Into Long Field

Hatfield Road looking west with the cemetery on the left. c1914. The gap at the distant flag at half
mast is where the Social Club is today, and the nearest flag is the final shop before St Paul's Place.
COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS

At the beginning of the previous post is an early 20th century postcard view of the north side of Hatfield Road looking east from Cavendish Road towards St Paul's Church.  Today the first photograph is a similar view but taken from St Paul's Church looking west; again noting the unwidened road.  The subject of the foreground shop on the right will be the topic for the next post, and the space with the flag at half mast will be described later in this post.

As we walk along this section of Hatfield Road we pass an apparently undistinguished row of shops (even more in the days before Tesco Metro arrived).  These are the houses which were planted on the other side of the hedge referred to in the previous post, in Long Field.  But when we look at the aerial photo we can discern a little more order as the separate buildings are more obvious.

Laurel Road is the side road on the far left.  An excellent view of the former rear gardens and part
of the St Paul's Place development.
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Starting from the hedge (to the left of the Jamie Mosque gateway) is a terrace of four homes, the two end ones including carriage drives.  The left drive has first floor accommodation above it, but the one on the right is open.  Although it is not certain who was responsible for building this group in 1898 or 1899, all four were owned by Thomas Martin of Fishpool Street in 1910, according to the Valuation Office records.  Evidence of the original ground floor bay windows is visible, and as with the rest of the properties in this section of the road, the narrow front gardens are now paved.  Brick arched first floor window lintels remain the only form of decoration other than the ground floor bay tops.  These four properties were  converted to shops within two years of occupation: respectively a confectioner, draper, china & glass dealer, and grocer.  They all remained good examples of everyday shops until the 1960s, when trades changed to become "the tyre place", a motorcycle retailer, wholesaler and turf accountant.  With its extensive rear buildings the first two properties are now the Jamie Mosque and Bangladesh Centre.

The four properties beginning with the Jamie Mosque top left.

The gap I referred to in the first photo above comes next in the street, numbers 85, 87 and 89.  The Methodist Mission had been forced to leave the property it shared with Edwin Lee's shoe factory in Cavendish Road, when the latter removed to Grosvenor Road in 1898. At the rear of the mission's newly acquired site it quickly  erected a marquee and then set about putting up a building similar in style to the later Nissen huts made of corrugated iron on hooped frames.  When the church moved again to Glenferrie Road the Camp Liberal Club moved in and within eight years had created the building we see today.  The gap in the top photo indicates it to have been taken before that rebuilding had begun.  The club entrance, now blocked up, was in the centre. Two shop units were incorporated, one on each side of the centre entrance.  These would have been intended to provide income for the club, but from my memory I can only recollect one shop trading from here.

The site of the former Mission.  The present building designed with a central entrance for the rear
and upstairs club, and separate shop units on the left and right.

Numbers 91 and 93 were added to the street in 1900 as a pair of semi-detached homes, called Ashleigh and Lyndhurst; only being converted to shops in c1906.  As shops they are only small units, today specialising in cultural fast foods. But during their time have served the public with shoes, children's clothes, jewellery, dairy products, hire centre and a turf accountant.  George Haines, a gents outfitter, also traded from here before requiring more space and moving a few doors along the road.

Semi-detached pair, remaining as houses until c1906.

Finally, we pass Tesco Express which is identified on the fascia as 95 and 97, but in fact has absorbed the former number 99 as well, all of which was a wide plot purchased and developed by Ben Pelly.  Although he was an ironmonger, he was best known as a household supplier, specialising in wallpapers, glassware and china.  Number 95 on the left began as the family domestic quarters, although they later  removed to Brampton Road and this property became the Fleetville branch of Midland Bank.  The family shop began as a wide single-storey sales area, but was later converted into a full-height building with an impressive recessed frontage.  Pelly's closed in the mid-60s, with Securicor and Coral Press taking over.  

Former Ben Pelly shop, now Tesco Express, and the first accommodation for St Peter's Rural Conservative Club.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREETVIEW

One more building in the row, number 101 and developed by George Hale, was acquired, or rented, by Mrs Pelly and was initially used as a meeting place for the St Peter's Rural Conservative Club, before it moved to a more spacious headquarters nearby.  For a short period Percy Hall used the ground floor as a hairdressing saloon, before George Haines, the gents' outfitter transferred as mentioned above.  In recent times it has been well known as the Pet Shop/Petacare and a charity shop.

