Sir John Wittewronge – scanned from D H Boalch, The Manor of Rothamsted Family connections Sir John Wittewronge (1618 – 1693) of Rothamsted was the grandson of Jacques Wittewronghele and his wife Mary (nee Everdey). Jacques and Mary left Flanders in 1564 to avoid persecution as Protestants. Jacques Wittewronghele his Wife Mary Everdey Jacques was a notary and became established in London. His eldest son Abraham’s daughter married William Paggen...
The Ostrich Donald Preece brought to our attention an article in the Morning Chronicle of February 18th 1839 regarding an ostrich belonging to J B Lawes of Rothamsted, which was printed between ‘ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY (a report of a meeting) and ‘THE DARDANELLES’ (a description of the area) ‘OSTRICH HUNT’ reads: The neighbourhoods of Whipsnade, Kensworth, and Caddington, were enlivened on Friday [se’o?]night by the appearance of a fine ostrich sta...
Mr Wix in Brampton When he was thirty, a man named Mr Wix wanted a school of his own. He found a small school in Brampton that had an opening. When he became Headmaster of the school, which was a Church of England school, numbers began to rise, buildings were enlarged and by 1878 the school, named St George’s. It was an active and spartan-like life for staff and students alike. In 1885 Mr Wix, along with staff and students, left ‘St George’s’, an...
... Jennifer Coville James was my gt. gt. gt. gt. grandfather; he was an extremely interesting person. Inspection reports say that the asylum was very nice and inmates lived as family. Also his long friendship with Ellen Terry, actress, and that he delivered her children from her second husband. My granny grew up and lived at the Granary in Harpenden and I remember visiting there as a child, so the family was there for a long time. ...
Michael Weaver, recently retired from the dignity of Mayor of Harpenden, gave an interesting and amusing talk on his years in Harpenden to the June 2012 meeting of the Society. A Chartered Accountant by profession, Michael came to Harpenden in 1968 and acquired C & A Builders’ Merchants, then located in Brewery House. He became the Chair of the local Chamber of Commerce and recalled such events as decimalisation, the power cuts of the early ‘70’s...
Our new Town Trails are available from Harpenden Town Information Point, Town Hall, Leyton Road; Harpenden Library; St Albans Tourist Information Office; hotels and B&Bs; or contact us. They can also be downloaded. Town Trail 2 follows the fringes of the Common – sometimes called The Triangle – close to the High Street from No.2 Southdown Road, behind the Harpenden Arms, round the Baa Lamb trees and back towards Leyton Green. To view the enlargem...
... Here are some photo’s of the farm in the late 1950’s. This is in response to the “can you help” regarding the old barn at the top of Piggotts Hill Lane. ...
Wilfred Thomas In 2012, Sian van der Welle submitted a query about Wilfred Thomas, an Old Georgian who was killed during WW1 and lived in Longcroft Avenue in 1911 when he was a pupil at the school. Records show he had lived at The Chilterns in Longcroft. Sian had lived in Longcroft for 12 years and has a small picture of Wilfred at his front door, though she could not recognise the house and doesn’t know which one might be Chilterns. In fact by t...
Information drawn from (Harpenden) History Publishing Society/WEA volumes IV and V of ‘Wheathampstead and Harpenden’. The Cross Keys in around 1890. The adjoining cottages were the site of Putterill’s first garage, with Harpenden’s first petrol pumps on the green in front. To the right is part of Rose Cottage. Credit: LHS archives Myth has associated the Cross Keys with Westminster Abbey, but the name, attached to present building, first appears ...
I was a Harpenden resident from the age of 9 in 1954 until 1969, living in a house my Dad had built at 22 Rothamsted Avenue. Our phone number was Harpenden 4748 !! 22 Rothamsted Avenue, built by a St Albans company for my Dad in 1954. It cost £4500! The road was unmade at the time. Graham Forsaith at Hatfield School 1961 My primary school was St Nicholas church school at the bottom of our road. There was a butchers shop [Steabbens] on the opposit...
... George A. Lee I lived at NCH Harpenden from 1938 -1946 and can remember only one boy dying and being buried in the cemetery during that time. He was in Clifton House, B4 as it was known and marked on our clothing together with our in individual number, mine was B4 14. I would be interested to hear from any of my contemporaries. ...
Dr Frederick Robert Spackman was born in 1820, the son of Robert Spackman, a surgeon in Lutterworth, near Leicester. He obtained his licence from the Society of Apothecaries in 1840, membership of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1842, his London M.B. in the same year and his M.D. in 1856. He was consultant physician at St Albans Hospital and in Harpenden took over the practice of Dr Kingston. From the gravestones, it seems that Dr Spackman’s fir...
