Been here before

 There have been five public houses within striking distance of the centre of Fleetville during its history: in no particular order, the Rats' Castle, the Bunch of Cherries, the Crown, the Camp and the Baton.  All have had their periods of success; all have struggled at some point to remain viable businesses; all pulled pints under the auspices of more than one owning company in their time, two are no longer trading – the Camp and the Baton, and one succeeded in remaining viable under a change of name; the latter opened for fifty years as the uniquely titled Bunch of Cherries before its new owner, Greene King, rebranded the premises the Speckled Hen.  And the Crown has soldiered on since the 1890s with little controversy, changing its pattern of offering according to the needs of the day.

The Rats' Castle in its Benskins guise on the corner of Hatfield Road and Sutton Road.
Its original design was by St Albans' architect Percival Blow.

In the past few days Star Pubs & Bars Ltd, which is part of the Heineken Group, has announced a rebranding of the Rats' Castle.  It is probably too early to pick up much feedback from the Rats' regular customers, but one aspect of the refresh of probable interest to the wider group of Fleetville residents is a change of name to become the Old Toll House.

Concept image of the building and badged as the Old Toll House
COURTESY STAR PUBS & BARS LTD

We have, of course, been here before.  The Rats' Castle had first opened as a Benskin's house, before its Watford brewery site closed down in the late fifties, although the company continued with its properties division.  The pub was later snapped up by Ind Coope and then absorbed into Allied Breweries.  It is uncommon for incoming owners to respect any local traditions; they usually feel the need to "put their own stamp" on their acquisition.  Alternatively, existing landlords occasionally give their properties a facelift in the expectation of an increased valuation at sale.

One of the hanging sign designs produced by Benskins for its property in Sutton Road.

So, where have we been here before? Under the umbrella of Ind Coope the company adjusted signal name by making it a little snappier.  Down came the hanging sign for the Rats' Castle, to be replaced by The Castle.  Both had pictorials depicting an imagined castle, but the rodents were clearly the problem as they had completely disappeared.  It was an attempt to sanitise the story.  

The short-lived design which replaced rats with a mounted horse and gave dominance to a moated
castle.
COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS

However, many residents felt an attachment to the story as it stood.  In fact, it was not just a fiction or a legend; it was based on fact, even though the account evidence is hard to find, and relates to the structural condition of an abandoned building in which every passer by in the late 19th century apparently became aware of the rodents having made their home in the unattended thatched roof of what had been a former, but short-lived toll house.  The period which had given the sobriquet to the Beaumonts farm field against the future Sutton Road, would soon be growing homes instead of grass; because there were no key buildings of any kind nearby. Rats' Castle was used to identify that little part of Hatfield Road; and when the houses arrived the name Castle Road was selected to access them.

When the time came to name a pub to serve the growing community this name was a given, even though if someone back then had suggested the Castle on the basis there was already a tangible label in place, I wouldn't have been surprised if the Company had selected it.  But this was a period of quirky labels like the Three Headed Pig, the Nobody Inn or the Jolly Taxpayer!  So Rats' Castle it became.

The company's current intentions simply remove the Rats' reference altogether and turn to the actual function of the little building which arrived two building generations earlier: to clarify, the turnpike toll house came first, to be followed by a house named Primrose Cottage, and finally the public house designed by local architect Percival Blow.

It began its life with Whitbread as the Bunch of Cherries; its location
formerly was known for its nearby cherry orchard at Winches Farm.  Under
Greene King the company unashamedly named its acquisition after one
of its branded beers.  In fact, copyright protection prevented its continued
use as the Bunch of Cherries.

You might or might not recognise it, but this is a concept montage of interiors of what will be
the Old Toll House, presently the Rats' Castle.
COURTESY STAR PUBS & BARS LTD

The Old Toll House is a perfectly respectable title for a public house, and it's story is based on fact.  Unique, however, it is not. Up and down the country restaurants and public houses abound with references to the turnpike roads which passed their front doors.  If not Toll House or Old Toll House there are Toll Gates or an abbreviated the Gate or the Turnpike.  Just as the Bunch of Cherries at Oaklands was and remains unique, I have failed to located another Rats' Castle.

The Castle had a very brief existence; the volatility of residents, and I suspect the pub's regulars, were too attached to the given name and the earlier sign resumed its place within a matter of months, although with a new landlord appearing.  Will the Old Toll House have a longer, more permanent life than the Castle?  I suspect there will be locals who will still be referring to "the Rats'" or the "former Rats'" in a generation's time – as long as the business lasts that long.

