Until the late nineteenth century Harpenden was predominantly an agricultural village, with farmsteads and blacksmiths on the High Street and other farmhouses scattered about the parish. In our Local History Centre archives we have several ringbinders of photos and information on Harpenden farms and agricultural life. Please contact us if you would like to help make this information accessible in pages on this website.
Founded by John Bennet Lawes with Dr J H Gilbert
Dink the Donkey replaced by a mechanical pump
Article in Harpenden Free Press, 11 March 1955
From Harpenden Free Press, March 1955
A crowded meeting of labouring men was held on Tuesday Sept 15th, at the National School, to discuss the subject ...
Report of a talk to the Society by Ian Pigott in June 2007.
Larger-scale copies of the Tithe Award map and schedules can be studied in the Local History Centre. Please contact us.
Home Farm, Yew Tree Farm and Bowers Farm
This article by Howard Roberts, written in 1993, was pubished in Newsletter 106, December 2008. Picking up rail sacks from Harpenden ...
Report of a talk given by Roger Plumb at the Society's meeting held on 28 June 2017.
‘Mr H A Bell’s 3″ square Lantern slides’ I first went up to Cooters Hill Farm in the late 1950’s, when ...
Now the site of Katherine Warington School
Extract from Miss C.M. Clutterbuck's "Manland" Scrapbook, 1980s
Report on a talk by Jamie Burrows on 26 February 2019
From an undated cutting in the Harpenden Free Press, late 1940s
The contribution of Scottish farmers
Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Fisheries labs at Hatching Green
from the Parish Magazine August 1960
Farmed for food for the gentry
Beds fed by springs alongside the River Lea