and Elstree is the name of one of its four wards. In the 2011 UK census, that ward's population was 5,110.

The village often lends its shorter name to businesses and amenities in the adjacent town of Borehamwood, and the names of Elstree and Borehamwood tend to be used interchangeably.

See also Borehamwood which, by population, is more than six times larger than modern-day Elstree.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Elstree from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"ELSTREE, or Idlestree, a parish in the [registration] district of Barnet and county of Hertford; and a village partly in this parish and partly in the Middlesex parishes of Little Stanmore and Edgware. The village stands near the Midland railway, 3 miles NNW of Edgware; and has a Post office designated Elstree, Herts, and a railway station. The parish comprises 1,370 acres. Real property: £3,761. Population: 402. Houses: 83. The property is divided among a few. The manor belonged to the abbey of St. Albans; and passed to the Denings, the Briscoes, and the Byngs. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester. Value: £304. Patron: the Lord Chancellor. The church is good and handsome; and has a modern tower and spire. The remains of William Weare, who was murdered in 1823 by Thurtell, Probert, and Hunt, lie in the churchyard. Charities, £28."

Research Tips

• Map of the wards of Elstree and Borehamwood parish from the 2011 UK census page "Neighbourhood Statistics" illustrates the balance between the settlements of Elstree and Borehamwood in the present-day ward.
• The hundred of Cashio: Introduction as provided by British History Online in the Victoria County History of Hertfordshire, volume 2, pp 319-322
• The parish of Elstree ibid, volume 2, pp 349-351
• Ordnance Survey map of Hertfordshire 1900 provided by A Vision of Britain through Time
• Ordnance Survey map of Hertfordshire 1944 provided by A Vision of Britain through Time