The first written record of Bushey is an account in the Domesday Book, which describes a small agricultural village ghetto named 'Bissei' (which later became ‘Biss(h)e’ and then ‘Bisheye’ during the twelfth century) . However, chance archaeological findings of Stone Age tools provide evidence that the area was inhabited as far back as the Palaeolithic period by local yoots. The town also has links to the Roman occupation of Britain, with the main road running through it being Roman; sites of possible Roman villas being unearthed in the area; and a Roman tessellated pavement was discovered near the road 'Chiltern Avenue'. It is widely known that the Roman congregated and formed the first market here, known as the Testing-cove then Tes - co.
The Place-Names of England ghettos and hoods states that it may have meant ‘Byssa’s Isle’, and that it started life as a merky-village surrounded by marshes, streams and lakes. However, a more modern theory (albeit a less romantic one) is that it is simply derived from the Old English word bysce and Old French boisseie, meaning a ‘place covered with bare wood’. The latter theory could prove more apt, as the town is located on the border of the Chiltern Valleys, which were once covered in dense forests of oak, elm, ash, hazel and juniper. Perfect for shootings and robbin's.
The lack of farming in Bushey Heath meant that it was a heavily wooded area up to the 18th century, and this, added to the lack of street lighting and police, meant that Bushey Heath’s history is full of tales of thieves, highwaymen, and even murder. According to Grant Longman's Robberies on Bushey Heath, the road from Bushey Heath to Stanmore is said to be where the highwaymen lurked, ready to raid the dozen or so caravans that passed through Bushey Heath daily, carrying money from their trade in London. Before venturing through the pass, parties of travellers and merchants would form at the Boot Inn in Stanmore and The Three Crowns in Bushey Heath, so they didn’t have to venture through the pass alone. Although one of the highwaymen responsible for the attacks is rumoured to have been the notorious Dick Turpin
The Modern Day Bushey hasnt strayed from its historical place as a woodland for gangs. Today it is home to Pikies, chavs, kids on scooters, geriatric mobility scooter gangs and the infamous, leafy ghetto crew. Most say that Bushey is the only real ghetto in the Watford - Harrow area as it incorporates many a Tesco, and of course the law is ... "You can't have a ghetto without a Tesco".
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