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Archaeological evidence indicates continuous human activity in the Kings Langley area from the Lower Palaeolithic period.
A Roman villa of the winged-corridor type, dated to the 2nd century AD, stood in the southern part of the present village, just east of the River Gade, between what is now the Roman Gardens housing estate and Home Park Industrial Estate, probably overlying an earlier 1st-century elite Catuvellauni residence. The site was first identified in 1825 during works for Kings Langley railway station, and was later largely excavated between June 1981 and March 1982. Identified features included a bath suite and hypocaust heating.
The earliest known written reference to the manor of Langley dates to the 1040s, when the Saxon thegn Æthelwine Niger granted the land to Leofstan, abbot of St Albans Abbey. Leofstan subsequently granted the western portion of the district to a knight named Turcoht, an act which may have led to the later division between Kings Langley and Abbots Langley.
By 1066 the manor had been lost to the abbey and was held by Saeric and Thori as vassals of Leofwine Godwinson (c. 1035–1066). Following the Norman Conquest, the manor formed part of the Hundred of Danish and was among the lands granted to Robert, Count of Mortain (c. 1031–c. 1095), uterine half-brother of William the Conqueror (c. 1028–1087); his tenant was a certain Ralf. The assessed value declined from £8 in 1066 to £2 in 1086, a reduction likely caused by post-Conquest disruption. The present village developed as a linear village along the old road from London to Berkhamsted and beyond to the Midlands.
Following the forfeiture of William, Count of Mortain (before 1084–after 1140) after his failed rebellion in 1106, the manor was granted to the Chenduit family as part of the Honour of Berkhamsted. The Gesta Abbatum reports that Paul (abbot 1077–1093), abbot of St Albans Abbey, recovered Kings Langley for the abbey in the late 11th century; however, the Chenduit family retained control of the manor as vassals of the Crown, suggesting either a short-lived recovery or a reassertion of specific ecclesiastical rights.
Biodynamic allotments and building of Tudor origin on the grounds of Kings Langley Priory established by Edward II in 1308
By the 1270s Sir Stephen de Chenduit (before 1235–after 1278) had fallen into debt, and the manor was acquired by Eleanor of Castile (1241–1290), queen consort of Edward I (1239–1307). Shortly afterwards a royal palace was developed to the west of the village on Le Corte Hill (now Langley Hill), with a deer park extending to the south. It is unclear whether this represented a new foundation or an enlargement of an earlier complex. Edward III (1312–1377) later held court at Kings Langley during the Black Death to avoid London, and the village briefly served as a seat of government.
King's Langley Priory, a Dominican house, was founded in 1308 by Edward II (1284–1327) adjacent to the royal palace. Both the palace and the priory church fell into ruin after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, although elements of each site survive. Piers Gaveston, 1st Earl of Cornwall (c. 1284–1312), the favourite of Edward II, was interred with "great ceremony" in the priory church. Having been summarily executed without trial in Warwickshire in June 1312, his burial had to be deferred since he had been excommunicated by Robert Winchelsey, Archbishop of Canterbury earlier that year. He was buried on 2 January 1315, after Edward obtained him absolution. The exact location of his remains is unknown. Following his deposition on 30 September 1399, Richard II (1367–1400) died in captivity, probably of starvation, at Pontefract Castle. After his body was displayed at St Paul's Cathedral, he was interred in the priory church on 6 March 1401; on 4 December 1413 his remains were removed and taken to Westminster Abbey. Other notable burials at the priory included the fourth surviving son of Edward III, Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York (1341–1402), who was born at the palace. Ralph Stafford (c. 1367–1385), a knight in the household of Richard II, and Anne de Mortimer (1388–1411), an ancestor of the House of York and grandmother of Edward IV (1442–1483) and Richard III (1452–1485).
The All Saints' Church was built in the 14th century on the site of an earlier church. The tomb of Edmund of Langley was moved there following the Dissolution of the Priory (c.1539) and placed in a specially built north-east chapel in 1878.
All Saints' Church, Kings Langley
The 18th century Sparrows Herne turnpike road (later the A41 trunk road) traversed the Chilterns via the valley of the River Gade and ran down the village high street. The 16th century Saracen's Head public house is a coaching inn which flourished in this period.
The Grand Union Canal dates from 1797 and the London and Birmingham Railway from 1838 which later became the West Coast Main Line, the main railway line from London to the north west. The canal and railway line pass just east of the village at Kings Langley railway station.
There are many businesses located near the station in Home Park Industrial Estate which was also the site of the Construction and Engineering Centre of West Herts College from 2007–2019, when it was moved to Hemel Hempstead.
Housing developments in the 20th century have led to the village spreading out on either side of the main road. The A41 has now been diverted west of the village leaving the high street to local traffic for the first time in centuries.
During the Second World War, Barnes Lodge, a former country house located off Hempstead Road near Rucklers Lane, served as the principal radio communications centre linking the Polish Underground (Armia Krajowa) in occupied Poland with the Polish government-in-exile and its military staff in London. It worked in close coordination with the Polish Section of the Special Operations Executive. The house was demolished in c. 1976, and the present building, retaining the name Barnes Lodge, was constructed on the site of its former stables.
Former Ovaltine factory, Kings Langley. This is the listed art deco façade of the former Ovaltine factory. It was redeveloped into housing in 2002.
Kings Langley was the site of the factory making Ovaltine chocolate drink; the listed factory facade, designed c. 1923 by James Albert Bowden is now all that is left and still stands alongside the railway line among a new housing development. The Ovaltine factory itself has been converted into a series of flats and duplexes.
The former Ovaltine Egg Farm was converted into energy-efficient offices which house Renewable Energy Systems. The complex incorporates a highly visible 225 kW Vestas V29 wind turbine, nicknamed "Lofty" alongside the M25.
The wind turbine overlooking the former Ovaltine Model Dairy Farm, now the offices of Renewable Energy Systems Ltd.Kings Langley School is the local comprehensive school, situated on Love Lane to the west of the village.
Kings Langley was also the site of a Waldorf School, the Rudolf Steiner School Kings Langley which closed in 2019. This was built on the grounds of the old palace. There was a small display cabinet of finds from the palace period in the school entrance foyer.
The village became twinned with Achiet-le-Grand in France in November 2009, in honour of Christopher Cox from the village who won a Victoria Cross in fighting near Achiet-le-Grand in the First World War.
