The 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 East End of St Albans.

The title page of the first, 1949 edition.

The second edition was the first ring bound and with a coloured card
combined cover and title page.

The final edition introduced more design into the now-yellow cover.

One book omitted earlier is a title many residents of the post Second World War period will have recalled; it was titled St Albans: the story of the city and its people.  First published in 1949 by St Albans City Council there have been subsequent reprints in 1956, 1963 and 1974, each with a different cover design.  What set this title apart from almost every other book was its spiral binding.  It is thought that only the 1949 printing was hardbound.  Several copies of at least three of the editions is currently available on Abe Books, but certainly not at the 2/6d price of the original!

Edited by Lord Forrester in 1949, of the family Earl of Verulam – probably the same individual in subsequent reprintings. The printing was undertaken by Gibbs & Bamforth, printers and publishers of the Herts Advertiser at the time. Other printing processes were undertaken in this town of printing, including scraper board panels to introduce most of the sections.

This photograph, included only in the first edition , shows an employee at work
in the St Albans Brush Company building then on the corner of Ashley Road
and Hedley Road.

It should be confirmed that St Albans: the story of the city and its people differs from the earlier series of books in not being entirely a book of photographs.  It is essentially a guide to places, a history by none other than Elsie Toms, and chapters explaining the importance of Verulamium, St Albans at Work, St Albans Teaches St Albans at Leisure, the Abbey, Local Government and guided walks to and around the parishes of St Peter, St Michael and St Stephen. The book also includes three maps.

A rare image from the workbench inside Service Headwear, as it was then
named, in Hatfield Road.

But the stories are embellished with 29 full page photographs, most of which are unique to this publication.  The East End benefits from the inclusion of study images from some of the factories extant at the time: ELEC (Engineering & Lighting Equipment) of Campfield Road, Sander's in Camp Road, The Herts Advertiser Printing Company which moved to Camp Road from Spencer Street, Heath & Heather, on the edge of the East End at the City Station, Nicholson & Co, headquartered in Sutton Road, Marconi Instruments Ltd, and Ballito Hosiery Mill.

Two of the advertisements originate from the East End: this one
from Nicholson's Coats in Sutton Road; the other in the
first edition was a double page advertised Rodex Coats from
W O Peake in Hatfield Road.

Today we would describe the publication as "Sponsored" or "Supported by Advertising", On the cusp of the post-war world a classic collection of full page advertisements completes the book; regrettably the majority of businesses are no longer trading.

For its time the concept of the mini guide by the Council was commendable, and while most towns and cities have introduced their own versions since, it is disappointing that the St Albans title has not been updated further (as far as I know) or a more modern presentation introduced.

However, the book deserves its place on the shelves of St Albans people, and not just its historians.

Land 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, of course; such is the perennial issue which has been much discussed at least as far back as the end of World War Two!  For the first three decades the City Council used its collective magnifying glass in the earth for suitable blocks of land, large or small, which lay inside its boundary.  During the same period the Rural District Council found itself in a similar position, with a dire need for new rural housing.  The city's major constraint was the joint boundary between the two authorities; the principle constraint of the Rural District was the dominant straight-jacket of the Metropolitan Green Belt.

With the re-allocation of boundaries and the absorption of rural authorities into their neighbouring urban, town and city counterparts, the City Council bore the brunt of land searches for building on its own.  Since when the focus as been on re-use of previously developed land rather than prime green space.

The end for Butterwick farm came with demolition of the homestead, as the gravel which lay below was far more valuable.

It is probably not surprising that a sizeable chunk of previously used land (for gravel workings) remains dormant: the previously ancient manorial farm of Butterwick, which was first "interfered with" when the Hatfield & St Albans Railway Company first drove its path between the two towns in the 19th century and thus split the farm into two, leaving a rump between the railway and the Hatfield road;  the main acreage being swallowed for post-war rebuilding.  But it wasn't only Butterwick which was affected; its neighbour was Smallford Farm, adjacent to Colney Heath Lane.  

The delightful Smallford farm homestead.

At intervals came applications to extend the gravel workings nearer to existing homes in the vicinity of Colney Heath Lane; or applications to develop land for housing which would front onto the lane.  Which brings us to a recent push onto land "north of Boissy Close".  Now, if you walk along the short Close you will discover a gated end, so why would you not extend the housing?  Except, of course it is the gateway to an expansive open landscape which people frequently enjoy, and equally accept the greater landscape had been proposed for a small football stadium with parking, and more recently for a solar farm. No doubt other proposals too.

A small collection of homes off Colney Heath Lane at Bossy Close.  There was nothing to prevent the building of more homes beyond this gate, it appeared.  But that is not the same as the current planning potential for the land beyond.  Discussions continue.

Of course, there is plenty of finger-wagging because no-one appears to fully understand just what material had been dumped when the gravel pits were filled in.  Suffice it to say, the land is large enough to attract attention "because it is there".

Another much smaller block of land on the northern side of the former railway and accessed from Hatfield Road currently belongs to Glinwell Salads.  The main site at Smallford roundabout was first developed by Nielsons, a market gardening enterprise which moved from the upper Lea Valley, driven out by Victorian and Edward North London housing; this is the block now occupied by Glinwell Salads.  Whereas Nielson occupied the land sensibly and with a good margin all round, Glinwell's rebuilt glasshouses and have maxed out the site fairly effectively.  And as it still required more growing space a few years ago it acquired the land next door which had lain dormant since being vacated by Ballito Hosiery Mill's Sports Ground.

Behind the former fence at the old Ballito sports ground remained the  sign board until recent years.  
The sign board is believed to remain in the custody of St Albans Museums.

Quite who placed the concrete blocks in front of the turn in is unknown.  But possibly the council
felt the new green fencing was too temporary and may even have been to prevent unauthorised
work from taking place.

Aha, more glasshouses perhaps.  Through a part of the newly acquired site flows Smallford Brook, the southern extension of Boggy Mead Spring on the north side of Hatfield Road.  Early work soon after acquisition began on adjusting the stream course to maximise the ground available for growing. But if you are a regular traveller along Hatfield Road you will have observed its boundary fence has remained temporary and visibility from beyond the site is limited by a green screen mesh, quite unlike the permanent fencing further east.  More to the point, no further work appears to have taken place.  Is this the land which the company may wish to relinquish?  Twenty hectares are mentioned in the District Plan.  We wonder what will happen next.