Abbots Langley

51º43N 0º25W, pop (2000e) 9000. Town in Hertfordshire, SE England, UK; birthplace of Nicholas Breakspear (Pope Adrian IV); parish church of St Lawrence (1154).

Abbots Langley is a large village in the English county of Hertfordshire.

Nicholass Breakspear who became Pope Adrian IV, the only English Pope, was born here. It is presumed that after the death of his wife, his father, Robert Breakspear, became a monk of St Albans Abbey and that at about the age of 18 years old, Nicholass too applied to enter St Albans Abbey.

Undeterred by this refusal, Nicholas went abroad to study. He was elected Abbot in 1137 and came to the notice of the Pope, Eugenius III. After four years, now widely recognised as a man of integrity and strength, he returned to Rome to find that Eugenius III had died and had been succeeded by Anastasius IV, a quiet, peaceful old man of ninety. Within the year Anastasius too was dead, and in November 1154 Nicholas found himself unanimously elected Pope.

Abbots Langley village include a number of roads named after its famous son, and at one time included activities of the Breakspear brewery.

The recent Katherine Place development has brought in some high class retailers to the centre and was sold for £2.93 million in December 2005. To the south of the village are Leavesden Film Studios, on a former airfield, where scenes from movies including Goldeneye, Sleepy Hollow and the Harry Potter series have been filmed.