This is a history of the Russell Farm Estate, an area in North West Watford, bounded by Hempstead Road, Ridge Lane, Goodwood Avenue, Courtlands Drive and Russell Lane, with an old kitchen garden area to the top left of Hempstead Road.
The original estate surrounded Russell Farm house which was built in 1753 for the widowed mother of the Earl of Essex and her unmarried daughters. By 1804 the dowager and her daughters had died and the estate was inherited by George, the 5th Earl of Essex.
For the next 100 or so years the house was rented by a series of military men, manufacturers, and bankers until it was sold in 1902 to a local man, Lewis Evans. Evans extended and altered the estate, and then sold it in 1920 to the Maharajah of Baroda. In 1926 it was sold again.
After 1934 the former country estate was being sold off for development and the area changed to a residential estate with the original house converted into flats.
This map, published in 1960, shows the new roads and houses being added – whilst some of the original estate fields and features still exist.
The Grade 2 listed Russells House, Watford, still exists – but now as a set of flats and dwellings. It is set in grounds facing Greenbank Road, and its history goes back to 1753, and earlier.
This document a summary of research conducted in 2024/25, and earlier.
