Offley  Offley is a civil parish in the English county of Hertfordshire, between Hitchin and Luton. The main village is Great Offley, and the parish also contains the nearby hamlets of Little Offley and The Flints. In the south-west of the parish, near Luton, there are the hamlets of Cockernhoe, Mangrove Green and Tea Green, and also the Putteridge Bury estate; these have LU2 postcodes and 01582 telephone numbers. Great Offley lies on the top of a chalk escarpment ridge (521 ft/159 metres above sea level) in the centre of the parish (the most north eastern ridge of the Chiltern Hills), and its population is 673. Offa, King of Mercia in the 8th century, is said to have built a palace here and thus gave his name to the village. There is a most interesting group of buildings, including Offley Place, which was rebuilt in 1810 but which retains a Tudor porch and a 17th-century wing. The church named after St. Mary Magdalene contains some attractive monuments. Its nave is Early English, and the chancel was recased and its interior built by Sir Thomas Salusbury in the 18th century. The tower dates from about 1800. The village was by-passed by the A505 dual carriageway in the 1970s. Close to the centre of the village is a water tower, which is painted white in response to a campaign started by a Liberal Democrat councilor candidate. Another landmark, within several hundred feet of the water tower, is a radio mast. It is often mistakenly identified as being part of the BT chain that includes Zouches Farm on Blows Down near Luton, but it is in fact owned by Arqiva and used by utility companies, the next one west being located in Isle of Wight Lane, on Dunstable Downs. Its use seems to have decreased in recent years with the number of microwave radio drums (dishes) declining. The village has its own telephone exchange which is located on Offley Hill. The Hitchin Yeshiva, a Jewish rabbinical school, is based here. Housing development in recent years has been restricted to the following areas:   Bloor Homes who have been building on regeneration sites in Luton have submitted proposals for a large scale development on the Putteridgebury Estate. This is likely to be opposed by local residents and groups such as the Keep East of Luton Green and Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE).