Smallford Settlement

 This week the tithe map extract shows the area we now know as Smallford.  Before the 1940s the group of buildings east of the present roundabout, and previously called Smallford Crossroads, was known as Horseshoes, after the name of the public house along  Hatfield Road.  Early maps also referred to the settlement as the Four Wents – four winds; there are similar references to wents in other parts of the country including in the East Sussex South Downs National Park.

Smallford hamlet and its surrounding fields.
COURTESY GOOGLE EARTH

The first map below also charts fields surrounding Smallford, and their names provide one or two clues about usage and topography.  A reminder again that the orientation of the tithe map has been rotated through 90 degrees to conform to modern maps – which it doesn't quite achieve but is near enough.

Extract from the 1840 tithe map.  Roads clockwise from the top: Sandpit Lane (now 
Oaklands Lane); Hatfield Road east towards St Albans Road West; Sleapshyde 
Lane (now Station Road); Hatfield Road towards St Albans.
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We'll begin with the water course marked in blue and the narrow fields through which the stream still flows southwards. One was named Drunken Bridge Meadow (693) and the other Boggy Mead Wood (259).  The stream continues as Smallford Brook until it reaches the River Colne.

Water is also referenced in field 268 which the tithe map names Well Field. There is a little conjecture here, but by the road  – then known as Sandpit Lane but now renamed Oaklands Lane – in this field was a small plot which can just be identified as 269 with a cottage and garden (all dwellings were then named cottages).  Today it is at the beginning of a 1960s road straightening, close to the bus stop. A rugby club now has its entrance drive. During the 19th century it housed the St Peter's Pest House – containing anyone with a contagious disease – and was only closed and demolished after the opening of the Sisters Hospital on the St Albans City Hospital site. Well Field later gave its name to the large nurseries which occupied this field until the 1940s, when it became a sports field for the County Council.

Fields are so named for various reasons.  Field 270, an L-shaped fenced area for grazing, had the name Toll Gate Field because the turnpike gate was at the cross roads.  On the other hand the twin fields south of Horseshoes hamlet (578 and 579) were named Great Shepherds and Little Shepherds, which probably referenced sheep grazing, though the St Peter's Tithe Award Book indicates both fields to be arable at that time.  Field 275, now largely occupied by Notcutts Garden Centre and the mid 20th century homes along Oaklands Lane, was named, for obvious location reasons, Horseshoe Field. And if you couldn't think of a better name for your field, why not tell everyone how large or small it is.  Hence, field 276, where used to be the Chester nursery and today is also the Radio estate, was identified as Fourteen Acre field, which was, unsurprisingly, 14 acres in area.

Closer view of Smallford hamlet, orientation as extract above.
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Current and building use map of Smallford.
COURTESY OPEN STREET MAP CONTRIBUTORS

Turning our attention to the plots along Hatfield Road which comprise Horseshoes itself, we might be surprised that no expansion has taken place since the 1840 tithe map (though, of course, modern housing has spread along Oaklands Lane and Station Road, the latter named Sleapsyde Lane before the arrival of the railway; west of the crossroads of course St Albans has joined hands with the hamlet!)

On the north side of Hatfield Road, always the least built on, were three buildings.  Two of them (in 273) wrapping round the crossroads north-east corner both belonged to the Trustees of the Turnpike Road.  The Trustees also owned a little plot of the north-west corner, now in front of Cayton's veterinary practice and Busy Bees children's nursery.

View eastwards from the crossroads (Smallford Roundabout). Former turnpike house on the
left.  Four Horseshoes further building on the left; Three Horseshoes furthest visible building
on the right.
COURTESY SMALLFORD & ALBAN WAY HERITAGE SOCIETY

View westwards with Three Horseshoes on the left and Four Horseshoes distant right. 
Painting by John Buckingham, c 1860.
COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS

At the eastern end of the north side of Hatfield Road was a building standing on its own with a shelter on its left (in this painting by John Buckingham it near the right edge), with the first iteration of the extant cottages on the left. The Four Horseshoes beer house, which survived into the post world-war two era is further along the road – probably the red building.  For anyone exploring the strip of land on which these properties stand, from round the corner in Oaklands Lane to the footpath east of the garden centre and on the north side  might wish to investigate the plot descriptions Upward Lane at the crossroads, and Heggs Garden Spring and Eggs Garden Field, both forming a roadside strip the full length of the main road.

