Remembering the Coronation of 1953
A summary of the talk given by John Seabrook at the Society's meeting on 24 October 2017.
Salisbury Hall and the de Havilland Aircraft Company
Summary of a talk given by Alistair Hodgson at the Society's meeting held on 23 January 2018.
Maritime Literature across the Centuries
A summary of a talk Julian Parker OBE FNI FRSA in November 2016
Ridge House
Home of Jesse Catton - and the growth of the Ridge estate
Admiral Sims comes to Harpenden
5 July 1918 at St George's School
Wilson Brothers garage, Southdown
From sheds to Southdown Industrial Estate
Unusual visitors to Harpenden
A Sudanese delegation in July 1946
George Hogg and the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of China Gungho in 2018
The significance of the Chinese Industrial Co-operative movement for which George Hogg worked
Lawes and Gilbert: an unlikely Victorian agricultural partnership
Report of a talk given by Roger Plumb at the Society's meeting held on 28 June 2017.
My Dream Job at the BBC Natural History Unit
Summary of a talk given by Mike Salisbury OBE at the Society's meeting held on 22nd May 2017.
David and Janet Keen
New Committee Members
Ronald Arthur Staines - 1929 to 2017
Founder member and long-standing chairman of the Society
Getting around in Harpenden - Transport through the Ages
An exhibition on 2 December 2017, drawing on Les Casey's files
Les Casey - 1930 to 2017
Revered teacher and tireless curator of Harpenden's history
Old well in the High Street?
The Hole on the Concourse in November 2017
Creekmouth Village
Built by John Bennet Lawes for workers at his Chemical Factory on the Thames
Dr Hester
A patient's tribute
A visit to Gorhambury
Guided tours for members of the Society
The Flora of Harpenden
Talk by Ian Denholm to the Society on 28 February 2017
"Old Harpenden, Years Gone By" Facebook Group
Gathering at the Plough & Harrow on 23 September 2017
Gorhambury through the Ages - 1771-2017
Report of a talk given by Viscountess Grimston at the Society's meeting held on Tuesday 17th January 2017
Treasures of the Hertfordshire Archives - The Amy Coburn Lecture
Report of the talk given to the Society by Diane Hodgson following the Society's AGM held on 25 April 2017
Stained Glass in Harpenden - Geoffrey Harper's contribution
Review of "A Life in Glass - Portrait of a Stained Glass Artist" by Francesca Stevens
Edward J Dodgshun - 1851-1927
Architect of a 'House at Harpenden' - Field House in Townsend Road
Harpenden Carnival, 10 June 2017
Local History stall attracts interest
The Lydekker Family, 1650-1983
From Dutch origins to residence in Harpenden from 1857
Blades of Grass
A new biography of George Hogg by his nephew Mark Thomas
Harpenden, Batford and the Danelaw Boundary
A report on the presentation given to the Society by Alexander Thomas on 22 March 2016.
Sir Charles Lawes-Wittewronge
Sportsman, Sculptor, Edwardian Lord of Rothamsted Manor
Robert Warington FRS - 1838-1907
Agricultural Chemist at Rothamsted
The Story of 48 High Street
From a reference on the Tithe Award map of 1843 to Harpenden Books in 2016
Reads' Motors
Successful business founded by Charles and William Read in 1921
Katherine Warington - 1897 to 1993
Distinguished Botanist - first to note importance of boron to plant growth
Flowton Priory
A Tudor timber-framed house transplanted from Suffolk to Harpenden in the 1920s
Rothamsted Allotment Club Annual Dinner
Extract from "Reminiscences,Tales & Anecdotes of Rothamsted Experimental Station, 1872-1922
Harpenden's sub-post offices
Serving new communities, north, south and east from the 1870s
Rothamsted Allotment Club
"and a clubhouse for the comfort and enjoyment of the labourers"
Sir Edward Salisbury and Chrystel Lebas
Exhibition in Amsterdam of landscape and botanical photos across a century of change
Mr and Mrs Nott entertain "Amy"
From the Herts Advertiser and St Albans Times, November 27, 1931
Memories of a Postal Officer and Postman
Harpenden Crown Post Office in the 1970s
Chocks away at Shuttleworth
Report of a visit to the Shuttleworth Collection on 4 September 2016.
