NOTE Details researched up to 20th December 2006. Additions, corrections and comments  welcomed.

This is a "WORK IN PROGRESS" - updates will occur as new data is found.

GRO references are deduced from other known data and have not been verified by  obtaining Certificates. Other data from Census information and other sources. Use of  this data for personal research ONLY and is therefore at users risk.

Use for Commercial purposes is strictly forbidden. Copyright 2006 - Weller

I am looking for stories to add to the facts, so please email any memories big or  small and I will attempt to place them appropriately  to increase the enjoyment of  learning about our family's and their history.

I have the site restricted so no-one can view living persons at this stage but with  permissions can alter that. There is no identifying information on the website but  with the freedom of ways to find out information we all need to be aware that many  things we consider not well known to many (such as mothers maiden name asked for by  banks) is readily available by search engines on the net. If you or your children  would like  details not to be displayed to the public, please still consider letting  me add them to my personal records, kept only in my possession so that the work can be  updated and continued into the future. Details vital for the future generations are  the date and place of birth and given names and maiden names of mothers, date and  place of marriage, with names of both sets of parents.

I'd like to thank all the people who have so willingly added to the information and  welcome any new family members, young or old.



Fathers Family Names 
 WELLER: Probably from Wellere, a hollow or gulf. Or  
 the same as Waller
  A Gauler or Waller, a foreigner, from the Anglo-Saxon "waller-went," foreign men,  strangers.

Barton			
 (origin: Sax. Local)From a town in Lincolnshire, England; a corn town, or barley  village, from bere, barley, and ton, an inclosure, a house, a village.  Barton, a curtilage. In Devonshire, it is applied to any freehold estate not possessed  of manorial privileges.

Mothers Family Names 
 WATERS:(origin: Local) A name given to one who navigated the waters, or resided near  them

Lilley
 No Meaning Found

The 1871 Census was taken during the time the Royal Albert Hall opened on 29 March 1871 The Fashion of the day was to wear Light material in swathes and ruffles and pleats on  the skirt of dresses over a bustle The full-length bustles are cumbersome to sit in as  well as carry and control while walking.

The name of the village 'Abbots Langley' derives from 1045 when, it is recorded, a  Saxon, Ethelwine the Black and his wife Wynfelda, gave ?Langelei? (denoting a long  meadow or long lea) to the Abbot and the monks of the monastery of St Albans, who for  several hundred years played an important part in the affairs of Abbots Langley. The Norman invasion of Britain in 1066 took place not long after the Saxon?s gift to  the Abbot had been confirmed by Edward the Confessor. In the wake of the subsequent  occupation, the Norman, Paul de Caen, became Abbot. We learn from the Domesday Book  that in 1066 he held authority over an area of land of 3 hides (one hide is equivalent  to approximately 120 acres in modern terms), the value of all the land at Abbots  Langley being assessed at £10. 
 The Parish Church of St Lawrence the Martyr was dedicated as early as 1154. The tower  of the church dates from the twelfth century, as do the fine Norman arches that adorn  the north and south arcades. Domesday records indicate that it is likely that a Saxon  church preceded the Norman structure on this site. 
 The international historical significance of Abbots Langley is as the birthplace of  the only Englishman ever to become Pope in Rome. Nicholas Breakspear was born at  Breakspear Farm, near Bedmond in approximately 1100. He became Pope Adrian IV (1154-1159). One of his Papal Acts was to permit Henry II to conquer Ireland and bring that country into the sphere of the Roman Church. He allegedly choked to death  on a fly.
 In the 14th century, plague, famine and the Black Death stalked the village, taking  heavy toll. Despite brief but bloody disturbance from the Peasants Revolt in 1381, the  supreme power of the Abbot in Abbots Langley survived until the reign of the Tudors. In 1539, Henry VIII, having seized Abbots Langley as his own, sold the manor to one of  his most loyal and military commanders, the military engineer Sir Richard Lee. During  the Civil War (1642-1649), Hertfordshire supported the Parliamentarians and St Albans,  together with surrounding villages was brought to a state of near starvation. An  Independent state of mind was shown by Abbots Langley people, who did not like the  strict Puritan regime forbidding cock-fighting and dancing round the maypole. Despite  all this civil turbulence, it is interesting to note that the parish registers were  kept up to date.
 In fact, the Parish Registers are of uncommon antiquity and completeness, beginning in  the year 1538, as ordered by Henry VIII. The early registers are very beautifully  written on parchment. The records are now housed in the County Archives at County  Hall, Hertford.
 With the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, there followed a long period of relative  calm in England, when the social order remained unchallenged. The squires and gentry  lived well and the common folk worked hard on the land, raising their crops  Undisturbed. With the cementing of the land-owning aristocracy in the Georgian period,  working folk began to find employment as servants, maids and gardeners. Many of the  domestic staff were actually recruited in London and brought to Abbots Langley by the  estate owners. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries many fine houses and estates  were being built in the local area. The land around Abbots Langley was then considered  to be a very attractive rural location which was still quite close to London?s high society.