Ten Years

 Although this blog had begun life a couple of years earlier, the current Blogspot format was launched in 2012 with the aspiration of publishing about three posts each month.  There was no intention to reach a ten-year lifespan, or in fact any set target, but here we are, ten years later and SAOEE blog is still going strong.  While the last year in which the target of thirty-six posts in a calendar year was reached was in 2014, I am pleased to have reached this total again in 2021.  Further, this post is number 350 in the current series.  I'll raise a glass to that on New Year's Eve.

I've chosen to look back at the festive period in the 1970s, to re-discover what events were making the news in our East End during that decade.  None of those selected recorded public celebratory events, so there was no reference to Christmas trees or other street decorations – we left that to the city centre – although many of the shops did create their own special display windows with little lights, cotton wool snow and Happy Christmas signs, and exhorted via signs invitations to purchase festive food, do-it-yourself decorations, and small trees and holly stems.

But the following all occurred in December and would have added an extra dimension to the local scene.

1970: A supermarket (a newish term in everyday use) was slated to open at Whitecroft, London Road, right on the edge of our patch. Named Downsway, its warehouse was owned by T W Downs which  had opened on the Butterwick Industrial estate a few years previously.  This small group later bought out another small chain, but later in the 1970s found itself selling to one of the big guys: Fine Fare.

1971: A postbox standing on the corner of Ely and Cambridge roads for many decades, suddenly became a headache because of its position – on private land – and the owner now wanted it moved from the space in front of the corner shop and onto public space. St Albans Council and GPO jointly agreed to it residing on the footpath a few yards away, where it remains today.

1972: Now that there was no land left on which to farm, the barn next to Cunningham Hill Farm homestead was being converted into two houses, one four-bedroomed and the other five-bedroomed (above).  A feature article in the Herts Advertiser stated the barn had been acquired by Michael Hunter from a Watford contracting firm, but had previously belonged to James Baum, of the last farming family at Cunningham. The barn was estimated to be 400 years old.  The existing roof tiles were retained and two-century-old bricks were brought from a Southwark church to fill the framework sections.

1973: In one of those subsidence alerts which occasionally come to light – and the holes sometimes produced – the end of the year brought the worrying news that a house in Sandpit Lane, the last to be finished just before the Second World War, was to be shored up because of unstable ground.  In testing the ground conditions there appeared to be a space between 15 and 80 feet depth.  The Herts Advertiser stated that other nearby homes were also affected.  An "unsettling" time for the house owners affected.  And just before Christmas.

1974: A decision had been made by Hertfordshire County Council that both the Girls' Grammar School and Boy's Grammar School were to be extended, in both buildings and pupil numbers, were to become all ability schools, and would, from the following September, change their names.  The boys' school in Brampton Road would henceforth be renamed Verulam School, while the Girls' School nominally removed the word Grammar, reducing its initials from STAGGS to STAGS.  The Girls' School had occupied today's Fleetville Juniors buildings until 1952.

1975: The extension of residential housing in Hatfield Road had strangely prompted a proposal to increase the road's speed limit from 30 to 40mph between Colney Heath Lane and Ryecroft Court.  After a period of intensive community lobbying, the speed upgrade did not take place, and the existing limits apply to this day.

1976: Hertfordshire County Council applied for planning consent for a new 40-place nursery unit at Fleetville Infants School, a year after the move of the Junior section to larger accommodation at the former Sandfield Road School.  The new unit, including development on the site of the closed police houses, which were also owned by the County Council, allowed for the closure of the temporary and inadequate Day Nursery erected in 1942 on the Recreation Ground. Fifty-five years later this temporary building is still in occupation by Fleetville Community Centre.

1977: From the 1920s until 1977 the St Albans Bypass was a three-lane single carriageway, although sufficient land had been purchased for dual three lane roads. One section had been dualled in the mid-1950s, but in December 1977 it was announced work would begin on converting two further sections to dual two lane carriageways: Noke to Park Street and London Colney to Colney Heath.  This work would greatly ease congestion throughout, but as we have some to experience capacity has been reached once more, especially at the roundabouts, and the benefits which once derived between Hatfield and St Albans are now behind us.

1978: Cllr Ronald Wheeldon was helping Fleetville bid for cash towards making the area a General Improvement Area (GIA), including a traffic management scheme.  Fleetville had been the subject of a scathing report by the Labour Party three years previously.  Castle, Cape, Sutton and Burleigh roads were assessed as being the most needy in the ward.