Medieval churches in North Bedfordshire
Visit led by Aymeric Jenkins on 16 April 2016
Living on the Common: a landscape history of Harpenden Common
Report of a talk given to the Society on 20 September 2016 by Anne Rowe, freelance historian
Harpenden's Post Office
Expansion and contraction over more than 160 years
Harpenden's heritage and archives in the Arts and Cultural Hub
The Society's presentation to a Workshop about Sports, Arts and Culture facilities on 12 November 2016
Dr Edward Charles Davenport - 1871-1958
Successor to Dr Blake of Bower's House
Mary Constable - 1810-1912
The story of an old Harpenden inhabitant, born in Bowling Alley
Coleswood Road
A gallery of some of the older houses
Harpenden - The Postcard Collection
New publication of nostalgic views - August 2016
F. H. Crittall: Metal Windows and Modernism
Report of a talk given to the Society on 26 April 2016 by Adam Smith.
The Clinton-Baker Pinetum at Bayfordbury
Report of a talk given to the Society on 28 June 2016 by Dr Edward Eastwood, Curator.
Life on the Home Front one hundred years ago
New book about St Albans during the 1914-18 war years
Harpenden Local History - Summer events 2016
Exhibition about the High Street, Harpenden Carnival and Armed Forces Day
The Story of Harpenden from Village to Town
New Publication by Harpenden Local History Society
Oggelsby's - the Blacksmiths at Southdown
My boyhood memories of the 1890s and 1900s
"For Remember"
Drawings by an Italian PoW in Harpenden in 1944
Being Prepared: A Brief History of Scouting
Report of a talk to the Society at the Society's meeting held on 23 February 2016.
Before the Developers got at it: Harpenden 1945-1960
Report of a talk to the Society at the Society's meeting held on 26 January 2016.
Visit to Redbournbury Mill
Society visit on 2 January 2016
The Children's House, St George's School
A Montessori school - later moved to Gorselands
Amy Coburn (1927-2016) - an appreciation
Passionate local historian and founder member of Harpenden & District Local History Society
Harpenden's 'Dry Valley'
A pictorial trail from Zouches Farm near Dunstable to the River Colne at Smallford
Harpenden's Water Supply
The rise and fall of water towers built by the Harpenden Water Company
Harpenden Development Association
A promotional brochure published in 1935
Burglary at Bowling Alley, 1846
From the Hertford Mercury & Reformer, 26 December 1846
Memories of Highmoor, Westfield Common in the 1920s and 1930s
Extracts from 'On growing up in Harpenden before the war - Beginnings'
A War Memorial for Harpenden?
Anonymous letter to the Herts Advertiser, January 1919
Batford Prisoner of War Camp
And a friendship from the 1940s to the 1990s
The Spy who is buried in Harpenden
Report of Dr John Versey's talk to the Society on 23 June 2015
Harpenden Village Sign
An evolving design based on local features
Moreton End School
Compiled from the prospectus and notes in our archives
George Hogg - 1915-1945
The President of China honours him as a hero of WWII
School Feasts in 1869
as reported in Harpenden Parish Magazine, August and September 1869
Cholera in Victorian England
Highly acclaimed book by Amanda Thomas
Hammondsend
A detailed architectural description and history of the Neale family from the 1560s to 1780s
Harpenden's Storm Floods - Sunday 21 June 1936
Report in the Herts Advertiser - Scenes of 1879 vividly recalled
Coach Lane Cottage, 39 Leyton Road
An analysis of the 16th and 17th century timber-framing
Hardenwick School at Sandridgebury
Memories of my time there from 1967 to 1971
Harpenden Village Pond
Heated debate in the Herts Advertiser of 1890 about the future of the Cock pond
Margaret Holden ( c1922 - 1998)
Botanist, biochemist, local historian
Allotments and Harpenden
Talk to the Society on 26 May 2015
Dr Griffith Pugh - 1909-1994
Obituary in The Independent, 27 January 1995
The Slip
Deep clay from Hammonds End to Slip End
Frederick Arthur Harris - c1891-1962
Clerk to Harpenden Urban District Council
Joan Moore OBE (1920 - 1986)
Plant Pathologist, conservationist, gardener
Mr I S Smith's Preparatory Academy, Harpenden
Was this on the corner of Church Green in the 1830s?
