Exhibitions
Programme of quarterly exhibitions in Park Hall
Park Hall - The History room is on the left of the entrance.
Les Casey
The History Society has a room at Park Hall, Leyton Road, where artefacts and archival material are stored, including an extensive collection of historic photographs.
We have for many years held quarterly exhibitions on the first Saturday of March, June, September and December from 2.30 to 4.30pm, on a wide range of themes* See below
The History Centre is also open when there is an exhibition, and you are welcome to look at the archives and resources we have, or to contact us for an appointment at another time - this service will resume in September 2020.
Our new curator
David and Janet Keen
David Keen
David Keen, born in Harpenden into the family of Charles Read, and a long-standing member of the Society, is taking on the role of curator at a challenging time for the Society. His wife Janet has also joined the Committee and is working with him to assess the Society's artefacts, which are now in safe, secure storage.
Janet Keen has taken on the roll of Programme Secretary.
OUR PROGRAMME OF QUARTERLY EXHIBITIONS HAS BEEN SUSPENDED FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE
WATCH HERE FOR UPDATES
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Meanwhile we are taking the opportunity
offered by Covid19 to work on preparing
our collection of artefacts and archives
for our long-hoped-for
Harpenden Museum
which we hope will open in 2021
For on-line purchase of The Story of Harpenden from Village to Town - £3 and copies of Harpenden Races, £3, Happy World and other publications please go to our Publications
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The exhibition on 7 March 2020 featured old maps, plans of developments such as The Avenues in 1897, proposals for development of all land with Harpenden Urban District Council boundaries in the 1950s
The exhibition in December 2019 featured Harpenden's first housing estate - PARKVIEW, including Milton, Shakespeare, Spenser and Cowper Road, developed in the 1880s, with information about people who have lived there. Here is an overview of the exhibition. We hope to publish more detailed pages in due course.
The June 2019 exhibition on Harpenden's Pubs and Breweries attracted an interested reaction to how many pubs there still are, despite so many having disappeared. Memories of youthful pub-crawling were shared!
Our exhibition on Saturday, 2 March 2019 featured Harpenden's Schools - The Best Days of Your Life? - ranging from the earliest recorded schools, Harpenden's Board and National Schools of the nineteenth century to the newst - Harpenden Academy and Katharine Warington's school's building site.
Our December 2018 exhibition, held in partnership with St Albans, Harpenden & District Philatelic Society, was on Saturday, 1 December 2018, on "Commemorating Harpenden in the Great War" and "The Great War Through the Post Box" including life on the Home front, billeting 1000s of Sherwood Foresters, caring for the wounded, Armistice Day in Harpenden and the aftermath of the war years and postcards, stamps and postal history.
WWI display in Harpenden Library
R Ross, November 2018
Library display of WWI cards
R Ross, November 2018
Library display cabinets
Since the opening of Harpenden Library on the Lower High Street in July 2013, the Society has the use of two glass display stands. It is not easy to use these spaces, but David and Janet Keen are devising changing displays.
MANLAND - How it has changed from Common and farmland through the 1900s and into the 21st century
On 3 June 2017 many residents from the Manland area came to share their interest in the area, its origins on mediaeval fields, and how it was developed once farmland and strips from the Manland Common was being sold from the 1870s onwards.
Some photos from the exhibition on 3 June 2017 have been added below. We continue to be interested in gaining information from deeds of residents in the area, to understand the sequence of development and who were the builders and architects who formed the character of the area from 1900 to the 1930s.
Aerial views of Manland, and a plan dated 1911 showing the proposed road which became Crossway
R Ross, 3 June 2017
Auction brochures and plans for houses in Manland Avenue, together with maps showing the field boundaries which are reflected in road layout
R Ross, 3 June 2017
Some of the interesting people associated with the Manland area: Katherine Warington, Malcolm Saville, Julian Harrison, Captain Esterhazy (Count de Voilement), Cornelia Clutterbuck and members of the Salisbury family
R Ross, 3 June 2017
Randalls Nurseries in Ox Lane sent vegetables and flowers to the London markets on trains from Harpenden East station until the 1950s
R.Ross, 3 June 2017
The Great Northern branch line opened in 1860, and was Harpenden's first link to London
R Ross, 3 June 2017
Manland Avenue, the west side, with Manland Beacon in a prominent situation
R Ross, 3 June 2017
Crossway - St Margaret's Orphanage. opened in September 1914, was the first building on the unmade road.