1979: In the ongoing tussle between the Council and St Albans Cooperative Society, another building design was submitted for the Society's proposed supermarket (on today's Morrison's site).  A number of Fleetville traders were concerned about their future livelihoods and a number of residents looked forward to improved shopping experiences, though many were greatly supportive of existing grocers and greengrocers.

So, in those years there was much to look forward to, as well as hopes for battles in progress.  As always, changes affect people in different ways; commercial takeovers may risk employment, especially worrying at the end of a year.  And many residents would continue to wait a long time for improvements to their living conditions.

The End of Our Road

 Recently I rediscovered a postcard photograph from circa 1914  showing off an almost new Glenferrie Road.  The street looked smart!  The photographer had set up his tripod in the middle of the road, probably halfway along the road, and his camera faced towards Hatfield Road.  The only sign of life captured was a road sweeper with his barrow, and I noted how wide the public space appeared to be; no parked cars, of course, and the footpaths were equally clear of rubbish bins, skips, data connection boxes, parking signs or  telephone wires carried on their sturdy posts.  And no white lines on the roadway or coloured spray paint on the pavement.  Litter? Not a wrapper to be found.  In this view just one small street light is  visible, and, if you look carefully, one posting box on the corner where the future Methodist Church will be built.

Many more pedestrians would have been be walking in one direction or the other, and as this photo was facing Hatfield Road, everyone's major view was about twenty feet of the south side of Hatfield Road unhindered by today's obstructions; the growing trees of the cemetery and a field tree predating the cemetery but now removed.  This was a fixed and identifiable scene with which householders were familiar.  East street end had, and still has, is own unique borrowed picture of the next road.  Unfortunately, similar photographs are not available of all of Fleetville's roads, and although today's roads are crowded I thought it might be useful to find Streetview images of nearby residential roads and focus on their own end of road fixed views.

The widest view presented to us is in Clarence Road just south of the park's main entrance; a view not much changed since 1900 – The Crown and the Stanhope Road shops.  Only the former post office, now Chilli Raj, is slightly newer.

Laurel Road may be short but provides same amount of view: Rose Cottage (the one with the cart drive under part of the house) and the first of the three Horndean Cottages just before Cavendish Road.

By the time we reach Blandford Road, the view is one of the views which include mature trees. We just miss seeing the main entrance to the cemetery, and just behind the frontage wall and trees is the entrance to the Manager's lodge.  Blandford Road emphasises the difficulty of cars passing each other while parking occupies both sides of the road and two-way working.

Glenferrie Road today, as one hundred years previously, provides us with a green backdrop to Hatfield Road, being at the eastern end of the cemetery.  The trees have grown more majestic and there are no buildings behind to be masked.  It can't of course be helped that this was the day the bins were collected.  Nevertheless most of the containers remain on the footpath all day and make it difficult for pedestrians generally, those in buggies and with sight or other mobility issues, to negotiate a route between garden walls and kerb-parked cars.

At Sandfield Road we are able to look across to the drive of Rainbow House, formerly the Family Centre, and the frontage of Magnet Kitchens.

The former Hobbs Garage comes into view at the end of Harlesden Road.  These days it belongs to Kwik Fit, of course. And we can just see part of the caretaker's house which was erected c1935 for the Central Girls' School, part of the roof of which can be spotted above the Kwik-Fit building.

An especially green south of Hatfield Road is apparent opposite Royal Road where the backdrop of Morrison's car park is Alban Way.  We are led to this view via the welcome tree lined recreation ground.

A hedge-line borders Woodstock Road south at Fleetville Nursery and Infants School and contrasts with the first of two views of Morrison's supermarket, which is probably a more pleasant streetscape than that of the former Thomas Smith printing works structure (also retained by Ballito Hosiery Mill).  Many would consider that building to have appeared more austere.

Finally, from way down Arthur Road we capture the glazed wall of  Morrison's cafe.  We are also deceived by the sight of a tree which looks as if it is growing on the corner site of the old Institute building, although it is a borrowed view; it is growing in the grounds of Morrison's, near the corner of Sutton Road.  We finish with a 1953 monochrome photograph showing the earlier view from Arthur Road across to the Ballito building.  We can colour it in our imagination as we prepare for our 1953 Coronation street party.

We can, of course, find views from the ends of almost every road in the city.  What connects the selection shown above is of course the busy Hatfield Road.

Photos courtesy St Albans Museums and Google Streetview.

Filling the Corners

 In the previous post I explored with you a Hatfield Road bungalow for which a planning application had recently been submitted for redevelopment as flats. The land on the south side of Hatfield Road had been released from agricultural use on part of Hill End Farm in 1920, and there was little delay before new houses lined the full distance from near Ashley Road, beyond Colney Heath Lane as far as the boundary of former Butterwick Farm where today's industrial landscape begins.

