On Your Bike

Council houses appeared in St Albans following the First World War – the much famed Homes for Heroes.  Council houses were also built after the Second World War, though not before the city's allocation of the innovative prefabs, a few of which still remain.  The council homes built by St Albans City Council in the late 1940s and throughout the fifties, had to serve many purposes: the post-war settlers, new families enabled by returning soldiers, sailors and airmen; and of course to enable occupiers of unfit dwellings to upgrade so that old streets could be redeveloped.

Proud father at the new Drakes Drive home.
COURTESY JOHN WATHEN

A significant opportunity for the council came with its 1930s acquisition of Little Cell Barnes Farm and land on the former Cunningham Hill Farm.  It is not clear what instructions it may have received from the Government, but the result was a formal communication to six London boroughs to identify suitable of their  tenants on the infamous housing waiting lists to relocate to units  on the London Road estate in St Albans.  Not all of the selected boroughs participated, and most of the rest found it difficult to fill their quotas, mainly because of householders' commitments to their local workplaces. Nevertheless sufficient homes were let under the scheme for St Albans Council to deem it a success.

Hard work pays off for dad in the best kept garden
competition.  COURTESY JOHN WATHEN

Until recently I had met no family with any connection to this scheme, but have recently been in contact with the son of one former north London family who recalls the migration to Hertfordshire very well, and with the aid of a few great pictures.

John's father had already committed to work in St Albans, cycling 20 miles each day to work at the Salvation Army Musical Instrument Works in Campfield Road – and then of course, 20 miles home again.  That is some commitment!  Later he then upgraded his transport to a BSA Bantam, and then discovered the relocation scheme.  Of course, there was no problem in applying for a house in the newly laid Drakes Drive.

A view across Drakes Drive towards Little Cell Barnes Farm.
COURTESY JOHN WATHEN

When the family moved in during 1956 John's father lost no time in taking photos.  Council houses of the time had a simple elegance about them, the cost kept down by straightforward lines and absence of detail; but generally room sizes were generous, as was storage space.  But you didn't expect to walk in to fitted kitchens with appliances installed, or gardens pre-laid to lawns with soils ready to plant.  To encourage tenants to make their plots look attractive at the front and purposeful at the back, the council organised "best kept garden competitions".  Not all took an interest, but John's father needed no encouragement and produced prize-winning results.

Looking towards Hill End and a chicken field.
COURTESY JOHN WATHEN

Primary-aged John could look out across Drakes Drive to the undeveloped fields of the chicken farm at Little Cell Barnes, the cottages at the junction of Cell Barnes Lane, and, a little later and further along the road, a start on the building of Francis Bacon School, finally occupied in 1961; a school he was destined to attend.

Francis Bacon School in build 1960.
COURTESY CHRIS NEIGHBOUR

John and his family therefore joined a large number of families to put down their roots in St Albans at the same time, having become yet another family whose London origins have become welcome St Albans settlers.