Green 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 held in various locations during September.

Treat this post instead as a series of observations if perusing the Open Space Study which is part of the package.  Remember, the Study includes comparisons in all of the districts of the city, although  this blog is mainly interested in content forming part of the city's own east end (generally – though not exclusively – the historic parish of St Peter).

We are tempted to focus on the most well-known named open spaces such as Clarence Park. So let's begin there. The Study throughout quantifies the ranges of facilities in each space; if you like, the reason we might give for making a visit; and a limited range of support services, such as signage, bench seats and bins which form the basis of  an open space's percentage score compared with other local spaces.  Where it is deemed necessary (not only necessarily desirable) toilets are included, as are interpretation and other information panels.  But part of the assessment should probably have included the quality of the space's features.  Simply listing "toilets" does not help if they do not function to a good standard, are only open part-time or are not welcoming to use.  Yes, there maybe useful pathways, but they are less useful if sections are considered trip hazards.  A key feature of a park such as Clarence is its ability to foster relaxation, which might include a cafe or snack zone; and while there is certainly a restaurant eatery on the Crown boundary (a facility incidentally considered to be outside of the park even though it makes much use of the grassed space inside, a cafe more at the heart of family activity would place the venue much higher on visitors' satisfaction list, including a location where children can be supervised nearby by their parents.  There used to be such a refreshment kiosk many decades ago, but we are now left with a grassed triangle instead, presumably because that was cheaper.

But Clarence Park's quality and quantity provision is much enhanced in other ways – the courts zone is popular and busy, as is the popular Clarence Play children's zone.  Even above those the attractiveness of  tree cover which the park provides is a welcoming presence whenever visitors are drawn to the Park.

The same or similar criteria appear to be applied to smaller open spaces too.  Fleetville Rec these days is referred to as Fleetville Park, even on some maps, while Longacres is called an Open Space, Cunningham has Green Space in its title, while The Wick is just called The Wick, although maps name it Local Nature Reserve, even though a significant area serves the same function as other recreation grounds. William Bell is a Playground, while nearby is Sherwood Recreation Ground.  Why do many green spaces have such different descriptions in their titles?

Maybe there is some confusion about their functions, the expectations of their users and therefore the responsibilities of the authorities and any trusts who look after them.  Essentially, recreation grounds were created as open spaces for children or adults to breathe fresh air and engage in informal activity.  Historically they tended to be equipped only with a set of swings and the occasional cone (witch's hat)!  In more recent decades an area of hardstanding with a basketball/netball post and maybe a pair of goalposts may have appeared, or even a full multi-lined court.  A soft surfaced playdeck for young children may have been added, or sponsored, while the antithesis of activity space has occasionally arrived in the form of a youth shelter.  A store or changing room, and sometimes toilets my be provided but are far from universal.  In this feature level of open space the main maintenance issues are related to "unusual wear and tear", or vandalism.  

In the Study 'recs', as they are affectionally known, are graded on the same scale as other open spaces, so popularity, facilities and signage are often key to where they appear on the scale, even if that is not appropriate.

What is missing from the Study is the opportunity for any kind of open space, whether park, rough open space, pocket park, lane, footpath or even a forgotten piece of spare land between buildings, to appeal for what it offers towards our well being: calm, contemplation, reading,  conversation with a friend or other relaxing use of our time.  There are reasons why they are on a list but they  should not be graded uniformly with other open spaces for the provision or not of bins, benches and signage.

Next time we'll locate a number of more contemplative green spaces of value to us in our everyday lives.  In the meantime look out for them in your wanderings.

Happy Faces

Randomly 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 after all.

The second group contains teams, especially if they were winners of an immediately preceding competition, and especially if they were excitable children.  So your collection may include several of each, and the latter group may contain a press photo from the local newspaper; how long ago will be revealed by the amount of yellowing the newspaper has endured even while hidden away in a shoe box inside a darkened cupboard.

Recently I received such a photograph from Ray who appears, along with his team mates from 1967. Naturally they are all happy; why wouldn't they be, as winners of a football competition.  The details of the competition are immaterial, but just for the record the entrants were third year primary (now called year five) 6-a-side from many of the St Albans' schools.  Biggest credit usually goes to what are euphemistically called "top class teams"; in other words 11 a-side or full teams, and definitely the players who represent their school for that year.  But of course, run forward a year, in this case to 1968, and most of these six players from Wheatfields Junior School will appear once again in the "top class" team photo, having further honed their skills. There may be a copy of that time too; only time will tell.

I searched Bob Bridle and Duncan Burgoyne's book A 100 Years: a History of Schools' Football in St Albans, a remarkable reference source, though no longer in print.  Amongst the copious details for results of the Slade and Marconi trophies in 1966/67, was a little paragraph for the third year competition in that year: "Wheatfields beat Killigrew 2–0 in round one, and Oakwood by the same scoreline in round two.  In the semi-final they knocked out Skyswood by two goals to one and their final, against Windermere, ended goal-less.  Wheatfields won by virtue of gaining two corners against Windermere's one."