A reader recently identified a particular house near Colney Heath Lane he had been familiar with and therefore this corner will be the focus today.  Until the 1920s the nearest buildings were Oaklands Mansion and Winches farmhouse on the north side of Hatfield Road, the station building at the railway (shown at the foot of the map) and a small thatched building, called the Hut, just a short distance into Colney Heath Lane.  This building housed the toll keeper collecting payments from road users travelling along the lane towards the turnpike road, now Hatfield Road.  Otherwise, as the first map below shows a majority of this land was wooded.

Hatfield Road traverses the map from left to right; Colney Heath Lane branches southwards
to the right of Hut Wood – which referred to the former turnpike toll hut nearby.  The map is 
dated 1898.
COURTESY NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND

Even as housing began in the early 1920s – this map is dated 1924 – woodland abounds. 
Houses can now be found in Hill End Lane at the bottom of the map, close to the little station
at Hill End where now is Alban Way.
COURTESY NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND

Houses line the south side of Hatfield Road, as well as Colney Heath Lane in 1939.  The long
and irregular plots were later exploited for further infill housing.  The space in Colney Heath Lane
after the third house (green) was later used as the Gresford Close access.  Number 456
Hatfield Road, referred to in the text, is circled in red.
COURTESY NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND

When the building plots were divided up their lengths generally extended to the boundaries of other users in the hinterland, and between today's Longacres and Colney Heath Lane one large hinterland use was the clay pit which later grew to add kiln firing buildings taken over in the 1920s by the Owen Brickworks off Ashley Road.  By all accounts it was an untidy site and of irregular shape.  

The map which illustrates the plot lengths as they were in 1939 reveals an untidy arrangement with the occasional end wrapping around its neighbour, and a couple of landlocked plots with no apparent road access.  The first map to show completed houses on the approach towards Colney Heath Lane (the 1939 map) also shows one house, numbered 456, which does not line the road at all, but is set behind two pairs of semi-detached homes with much shorter rear gardens.  Number 456 therefore makes use of a particularly wide plot, but in order to give access to Hatfield Road a path was laid  between the front houses.  It is possible that one purchaser acquired and built all four front houses and the larger house set back (possibly for himself).  He may also have purchased rectangular plots with access to Colney Heath Lane for his later vehicular drive, but was unable to complete this project while one householder, of 470, refused to sell the bottom part of his garden.

Viewed looking southwards the Gresford Close estate utilises the space behind the earlier long
gardens on the south side of Hatfield Road.  Colney Heath Lane is on the extreme left.
COURTESY GOOGLE EARTH

As we notice, the homes which were constructed at the same time round the corner in Colney Heath Lane also had rear gardens of various lengths, taking them as far as the brickworks site.  Both the Ashley Road and Hill End Brickworks had closed by 1939 since it was anticipated there would be little demand for the product during war time.  However, the irregularly shaped Hill End brickworks site was quickly identified for possible use by the fledgling Marconi Instruments Ltd, a spin-off company of Chelmsford's Marconi Wireless.  Thus the brickworks/Marconi site was preserved until the latter's closure by 1980, after which it was redeveloped as the Marconi estate within the same curtilage.

In the 1970s and 80s developers were earnestly searching for any small or medium sized blocks of potential building land, often using left-over corners from previous developments, lengths of housing with extended rear gardens (which enabled the houses in Pinewood Close) or where irregular boundaries had left pockets.  Existing individual houses were occasionally demolished where there was the opportunity to redevelop more densely – a process which continues to this day.

Gresford Close results from one of those opportunities in the 1970s, and it connects to the road network just where the owner of number 456 Hatfield Road had previously acquired his private driveway onto Colney Heath Lane (which had also been reserved for a future number 8). The name Gresford is derived from E Michael Gresford Jones, Bishop of St Albans between 1950 and 1970.

The space left for a number 8 Colney Heath Lane is now the access road for Gresford Close.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREETVIEW.

Although I cannot verify the next statement I am certain that two existing Hatfield Road houses, 472 and 474, were demolished, possibly with the intention of enabling a Hatfield Road access in addition or instead, but the fact that such an access does not today exist it is presumed that planning consent for it was refused.  Instead four new homes, in pairs, were built instead (464, 464a, 462 and 462a).  The existing path leading to 456, the house which had been set back, can still be seen when walking along the road.

By shortening existing gardens and utilising corners it was possible to accommodate around 28 new homes as well as the access route and garage accommodation.   Of course, gardens are these days minuscule compared with those in pre-war dwellings.  