Claygate Orchards
From Harpenden Free Press, March 1955
The Medieval Churches of Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire
Talk to the Society by Aymeric Jenkins, 24 February 2015
Francis Smith's Memories of Harpenden
Extract from his 1907 memoir of Harpenden in the 1830s
George Howard Herring - c.1891-1956
Architect and Chief Fire Officer for Harpenden
Help Protect Hertfordshire's Heritage Sites
Owl on-line Watch Link - Hertfordshire Constabulary - Neighbourhood Watch
Luton's Markets and Fairs
Talk to the Society on 24 June 2014
Pictures in the Museum of St Albans
Talk to the Society 0n 1 April 2014, by Catherine Newley, Curator
The History of Harpenden Fire Brigade
1800 to 1992 when the new Fire Station was opened
Front Line Kent - Coastal Defences of the Kent Coast.
Talk to the Society by Dr Peter Webster on 28 October 2014
Harpenden War Memorial 1914-18
A Tribute to the Men who died in the Great War
Books Galore - No More
A history of Harpenden's Toc H stall
A child's memories of WWII
Air raid warnings - and bombs
James Busby
Founder of Busby's the chemists
The Jarrow Crusade
1936, and again in 1986
Early Days at Batford Nursery School
From Wartime Day Nursery to Ministry of Education Nursery School
The History of St Nicholas School
Celebrating the school's 150th anniversary in 2008, with some updates
Blackberries Galore!
From St Nicholas School log book, 1918 - children help the WWI war effort
Some wartime memories
from The Vale of the Nightingale (1996)
Marianne Sherman's Music and Dance manuscripts (1806)
An insight into social gatherings around Rothamsted Manor
The Evacuee
From school in Clerkenwell Green to Harpenden
St Nicholas School History Exhibition - Saturday, 12 July 2014
Our history, dating back to 1858, including photos and artefacts.
St Dominic's School
From Bowers Cottage, via Harpenden Hall and The Welcombe Convent to purpose-built school
Armed Forces Day, 28 June 2014
Society's display of WWI photos
Discovery Day 2014 - Promotion of the Society
A sell-out for 'Harpenden Races': photos of Harpenden House Hotel
The Sherwood Foresters billeted in Harpenden, 1914-1915
A Gallery of photos of WWI military activities in Harpenden from postcards and other sources
Evacuation from the South Coast
From Hastings to Harpenden - July 1940
From Kirkwick to Glen Eagle Manor Hotel
The fate of another Victorian family home in Harpenden
Scout Relief work in NW Europe
Summary of Cornelia Clutterbuck's 1945-1946 Diaries
Harpenden - A wartime Haven
Memories of a boy from Hastings
Harpenden's Evacuation Scheme - WWII
Preparations for the outbreak of war in 1939
Frank Salisbury - Artist in Stained Glass
A talk by Nigel McMurray to the Society on 22 October 2013
Luton Hoo Mansion and Estate
A talk to the Society by Len Fowler on 28th January 2014.
