tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76103466876892170152024-03-29T03:27:59.425+00:00St Albans' Own East EndMike Neighbourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243746964941394090noreply@blogger.comBlogger438125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610346687689217015.post-44809927978876695162024-03-26T15:15:00.000+00:002024-03-26T15:15:42.956+00:00Chain Bar Toll References to Turnpike toll gates can be found in the first volume of St Albans' Own East End and on its website, although information about some of them and their houses are rather sketchy, including what they actually looked like. When travelling along the Hatfield Road from St Albans towards Hatfield travellers first encountered a gate at the Peacock PH opposite the present Mike Neighbourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243746964941394090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610346687689217015.post-47930833902198341502024-03-19T12:26:00.001+00:002024-03-19T12:28:02.125+00:00New Road I thought I would spread my posts about East End streets around a wide area of St Albans' East End, and although I will return to Camp and Fleetville later, today you are in for a treat if you live in or around Marshalswick.I know what you are thinking: you have no knowledge of a street known as New Road. Which is fine because there is no such named road today. Mind you, there Mike Neighbourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243746964941394090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610346687689217015.post-62095692602165594942024-03-14T17:25:00.002+00:002024-03-15T21:32:35.291+00:00Cell Barnes LaneUpdated 15 March 2024 Lanes give the impression of being narrow rural roads, often bordered by hedging and maybe trees – or if not, fencing. In addition, they come with unexpected single or double bends, some providing a clue to earlier deviations. An occasional cottage, barn or farm entrance might also turn up.Camp Road and Camp Hill are near the top of this 1875 map. CellMike Neighbourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243746964941394090noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610346687689217015.post-29963263247221796892024-02-28T14:56:00.002+00:002024-02-28T15:21:22.047+00:00Camp Last week's blog was about Camp Field, which became Campfield Road, and given that a query was raised by a reader about the origin of the word Camp as a place name, and therefore its connection with Campfield, Camp Hill, Camp Lane and Camp Road, it seems logical to investigate the name of the district itself – Camp. Where does this name come from and what was its earliest reference?ToMike Neighbourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243746964941394090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610346687689217015.post-76191415747481155892024-02-18T16:13:00.002+00:002024-02-18T16:27:56.482+00:00Camp FieldPortion of a scene painted by John Buckingham (1800-1881) near the Camp Field at the foot ofCamp Hill. Today the Campfield Road/Dellfield road junction is nearby.COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS Few of us with knowledge of the east side of St Albans will need a reminder of the location of today's blog. Leaving Hatfield Road at The Crown, descend Camp Road and pass under the Blue Mike Neighbourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243746964941394090noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610346687689217015.post-26873835364446832672024-02-11T16:44:00.002+00:002024-02-16T15:33:51.720+00:00Gurney Court Ah, we're back to Gurney Court again, although the only time it has been featured previously was in connection with the origin of the street's name. We are not even going there today! Our visits investigate what might make the road out of the ordinary, different, or even unique.Gurney Court Road is one of a pair of north-south residential roads (the other being Charmouth Mike Neighbourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243746964941394090noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610346687689217015.post-57651932805673965652024-01-29T12:49:00.001+00:002024-01-29T13:08:59.316+00:00Bycullah In the previous blog we explored where you could have travelled to in the days of turnpike roads should you have turned off the Reading & Hatfield at Hut toll (in today-speak that would be from Hatfield Road to Colney Heath Lane). We followed a private toll road via Tollgate Road until reaching the Great North Road east of Welham Green, which is the Enfield & Lemsford TurnpikeMike Neighbourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243746964941394090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610346687689217015.post-28859423925350176662024-01-19T10:22:00.005+00:002024-01-21T09:07:24.516+00:00Tollgate In the UK there are approximately 112 roads with the name Tollgate* in them, for all suffixes (lane, way, street, road corner, and so on); in addition there are a modest 15 roads with the word Tollhouse in them.The first of several Tollgate Road street plates after leaving High Street, Colney Heath.The answer to the question why such a route contains Tollhouse or Tollgate must be Mike Neighbourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243746964941394090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610346687689217015.post-54836660113404996842024-01-06T11:53:00.000+00:002024-01-06T11:53:32.991+00:00XL-ALL