A similar approach to increasing the housing stock was adopted at Cedarwood Court and Pinewood Close; and together with the Marconi estates and infill space between Colney Heath Lane and the Butterwick industry a considerable amount of extra housing has been brought to the south side of Hatfield Road.

From Bungalow to Flats?

 We have previously observed, sometimes with concern, how housing densities within our district have gradually increased through time.  Extensions to homes do not, of course, inevitably mean additional members of a household, but they sometimes do, and as a result lower the square footage of garden space.  An additional car may be introduced and these vehicles end up on the roadside.  Small houses can therefore end up as large houses, long rear gardens may on occasions sprout an additional dwelling with a  narrow and sometimes awkward vehicular access; and older bungalows are replaced by a semi-detached home, two detached properties, or even a trio of connected town houses on three levels.

Not a particularly stunning map; but this is Hatfield Road in c1922.  The land to the south of
the road was part of Hill End Farm; on the north it was Beaumonts Farm.  The first plots to
be pegged out fall between two adjacent maps, but by 1922 there were already three houses
in build.
COURTESY NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND

Focus now on Hatfield Road east of Beechwood Avenue.  We should tell the story of this road from the beginning.   North of the main road was Beaumonts Farm, not developed until c1930. Historically the south side was largely the boundary of Hill End Farm.  The farm was partially absorbed into the curtilage of Hill End Asylum in 1899 and the remainder of the farm acquired in 1915? even though all of the additional land would not be required for hospital purposes.  The residue was therefore sold for development in 1920, and this included land bordering Hatfield Road, westwards to the top of the rise before reaching Beaumont Avenue – at this point Beaumonts Farm crossed Hatfield Road towards Camp.

Plots were laid out and the first twelve to be released were westwards of the present Longacres, formerly a track leading to the Hill End Brickworks.  The plots varied in width, but all were very long – so long, in fact, that it was possible for a developer to acquire a significant portion of these back gardens in the 1960s in order to lay a new road, Pinewood Close, to access houses it built on its south side.

Originally the plots extended from Hatfield Road at the bottom of the picture to the extreme
top edge. Pinewood Close and a line of homes on the far side swallowed up nearly 50% of
the rear gardens.  The bungalow which is the subject of the planning applications has a
blue parasol in the back garden.
COURTESY GOOGLE EARTH

Purchasers had the choice of home size and design, and all were detached or semi-detached two storey houses, or bungalows.  This typical mix was reflected in the initial tranche completed c1923.

Six homes subsequently replaced three 1920s properties. The bungalow which is the subject
of the planning application is to the right beyond the edge of the photo.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREETVIEW.

Numbers 384, 386 and 388 were replaced by six new two storey homes.  The previous, number 382, is one of the original 1920s bungalows, partly hidden behind a substantial front boundary tree screen.  Readers might recall this property was the subject of previous planning applications. In 2018 there were to be one 4-bed flat and three 2-bed flats. A year later this was replaced by an application for eight 2-bed flats. The latter was refused but subsequently granted on appeal.  Of course, if granted this would not be the first flats along this part of Hatfield Road.  On the eastern side of Longacres is an extensive development between Cedarwood Drive and Hatfield Road, mainly on the former site of Hardy House.

The bungalow, first erected in 1923, had only two occupiers between then and 1975.  Note the
bus shelter and lamp post in front of the boundary wall.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREETVIEW.

Having now gained appeal permission to build at 382, instead, the developer recently chose instead to submit a fresh application in which the number of floors increased to three, plus the dormer roof level and the previous semi-basement floor.  If the authority saw fit to refuse permission last time, presumably they would do so again, but who knows; the bill for appeals is born by the council!  

All of the comments submitted by nearby residents recently focus on the issue of parking and the consequent additional traffic flows.  Some of them relate to school traffic, but other respondents  wondered where cars would be parked on the site.  In the first application a total of six places would be provided.  No update was submitted for the current application, but noting the development would contain a total of eighteen bedrooms it would not be unreasonable to expect at least that number of vehicles, whether or not there were on-site marked-out spaces for them. 

A side elevation of the current application for alteration of the previous proposal. 
It extends from a sub-basement (lower ground floor), three further floors and a roof
floor.
COURTESY ST ALBANS DISTRICT COUNCIL

The site sits behind a lamp post and a bus shelter; would this make it the third occasion this bus shelter would be moved?  Or would vehicular access be restricted to Pinewood Close only?