The Life and Times of Charles Hill
Talk by Susan Fairbairn, daughter of the late "Radio Doctor", on 25 February 2014
Gibraltar Bar and "Rose Lane"
Tracking down the Toll Gates or Bars between Harpenden and Luton
Luton Hoo Mansion
Society visits in March 2014
The Society's Committee
2017-2018 - come and join us
Annual Report for 2013
For AGM on 29 April 2014
Welcombe
Behind the façade of Harpenden House Hotel, Southdown Road
A Passion for Plants
Sir Edward Salisbury, botanist, 1886-1978
Frederick Thurston - 1854-1933
Photographer with a Studio in Harpenden
From Natwest Banking to Scouting
9th Harpenden Scout hut from 1973-2013
Ernest Heasman at Nedneprah, East Common
Memories of my artist father and musician mother
Coldharbour and Westfield
A short survey from Roman times to the 1990s
Shepherd Arnold
Painted by Ernest Heasman and remembered by many
The Wernher Room, Kinsbourne Green
Community centre from 1908 to 1940
Kinsbourne Green
From the 1880s to the present
Cornelia Clutterbuck (1916 -1987), seen through her Scrapbook Diaries
Observations on life in Harpenden, and on national and international events
Other recent local publications
by local authors or about Harpenden's history
Harpenden Shops in 1963
A Harpenden Free Press Survey of Local Businesses - 21 May 1963
Rothamsted Experimental Station - 1914-18
Talk by Prof. Roger Plumb to the Rothamsted Association, November 2013
Elizabeth Bowen - 1899-1973
School days at Harpenden Hall School for Girls, 1912-14
"Searching for Grace"
Newly published book about John Blundell Maple's daughter, Grace, by Carol Henderson & Heather Tovey
Aldwickbury
Medieval Manor of 1300 to Golf Club 2000
Harpenden from the 1950s to 1981
Selection from Jim Jarvis's slides
Frank O. Salisbury's prophets
Moved to a historic new home
Harpenden Red Cross Society
A short summary of the first 75 years, from 1938-2013
The Nativity - mural by Frank O. Salisbury
Donated to St Nicholas Church by the artist in 1913
The 1913 Harpenden Races
From the Luton Times and Advertiser, Friday 16th May 1913
Winifred (Freda) Wyborn - 1899-1990
Councillor for Harpenden East - 1964-1979
Grand Concert for Flood Relief
9 March 1953 in Harpenden Public Hall
The Coin Hoard from St Albans
Talk by David Thorold of Verulamium Museum
The Salisburys of Limbrick Hall
James Wright Salisbury and his family
Frank Owen Salisbury
Portait and Stained Glass Artist - 1874-1962
Henry Salisbury - 1839-1923
Founder of Kingston House, builder, Methodist
The Harpenden Races - 1837-1914
Reprint of Eric Brandreth's 1981 booklet
An 1868 Deed of Enfranchisement of copyhold land
Two small plots by the Southdown Road, Harpenden
No.2 Southdown Road, Harpenden
Medieval Hall house from c.1500 - an analysis of its structure
Myrtle Cottage
Researching an enquiry
Elmfield School
Illustrations from a talk by Judy Hamblin and Margaret Hewitt on 29 January 2013.
