Tollgate Cottage - Tollgate Hotel

Who has lived at 69 High Street

Tollgate Hotel, c. 1950s
LHS archives, cat. no, 001746

The earliest records I have of this property are as a private house, as follows:

It was owned by Miss Bocking* according to a document dated 25 October 1876, and by Mrs. Fells from 1876 to 1881. (I have seen a reference to the Title of this property being a marriage settlement dated 18.7.1881, somehow relating to Mrs. Fells.)

Captain Lydekker lived there from 1881 to 1935. Arthur Mason was there from 1940.  Miss C. Lydekker is mentioned in 1941/2, and then Robert Dunn in 1946.

The Tollgate Hotel – 65, 67 and 69

No. 67 High Street opened in the late 1930s as a private hotel, The Limes, but later closed and was re-opened in December 1943, occupying both Nos. 65 and 67.   On 2nd July 1948 it opened as the Tollgate Hotel, occupying all the properties from 65 to 69 High Street.   P.E.Wilks was the manager in 1949, G. Penfold from 1952/4 and, at some time, a Percy Jessop was there.  The Hotel was up for sale in October 1953 and sold in March 1954 as three properties.

I then have a few blank years but can fill you in on hairdressers since 1961, as follows:

  •    Toni Da Roma: June 1961 to October 1961
  •    Continental Hair Stylists Ltd: November 1961 to June 1962
  •    Grosvenor Hair Fashions: June 1962 to October 1965
  •    Alfio:  October 1965  to October 1971
  •    Jeanette :  October 1971 to October 1975
  •    Gillian Neville: October 1975 to February 1986
  •    Helen’s Hair Fashions: March 1986 to September 2002
  •    The Hairdressing Co.: 13th November 2002 –

This list brings back some memories of the work I have done on Harpenden High Street!

* In what way was Miss Bocking related to Elizabeth nee Bocking, wife of James Rumball, at the time he is said to have attended the birth of Ellen Terry’s daughter in 1869?

Comments about this page

  • I know that my grandmother Mabel Wolfe lived in one of the Tollgate cottages with my father Edward Wolfe during the 1930s and maybe in wartime. Her late husband was a relative of the Lydekkers. 

    By George Wolfe (04/05/2015)

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