Borehamwood

One of the earliest mentions of Bosci de Boreham (Wood of Boreham), is in 1188:

"In 1188 Pope Clement granted to the kitchen of the monastery the whole land of Elstree. He also gave to the Abbey the wood of Boreham for the feeding of the swine."[3]

In 1776, the House of Lords granted:

"An Act for dividing and closing the Common or Waste Ground, called Boreham Wood Common, in the Parish of Elstree otherwise Idletree, in the County of Hertford."[4]

Until 1909, the town was part of the ancient parish of Elstree; the two still share a local council, Elstree and Borehamwood Town Council.

From the 1920s onwards, the town became known as one of the main centres of the UK film, and later television, industries due to the presence of production studios.

The War Memorial

Following the Second World War, the town's population greatly increased, with large areas of council housing set up for displaced Londoners, many of which are now in private ownership. Fast train connections to central London have resulted in the town becoming a primarily residential suburb. In 1946, the Admiralty started to build highly secret high-performance electronic digital computers at Borehamwood in a redundant wartime factory, firstly for the purpose of real-time gunnery control, and later for surface-to-air guided weapons and missiles, and for specialist cryptography and code-breaking computers for GCHQ.[5]

Borehamwood is currently undergoing a substantial housing transformation which has seen hundreds of new homes built over the last five years. There are currently two further developments being built and more are expected.

In addition to the studios, the town is also home to many retail shops, hotels, restaurants, offices and light industry. The hotels cater mainly to tourists visiting the Elstree Studios, attendees of the television shows being recorded in the Elstree Studios and London visitors due to the proximity to London and the considerable lower accommodation rates.

There is one weekly newspaper, the Borehamwood and Elstree Times.

Elstree & Borehamwood Station

London Buses route 292

On the west side of Borehamwood is Elstree & Borehamwood railway station (TfL Zone 6) served by trains operated by Govia Thameslink Railway on the Thameslink route.

Metroline for London buses runs its number 107 service through the town from New Barnet to Edgware and back, whilst London Sovereign for London buses operates the number 292 bus service going into north-west London. The Uno (bus company) run a bus service that stops at Borehamwood starting from Hatfield to Stanmore and back, as well as a bus service that goes to Watford. Intalink operate a bus service to other parts of Hertfordshire.

The A1 road passes just to the east of the town, and the M25 motorway passes about 2 miles (3.2 km) north of it.

Elstree Studios

Since the 1920s, the town has been home to several film studios and many shots of its streets are included in final cuts of 20th century British films. This earned it the nickname of the "British Hollywood". Whilst most of these studios have now closed, two still remain.

Many well-known films including The Dam Busters (1955), Star Wars (1977–), Moby Dick (1956), Summer Holiday (1963), Dr Zhivago (1965)', 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and, The Shining (1980) starring Jack Nicholson, some of the Indiana Jones films were filmed at the former Associated British Studios in Shenley Road. These were partly demolished in the 1980s to make way for a Tesco Extra supermarket on one side and an office block complex on the other.

The area between the supermarket and the office blocks is all that remains of the original studio, which has been much reduced in size and usefulness to production companies as a result. Elstree Studios were more recently used for the popular TV series Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and Big Brother, as well as several major feature films. The Inspector Morse TV series' production offices were based in the studios and, although the series was supposedly set in Oxford, several exterior locations (banks, shops etc.) were filmed in the streets of Borehamwood.

The former British National Studios off Clarendon Road, referred to locally as "The Douglas Fairbanks studios" (which were bought by Lew Grade's ATV in 1962), are now the BBC Elstree Studios. The studios have, over the years, been home to Alfred Hitchcock's film Blackmail, Gerry Anderson's TV series UFO, Jim Henson's TV series The Muppet Show was also produced there, and now BBC's popular soap, EastEnders and their medical drama Holby City. An episode of Judge John Deed included scenes of the Tesco Extra, but with Borehamwood crossed out and Lewes written in its place.

Several other studios including The Gate Studio and the Danziger Studios at nearby Elstree have been demolished. The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios complex (demolished in the early 1970s) saw the production of many well-known films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Where Eagles Dare (1968) and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), as well as many ITV television series including The Prisoner (1967–68).

The newer Millennium Studios is situated on Elstree Way, Borehamwood.

