Great Gaddesden is a large rural parish
stretching from the north eastern boundary of Hemel Hempstead to
the county boundary with Bedfordshire, a distance of some four
miles. Widely dispersed within the parish, which is three miles in
width and has a population of less than a thousand, are the
villages of Great Gaddesden and Gaddesden Row and the hamlets of
Bridens Camp, Water End and St Margarets.
Each of the settlements contains buildings of
historic interest; Great Gaddesden has the fine 12c. church of St
John the Baptist, a 15th c. cruck barn and early 17c.
cottages.
At Gaddesden Row are to be found the Golden
Parsonage dating from 1706 but built on the foundations of an
earlier medieval structure, The Hoo and Stags End House, both of
17c. origins and Gaddesen Place built by Thomas Wyatt in 1768
although the present house was rebuilt in 1905 following a
disastrous fire.
Nearby at Water End are the 13c. Gaddesden Hall
and Noke Mill to which reference is made in the Domesday Book
whilst within the hamlet the cottages date from 13th to 16th
century.
Recently built at St Margarets where almost all
the houses date from the early 17th c. is the Amavarati Buddhist
Temple.
The parish is unique in that all of the land
within the parish is devoted to either agriculture or forestry,
much of the land being accessible for recreation by way of the many
footpaths and bridleways, and under the Countryside Stewardship
Scheme at Water End. The River Gade is an important feature of the
parish, all of which lies within the Chiltern Area of Outstanding
Natural Beauty.