R Ross, 3 June 2017
Westway is the scene of recent demolition to access the old orchard behind
R Ross, 3 June 2017
On 24 October 2015 we mounted a special exhibition in Batford Memorial Hall, first shown on 5 September in Park Hall
Batford Memorial Hall, general view
R Ross, 24 Oct 2015
Lea Valley Group display, Batford Exhibition
R Ross, 24 Oct 2015
Local industries in Batford
R Ross, 24 Oct 2015
Alex Thomas describing new archaeological discoveries
R Ross, 24 Oct 2015
Our new screens were used for the first time for the Carnivals & Celebrations exhibition as part of Harpenden Carnival on 6 June 2015
New display board, Carnivals & Celebrations exhibition, 6 June 2015
David Whitbread, Harpenden Photographic Society
The December 2014 exhibition on Harpenden from the Air attracted plenty of interest.
The September exhibition on The Home Front in Harpenden - 1939 covered a range of themes, including the evacuation scheme, evacuees from East London, Enfield and Hastings, the Home Guard and other preparations for WWII
PLEASE CONTACT US IF YOU HAVE INFORMATION, OR ITEMS WHICH YOU MIGHT BE WILLING TO ADD TO THE SOCIETY'S ARCHIVES.
Beyond the Nickey Line - 1 March 2014
Rosemary Ross, March 2014
The theme of the exhibition on 1 March 2014 was "Beyond the Nickey Line", from Park Hill to Kinsbourne Green, Harpenden's 'dry' valley from the Ice Age to the present, National Children's Home & Sanatorium, Kennesbarne and Harpendenbury, and Roman excavations at Friars Wash.
The theme of the exhibition on Saturday, 7 December 2013, was "Southdown", including long-vanished streets in Bowling Alley, local shops and businesses and pubs, only some of which have survived under the same sign.
Local authors Geoff Ackroyd and John Seabrook displayed their latest books on Harpenden.
Changing shops and businesses in Southdown
John Olley, 7 December 2013
Southdown
John Olley, 7 December 2013
Vanishing pubs in Southdown
John Olley, 7 December 2013
John Seabrook and his wife, displaying the new edition of Bowling Alley Boyhood
John Olley, 7 December 2013
On 1 June 2013 Harpenden Red Cross Society put together a comprehensive exhibition covering 75 years of the Red Cross in Harpenden. We hope to feature this shortly on a separate page.
Some recent exhibitions are illustrated below:
Marion Donaldson with Les Casey, 75 Years of the Red Cross in Harpenden on 1 June 2013
Alan Bunting
The Red Cross team - Linda Black, Caroline Carden, unit leader Jean Leake, exhibition organiser Marion Donaldson, Marian Fooks, Karen Martin and Sonja Clarke.
Alan Bunting
Geology Exhibition, 2 March 2013 - specimens from Les Casey's collection
John Olley
Geology exhibition, 2 March 2013 - specimens of coal and minerals from Les Casey's collection
John Olley
Jubilee exhibition - 2 June 2012 - display of fairy lights from 1935 Jubliee celebrations
John Olley. 2 June 2012
Jubliee exhibition - the display of garments worn by Society Chairman, Gavin Ross, at the Coronation, June 1953, caused some surprise and amusement
John Olley. 2 June 2012
Selling "Theodora's Journals" , 3 March 2012
Rosemary Ross
Friends Re-united: Freddie Luck, John Olley and Shirley Olley nee Griffin, met while visiting the Exhibition of Maps, and exchanged reminiscences based on the 1924 map of Southdown.
Rosemary Ross, June 2011
