Waterford and Waterford Marsh are in Bengeo parish, on the river Beane.  On the marsh is some grazing common, free to all parishioners.

Waterside is the name of a few cottages (1) on the river Gade, near King’s Langley village; (2) at Mill Green, 1 mile N.E. from Hatfield.

WATFORD, including its quickly rising suburbs, is much the largest town in Hertfordshire.  The Colne crosses the high road where it dips before rising towards Bushey, and Chauncy says that the town derives its name from the Wet Ford by which the river is crossed.  The building of the Junction Station (L.&N.W.R.), N.E. from the High Street, did much to facilitate the growth of Watford and extend its trade; the railroad diverges S.W. to Rickmansworth only, and N.E. to Bricket Wood, Park Street and St. Albans; the main line from London passes through a long tunnel before reaching King’s Langley Station.  The antiquities of the town itself are less interesting and indeed less known than those of other towns in the county, and Chauncy, e.g., finds little to say about it.  The manor was long held by the abbots of St. Albans; then it became Crown property, and after several changes of ownership passed to William, fourth Earl of Essex, whose descendants are still lords of the manor.

The parish church, on a small yard adjoining the S. side of the High Street, is Perp., and was well restored about fifty years ago; with its Katherine- and Essex Chapels it forms a large and imposing structure.  The latter chapel was built in 1595 by Bridget, Countess of Bedford.  Its monuments are very numerous and comprise (1) to Sir Charles Morison, Kt. (d. 1599), and Dorothy his wife; note the fine kneeling effigies; (2) to Sir Charles Morison, K.B., son of the foregoing (d. 1628), and the Hon. Mary (Hicks) his wife, with recumbent effigies one above the other, and attendant figures of a daughter and two sons (note the Corinthian columns which support the canopy overshadowing the whole); both these Morison monuments were the work of Nicholas Stone, mentioned in Walpole’s Anecdotes; (3) altar-tomb to the founder of the chapel (d. 1600); (4) altar-tomb with Tuscan columns and recumbent effigy to Elizabeth, wife of Sir William Russell (d. 1611).  Among the brasses are those to (1) Henry Dickson (d. 1610); George Miller (d. 1613) and Anthony Cooper, “servants to Sir Charles Morryson, Kt.”; (2) imperfect, Hugo de Holes, Justice of the King’s Bench (d. 1415), and Margaretta his wife (d. 1416); (3) Henry Baldwyn of Reedheath (d. 1601), Alice, his wife, and three children; (4) James Moss, a messenger to George II. (d. 1758).

There are modern churches:  (1) St. John’s, in the Sutton Road, a Gothic edifice completed in 1893; (2) St. Andrew’s, near the Junction, E.E. in design, with a good stained glass window in the S. aisle, and a beautiful Roman Catholic church by Bentley, architect of Westminster cathedral.  In Beechen Grove is one of the finest Nonconformist (Baptist) chapels in the county; it dates from 1878 and is Italian in design.  Market day is on Tuesday.