So, by breaking down the groups of traders by building, which we have been able to identify in the aerial photo, it has been possible to make sense of this lengthy row of occupants.  Next time we will focus on just one occupant, the one which used to be on the end but has not been present for the past sixty years.

Another Field Built Over

In recent posts we have explored how the Farm Field of St Peter's Farm came to be the beginning of the new east end of St Albans.  So far we have reached Laurel Road as new building occupied Farm Field, reaching the more level ground at the top of the hill. The depth of the development plots increased modestly as the fields lined up along the road to Hatfield: Long Field, Great Long Field and Long Moody, the names which applied during the mid 19th century and are recorded on the tithe maps.  At the northern end of these fields was an ancient track which had connected rural habitations directly with their parish church of St Peter.  The track was developed into Brampton Road.

The group of three pedestrians are crossing at the Laurel Road junction on the left.  An unwidened
Hatfield Road still produced a line of telephone wires.  The cycle shop and F W Fox, chemist
at the Laurel Road corner.
COURTESY HALS

We had reached Laurel Road but in 1901 there was still some level frontage space before the hedge between Farm Field and Long Field is reached.  Beyond the hedge no time had been lost in building along Hatfield Road, but a closer look at this line of buildings will wait for another time.  Today we will look at what was built between Laurel Road and the above mentioned hedge.

Just as on the western side of Laurel Road a cycle maker's shop with domestic premises beside it, now, on the eastern corner of Laurel Road was built a shop also with domestic premises next door.  It was not surprising as corner shops could be seen by approaching potential customers more easily.  It is likely both shops had cellars; we know the cycle shop had one as the Herts Advertiser reported it flooded almost to its ceiling on one occasion during a period of extremely wet weather.

This image shows the line of four properties.  On the corner is recently Laurel House.  The former
domestic attachment is now the Mediterranean Boucherie; Peri-Peri followed by the unconverted cottage.  We wonder whether the first floor bay window is itself a conversion.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREET VIEW

It is possible that both corners were put up by the same builder; although both structures have been much altered and look very different along their sides, there are several clues which suggest they were originally identical.  One of the timbered gable ends has been covered only in recent years. So, who occupied the eastern corner?  We have already met him: Mr Frederick Fox, chemist.  He traded from here for a decade before moving down to Alexandra House at The Crown corner, although he retained his ownership of his former shop and the house next door.

Retro Balaggoynje still has the original shop window sections, while Taylor's Pharmacy has lost
theirs; both retain diagonal entry doors; and in this image both show the timbered gables, now
lost on the right building. 

Frederick Fox was followed by Mr William Lupton, grocer. But for much of its history it served as a ladies' hairdresser and today is a restaurant.  As with the domestic quarters on the west side, the house next door was converted to a shop after a few short residential years.  Most of this time it was the trading base of Mr R G Nelson, previously at the farm homestead carrying on his outfitting business.  Finally, mirroring the block west of Laurel Road were built a pair of cottages; one of which was converted to a shop and the other remains domestic to this day.  In the west the cottages which became a doctor and dentist had a shared beam-topped porch and plain lintels above the window bay. The doors-adjoining porches on the east side are round-topped and the window bay lintels are decorated, as are those on the first floor.  In another connection with the western cottages, all of the window cills have bracketed supports. Incidentally, the cottage's original short tiled path from the front door to the fenced street boundary is still laid in position.

The narrow projecting wall supporting the blue blind hides part of the decorated door arch of the neighbouring cottage; and the otherwise steep step on the threshold has been lessened by a
second step down onto the pavement.  The field hedge would have been between the house and
the next on the right. 

The first of the former cottages has since been converted into a shop; we notice the right return wall of the shop obliterated part of the neighbouring property's porch feature! So, was this to be a specialist shop?  No, but it gave Mr Lupton's customers a place to purchase their provisions after he had moved out.  For a short time in the 1970s it was a shop window for St Albans City Coaches, no doubt at the height of the company's private hire and holiday travel business.

