King's Walden itself is a non-nucleated settlement, with several small clusters of development, notably around the parish church, at Plough Lane (where the village shop and pub are located), and at Ley Green.

[2] The parish name is derived form the Old English 'walh denu', which means a valley of Britons.

[3] Walden was cited in a charter dated AD 888, when King Æthelred of Mercia granted land to a thegn, Wulfgar.

In 1086, the community of Waldenei contained 53 households, which was large compared to other Domesday era settlements in the ancient hundred of Hitchin.

[5] The community of King's Walden itself is a loose-knit dispersed settlement in a number of clusters, notably around the parish church and village hall in the south, around the village shop and pub (The Plough) on Plough Lane in the centre, and up to Ley Green in the north, all of which have King's Walden postal addresses.

It is made up of several houses and a derelict farm adjacent to Eastern perimeter of London Luton Airport; much of the land here is owned by the Crown Estates.