OUR TOWN
Our town
Watford is a a fast-changing, growing town just outside London, home to 100,000 people of all ages and backgrounds. It is situated in Hertfordshire, England, 17 miles (27 km) northwest of central London and inside the circumference of the M25 motorway.
(This Watford is not to be confused with Watford, Northamptonshire which is about 50 miles to the north!)
The town developed from an Anglo-Saxon settlement between a ford of the River Colne and the crossroads of two ancient tracks. The parish church of St Mary the Virgin was built in 1230 on the same site as an earlier Saxon church, along with stalls for a weekly market. The town grew modestly, assisted by travellers passing through to Berkhamsted Castle and the royal palace at Kings Langley, with the main developments being the 17th-century houses of Cassiobury and The Grove. Both the Grand Junction Canal in 1798, and the London and Birmingham Railway in 1837, allowed the town to grow faster, with paper-making mills, such as John Dickinson and Co. at Croxley, influencing the development of printing in the town which continues today. Two industrial scale brewers Benskins and Sedgwicks flourished in the town until their closure in the late 20th century. Benskins brewery was sited on the piece of land which now includes our home, The Wellspring Church Centre.
Today, Watford is a major regional centre for the northern home counties. Hertfordshire County Council designates Watford, along with Stevenage, to be its major sub-regional centre. Several head offices of national companies and multi-nationals are based in Watford. Both the 2006 World Golf Championship, the 2013 Bilderberg Conference, and 2019 NATO summit took place at The Grove hotel.
OUR LOCATION: CENTRAL WARD
The transport and commercial hub of borough is Central Ward, a densely populated area attracting daily thousands of visitors, workers and people with a wide range of social and economic needs. In the heart of this community Wellspring Church – a mainstream international Pentecostal church – has been serving local people since 1951.
