The site on which Bushey stands has been occupied since Palaeolithic and Iron Age times. The Romans were certainly on the site as a Roman road ran through Bushey and a tessellated pavement has been found near Chiltern Avenue. The name is thought to derive from the Old Engish words bysce and haeg giving 'bush enclosure'.

In the Domesday Book of 1086 Bushey is Bissei and is described as arable farmland and pastureland. At that time the population amounted to less than a hundred. The first Norman Lord of the manor was Geoffrey de Mandeville who, as a knight, fought alongside William the Conqueror. In the 2001 Census the population was 14,488.

After that time the land was owned by a succession of lords who always seemed to join with the wrong side during the Middle Ages. This often resulted in their either dying in battle or being executed.

International University

At one time the International University was full of overseas students but now all is quiet disturbed only by occasional film crews who use the site for location filming. While there some of the film and television crews use the student accommodation and live to regret the choice. Strange noises have been heard, windows and doors would open by themselves and objects would move around.

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Lululaund

The Blue Lady is reported to haunt the site where she once lived and which is now the Bushey Film Studios. Lulu nee Griffiith was the second wife of Baron Hubert von Herkomer (1849 – 1914) and died shortly after they were married. The Baron, an artist by training, built a mock Bavarian Castle that he called Lululaund in commemoration of Lulu and to celebrate the art of his family. The building was designed by the American architect H. H. Richardson in return for a portrait. By the time Herkomer moved in during 1894 it was reputed to have cost over £75,000. After the First World War an ignorant council chose to tear down the building because of its Bavarian connection so that little remains today.

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