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Places to stay in Watford
Watford stands on a low hill near the point at which the River Colne was forded by travellers between London and the Midlands. This route, originally a pre-Roman trackway, departed from the ancient Roman Watling Street at Stanmore, heading for the Gade valley and thence up the Bulbourne valley to a low and easily traversed section of the Chiltern Hills near Tring. The modern High Street follows the route of this road. The ford was close to the later site of a gas works site. The town probably originated in Saxon times as a string of houses on the northern side of this ford. It was located on the first dry ground above the marshy edges of the River Colne. It is generally agreed that the town is named after the ford, but the origin of the first part of the name is uncertain. Theories include the Old English words wæt (wet), wadan (wade), watul (wattle, a fence) or wath (hunter), Watling Street, and a hypothetical Saxon landowner called "Wata".