Taken together, the three applications already the example suggests   that progressive attempts are made quite widely to shoehorn more development from existing plots and as a result lessen the open spaces available on them to keep the street scene buildings and their respective open spaces in proportion.  We would probably wish to protect this benefit, although what might we think if we were one of those residents who wish themselves to expand?

But then, we should acknowledge everyone need a home in which to live.

Crittall style

 Searching through historic copies of the Herts Advertiser a number of themes are revealed, such as the display advertisements in the 1930s for house builders, as we explored in the previous post. So this time we will extend the same theme by discovering the range of designs and styles which such businesses erected in the newly acquired fields which extended St Albans between the wars.  Many were plain fronted with few embellishments; occasionally a one-type model which limited variety along the streamline. There are many examples of homes constructed in what might be called  "tudorbethan" with external timber mock beams on projecting eaves – many variations on a similar theme. Brickwork, sometimes in more than one colour, may give way to rendering, to provide a more pleasing frontage.

Many features of a modernist (sometimes labelled Art Deco) are included in urban settings,
including stepped wall capping, metal windows emphasising horizontal lines, vertical
windows and slab roofed porches.

Occasionally architects produced designs from the, then fashionable modernist stylebook, often sporting flat roofs and distinctive front elevations which may include solid first floor balcony fronts, bay windows with wrap-around (Suntrap) profiles. Both horizontal and vertical features are empasised: vertical windows often set above the front doors; and an emphasis on horizontal lines in the glazing bars,  narrow window openings and line relief brickwork. Simple slab porch tops, stepped tops to the front elevation, all traditionally painted in white on top of rendered brickwork. For the most part architects would select from the palette of features and the first to go would be the flat roofs, preferring instead a traditional pitched roof.

Traditional roofs and open porches to blend with other styles in the road; nevertheless, tall vertical
windows, sun trap bay windows and white rendering combine to illustrate a form of modernist
style along Beechwood Avenue.

Black painted glazing bars, short first floor balconies over the front doors and rendered white or
cream in Charmouth Road.

Examples of Modernist design were not often employed in our East End examples are to be found on the east side of Beechwood Avenue (c1937), a single house in Rose Walk (early 1950s) and a number on the west side of Charmouth Road (c1938).  Fortunately, alterations and extensions which might have complicated or otherwise modified the structure or style are rarely evident, and while our appreciation of the architectural end result will always be subjective the proportions, if radically altered would stand out.

Horizontal lines in brick on the first floor, double sun trap bays, even on the later extension. Echoes
of the horizontal lines are also in the railed fence.

We can't proceed further without reference to one engineering company whose output contributed much to modernism, whether in  homes or commercial buildings, and that is the engineering company  begun by Francis B Crittall in the 1840s.  Its history had been the production of metal window frames which had a long, maintenance-light life compared with timber.  We may be more aware today of the coldness of steel, and of course all windows before recent decades were single glazed, but fashion was always prominent, and metal fames were narrower and allowed more light into the room. 

By the early 1920s W F Crittall (Crittall Windows) had become synonymous with the fashionable modernist style which the company embraced.  We would recognise the metal glazing bars, over the years redesigned to echo the requirements of emphasising the horizontal glazing bars, including curved panes and width/height ratios which, even today, are considered unusual – often referred to as slim frames.  By the 1950s the company's output had galvanised zinc finishes or were in lighter aluminium.

There was much fashion for coloured glazing in the 1930s, and Crittall's was no exception. While more traditional picture scenes and sunbursts were common elsewhere, Crittall's top glazing offered geometric designs as an alternative to plain.

Curved glass is still available for replacement, although where replacement uPVC frames have
replaced the originals the sun trap end section is usually replaced with a flat end at 45 degrees.

The company's manufacturing centre is at Witham, Essex.  Nearby at Silver End Crittall's constructed a small estate of modernist design homes for its employees, and although none feature the curved end bay windows which epitomise the hallmark of a modernist design, the homes here are unquestionably showing off the company's window products.

There may be other isolated examples in St Albans of this type of design – something to look out for in our leisure walks around our patch.

Adverts in the HA

 We are very familiar with the style of advertisements – in colour of course – and the page layouts in today's Herts Advertisers; and when we compare this with a substantially older style the change hits us as a surprise.  Rather old-fashioned; monochrome; plain.  But such changes have realistically crept up on readers gradually, and differences would have appeared minimal in the short term.  Here is a selection of display adverts appearing in the newspaper before the Second World War.

