Welcome to the Sanctum
ISKCON Bhaktivedanta Manor — set in 78 acres of rolling Hertfordshire countryside just outside Greater London — is the spiritual home of the Hare Krishna movement in the UK and one of the most storied diaspora temples in the world. Gifted to Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada by former Beatle George Harrison in 1973, the Tudor Revival manor has been a working Radha-Krishna temple for over fifty years, welcoming over 70,000 pilgrims every Janmashtami and 300,000 visitors annually.
The Manor is home to the deities of Sri Sri Radha-Gokulananda — the presiding altar installed by Srila Prabhupada himself — along with Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai (Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda), Sri Sita-Ram-Lakshman-Hanuman, and a Giriraj (Govardhan Shila) worshipped in the tradition of Lord Krishna’s lifting of Govardhana Hill. The 78-acre estate includes a working goshala with 40+ protected cows, traditional organic farmland producing the temple’s daily prasadam, the consecrated Haveli for community events, and extensive meditation gardens including the Harrison Memorial Grove planted in George’s memory after his passing in 2001.
— हरे कृष्ण हरे कृष्ण कृष्ण कृष्ण हरे हरे —
Heritage
The story carved into stone, copper, and prayer.
The estate of Piggotts Manor was built in 1898 as a Tudor Revival country house for a London industrialist. In 1973, after Srila Prabhupada expressed the need for a UK ashram with rural land for cow protection, George Harrison purchased the manor outright and gifted it to ISKCON, personally traveling with Srila Prabhupada to consecrate the deities of Sri Sri Radha-Gokulananda on September 3, 1973. Harrison’s only condition was that there would always be Krishna consciousness on the property — a condition that ISKCON has kept for over five decades.
Through the 1970s and 1980s the Manor grew into the UK’s largest Hindu ashram, at one time housing over 100 full-time devotees. In the 1990s, local residents objected to the growing number of public pilgrims and Hertsmere Borough Council ruled that the Manor could only hold a limited number of Sunday services per year. A landmark legal battle, supported by the British Hindu community and advocated by Harrison himself, ended with a 1996 House of Lords ruling permitting unrestricted public worship at the Manor — a watershed decision for religious freedom in Britain that secured the right of Hindu places of worship in the UK.
Annual Janmashtami celebrations have grown to over 70,000 devotees — the largest Hindu religious gathering in the UK — spread over four days with fifteen stages of kirtan, dance, prasadam and abhishek. In 2013, on the Manor’s 40th anniversary, Olivia and Dhani Harrison formally opened the Harrison Memorial Grove, planted with trees gifted from every continent. In 2023, the Manor celebrated 50 years of continuous deity worship with a full rajadhiraj abhishek attended by ISKCON’s senior gurus, the Lord Mayor of London and descendants of the Harrison family.
Today the Manor operates the Bhakti School primary school, a 24-hour free ambulance-style Food for Life kitchen serving 3,000 meals weekly to the disadvantaged, the renowned goshala rescue and breeding programme, and organised Vraja Mandala parikrama replicating Vrindavan’s holy sites within the Manor grounds. The Manor is also the editorial home of UK editions of Back to Godhead magazine and the European headquarters of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.
Sacred Offerings
Offerings performed by ordained priests under the guidance of vedic tradition — for every milestone of life.
Free
The pre-dawn first arti with lamps, incense and the Brahma Samhita prayers — the most spiritually elevated darshan time.
Book Now →Free
Worship of Srimati Tulasi Devi, the plant-form of Krishna’s eternal consort — devotees perform the parikrama around Tulasi in the temple courtyard.
Book Now →Free
Morning greeting of the deities in fresh daily shringar — Radha-Gokulananda are dressed in new silks and jewels every day.
Book Now →Donation-based
The oldest continuous Hindu communal meal in the UK, combining kirtan, Srimad Bhagavatam lecture and a six-course vegetarian feast.
Book Now →Free / sponsor optional
Worship of the sacred stone from Govardhan Hill, considered non-different from Lord Krishna himself.
Book Now →Daily Worship
Open all days of the year (Sundays are the busiest)
Sacred Calendar
Days that turn the temple into a constellation of light, music, and shared prayer.
The UK’s largest Hindu festival — 70,000+ attendees over 4 days, with continuous kirtan, midnight abhishek and a week-long pandal.
The Giriraj-shila is decorated with Annakut — 101 vegetarian preparations — and devotees circumambulate a garlanded hill of sweets.
Birth of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu — 24-hour kirtan, abhishek of Gaura-Nitai and breaking of fast with ekadashi prasadam.
The Manor organises London’s famous Hyde Park Ratha Yatra and a smaller Watford yatra at the Manor itself — one of Europe’s oldest Ratha Yatras.
Annual celebration of the founder-acharya’s birth, attended by ISKCON gurus from across Europe.
Sacred Moments
A visual pilgrimage — captured in the soft light of dusk and the gold of dawn.
Devotee Voices
Words from those whose lives were touched within these walls.
The 27 ekadashis I have spent at ISKCON Bhaktivedanta Manor are the most peaceful days of my life. The midnight aarti on Janmashtami — watching the entire town sing together — is something every devotee should witness once.
I came to ISKCON Bhaktivedanta Manor for an internship in Aldenham and stayed because of Krishna. Five years later, I still cycle here every dawn. There is a happiness in this temple I cannot find anywhere else.
Bringing my wife here for the first time after our wedding was one of the best decisions of my life. Standing before Krishna at golden hour, you understand why our ancestors built temples to capture exactly this light.
Plan Your Visit
Address: Hilfield Lane, Aldenham, Watford, Hertfordshire WD25 8EZ, United Kingdom, Aldenham, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom WD25 8EZ
Nearest airport: London Heathrow (LHR) — 26 km
Nearest railway: Radlett Station — 3 km / Watford Junction — 5 km
Nearest bus stand: Hertsmere Council H12 bus · London bus 258 from Watford
Phone: +44 1923 857 244
Email: office@krishnatemple.com
Official website: iskcon.london/bhaktivedanta-manor