Thomas Kinder owned the Three Horseshoes building and the adjacent blacksmith's forge (375), which were then separate structures but now form the unified Vintage Inns restaurant. To its east are the cottages which were also shown on the tithe map.  They consist of a terrace of four cottages, as today identified by four chimney stacks.  They each had their own rear gardens although these have now been subsumed into the Three Horseshoes parking and outdoor dining zone.

Cottages, Three Horseshoes and Filling station on south side of Hatfield Road.

West of the public house was a long narrow plot of, probably three cottages and their roadside gardens (576), part of which became a cafe and small petrol station. In more recent times the cottages were demolished and the fuelling station significantly enlarged.  The final cottages were in a wrap-around garden plot (577) and as with the others, standing parallel to Hatfield Road at the crossroads.  These cottages have since been replaced by an attached pair of houses and a corner bungalow.

Three Horseshoes, cafe, early filling station and now demolished cottages beyond.
COURTESY SMALLFORD & ALBAN WAY HERITAGE SOCIETY

It will be useful to return to this hamlet occasionally to investigate other elements of the extended settlement, including the former railway naturally.

Cell Barnes Farms

 This week we are returning to small groups of 19th century farms to make some sense of the present topography.  As usual I have begun with an extract of the 1840 tithe map of St Peter's and picked up part of the route of Hill End Lane.  We need to remind ourselves that the orientation of the tithe drawings was not N–S as are the majority of other maps, but approximately E–W.  For comparison with the Ordnance Survey maps therefore. the tithe extract has been rotated a quarter turn.

The farms are printed in orange.  Great Cell Barnes was a large residential property, 
but it possessed a large tract of land which was farmed.
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The route of Hill End Lane has been labelled and we discover that three places lie along it.  At the top is Beastney's Farm, no longer extant, but its site is near the corner of Camp Road and Hill End Lane. Beastneys is marked as a locator for the other two places described below, but we will return to Beastneys in a later post.

Further along the lane is Little Cell Barnes Farm, which in 1840 was being farmed by James Bunn, its owner being Earl Verulam.  The homestead and agricultural buildings of the farm are still in use, most recently as Rodell's Scaffolding business and the community building of London Road Residents' Association.

Cell Barnes Lane is to the left on the 1872 surveyed map.  Hill End Lane is routed top to bottom
and Nightingale Lane drops off the bottom of the map.  No fewer than six ponds can be
identified.

By the 1922 survey agricultural cottages have been built.

The 1937 survey shows the extent of the Cell Barnes Hospital and the extension made to
Great Cell Barnes for transformation to the nurses home.
COURTESY NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND

Immediately opposite Hill End Lane is another Verulam structure, the residential dwelling known as Great Cell Barnes.  This was transferred to Cell Barnes Hospital for use as as a nurses home, but much extended during its lifetime.  Today is is used by Emmaus for its community businesses and community homes for a number of people who have experienced homelessness.

The same features shown as part of the eastern London Road estate on a modern aerial photo.
COURTESY GOOGLE EARTH

One building which we might have seen is an attached pair of agricultural cottages along the eastern bend of Cell Barnes Lane which were not built until the 1860s; and a further pair in Hill End Lane where Ashbourne Court now stands.  These cottages were built on a small triangular field called Little Orchard.  Although not labelled on the annotated tithe map it is field 818, and the access road beside the current building continues as a pathway to Drakes Drive and forms the northern side of the former triangular field.

Homestead and associated buildings of Little Cell Barnes c2010.

View of Great Cell Barnes c2010.

The houses which today are between Ashbourne Court and Frobisher Road were built in the field named Aldwick (a place where alder trees grew).  Alders tend to favour streams or damp places, and as nearby residents are aware surface water is still an issue in periods of high rainfall!  On the western side of this former field and on the other side of Drakes Drive is a short residential road which has been named Aldwick.

On the eastern side of Hill End Lane is the boundary of the former Cell Barnes Hospital which is shrub and tree lined. Most evidence of the former hospital has now disappeared and the new 1990s  residential community of Highfield has grown up in its place, of which this is the southern part.