H C Janes Ltd was one of the key house builders during the 1930s and in St Albans one of the estates the firm was responsible for was the even numbered side of Elm Drive.  Appreciating that new homes could be plain and the street scene off-putting when potential purchasers arrived to view, the company arranged for street trees to be planted to soften the landscape.  Other builders paid for trees and shrubs to deck the front gardens for the owners' arrival. The next advertisement illustrates how building societies became more popular and encouraged savers "for your future home".  The alternative was an "easy terms" equivalent over a number of years.  All who aspired to become home owners were offered considerable choice of properties between the wars; the concept of homes to buy rather than homes to let was seen as a family investment.

One building society local to St Albans was the St Albans Permanent Building Society, whose leading light was Cecil Preece.  With Cockcroft builders the company maintained premises in Fleetville.  It was not  unknown to find similar connections with other complementary businesses.   In this example the building society's new Spencer Street premises was highlighted as a contract for J T Bushell.

House builders often sought a competitive edge against other nearby builders; one might offer double skinned walls, boarded lofts,  driveways or styled front gates and front doors.  Burgess builders, having acquired plots along almost the whole of Oakwood Drive (the Dalehouse estate), went even further in providing a choice between bungalows and houses, and also laid a concrete road surface at a time when this was often left for the local authority to manage on behalf of house owners later.

Builders were naturally proud of the individual structures they had won contracts for, and so were ready to list them in their advertising. Bushells, in Catherine Street, were therefore particularly satisfied with their construction of Verulamium Museum in 1939.  While we may recognise the external view, the original internal and unextended exhibition area has been much forgotten by residents who visited in its earlier days.

Whereas the majority of earlier homes had been short terraces, J Hammond & Son Ltd, whose base was opposite St Peter's Church, constructed fine well-proportioned semi-detached homes, including along Beech Road.  As with many homes of the 1930s period many have since been provided with side and/or rear extensions and any number of loft conversions and enclosed porches, producing a rather muddled street scene compared with the clean complementary designs of the originals.

There was much experimenting with materials and building methods in the 1930s.  Concrete attracted the attention of commercial builders in particular and appropriate advertising appeared over a wider area; although even Hoddesdon, home of Bell & Webster, was home territory of the Herts Advertiser in those far off years.  We know of at least one local building which was a B&W speciality undertaking government contracts during the Second World War: the Day Nursery (1942) at Fleetville, now Fleetville Community Centre (adapted 1979-82).

Finally, commercial companies occasionally discover there is more to be gained for them and their customers if an existing building can be adapted and upgraded – today we might call it repurposing.  Northmet Electric first generated electricity in 1908 from a site in Campfield Road – part of its frontage has also been repurposed.  When it came to marketing the sale of electricity and electric goods Northmet Electricity, later to become part of the Eastern Electricity Board, took possession of Ivy House and nearby premises in St Peter's Street north and St Peter's Close.  In a period when it was largely the wealthier residents who owned their own properties and who therefore had control of the facilities to make their homes more comfortable, the range of showroom spaces would have made their customers feel "at home".  So it is appropriate to observe that in the adjacent residential road of St Peter's Close there were  advertisements by Mandley & Sparrow, house agents, at the same time.  A prominent photo along a spaciously laid out road was a large  detached home of traditional design.  No doubt already completely fitted for electricity, both lighting and power.  It should be added that the house shown may have been from another location where similar homes had already been constructed.

Community Football

 This week we are going to unpick a few community football issues from the very early years of our East End, and we begin with what is believed to be the first known amateur team which was formed c1890 from the residents then living in the new homes east of the Midland Railway, Cavendish, Albion, (upper) Camp, Stanhope and Granville roads.  A club by the name of Stanville FC was formed, the portmanteau name using Stanhope and Granville in its name.

Stanville FC adult team (there was also a reserve and junior squad) c1897.  However the setting is
not identified.  The gentleman centre back row is undoubtedly Thomas Oakley, who in this year was Mayor of the city.  Whether Mr Oakley had a formal connection with the club is not known, but he was present on this occasion!
COURTESY CHRIS REYHOLDS

Stanville's name appeared regularly in 1890s editions of the Herts Advertiser, playing other district teams, such as Abbey, Hatfield, Campfield (after 1995), Harpenden and Redbourn.  A report on one match in 1891 describes a home game played on its home ground in Hatfield Road.  This tantalising fact is set to test us.  Clarence Park is still three years from its opening, although the field from which the Hatfield Road side of the park was created had previously been a meadow known as the Fete Field and available for public events by the city's residents.  Another possibility was part of a field just east of St Peter's Farm.  The 1898 OS map shows unbuilt land on the corner of Stanhope and Camp roads, the green in front of St Peter's Farm, and a corner site on Hatfield and Lemsford roads. Perhaps these plots

were rather small for such a game.