There is one further interesting piece of information nested in the Herts Advertiser article:

WINNERS WHEATFIELD (sic): THEY WIN SCHOOLS SIX-A-SIDE

In an entertaining tournament London Colney took the Dearman Trophy for fourth-ear teams, and Wheatfields won the Lyon Cup for third year teams in the St Albans Primary Schools six-a-side soccer competition at London Colney Primary School on Saturday.

The two long-established trophies for the "top teams" are Slade and Marconi.  Slade after a well-known St Albans business family, and Marconi naming the nationally known electronics company which started up in St Albans in 1939.

But what about Dearman and Lyon?  John Dearman was a locally known retailer who began his ironmongery business near Keyfield, London Road c1960 and then moving to a shop near Camp School in Camp Road less than a decade later.  Getting a schools trophy named after you is good publicity for later young grown-ups and their aspiring first homes.

Ronnie Lyon was another relatively new name on the map in St Albans.  He was more widely known, having acquired cheap industrial land in the immediate post-war period and turned them into  serviced factory buildings ready for leaseholders to move into and start trading on day one.  You would recognise the estates anywhere because the access road was inevitably named Lyon Way, as it is in the St Albans version between Oaklands and Smallford.

So, here we are, six smiling faces from Marshalswick in 1967: David Dobbie, Nigel Hiskett, Andy Smith, Peter Robinson at the back; and Ray Bradstreet, Stuart Carter and Malcom Evans up front!

Anyway guys: rather belatedly, congratulations on your school winning the Lyon Cup in 1967!

Not 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, Birmingham

Solid decorated brick approach o the Oxford Road.

But there is also another story which needs to be related and that is about Comet Way itself.  This highway arrived on the scene, though  initially as a single carriageway, as one element of the national arterial road expansion following the First World War.  The road as a whole was known as the North Orbital and this section as part of the Barnet Bypass.  In order to connect the road now known as Comet Way to the Great North Road (A1) and avoid causing traffic being funnelled through old Hatfield, land was acquired from the Great Nast Hyde estate to build the road from today's Comet roundabout down to the Roehyde interchange.  

Ernest Musman's design for The Comet at Ellenbrook, Hatfield in 1936.

The restored The Comet completed in 2019.

Land left over was targeted by Benskins Watford Brewery, one of several brewery chains taking advantage of potential sites along the new highways for what were then labelled roadhouses: an amalgam of the traditional public house, restaurants serving popular fare and basic hotel accommodation.

Many chains were attracted by the comfortable Georgian-style  structures – brick and exposed beams, snug fireplaces and bold chimneys, which shouted out warmth and comfort.

However, Benskins wished to strike out in a different direction for selected sites it acquired and engaged the services of architect Ernest B Musman.  Musman's new roadhouse properties include the Berkeley Arms at Cranford, the Myles Arms at Perivale, and the Bull & Butcher at Whetstone.

The architectural style of modernism, an adaptation of the clean-cut art deco was used to good effect in the design of The Comet which Benskins opened in 1936.  Musman therefore adapted the ship bridge  concept often used for art deco frontages to the spread of an airliner, the new concept in passenger air travel.  The cockpit became a lounge, the fuselage became the restaurant, distance was placed between the saloon and public bars with shortened "wings",  and bedrooms spread out on the first floor.  A lantern and compass both adorned the roof above.  The purpose? To reflect the nearby location of de Havilland Aircraft Company's new site alongside the new highway, whose building frontages were also art deco in design.

The story all came together so well.  Especially as the traditional hanging signs in Benskin's new roadhouses were dispensed with.  Instead at The Comet stood what was thought to be a unique sculptural form, a pillar depicting outlines of eighteen different kinds of flight. Atop the pillar was a maquette version of the racing Comet used in the 1934 Air Race.  This would be visible the full length of the new highway.

But it seems the uniqueness of The Comet to its particular de Havilland  location was not quite – unique!

The Nag's Head in Bishops Stortford when new in 1934.

Recent image of the Nag's Head, the frontage looking remarkably similar to Musman's Hatfield counterpart.

The replaced entrance sign – compare with the
original in the monochrome image.

Travel a few miles north to Bishops Stortford and Benskins had used Musman in a, you might say, dress rehearsal.  Take a visit to the Nag's Head, at the town end of Dunmow Road and you might realise you have arrived at something familiar.  Now a McMullens establishment Musman created the design for Nag's Head for a Benskins opening in 1934.  The front elevation is almost a carbon copy of the Comet with its cockpit, fuselage, wings and first floor accommodation.  And where The Comet has its sculptural pillar with maquette atop, we are welcomed to Nags with a more formalised triangular pillar; although not the original it has been redesigned in similar style.