Seeds Get ready for our first sleuthing project of the year. If you are a long-standing reader of the SAOEE website the letters XL-ALL may resonate with you, especially if you occasionally spin through the Questions and Questions Answered pages.A Ryder mature company catalogue by 1930.Since the turn of the twentieth century Samuel Ryder's company, Ryder's Seeds, had been operating Mike Neighbourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243746964941394090noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610346687689217015.post-70201448565689684662024-01-01T16:13:00.001+00:002024-01-01T16:16:12.283+00:00Remembering 1923 Time to look back even further than last year as it is now we are at least one day into the new year. As I have blogged previously I'm jumping back before our memories; back to 1923. Why not indeed? So here are a few events which St Albans people found to be recent by the end of 1923.Walking out of the front door of the King Harry PH and into a quiet open space. SuchMike Neighbourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243746964941394090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610346687689217015.post-73066387618747831342023-12-28T12:30:00.001+00:002023-12-28T13:01:57.619+00:00Remembering This Year The first blog of 2023 looked back, not to 2022, but a full one hundred years to 1922. That was a fascinating year that was. I'll jump back to 1923 next time, but for now I will modestly roll back to the beginning of this year and will probably grasp how swiftly the months of this year have flown by – so quickly sometimes I have managed to record just two posts in an entireMike Neighbourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243746964941394090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610346687689217015.post-80074281978770850742023-12-12T09:25:00.002+00:002023-12-12T09:25:34.862+00:00Princes Road The naming of roads is often intriguing; last week, for instance I explored Royal Road, which probably would have received a rather different name, connected with Fleet Ville's new housing development, part of the Fleet Printing Works. Except, that is, Queen Victoria's jubilee was soon followed by her death, and all sorts of royal-related features sprouted around the town. Mike Neighbourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243746964941394090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610346687689217015.post-28533298398875265622023-12-02T10:31:00.006+00:002023-12-02T11:22:07.043+00:00Royal RoadFleetville Schools (now Fleetville Infants & Nursery) and four of the semi-detached homeson the east site of Royal Road.COURTESY GOOGLE STREET VIEW When we refer to Fleetville these days we keep in our mind a much wider area than was originally planned, a tightly packed community of three roads on the north side of Hatfield Road and an associated printing works (now redeveloped as Mike Neighbourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243746964941394090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610346687689217015.post-67307635728096384622023-11-21T12:18:00.003+00:002023-11-21T12:18:34.774+00:00Sutton Lakes Last week we landed at a cul-de-sac which was once part of the branch railway sidings at Fleetville, and is now called Coach Mews. This week we move just a few metres to locate a railway bridge across Sutton Road which was shown in the previous blog.The 1872 Ordnance Survey shows Hatfield Road with the unnamed toll house next to thefarm track (now Sutton Road). The then newMike Neighbourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243746964941394090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610346687689217015.post-63953018533382947592023-11-14T15:56:00.001+00:002023-11-14T15:57:27.405+00:00Coach Mews This week our peep into a residential street suggests a Victorian origin, but if we were to investigate further a surprise awaits us for the houses set well back from the Sutton Road by which we gain access reveals a small number of short and neat rows of modern homes. Surely this is a tight infill development making use of a different land use altogether.Coach Mews suggests an exampleMike Neighbourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243746964941394090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610346687689217015.post-34161520088685074332023-10-31T16:20:00.001+00:002023-10-31T16:41:49.408+00:00Breakspear Estate Last week I introduced those who had never been to the prison (while remaining innocent!) to the cut-de-sac road behind the end of Grimston Road at the City Station. Shirley Road. Built on land left over from the construction of the county gaol.The green block was Frederick Sander's private garden although we know nothing of its character.Camp Road then separates the Mike Neighbourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243746964941394090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610346687689217015.post-3813980880383701042023-10-21T12:41:00.000+01:002023-10-21T12:41:22.871+01:00Shirley Road Shirley Road, a cut-de-sac, was recently included in my blog about pocket spaces in the public realm, for the grassed area between its two rows of homes. Today I am taking a more detailed look at how Shirley Road came about, which