See also: http://www.stalbansowneastend.org.uk/topic-selection/rats-castle/

Repeat Performance

 Long-standing residents of the eastern districts of St Albans and who are familiar with the St Albans' Own East End website, may have recalled the section about a little cinema in Fleetville which never got to open; there is also a chapter about the building in the book St Albans' Own East End Volume 1: Outsiders.  You might like to refresh your memory about the events before reading on here.

The main character in the story, which took place during 1912 and 1913, was Russell Edwards who had arrived in St Albans at the time and took residence of a house in Granville Road, now among the houses later replaced by Cotsmoor and W O Peake, manufacturing coat makers.

A version of the "tin church" type of demountable building popular at the start of the 20th
century. To be put together at the corner of Hatfield Road and Tess Road (now
Woodstock Road South), but never completed.
COURTESY HERTFORDSHIRE ARCHIVES & LOCAL STUDIES

Briefly, Edwards took a lease on a site in Fleetville where, since the 1930s was built the Post Office, and still trading as such. His imagination encouraged him to open a little cinema and manage the enterprise – or so he informed everyone – and his intention was to make use of the funds of others in the enterprise.

Edwards had not only acquired the site; possibly a dubious claim, but he advertised in the national press: ""Partnerships – Advertiser requires about £200 to acquire fully equipped picture theatre, now running. Has taken £30 weekly; electric plant, seat 450; expenses nominal; no opposition."

None of the claims was true: this was to be an enterprise based on deceit.  Yes, he had a site, and yes he had acquired a building – a second-hand structure formerly a small meeting hall; but this was in pieces awaiting workmen to put it together.  He had no knowledge of the building's capacity, and from the drawing made by a St Albans' designer and architect there would probably been seating for less than half that which our entrepreneur had claimed.  Of course, if the structure had not yet been erected how could the costs and profits have already been known?

For the deceits which Edwards committed he was brought to court in St Albans, one of many such visits he made on various matters. Even spent time in prison. The court had to decide how various creditors were to be paid what was owed to them. Edwards was committed for trial at the next Assizes on a charge of perjury, given that he had made many false claims about his affairs to the court. 46-year-old Edwards pleaded guilty and was committed to prison for a period of fourteen days.

The completed Palace Theatre, Mill Street, Luton in 1913.
SOURCE UNKNOWN

Residents of Luton would already have been aware Russell Edwards had form, for before he moved to St Albans he had been planning a somewhat larger development project in the centre of Luton, where he aspired to build a "large theatre and place of entertainment" to be called the Palace Theatre, 17 Mill Street, today a road of apartments and hotels near the rail station.  Number 17 was acquired by a mortgage syndicate, led by Managing Agent Russell Edwards as its managing person. The cost was projected to be £20,000

As in St Albans a case of bankruptcy was heard, as well as one of contempt.  The bankruptcy was to be answered, not by Edwards, but by an investor who had been enthusiastic enough to answer an advertisement published by Edwards in the Daily Telegraph, requesting investments of £750 to put into a profitable and successful new place of entertainment. A Mr R G Byers was, possibly, the first and maybe only investor, upon much would be expected, and he would become the unfortunate one in the dock with much of his property now in the hands of the Sherriff.

Edwards, who was expected to produce numerous documents to the court absented himself on occasions, with excuses for being away or ill in bed, eventually being summonsed for contempt of court.  He appeared to be adept at manipulating others to become responsible for payments or documents for which he himself was legally responsible and often benefited.

One end of Cowper Road, Harpenden, where Russell Edwards was building a house for
himself and family, partly using materials taken from the site of a theatre development in
Luton for which Edwards was responsible for managing.  It is also alleged that he returned
some of those materials before he "got found out"!
COURTESY GOOGLE STREET VIEW

He also appropriated large quantities of building materials from the theatre site after proper delivery had been made and signed for, to be dispatched to a house site in Cowper Road, Harpenden, which he was building for himself and his family.

As to the advertisement's claim of a successful theatre, there was no company, no theatre, not even a site for one; only an option to purchase the site had been agreed.  But one document which did come to light was an apparent agreement between Byers and Edwards stated that, following completion of the place of entertainment, Edwards would take 1000 guineas per annum from the income of the Palace.

At least the theatre was completed, for advertisments began appearing by
mid-1913 in the Luton Reporter newspaper.

Mill Street today, showing where the Palace had been; close to where the photograph
above had been taken. The cream building is a hotel today.  The Palace occupied the
 right half of the cream site.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREET VIEW

How could Edwards have been free to continue his rather dodgy business dealings just one year later and in a different town?  And what was his penance for for sing benefactor Myers into bankruptcy while creating/arranging so many apparently falsely composed documents, while stealing quantities of building materials for his own personal gain?