So, what was the story behind the plan for the Nag's Head that made both end up so similar?  Probably the reduced time taken – and therefore the cost – on The Comet's plans would have made it a less expensive project for Benskins.  When we discuss the story of The Comet we should also include references to the Nag's Head; after all, they have a common heritage.

This 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 which roads were known were identified by plates fixed at one or both ends of streets. And in a few cases the correct names had to be established, sometimes by people living nearby, as to the name by which the road was to be known.

Since the publication of the two volumes of St Albans' Own East End there has been a list of street names with brief accompanying  explanations.  But before continuing this discourse we should define our boundaries: where the East End of St Albans is and is not.  For the purposes of research for the books the city's boundary follows the Midland Railway line between London Road and the King William fiveways junction at St Albans Road.  The approximately Southern edge is London Road.  The northern border and the mainly eastern limits follow the historic St Peter's parish even though modern parish boundaries may now be at variance and of course not very obvious.  Unfortunately the listing excludes villages such as Colney Heath and London Colney, not because they were outside of the notional East End, but because they were previously published communities in their own right and therefore were not included in the research for St Albans' Own East End.  Eastwards the parish does, however, extend to parts of Hatfield north of the A1(M) as far as Hatfield Garden Village.  It is a very rough and ready enclosure which will suffice for this article.

Within that area exist 378 named roads as of 2023, although a small number of these are names which are no longer in use and have subsequently been updated or replaced. 

Road names broadly fall into one of five groups.  Historical roads tend to be those which we might have described as, for example, the road to Hatfield and which we now formalise as Hatfield Road.

The eponymous category includes the many names which appear on street plates in recognition, commemoration or celebration of someone who had a connection with the district or the nearby land.  There are many of these in St Albans, especially members from large landowning families.

Geographic location – the names of places – might be anything from a building previously on the site, to a nearby village, former field or farm name.  It is also possible that such a name has been invented for effect!

By definition themed road names come in groups; several nearby roads might have the names of trees, for example.  Celebratory names might recognise major or memorable events, as in Royal Road.

And finally we might come across names which defy categorisation, as in The Avenue, or The Cinder Track.  It is what it is! 

Careful research has provided convincing or proven results for most East End roads, lanes, closes, avenues ... but not all!

One very early Fleetville road is Eaton Road, but several leads have not brought up a likely solution.  It is definitely Eaton, not Eton. There was no obvious connection with the land owner prior to development, but of course there were a number of Eaton families living in the county and the St Albans locality.  None, so far, appears to have a useful connection.  Inevitably when a knowledgeable local resident suggests a provable connection it will suddenly become too obvious, but until then ...

A development partnership of Ekins and Giffen in the early 20th century gave us the roads on the Camp estate, all of which were named after Arthur Ekins connections with the county of his birth, Cambridgeshire.  Mr Ekins was a chemist and had a role as the county analyst.  The chosen names were Cambridge Road, College Road, Ely Road, Royston Road (which just sneaks into Hertfordshire), and Sutton Road. But what was Mr Ekins' connection with Wellington that enabled him to name one of his streets Wellington Road?

Not far away on the boundary between the land owned by Giffen and Ekins was that owned by Alfred J Nicholson, who himself named two adjacent streets to his coat factory Hedley Road and Maxwell Road after family members.  On or very near the boundary is Guildford Road; which doesn't have an obvious connection with Cambridgeshire.  On the other hand the name hasn't been discovered among the research for A J Nicholson either.  Where might the name Guildford Road have come from?

On the "estate of tree names", Beaumonts, a recent new development which replaced the site of 1950s garages, has appeared Langford Close.  If you're looking, it joins Chestnut Drive.  So no-one thought of continuing the trees theme, then!  Langford is broadly based; not obviously local enough unless someone has discovered the right information.

On the face of it Gleave, as in the infill development off Woodstock Road North, called Gleave Close, sounds similar to a medieval agricultural term, but clearly is not.  Although it could be a family name.  And that is as far as I have reached!  Incidentally, the houses were built on land once leased to the nurserymen Messrs Sear & Carter who had a shop and little nursery next to St Paul's Church and a large nursery where Notcutts is today.

Catham Close, off Drakes Drive, does have a solution – or does it? Nearby, the 1840 tithe map shows a field named Catham Wood Field.  Catham could suggest the name of someone, but was he significant enough to warrant following up?

Finally an infill development off Blenheim Road is named Sefton Close. Is this related to a community in the north-west of the country,  or perhaps a 19th century race horse – or another connection altogether?  In either case what would be the connection with the location, or St Albans more generally?

If you have a lead which could be followed up on any of the above road do feel free to post a response.