Leavesden, Hertfordshire 3

Leavesden is a residential and commercial area in Hertfordshire, England, contiguous with the northern suburbs of Watford. It lies within the M25 Motorway. On its eastern side it is bounded by the M1 Motorway. Leavesden is part of Abbots Langley civil parish and is also the name of a district council ward in Three Rivers District. Leavesden Green is an adjoining residential community which lies partly in Three Rivers and partly in the Borough of Watford.Leavesden is the location of Leavesden Studios, built on the site of RAF Leavesden a former World War II airfield and wartime aircraft factory, and where the James Bond and Harry Potter film franchises were produced.HistoryIn the period before the Norman Conquest the hamlet of Leavesden was in the hundred of Dacorum, and was historically an exclave of the ecclesiastical parish of Watford, which was in the hundred of Casio. In the 12th century Leavesden became part of the parish of Bushey. In 1853 it became an ecclesiastical parish, and the church of All Saints and St Hilda was built in the Victorian gothic style by the architect Sir George Gilbert Scott. In 1870 the Metropolitan Asylum for Imbeciles was founded by the Metropolitan Asylums Board. Later known as Leavesden Hospital, it closed in 1997 and is now the site of Leavesden Country Park.