Cape and Burleigh

 This is one of those posts which points out back of beyond streets which most of us have not explored, let alone heard of.  Between Sutton Road and Ashley Road is Castle Road, named after the field of the same name, which itself was named after the informal title of a turnpike toll house in the 1880s, the Rats' Castle.  Castle Road became a diversionary route when parallel Hatfield Road occasionally flooded near to Sutton Road.

Castle Road extends left to right across the top of the photo.  Cape Road is from top to bottom
on the left, and Burleigh Road is from top to bottom on the right.  The triangular open
space is in the lower part of the image and below that is the green strip of Alban Way.
COURTESY GOOGLE EARTH

Manufacturer Horace Slade was also a building developer who at the turn of the century acquired a nominal amount of back land between Castle Road and the former branch railway, now part of Alban Way. Two cul-de-sac roads were laid out c1900 and given the names Cape and Kimberley following British success in the second Boar War.  Kimberley was renamed Kimberley East in 1926 and renamed again to Burleigh in 1928.

Above name plate identified the former name of the road before 1926.
Below is the name plate for the first two homes complete in Cape Road.

Spasmodic development took place before World War One, with later fill-ins.  An awkward end block between the two roads against the embanked railway track was acquired by building firm H G Bennett and wood dealer William Halsey who also had a house adjacent to the Cape Road site.

Over in Kimberley Road (now Burleigh Road)  a small nursery holding existed until c1930, although it was probably out of use before then.  The St Albans Cooperative Society, searching for a bottling plant for its milk department, purchased the former nursery for its own building, with an entry onto Burleigh Road.  Although a driveway  might have been possible onto Ashley Road that road was not surfaced and developed until a short time later.  After closure of the Dairy its buildings remained empty for many years until the modern homes replaced them.

Above: on the site of the original nursery arrived the dairy owned by St Albans Co-operative.
Below: an array of modern home which replace the Burleigh Road dairy.

Bennett's site, and that of Halsey's, became a growing and successful site for supplying building materials for the trade and retail, their owners, including Pratt's changing hands over time; even employing staff from the Hatfield Road company of Lavers when that  timber yard closed.

The old entrance gate at the lower end of Cape Road.  Through here trundled in and out the trucks
loaded with building materials. 

In 2023 the site was acquired by developer Viciniti which proposed, and received planning consent for 37 homes – a mix of flats and houses.  I guess that most of us assumed building had begun and continued at its own good pace, although activity appeared to pause as the company, including several other of its sites fell into administration.

This unfortunate process is not without its problems: continuity is important and when there is a break followed by a different team moving onto site issues can arise, although not inevitably so.  New costs are also introduced which would need to be absorbed.

Above: plan of the proposed new housing development at the lower end of Burleigh Road.
Below: a partly finished building within the dormant development.

Developer's image of how the earlier unfinished block is intended to look when complete.
COURTESY VICINITI

Nevertheless, according to recent advertising the part-complete development has been offered to the market, so perhaps it will not be too long before work resumes.  One fact we are informed about, as long as the new developer does not alter its arrangements, the names of two new roads between Cape and Burleigh roads will be known as Iceni  Close and Viciniti Court.

Kitchin in Harts

 Today's title attempts to include two seemingly mis-spelled words into the blog.  Recently I was fortunate to receive a historic folded map of Hartfordshire drawn by Thomas Kitchin.  I have discovered Mr Kitchin's name occasionally with an e instead of a final i; and the mapmaker insists that our county, though often spelled with an e, should "always" use the letter a.  Which I suppose is correct even today when we pronounce the name as in tart, rather than as bert!

I have to admit I had not heard previously of Thomas Kitchin, and I'm pleased I now have, even more so that he had a connection with St Albans.  Although he appears not to have been born here, he lived in the town (as it then was) during his later life, with a residence in Fishpool Street, and was honoured in death by being buried in St Albans Abbey (Cathedral). Note, in the church, not at the church.

The home of Thomas Kitchin in Fishpool Street, photographed a few years ago before more
recent scaffolding appeared.

In 2024 a blue plaque was fixed to the front of Kitchin's former home, which sent some of us
scurrying for more information about the eighteenth century cartographer!
COURTESY ST ALBANS CIVIC SOCIETY

I had clearly not paid sufficient attention to the Civic Society website either, which records the progress made on the current range of blue plaques.  A recent plaque affixed to a Fishpool Street house marks that belonging to Thomas Kitchin himself.