Dr Blake outside Bowers House – LHS 481 (detail) Dr Blake arrived in Harpenden in 1879, which was soon after he graduated. He obtained his M.R.C.S. in 1876 and graduated at London University in 1878 with an honours M.B., B.S. During his medical career he was Hon Medical Officer at St Albans Hospital and Dispensary; Medical Officer for the Third District of the St Albans Union, and house physician and obstetric assistant at U.C.H. where he trained...
The original request In March 2013 Dor Wilson added the following comment to the ‘Road Names of Harpenden’ : “I have very fond memories of Harpenden from the 1950s and early 1960s. When very young I stayed with my uncle and aunt somewhere on West Common I think (Myrtle Cottage). This was subsequently bought (again I think) under compulsory purchase when they bought a house in Aley Green (Sunniside). Coming from the north of England I thought I ha...
Judy Hamblin Margaret Hewitt Judy Hamblin and Margaret Hewitt both worked as house-mothers at Elmfield School from the 1970s, until it closed as a National Children’s Home specialist school for children with physical disablilities in the mid 1980s. They gave an account of the school from its founding as a sanitorium in 1910, illustrated with photos from the NCH archives. They spoke of their own experiences, and of the staff who maintained high st...
Thoughts evoked by finding the page on Hardenwick School The Evingtons I arrived at Hardenwick at the beginning of the summer term in 1947. It was never explained to me why this was so but I suspect it was something to do with my mother’s second marriage. On reflection and confirmed by a recent random check of the 1911 census there were a number of Evingtons being born in Hull where my stepfather was also born. It is not inconceivable that the se...
Coach Lane Cottage, c.1977 – timber-framed wing on the left, matched by 1930s extensions and porch on the right. The building faces ENE onto Harpenden Common – but was formerly orientated ESE, at right-angles to Leyton Road – the old St Albans Road – with gardens on the south and west sides. A 1930s house stands to the north. The west and south fronts are timber-framed with whitewashed plaster infill. The east front has two wide and tall gables, ...
Rothamsted Park Gates and Lodge – DS-B 2.29 Gates to Rothamsted Park with lodge cottage, c.1900, next to British School/Public Hall. The gates and railings were removed in WWIIDuring the 1870s the Lord of Rothamsted Manor, John Bennett Lawes, planted the avenues of lime trees along the main entrance-way to the Manor from Hatching Green, and down through parkland to the common, close to Coach Lane (which still leads up past the northern boundary o...
Its architecture 15 Leyton Road – Yew Tree Farm – c. 1970 – LHS 984 From notes of the WEA/History Society Houses Study Group in the mid 1970s. This is a two-storey timber-framed building with plastered infill, white-washed brick extensions and tiled, gable roof. The present frontage to Leyton Road consists of the side wall of a cross-wing, which was part of a late C16 Hall and Cross-wing house, of which the hall also remains, but sub-divided. The...
Bennetts in the 1920s The stables at Bennetts, built by John Bennett Lawes for use when he entertained the Prince Regent in the early 1800s. Watercolour sketch of Bennetts and elm trees in Leyton Road – LHS archives – cat.no. HC 124 Leyton Road, with gates to Bennetts and the stables – LHS archives – cat.no. HC 42 Its architecture From notes of the WEA/History Society houses study group in the mid 1970s. The building faces NNE, a quarter of a mil...
Its architecture The Old House, 1975 – LHS archives – copyright RCHM From notes of the WEA/History Society houses study group in the mid 1970s This is a mainly timber-framed with plaster infill. One wing is of brick, with a bay window. Roofs are tiled and hipped at the south end, tiled and gabled at the north end. The nucleus of the house, two rooms around a massive central chimney stack, dates from c.1530-1550. A C18 extension leads out of this ...
Members of the Local History Society were studying Harpenden’s timber-framed buildings at the time 65 and 67 High Street were undergoing renovations in the mid 1970s. Following discovery of the wall-paintings, which imitate wooden panelling and are thought to date from the C18, the Royal Commission for Historical Monuments made a photographic record. All these photos are Crown Copyright – RCHM. We hope to add further information in due course wal...
1897 OS map showing the brewery For the greater part of the 19th century there were two breweries side by side in the High Street. Together they stretched from Boots (no 23) to Sainsbury’s conveniences, previously the Electricity showrooms (no 31). Each had living accommodation, which stood next door to each other: the southern one was the White House, now replaced by the Methodist Church and the northern was Peacock House, replaced by Brewery ...
Photos from Di Castle – nee Munt: Middle row – far left Rita Weston, third from left David Jolly, fifth from the left in striped jumper, Josephine Paul (now Bysouth). Back row – (according to Albert Callewaert) Valerie Haines, Shirley Andrews, Brian Pinney, Patrick Brooks, Timothy Parker, Peter Thompson, Robert Pritchard, Mary Peddar, Johnny Winters, Prudence? Ivan Smith, Betty Gibbons, Christine Fowler. Albert second from right at the back. Cred...