The aerial view allows us to see the angled property boundary on the former hedge line. Behind
the frontage buildings the hedge line is now a narrow drive next to the long narrow building.
COURTESY GOOGLE EARTH

We have now reached the field edge, so where is the hedge?  Of course, that disappeared as the buildings went up, but using an aerial view we can show where it was.  All of the property common boundaries are perpendicular to the main road – except here, where the right boundary of the remaining cottage is angled eastwards.  That's where the hedge was.  If the same developer had been at work there would not have been a problem, but because they were different owners, each had to respect the existing legal boundary, which in this case was a hedge.

In a forthcoming post we will find out how the cattle were removed to make way for more of Hatfield Road's mile of shops.  We have now reached Long Field.

A Boundary Road

Hatfield Road passes St Peter's Farm and bends right
after passing the pond in 1879.  This is pre-park and there
is no sign of Clarence Park Road.
COURTESY HALS

In the previous post we noted the impressive little corner building, Alexandra House, which became home to Barclays Bank until the late 1960s.  So far, however, we have only explored part of the former open space which was the frontage of St Peter's farm homestead and its cottage.  Land agent Dorant retained control of the corner plot for later development, and before proceeding further we need to ask questions about this corner, for until 1894 or thereabouts there was no corner, merely a bend in Hatfield Road.  In designing the layout of Clarence Park for John Blundell Maple a wide residential boundary road was created and along it a number of villas were proposed.  No doubt the intention was to claw back some of the expenditure on the park through these plot sales.  We'll return to the history of Clarence Park Road and Upper Clarence Road – as they were named – on another occasion.

The 1897 map shows Clarence Park Road and the park
 laid out, but no development surrounding the farm.
COURTESY NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND

If you have visited the park and left via the Clarence Road gate you might have taken in the view on the opposite site of the road (photo below).  This is what you would see: a 1920s detached dwelling to the right of Clarence Park Mews, with a gap-filling post-WW2 home on its left.  Thereafter begins the line of large villas.  The Mews was originally the cart entrance to the farm's barns and stores.  These survived and were rented out for furniture and other storage and in recent times have been converted for residential use.

View across Clarence Road, the space between the two houses was the
former farm cart track leading to the barns, now Clarence Park Mews.

Clarence Park Mews.

The space between the farm track and Hatfield Road was made available for development and three terraces of homes were built; each terrace had hung tiling at first floor level, arched front porches, and the end properties in each terrace slightly projecting with their front doors set back.  There were occasional references in the press  to the benefits of occupying a home opposite the park.

The Valuation Office records for the period up to 1915 show the block of land with their houses owned by W J Elliott of Chequer Street.  William Jermyn Elliott, born in the West Indies, was a piano dealer, whose shop was at 20 Chequer Street.  I am not certain whether he was also the developer of 2 to 30 Clarence Park Road or whether he acquired the estate after completion as an investment.  Today they remain largely as built, even showing evidence of small cellars and one or two original paths. A few still maintain little decorative front gardens, but most have utility gravel or pavers, bins, and car parking for small vehicles.

The terraces viewed from the park
(above) and from the road (top).

To the Hatfield Road end of the first terrace was added Alexandra House, which incorporated number 2 Clarence Park Road.  As an end of terrace dwelling it looks rather different from those on the ends of the other terraces.  Alexandra House consisted of a house and two shop units.  When the paint was hardly dry in 1903 the left shop was rented by chemist Frederick Fox who, for the previous nine years, had plied his trade on the corner of Laurel Road.  It seems likely Mr Fox saw the location of Alexandra House as not only closer to the homes in Stanhope Road, Clarence Road and Granville Road, but the wider corner location giving more visibility, even though he was moving further from the growing district of Fleetville itself.  Herbert Pike open his chemist shop between Sandfield and Harlesden roads after Mr Fox had moved downhill.  When Mr Fox retired from the corner the business was taken on by chemist partners Shields & Warren who remained until the 1970s, since when it transformed into a bridal shop.

The two retail premises and flat above.  Part of the bank premises appears to have included a basement.  The first
floor hung tiles from the terraces continue around the frontage.
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The more prominent building with block facing is undeniably a bank which you would recognise as such even without the sign.  Opened just before WW1, it became the first such service in the Fleetville district.  Barclays moved further eastwards to the corner of Sandfield Road c1970, by which time all of the major banks also  had a presence here – before all of them left the district again. None of the new-style banks have arrived in their place either.  The Crown Barclays has had many transformations since, and is now a money transfer business.

