Bourne End, Hertfordshire

Bourne End
Grand Union Canal
Bourne End  Bourne End shown within Hertfordshire
OS grid reference	TL0206
District	Dacorum
Shire county	Hertfordshire
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	HEMEL HEMPSTEAD
Postcode district	HP1
Dialling code	01442
Police	Hertfordshire
Fire	Hertfordshire
Ambulance	East of England
EU Parliament	East of England
List of places UK England Hertfordshire

Coordinates: 51°44′N 0°31′W / 51.74°N 00.52°W

Bourne End is a village in Hertfordshire, England. It is situated on the ancient Roman Akeman Street between Berkhamsted and Hemel Hempstead, on the former A41 London-Liverpool Trunk Route,^[1] on the Grand Union Canal ^[2] that runs between London and Birmingham and at the confluence of the Chiltern chalk stream, the Bourne Gutter and the River Bulbourne.

Bourne End derives its name as it lies at the end of the Bourne Gutter, an irregularly flowing stream, at its confluence with the River Bulbourne.^[3] According to local tradition the Bourne Gutter is a Woe Water that only flows at times of tragedy. Recorded instances include during 1665 at the time of the Great Plague, in 1914 at the outbreak of the 1st World War and in 1956 during the Suez Crisis.^[4] The Hemel Hempstead Gazette has also run stories on the Gutter flowing in early 1982 as Argentinian Forces invaded the Falkland Islands, in early October 1987 days before the Great Storm of 1987 that devastated woodlands throughout southern England, and in 2003 as British troops joined the International invasion of Iraq ^[5]

Bourne End was the scene of the rail disaster on the West Coast Main Line on 30 September 1945 when an express train was derailed with many fatalities.^[6]

According to English tradition Bourne End was classed as a hamlet and not a village as it did not have a parish church. It lay within the extended parish of Northchurch (Berkhamsted St. Mary). However, in Edwardian times, it became a village with the construction and consecration of the Parish Church of St. John The Evangelist when the Northchurch parish was divided.

References

1. The A41 London-Birmingham Trunk Road (East of Bourne End to South of Kings Langley)
2. http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/26603
3. Dacorum Environmental Forum Water Group - Dacorum Water News
4. Birchnell P, A Short History of Berkhamsted, Clunberry Press, 1972
5. {http://www.hemeltoday.co.uk/news/local/archives/bourne-gutter-1-1196863
6. Accident at Bourne End on 30 September 1945 - The Railway Archive