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Rickmansworth name derives from the Saxon personal name Ryckmer and “worth” which means farm. Ryckmer was a prominent resident. Several spellings are recorded throughout the years. In the 11th century, the Domesday Book mentions the area as Prichemaresworde. Around 200 people were living in Rickmansworth at that time. In the 13th century, the name was Rykemerewrthe and Rykemerysworth in the 15th century. The settlement was established since the Stone Age. In 793, King Offa founded the Abbey of St Albans and gave it five manors. This WD3 area was among those five.
Thomas Wolsey, the Abbot of St Albans, owned the Manor of More in the 16th century. Queen Catherine of Aragon lived in this mansion. Nothing remains of the original building. Moor Park mansion was built within the park of the More Manor. Resident Admiral Lord Anson hired the famous landscaper Lancelot Capability Brown to design the gardens. The house is a grade I listed building and the gardens have grade II listed status. William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme bought Moor Park and established the golf fields. During World War II, this Rickmansworth mansion served as the headquarters of the 1st Airborne Corps. The room where Operation Market Garden was designed is now called the Arnhem Room. In 1994, the mansion became the clubhouse of the Moor Park Golf Club.
This North London area was a popular filming location. Some of the movies filmed here include The Adventures of Black Beauty, The First Men in the Moon, Children of Men, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Writer George Orwell spent summers in the area. Dog trainer Barbara Woodhouse, golfer Sam Little, novelist Mary Anne Evans, singer Van Doonican, founder of the North American colony Pennsylvania William Penn, and designer of the Titanic Thomas Andrews are other notable Rickmansworth residents.