How long the Stanville club lasted is uncertain, but the Adult School which opened in Stanhope Road in 1911, soon created its own football team, under the management of one of its members, Charles  Tuck, who ran a motor garage business in Hatfield Road, east of Sutton Road.  We might speculate that players from Stanville moved over to the Adult School team if some of their friends also transferred, or perhaps Stanville Club closed in favour of the Adult School.

The St Albans Adult School team from 1921, taken outside the School in Stanhope Road.
The team trainer/manager, Charles Tuck, is on the left of the middle row.

We know of another community street football team thriving in 1911, Glenfield FC – another portmanteau from Glenferrie and Sandfield roads, where the majority of their players are thought to have lived.  Once more, we have little idea of the lifespan of the Glenfield team and whether it was able to manage the frequent transfer of residents living in the rented homes in that part of Fleetville.  No doubt, as with other local teams, good or enthusiastic teens and adults from further afield would be encouraged to participate.

Another street football team was Glenfield FC, where many of the players lived in Glenferrie or Sandfield roads.   

We are, of course, not surprised by the existence of a football team in part of Fleetville in 1911; after all much of Fleetville east to Beaumont Avenue was either complete or in build before the First World War.  Whether such teams were able to re-form in the 1920s is uncertain.

However, there is an intriguing announcement in the Herts Advertiser during September 1898: the fixture list for that season up to the following April.  The list was headed Fleetville FC !  So, let's discover where the name Fleetville came from.  The printing works was in build during 1897, was completed during 1898 and named The Fleet Works, after the company's London address at the lower end of Fleet Street.  The rest of 1898 was taken installing machines and searching for a small number of skilled employees, although there were no houses closer than Cavendish Road, and Camp district was empty other than Camp Hill.  Factory owner T E Smith laid out plans for his Ville of workers' homes opposite the works, and placed advertisements for builders from 1899.  The name of the proposed development was initially Fleet Ville.  It would be a further year before a small number of homes in Arthur and Tess roads became habitable, and a year later than that when a few homes on the Slade building estate were also ready.

This photo of c1911 shows the locality which had been first identified as Fleet Ville and then as
Fleetville from 1898.

To have a ready name, Fleetville, for the residential district seems to us far too early, but ready it obviously was; to have sufficient residents, both adult and junior, ready to form teams also appeared far too early, but ready they obviously were.  In September 1898 the team – under whose management we know not – applied for affiliation to the district Football Association, which was accepted.  The Association had already received entries for the Cup from the following teams: St Albans A team, Campfield (probably from the Orford Smith printing works), Abbey, Harpenden, Elstree, Ware Excelsior, Stanville, Hatfield and Fleetville.

At the end of the first half of Fleetville's first season the Herts Advertiser announced that a member of its junior team was to be censured and cautioned for disorderly conduct during a cup match against Stanville FC – a local derby!

September 1898 was probably the first occurrence in the newspaper of the name Fleetville.  The usage of place names not officially titled and created, usually takes time for people in a locality to become acquainted with such words which enter the common language naturally.  Fleetville apparently entered the local lexicon far earlier than we had all imagined.

Granville and Stanhope

 The two previous posts have drawn our attention to Conservation Areas (CA) in localities within our eastern districts –  Clarence Park and nearby residential roads, and Sleapshyde.  Perhaps a number of readers have or will take the opportunity to explore these streets and the buildings which lie along them.  It is usually only when we are walking that we are afforded the opportunity to notice details along a street. This week the third and final Conservation Area is Granville and Stanhope roads, where two of the three roads are busy thoroughfares in their own right.

Clarence Park is at the top; Station Way on the left; the trianglular 

space in the middle is formed of Granville and Stanhope roads; the two

houses in Grimston Road are on their own at the bottom; St Peter's

Farm homestead is on the top right.

COURTESY ST ALBANS DISTRICT COUNCIL

This week's Conservation Area is bounded by Hatfield Road (between the Midland Railway and Crown junction), Station Way, Grimston Road, and the rear boundaries of homes on the south side of Stanhope Road.  

Stanhope Road looking east before WW1. A tree-lined street with
The Crown PH at the lower far end.
COURTESY HALS

It is believed Stanhope Road was named after Philip Henry Stanhope (1781-1837), one-time president of the Medico-Botanical Society of London, who bred 55 species of orchid within the Stanhopea genus. I am less certain of the naming of Granville Road, although an individual of this surname is reported to have received bequests from Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough.  Grimston Road is, of course from Earl of Verulam, James Grimston (1809-1895) whose base was at  Gorhambury.