includes an area of land considerably beyond the road itself, and is connected with the acquisition of land for the Midland Railway and the purchase of Mike Neighbourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243746964941394090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610346687689217015.post-60031802870251635792023-10-16T15:09:00.002+01:002023-10-17T13:08:47.027+01:00Park That Never Was Continuing the series on public open spaces – or parks by any other name – we need to include those spaces which were proposed but not created, as well as open space which already existed but failed to become enlarged, although that increase had been proposed. An example of each lies in Marshalswick.The expectations laid at the door of local authorities from the 1930s onwards requiredMike Neighbourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243746964941394090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610346687689217015.post-92064856958149019672023-10-05T11:52:00.001+01:002023-10-05T12:26:33.718+01:00The Pocket Spaces We have already established that the Open Spaces Study created to assist the St Albans District Plan consultation is limited in its data range and granularity. For example, that a park or recreation ground has signage or not, will us little about visitors' engagement with the space other than a sign pointing to a feature exists.This week I want to explore open spaces at the other end Mike Neighbourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243746964941394090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610346687689217015.post-50287252821340204142023-09-29T16:52:00.002+01:002023-09-29T16:55:58.203+01:00The Little Books 5 Recently, a brief collection of small format books containing collections of photographs, mainly of St Albans views and street scenes, featured on this blog. Many of the four titles are now out of print, although copies can be found in the secondhand book market, including Abe Books. One bi-product of each blog was to assess the usefulness of each little volume for lauding the Mike Neighbourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243746964941394090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610346687689217015.post-83016534224036660112023-09-25T13:10:00.003+01:002023-10-03T15:39:59.394+01:00Land for Sale? Regular readers of this blog always recognise when daily life becomes extra busy for its author. And here we are within six days of the end of the month and no new blogs have appeared. However, hopefully time will be made up with two before the end of day 30.First up, a thought or two about a key section of the draft District Plan. It's the question of additional housing, Mike Neighbourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243746964941394090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610346687689217015.post-81919043986490312832023-08-31T17:02:00.006+01:002023-10-03T15:28:56.039+01:00Green District Plan If you have downloaded the file elements which comprise St Albans District Plan Consultation you will have discovered the wide range of component parts. It is not possible to include a summary for all these within a single post – and in any case no-one would make use of it to assist them in the consultation process, particularly the afternoon/evening sessions which are being Mike Neighbourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243746964941394090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610346687689217015.post-2494087548552493882023-08-24T13:12:00.001+01:002023-08-24T13:12:21.189+01:00Happy FacesRandomly search through your collection of pictures taken by various photographers – or people who took the pictures, who may not be the same at all – and two distinct groups stand out for their propensity for happy faces. First off are the wedding pics; by which I am not including miscellaneous shots of the reception, but the bride and groom themselves; it was their most adventurous day Mike Neighbourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243746964941394090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610346687689217015.post-91390755822343207552023-08-13T14:56:00.004+01:002023-08-13T14:56:59.015+01:00Not Unique Then Many readers will already have some idea of the story behind the Comet Hotel at the end of Comet Way, Hatfield, and its connection with the de Havilland Aircraft Company which moved from Stag Lane to Harpsfield Hall Farm in the early 1930s.Neo tudor in Bristol Road South, BirminghamSolid decorated brick approach o the Oxford Road.But there is also another story which needs to be related andMike Neighbourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243746964941394090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610346687689217015.post-87338804145906376292023-08-03T15:45:00.003+01:002023-08-03T16:02:32.333+01:00This Way, That Way Wherever we live we have an address with a street name and of course we find our way by navigating the network of roads in the locality. A small number of the streets have been in existence "for ever"; often the various routes by which people down the centuries have walked or ridden themselves to nearby towns and villages. But it wasn't until the late 19th century that the names by Mike Neighbourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02243746964941394090noreply@blogger.com0