Thomas Kitchin produced a wealth of maps during the eighteenth century; and his Hartfordshire map seems to have been revised on occasions, the one I now have has a date of 1775 appended to the cover.  The original would have been monochrome, but my version had a hand-painted colour wash add to distinguish the various Hundreds into which the county was divided. 

Naturally, for the purposes of this blog I was keen to inspect the eastern districts of St Albans, which, at the scale produced included rather less marked detail than, for example, the Dury & Andrews map of the same period.  Which, in turn, features fewer detail than William Kip's county map of 1610 – it was probably a derivation of an earlier engraving.

To provide us with a comparison, Kip's map of the county dates from just 35 years after the opening of Shakespeare's Curtain Theatre in Shoreditch.

William Kip created a new engraving c1610 from an earlier cartographer, probably from the
mid seventeenth century.
COURTESY HERTFORDSHIRE ARCHIVES & LOCAL STUDIES

A partnership of Andrew Dury & John Andrews resulted in a 1766 county map produced on nine 
sheets.
COURTESY HERTFORDSHIRE RECORD SOCIETY

Thomas Kitchin produced a number of county maps, including Hartfordshire.
This version is dated 1775 and is likely to be sourced from previous engravings.
COURTESY OLD MAPS LIBRARY

The Kip and Kitchin maps are of similar scale, although their production is well over a century apart.  Kip dispensed with roads altogether, in favour of streams and rivers, and most importantly key properties where gentlemen of note resided, and specifically any warrens they may have owned.

Kitchin recognised the importance of roads which connected towns and the distances between them.  The road on this sample of his map is the one between St Albans and Hatfield; the circled number being the number of miles between them (6.0).  Other roads which connect with the Hatfield Road are also drawn.

Dury & Andrew have presented all key roads which are part of the local network, the topography and a simplified field layout.

Beaumonts, then a manorial seat on all maps is spelled – and perhaps pronounced – in three different ways: Beamondes, Bemonds, and Beamond.  Oaklands was too recent to appear on any map and was not sufficiently important to be added to the engraving as its original name, Three Houses; it had first been identified under this name in the fourteenth century, maybe even earlier.

Once again Kip is too limited in detail to mark what today we refer to as Marshals Wick. Both Kitchin and Dury use the letter c (Marchals Wick).

As we might expect the larger scale of Dury & Andrews provides the opportunity of marking a number of farms.  We know that Jersey Farm had only changed its name in recent times, but its former label was already in use in 1766; so it will take more investigation yet to discover the source of the name Evan in Evan's Farm.  Nearby, where we might have expected to find Marshalswick Farm – or rather Marchals Wick, we see instead the name Wheelers (or Wheeler's); so these two names extend back at least three centuries.

The present day location of Cunningham Hill had previously been known as Curry Comb Hill.

Finally, our newly-found Kitchin map incorporates information not included on the above extract.  Spaces around the map's edges reveal a range of abbreviations (which it labels Explanations): Vicarages, Rectories, Windmills, Watermills, Post stages, Parks (presumably grounds  attached to the private domains of gentlemen of note), Market Days, and Roads open and healthy. Parliamentary Boroughs have stars attached.  We are usefully reminded, for the benefit of map users of the eighteenth century, that the number of furlongs in each mile is eight.

So, the three historic maps sampled above were very different and provide us with a range of contexts for understanding the landscapes of our county in previous centuries.

A Topper

 Thomas Smith, the owner of the printing firm of the same name which launched into the locality, opened his works (now Morrison's) and forever is associated with naming the district after the Fleet Street district from which the business derived.  Thus we know Fleetville.

Two blocks of nearby land had remained undeveloped at Thomas' death in 1904, and it was left for Smith's sons to manage.  One was land between Royal Road and Tess Road (now Woodstock Road South).  On the latter corner, where is still the Post Office, was – for a fleeting moment – a little cinema; but that is another story, told in detail on the accompanying website.

When Dr Frederick Smythe first arrived he occupied 209 Hatfield Road. In 1930
the property included ground floor rooms, one of which may have been a
waiting room and consulting room.

On the other corner was an impressive brick detached house constructed soon after 1930. In that year arrived "the local doctor".  He was Dr Frederick Smythe, in the terminology of the day physician and surgeon.  He took up residence in Bycullah Terrace, and presumably had his consulting room there, on the ground floor.  Today, the premises is EHS, between Simmons and the Convenience Shop.