The CA comprises entirely of a single development estate, which was formerly a field, known as Hatfield Road Field or "the field next to the chain bar" (of the Reading & Hatfield Turnpike at the top of Camp Lane), owned by Earl Spencer and worked by Thomas Kinder for his company's brewing business.  Its transfer for development (or at least that part not required for the railway) was part of Kinder's retirement from business plan and the owner's opportunity c1880 to build homes for users of the railway, some of our early commuters.  Also included in the Conservation area are the buildings of St Peter's Farm, The Crown PH and the Hatfield Road frontage buildings between the Crown PH and Albion Road.

Shops were added to the eastern end of Stanhope Road and are included as locally Listed.

All of the villas on the south side of Stanhope Road are locally listed; mainly built between 1886 and c1914, and most are detached with bays or semi-detached with double bays, offering a satisfying variety to the streetscape.  Just a small number of more modern homes use plots not sold during the main construction period, and at the lower end were built four shops during the main development period.  These, together with the former post office, Alexandra House and corner shops at the front of the Cavendish estate provided the local shops for the development's early occupiers. All of the houses and shops on the south side are locally Listed, even those which are modern.

The northern end of Granville Road containing locally Listed villas.

Regrettably the street trees planted at the road edge in the 1880s were removed in the 1920s when buses began to use Stanhope Road to reach the station.  Whether they were suitable species for roadside planting I don't know, but the restricted width for a main road and inevitable street parking for most of the villas – despite a wide footpath – results today in a harder streetscape.

The north side of Granville Road is lined with villas for half of its length from the Grimston Road end, but development eventually slowed down.  Some ground was left unbuilt and the remainder became an infill industrial building, both of which have been replaced by modern blocks of apartments in keeping with the rest of the street: The Maples and Ashtree Court.  All of the properties on the north side border a modern road, Station Way, which is busy with buses and station-bound cars.

The villas between Granville Road and The Crown along Hatfield Road were replaced by this 
Neo-Georgian style factory building for W O Peak.  This was itself replace in the 1980s.
COURTESY DIANA DEVEREUX

Number 108 Hatfield Road next to Station Way which is the only house in the group not to be
locally Listed.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREETVIEW

Hatfield Road, facing Clarence Park, was developed with two and three-storeyed villas.  While those remain at the station end, the homes below Granville Road were gradually replaced by extensions to the former W O Peake coat factory, and have been replaced for a second time with modern residential flats and offices.  Photos exist for the neo-Georgian factory, but extensive searches have failed to reveal images of the range of villa terraces that preceded it, which is very disappointing.  Above Granville Road the gradient of the bridge embankment of the 1860s becomes evident as the homes built on the original field level have allowed for a lower-ground floor to be designed in.  All except the house nearest Station Way are locally Listed.  This exception is not explained in the document other than not to mention number 108.  Yet this house is shown, along with the others, on the 1897 OS map and appears to be the original building.

A pair of houses in Grimston Road is included in the Conservation Area and are locally Listed.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREETVIEW

In addition to the houses mentioned in the three above roads is a pair of more modest houses in Grimston Road.  The space for these was created by shortening the plots of the properties in adjacent Stanhope Road.

The deNovo Place apartments at the northern end of Stanhope Road where previously had
stood St Peter's Mission Church and then St Albans' Adult Schools.

On the island side of Granville Road is the Spiritualist Meeting Room which opened in 1910.

Seven villas were built on the lower end of the north side of Stanhope Road.  The rest of this
side was occupied by the Grand Palace (later renamed Gaumont) cinema. The Chatsworth 
apartment development has replaced the cinema.

The island section, between Granville and Stanhope roads, contain seven villas on the Stanhope (north) side, again, locally Listed.  The apex of the triangle is now on its third incarnation, having begun with the tin church of St Peter's Mission Church, then the Adult Schools once St Paul's Church had opened; today is a modern style of residential apartments, deNovo Place.  In 1922 the remainder became the cinema (Grand Palace, which changed its name to Gaumont) and its car park.  Today the cinema has gone and Chatsworth Court, the name giving a nod to the Dukes of Devonshire, has replaced it.

Finally, a compact plot in the triangle was used from 1910 as a spiritualist meeting house, and its usage for this purpose continues today.  The meeting house is also locally Listed.

Readers may perhaps agree with me that a fourth CA might be appropriate in the eastern districts: the heart of Fleetville, encompassing Bycullah Terrace, Woodstock Road south (formerly Tess Road), Royal Road, the recreation ground, Arthur Road, 
 including the former Printing Works Institute and the Rats' Castle, and possibly Burnham Road and Eaton Road.  Fleetville Infants School might also form part of the group.