The name Brockley Hill probably comes from ‘Brokhole’ meaning ’the badger holes’.
The soil of this area, with the sand and loam of the Claygate Beds, would have made good sites for badgers’ setts.
The hill is part of Watling Street and now part of the A5. Watling Street was built during the early part of the Roman period and has arrived here in a straight line from near modern Marble Arch. there is a curve here to meet the next section. Roman engineers’ used high places as a sighting-point ad it is likely Brockley Hill was one of these. At the top of the hill is a roundabout built in the 1950s when Watling Street was crossed by the new Watford by-pass.
Along the road, Brockley Hill Farm has a 17th century house and barn which are timber framed and weather boarded. The barn has central cart doors. Brockley Hill House is a stuccoed mid-19th house which stood in the grounds of the Royal National Orthopaedic hospital. An older 18th house was probably to the west. It is now converted into flats. Brockley Grange is an 18th century timbered farmhouse with roughcast outside.