Former agricultural cottages in lower Cell Barnes Lane.

Ashbourne Court looking through to Drakes Drive at the far end of the pathway.
A pair of agricultural cottages were located where the modern building is today, on
the site of a small triangular shaped orchard.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREET VIEW

Aldwick, taking its name from a field between Drakes Drive and Hill End
Lane, is a short residential road.

Most of the fields annotated on the tithe map are self-explanatory, with Wood Field adjacent to Aldwick, and Brick Kiln close to Great Claypits – so we assume the older buildings hereabouts were built using bricks made here.

Less clear are the fields Dull Winch and Middle Winch.  Nearby is also Further Winch, so the naming is clearly related and is assumed to describe some kind of lifting or winding activity.  Their origin may therefore be related to the movement of clay for the brick making, already a former practice by the mid 19th century.

Along Nightingale Lane is Walnut Tree Meadow.  A number of other former farms are known to have had walnut trees close to their homesteads which provided a contribution to local seasonal nutritional food supply.

As we walk along the roads, lanes and pathways along or near Hill End Lane it is easy to observe evidence of the former landscape, and realise that the ground is rarely level, even where we know it has been moulded to its present shape by machinery when modern developments grew out of the ground.

PARK FEST

 Surprising news that a topic of interest and concern has not yet reached the editorial desk of the local press.  Yet it has featured on the front page of this title's website and reached the in-boxes of all members of the Clarence Park Residents' Association and the Protect Clarence Park campaign group.

An events license application has been made by St Albans City Football Club for entertainment and music events at Clarence Park; twenty is the number quoted.

While it is not for this blog to take a comprehensive view on such an application, there are a few so-far unanswered questions which we should ask.

We are assuming that the boundary for the application is identical to the boundary of the football ground.  We are also assuming that the 4,999 person limit for each event has already been calculated as being the insurance capacity of the ground – and would that include allow attendees to stand or sit on the pitch, or does this area have to be kept free for escape routes, stages, or to keep the grass in good playing condition?  We note that the Club announces its match day capacity at 5,000.

Has a travel plan been published to model how up to 5,000 attendees would/could reach the ground and return to their homes; if necessary the provision of park-and-ride facilities in a number of out of town locations?

Has an agreement been reached with the emergency services for the control of crowds, emergency evacuation and a medical aid centre?

Have the organisers discussed with the police the likelihood of congestion prevention measures at or near the many junctions within a one mile radius of the event site?

Have discussions taken place, and agreements reached, about how residents will be able to leave and re-enter their own homes in the periods before, during and after each event?

Where will portable toilets be located: in the football area, along footpaths, or other areas of the park?  Will the events effectively preclude other areas of the park from being used for their own events on the same days, or individuals or families from enjoying the park's facilities?

Will the parking restrictions for the event need to be extended to the days before and after each event for the get-in and get-out procedures, and if so, what arrangements would be made for residents relying on street parking outside their homes?

One other item of information not included, so far as we can identify, is whether the events, presumably taking place in the short summer non-football season, are intended to last for one season only.  This omission suggests the option is left open for the event proposal to become regular over two or more years.

Is it intended that these events would begin in 2023?  And what would the ticketing arrangements be?

A further arrangement which might be modelled: are 5,000 individual spectators movements and behaviours follow a similar pattern at a typical match event as they might at an all-day entertainment and music event?

Finally, did the Club organisers consider the possibility of holding the events elsewhere than at Clarence Park? 

So many questions, but if  a project plan exists to answer them perhaps the Club could publish it and make it available  We could see obvious references to the proposal on the Club's website..

Just a thought!  If all of these points can or have been satisfied then we wish the Club well in its endeavour.  But it would be nice if nearby residents were offered an alternative event of their own by the Club.  We understand these events will essentially be fundraisers, but all fundraisers have costs, and this would be one of them.

On a historical note: the park does have a record of presenting non football events during the summer and autumn months before and after World War Two.  There were Billy Graham religious rallies, fireworks displays and Scout Organisation displays; all playing to capacity crowds, usually in the evenings.  On some occasions buses were laid on to deliver attendees to Clarence Road and to return them to the city centre at the end.