So, in a period of fifteen years the wide frontage of the former farm's green space had been replaced by houses and shops; a period during which the whole of Fleetville between the Crown and the Recreation Ground and its parallel roads had been developed.

New Home in Hatfield Road

Last week we discovered the laurel shrubbery behind St Peter's Farm and the consequent naming of the short cut-de-sac.  This week we will find out what filled the space between Laurel Road and Clarence (Park) Road as the development estate got under way From 1899.

Alexandra House on The Crown corner.

Corner plots with a commanding presence often attract a premium price.  In this case the corner plot, with a view across the wide Crown junction and its new commuter houses in Stanhope Road, was snapped up by land agent Dorant and left as an open space for another ten years before becoming a residence, a shop and the district's first bank.  It was named Alexandra House.  Its boundary was where today's bus stop is located. But to start with the farm house and its cottage retained a view from its slightly elevated position over the Crown junction.  There was an open green with a path from the front door leading down past a pond towards Hatfield Road.

The green was now potential development land and the first block to be built on the green was an impressive terrace of four houses, with first floor hung tiles. This was Clarence Villas. The end homes had recessed front doors while the centre houses opened onto a minuscule front garden, still visible as the tarmac covering behind the footpath.  For the first decade there appeared to be no attraction in converting these cottages into shops.  After all, there were already established shops opposite, purpose-built retail premises newly opened in Stanhope Road, and the prospect of a post office and grocers replacing the former toll building.

Clarence Villas converted to shops

But the increasing popularity of this corner eventually led to  conversion of Clarence Villas to shops.  From west to east, the first was a garden produce shop (which might have meant a greengrocer), then a tailor, and for much of its life a cleaners. The second began as a jeweller but was well known as a greengrocer for much of its life. The third premises was a confectioner for all of its 20th century life, except for its first year when it sported the name many St Albans people were familiar with, Saxby Bros, a delicatessen.  The fourth house became another well-known name. Goody's (then taken on by Bugler's), the baker's and caterer's.  It was probably Clarence Villas  which established Hatfield Road as a shopping street, but it was beaten to change by the next block.

Three converted houses on the hill

It is believed the remainder of the green was also to have been built on straightaway, but the agents took a further three years to negotiate a sale agreement for the second block; these three properties were to be constructed on the hill itself.  They also began their lives as houses with bay windows, but were successful in conversion to shops before those at Clarence Villas – quite a coup for the time.  First was another confectionery, later becoming a hairdressing salon, then Mack's Store and finally a laundry.  Frederick Butler, a son of Ephraim Butler the butcher in St Peter's Street opened in the third premises in 1906, remaining there until the mid-seventies.

Showing the frontage as intended

To gain an insight into how the early houses were shown to the street, we can walk to the block after the entrance drive to the farmhouse, now the Conservative Club. The first two of three have remained a dentist and a doctor, and the slightly higher paving still in place was the original front garden.  The third property, now the Chicken Shop, originally the third of the trio, would also have had a ground floor bay window.  As a shop it began as Lupton's grocery  before becoming a picture framer and art shop – there are still many people who recall Mrs Young who ran the shop, having taken over from Harry Giddings.

Enamelled streetplate from 1906

Before moving on we may spot an original blue street plate fixed to the front wall of the dentist, although tree foliage hides it in season.  These plate were made by St Peter's Rural Council and reveals where the city boundary used to be until 1913, otherwise a street plate would have been installed on a property at the foot of the hill.

We have now reached the corner plot with Laurel Road, constructed in two parts, firstly the residential section for the corner shop owner, which was only converted to a fruiterer's shop in the 1930s, and the corner shop itself.  This was Arthur Hitchcock's cycle maker's until the mid-thirties, and then Mr Henderson's secondhand shop until conversion to Thresher's wine shop in around 1960.

From Laurel Road corner looking westwards

So that we don't lose our way, today the first block (Clarence Villas) are Ace Balloons, Menspire, The Carpet Store and Nino's.  The second block are Grill 'n' Fry, Launderette, and Madina General Stores. At the top of the hill are St Albans Dental Clinic, Doctors' Surgery, The Chicken Shop, Clarity Yoga Shala, and Thai Massage.