Cassiobury Park came from a large area of land that King Offa gave to the Abbey of St Albans in 793 but when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in 1539 , the estate became home to the Earls of Essex. (I always wonder why the aristocracy don’t live in the county of their title) However as times changed and fortunes were found and lost, parts and parcels of the huge estate were sold off . In 1909 Watford council bought the parkland that we are enjoying today. It really was a lovely place to cruise through,
At least that’s what Jar Jar Binks thinks, as areas of the woodland were used as the planet Naboo in the film Star Wars, The Phantom Menace. However the only menace we were in danger from was the crocodiles in the canal.
We moored up just beyond the current park outside the Grove Mill
and looking at the beautiful bridges the 4th Earl of Essex really did insist on the canal being an asset to his properties
Nowadays some bridges need to be a little more heavyweight, especially this one which carries the link road onto the M25
and it wasn’t long before we found ourselves cruising parallel to the bain of our past life, although its outlook from the canal was somewhat more tranquil
And the image of its mega structure, somewhat more impressive from below than above
So that was it, we had now been released from the inner circle, cruised past Watford, where we now officially back in the north?