Dr William Henry Blake (1853-1933)
Harpenden physician from 1879-1920
Coach Lane Cottage, 39 Leyton Road
Formerly Gable End Farm, Old Gable End, The Gables
Hardenwick School in the late 1940s
Memories of my time there from 1947-51- School Number 81
Rothamsted Park Gates
The new approach to Rothamsted Manor in 1880
The Second Battle of St Albans - 17 February 1461
Talk to the Society by Peter Burley and Harvey Watson on 23 February 2013
Bowers House
The house and its inhabitants from the 16th century
Bennetts and its inhabitants
Now home of the Royal British Legion
Inn on the Green
From hardware shop to pub in 100 years
Railway Hotel - Harpenden Arms
Marked the arrival of the Midland line to St Pancras
The White Lion
Distinguished by its Sign
The Cross Keys
Formerly The White Hart
The Old Cock
A pub in different locations since 1639
65 High Street, Harpenden
Wall-paintings imitating panelling, as seen in the 1970s
The making of Vaughan Road
Demolitions in the 1890s to open up the new road
Park Hall
British School from 1850, Council Offices from 1898
The (Old) Red Lion
One of Harpenden's older pub names
2 Southdown Road
Possibly Harpenden's oldest house
Harpenden Town Trail 2 - The Common
A gallery of the pictures and links to further information
Harpenden Town Trail 1 - The High Street
A photo gallery with links to more information and pictures
Sun Lane corner
Cottages demolished to widen the lane around 1930
The Dene
15 Southdown Road
Published in March 2013 - Two Trails
Harpenden High Street and Harpenden Common
Harpenden Hall
Occupiers from the 16th century
The Baa Lamb Trees
Linked with Bylands Farm in Redbourn
Ernest Heasman - 1874-1927
Stained glass artist who lived and worked in Harpenden from 1906
Heathfield Works
Industrial site by Harpenden Common
The Foresters Arms
Linked with the Ancient Order of Foresters Friendly Society
James Marshall - 1661-1722
Benefactor of young people in Wheathampstead and Harpenden
The Putterill family
Founders of garage and timber businesses
The Red House, auctioned in 1904
The brochure which attracted Halley Stewart to buy
Judy Fryd
A short film about the founder of Mencap
George Hogg and Gung Ho
The Chinese Industrial Co-operative Movement from the 1930s
Theodora Wilson's Travels
A selection from the LHS exhibition at Park Hall, 1 December 2012, illustrating Theodora's Journals
Memories of old Harpenden around 1900
An article in Harpenden Free Press, 20 April 1960, illustrated with photos from our archives
Barnfield Tennis Club
Pavillion fire - 6 November 1954
Harpenden Men freed from Japanese PoW camp
Percy Lawrence, Hector Munt & Stephen Robinson
Childwickbury Stud
Society visit in August 2011
James Quilter Rumball (1795-1872)
Phrenologist, and Medical Attendant at Harpenden Asylum
From Arkwright to Mayor
Talk by Michael Weaver, June 2012
Theodora's Journals
Review in BALH online
John Frye Bourne (1912-1991)
Harpenden artist, glimpsed from a newspaper cutting from 1948
Harpenden's History needs a Home
The search for a new Local History Centre
Harpenden's former Norman parish church
St Nicholas church, as described in the early 1800s
Chestnut Cottage, Home Farm
Regrets in 1894 at the loss of 'old Harpenden'
Harpenden's last 'hue and cry'
An anecdote from John Lydekker
The Geology and Landscape of Hertfordshire
Talk by John Catt to April 2012 meeting of the Society
The Children's Sanatorium, Harpenden
A Special branch of the National Children's Home and Orphanage
Presentation of 'Theodora's Journals'
Harpenden Society presents a copy to its retiring President, Ian Fulton
6 High Street, Harpenden
From Dr Kingston's House to M&Co - 1860s-2012
Welcome to "Theodora's Journals"
Meet the editors event on 11 February 2012
Apprenticeship in 1911
Henry Edgar Salisbury - Master : Arthur Cecil Chalkley - Apprentice
The story of Theodora's Journals
From discovery and selection to publication
Theodora's Journals
Order the Society's latest publication here
Walton House School
Memories of the Kindergarten at 18 Tennyson Road
The Lydekkers of Tollgate Cottage
