The Hertfordshire village of Shenley sits between the communities of Barnet and St Albans. With green as far as the eye can see, the term rural idyll wouldn’t be a stretch for describing this neighbourhood. With a strong Jewish presence in the locality, Shenley has a surprisingly unique and multicultural feeling compared to what would be expected from quintessential village culture. Its schools are good, its transport links reliable and its sense of community strong; along with its large, gardened homes, it is no wonder that its residents are so charmed by Shenley.

The name Shenley comes from its Anglo-Saxon origins and translates into ‘bright clearing’. This reflects the fact that for the majority of its existence, the village was sat within heavily wooded land and made up of just a few isolated farms and hamlets. It’s bourgeoise reputation was established gradually from the 16th century and the present village of Shenley grew to accommodate the families of those providing a variety of services for the country estates of the gentry, creating new service jobs including bakers and coachmen. However, its most historically known for Shenley hospital which opened in 1934 and was considered an experimental hub for mental health care.

Shenley has a little edifice by its village pond called “the cage”. This little building was a provisional prison with the inscription “do well. Fear not. Be sober. Be vigilant.”

Also, Manor Lodge School was the location of a the “cat lady’s house” in Stanley Kubrick’s film A Clockwork Orange (1971).

Some of the local villagers bemoan what they perceive to be the loss of the rural character of the village due to the looming threat of new development into the Green Belt. On the flip side, others are frustrated by the lack of amenities in the small village.

There is a rumour of the creation of a new garden village to be built on the border of Shenley; this development would entail 4000 new homes in the area that would certainly have a big effect on the atmosphere of Shenley. That said, the site was only listed as a potential development prospect in the local authorities’ documents, plans for its actual development have not been announced. The local community, and many local councillors, are fiercely opposed to the release of Green Belt land for development, with many projects being rejected or at least heavily criticised by local representatives as unnecessary overdevelopments.

Considering that popular support for such developments is very low, it is unlikely that developers with ambitions for the region’s development will gain an advantage in the eyes of local representatives. This not to say that no new development in the area has taken place. Recently, a residential development of 206 homes of varying size and tenure was completed on the site of the former Harperbury Hospital. Bloor Homes, the developer in charge of the project, was reported to have injected £1.4 million to the local economy through the development and targeted towards local healthcare, education and leisure facilities, as well as transport infrastructure.