The UK headquarters of Pizza Hut Restaurants are based within the town, the head office of the Delivery portion having moved to nearby St Albans in 2015; and, until 2003, so were the headquarters of the United Kingdom subsidiary of T-Mobile, with both being based in the office blocks standing on part of what used to be the old Elstree Studios. Regent Inns has its head office on Elstree Way. George Wimpey also has large offices within the town. The market leading takeaway delivery company Just Eat also has an office in the town in the same complex as Pizza Hut.

• Dele Alli English footballer, lives in Elstree
• Alfie Bass Lived in Well End, Borehamwood until his death in 1987.
• Simon Cowell (born 1959), reality television judge and producer, raised in Elstree.
• Gino D'Acampo celebrity chef lives in Elstree.
• Jaye Davidson, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in the film The Crying Game, grew up here and went to Hillside Comprehensive School (now Yavneh College).
• Sir Ray Davies, actor, director, producer, guitarist, primary vocalist and songwriter for The Kinks, lived in Borehamwood during the late 1960s.
• Den Dover (born 1938), Member of the European Parliament, lives in Borehamwood.[7]
• John Forgeham, lived in Borehamwood during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
• Prof. Angus Charles Graham (1919–1991), Professor of Classical Chinese, London University, 1971–84, lived in Borehamwood.[8]
• Sir Robert Holland (c.1283–1328), nobleman, was murdered in Borehamwood on 15 Oct 1328.[9]
• Marilyn, early 80s New Romantic singer went to St Teresa's Catholic School
• Shona McGarty, plays Whitney Dean in EastEnders.
• Tim Sherwood, former footballer and manager.[10]
• James Hay Stevens (1913–1973)[11] FRAeS. Aviation journalist, editor Aircraft Engineering (1945–1957), illustrator and pilot lived in Borehamwood. He is known for developing the 1:72nd scale model used by Airfix and many other toy manufacturers.[12][13]
• John Frederick Tayler (1802–1889), watercolour painter, and President of the then-called Old Society,[14] was born on 30 April 1802 at Borehamwood.[15]

The first third of the Watling Chase Timberland Trail stretches from Elstree & Borehamwood railway station up to Shenley.[16] South of the town is a large area of grassland and trees called Woodcock Hill Village Green. Section 16 of the London Outer Orbital Path (London Loop) runs adjacent to the town, starting in Elstree and through Scratchwood towards the London Borough of Barnet.

Meadow Park stadium

Borehamwood is home to Boreham Wood FC, Arsenal Ladies and Watford FC Reserves who play their home games at Meadow Park. There are several parks in the area. Aberford Park is featured with the source of the brook which has been artificially made to look like a lake. Meadow Park includes a large playing field, tennis courts and basketball courts.

Borehamwood has a large shopping area called Borehamwood Shopping Park, featuring large stores such as Debenhams, Marks & Spencer Simply Food, Next, Outfit – which includes Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans and Miss Selfridge, WH Smith, Boots, and more recently JD Sports, which took the place of JJB Sports, and newly added Poundland, Lidl, Metro Bank, and Pets at Home.

The hamlet of Well End has a notable pub, the Mops and Brooms, reputedly the site of a battle between travellers and village folk.[17] Adjacent to the pub is a much older building: Nelson Cottage (c.1600) is now a private residence but was the original Mops and Brooms alehouse. It was renamed the Lord Nelson c.1840–50 and traded under that name until its closure in 1932 and replacement by the current pub, which eventually reverted to the older name.[18]

The Borehamwood & Elstree Times is a privately owned, online-only local newspaper covering the local and adjacent area. The Town Crier is a quarterly, council-run community publication for Elstree & Borehamwood residents.

Borehamwood has a number of primary schools, including Cowley Hill Primary School, Woodlands Primary School and Parkside School. Secondary schools include Hertswood Academy, Elstree University Technical College and Yavneh College. Independent schools include Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' and Girls' schools.

The TV series Grange Hill was filmed at Hillside School in Borehamwood from 1985 to 1990.[19]

• Fontenay-aux-Roses, France
• Offenburg, Germany
• Huainan, China

• Borehamwood is the town upon which one of three maps is based in the game Urban Dead. This map was released as part of the promotional campaign for the release of British writer Charlie Brooker's Dead Set (TV series)[20]

• Elstree & Borehamwood Town Council
• Borehammwood at Hertfordshire County Council
• Borehamwood at the BBC Domesday Project