Captain Arthur Lydekker - 1853-1935
Charles Akrill (1840-1907)
His name remembered in a place he probably never knew
The Lydekkers of Harpenden Lodge - 1853-1979
Three generations, and no direct descendents
The Harpenden Ink Factory
at 70 Station Road - now Kinloch Court
The Pathology Labs
Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Fisheries labs at Hatching Green
Church Green in the early 1890s
A panoramic view formed from old prints
George Hogg - his significance
St George's School project - 4
George Hogg - his significance
St George's School project - 3
George Hogg - his significance
St George's School project - 2
George Hogg - his significance
St George's School project - 1
Adding a Page
Printable instructions
A big day for Harpenden Local History Society
Official launch of the website, 24 September 2011
David Hinton - 1937-2011
Tribute to our Website Administrator
Station Road shops in the 1930s
Summary of talk by Geoffrey Ackroyd
A walk along Station Road before 1914
Late Victorian and Edwardian houses on the northern side, from Carlton Road to Marquis Lane corner
Major Esterhazy - "Count de Voilement"
His life in Harpenden after the Dreyfus Affair - 1909 -1923
Pigeonwick, Fallows Green
Home of Ellen Terry - 1869-1874
Ellen Terry (1847-1928)
Her years in Harpenden - 1868-1874
Edward the Confessor's Charter, 1060
Grant of the parish of Wheathampstead (including Harpenden) to Westminster Abbey
Farmsteads on Harpenden High Street
Home Farm, Yew Tree Farm and Bowers Farm
The Jarvis brothers - founders of a Harpenden building company
Ernest Charles Jarvis (1881-1966) & Frank H Jarvis (1886-1962)
St Margaret's, Crossway - a child's view
Miss Hazel Inglefield's reminiscences, written in the 1980s
Then and Now
The changing face of the High Street
Park View House
Glimpse of a Victorian villa
Eric Morecambe
Harpenden resident from 1960-1984
The Director's House
1 West Common, home to the first seven directors of Rothamsted Experimental Station
Sir John Russell (1872-1965)
Director of Rothamsted 1912-43
'Lost' pubs - 2
The afterlife of pubs and ale houses in West Common and Bowling Alley
'Lost' pubs - 1
The afterlife of former pubs - High Street to Kinsbourne Green
Leather-working tools
Tools that Harpenden craftsmen would have used
Punishments and Prisons
From the Stocks to the House of Correction
Motorways
The M1 - bypass for Harpenden
More troops in Harpenden - 1915
A source of satisfaction to the townspeople
Quoits clubs in Harpenden
Reminiscences of Claude J Watler of 3 Cravells Road
Iron Age Burial in Harpenden
Pre-Roman settlements in the Lea Valley at Batford
Hardenwick School
Private Preparatory school for boys, Wordsworth Road 1898-1966
Traces of Roman occupation
Fragments found by builders or in field surveys
Leyton Hall
"A spacious and comfortable hall"
Harpenden Hall
School for Girls, 1910-1923
Elm trees in Harpenden
Ancient trees lost to Dutch elm disease
Electrocult Ltd
Manufacturers of soil sterilizers
Hard winters
Reminders of winters past
The Fishers at Milton Lodge
Darwin, evolution and links with Milton Road
The Crimes of Poverty
Punished by hard labour or transportation
Ends and Greens
The Settlement of Wheathampstead & Harpenden, Vol 1
The Lying-in Charity
Help for poor married women
Sir Frederick Bawden
Rothamsted Director 1958-1972
Self-help in Nineteenth Century Harpenden
Ways of eaking out meagre wages and coping with misfortune
Harpenden Charities
Bequests from the 16th to 19th centuries forming the Harpenden United Charities
Harpenden Paupers
Parish relief, 'outdoor' and 'indoor' - for parishioners and those passing through
Looking after the Poor
from the Middles Ages to the Union Workhouse
Harpenden makes History
Opening of Harpenden's new History Centre at 19 Arden Grove on 31 March 1979
Ursula Bloom, cinema pianist
Music maker for silent films at the White Palace cinema
Batford swimming pool
A pool fed with spring water
Monographs and reprints
Published by the Harpenden & District Local History Society
Rosemary's first page
A Brief History of Allotments