The Hatfield Road elevation of Fleet House, although its address has always been in Royal 
Road.

The Royal Road elevation, originally the front, as indicated by the newer brickwork which
had been the porched front door when first built.  On the far left is the slimline detached
house constructed in the garden of Fleet House.

Dr Smythe lost little time in purchasing a plot of land from the Smith estate, the afore-mentioned location on the corner of Royal Road and Hatfield Road, and had the brick detached house constructed for his consulting room and domestic accommodation.  There was even space for a small garden and a pleasant green space behind the boundary wall. The front garden is today far more enclosed by foliage than the managed beds of the early post-war period. Whether Dr Smythe named his property or whether it was applied later I'm not certain, but it was certainly known as Fleet House; why not, for it was in Fleetville?

There came a time after World War Two, when circumstances changed.  From a single household it became two households with its division into a ground floor flat and one on the first floor accessed via an external stairway.  Further, on the garden in Royal Road was built a slim detached house with an equally slim driveway for a car.  Thus there were three households on the same original plot.

The elevations and plans appearing on St Albans District Council's planning web portal to indicate
what was was proposed in 2023.
COURTESY ST ALBANS DISTRICT COUNCIL

For those of us who have walked along Hatfield Road recently we have noticed a board heralding imminent works.  With some surprise the lovely house quickly lost its roof, not in a storm but by careful removal.

The arrival of two prefabricated sections which were lifted on the original decapitated building
to form a new upper floor and a third flat for the site.
COURTESY VIC FOSTER

The road has re-opened the traffic cleared and work continues to enable a fourth household to
occupy this corner plot in Fleetville.
COURTESY VIC FOSTER

And on a day in late September 2024 there arrived a crane and a lengthy low loader which reversed into Royal Road – and not without creating some congestion.  Aboard the vehicles were sections of a third floor to Fleet House, pre-built timber sections, lifted into position.  Thus Fleet House, in one day, changed from a two floor house with a pitched roof into a box of three floors of not much greater height.  Access to first and the new second floor flats are both external.

We wish the new inhabitants well, as they enjoy their view over the recreation ground – and Morrisons!

Ladder Jobs

 The following roads are often referred to as a group, the ladder roads: Blandford Road, Glenferrie Road, Sandfield Road and Harlesden Road.  Although it is often assumed they were all developed as a single building estate under the ownership of Horace Slade, the straw hat and cardboard box manufacturer, only three fell into this group.  Blandford Road was developed separately by Jacob Reynolds (of Heath Farm) and H J Skelton.

Of course, there was a much shorter parallel road: Laurel Road, and others further east, Royal and Tess roads but I haven't included these.

To discover more about how the four roads began after the land was acquired in 1898 I had made use of the early almanacs and street directories, but these don't always publish the correct timescales with the consequent delays and inaccuracies in publication.  For the purpose of this article I left the 1901 census alone as this survey would have come along far too soon to provide an accurate picture of occupancy.  Consequently, I gained an overview of the rate of development by means of the directories and the precision of the 1911 census following a decade of growth on the estate.

Blandford Road came to life on the east side along half of its length in a single block completed c1903 and most of the rest left lying green until c1908.  The west side remained unbuilt until the middle of the decade.  Now, let's see whether Mr Slade's estate was any different.

Although we are reminded of housebuilding all over the place in a continuous development, that leads us to a false conclusion.  While there was certainly work proceeding in all of the roads most of the time the focus was limited to a small number of dwellings at a time, probably limited to the availability of sufficient skills building trades employees.  The pattern was very similar to Blandford with building work being concentrated firstly at the Hatfield Road end and the higher numbers left until the middle of the decade.

Much of Sandfield's building work was more spread out, with a few homes followed by plots left empty for a number of years, and unlike the previous two roads, plots at the Hatfield Road end were left empty beyond the end of the decade or even until the 1930s.  One plot on the corner of Brampton Road even remained a green patch until c1960 – it had been identified and reserved for a general shop, but eventually became a detached house.  The shop did arrive, but was located on the corner of Harlesden and Burnham roads instead.

Of this group of roads it was Harlesden which shown the quickest and shortest build period.  Activity began by 1900 and almost all homes were completed and occupied by 1903.  The pattern of occupation throughout the estate seemed to be dictated through a combination of distance from the the park (i.e. Clarence Park and the town), size of plot, and in two of the roads closeness to Hatfield Road.  Where the opportunities arose homes for rental were available at lower rents and on weekly terms, rather than monthly.

So, who was living in these streets during the first decade of the twentieth century?  As might be expected two occupations shares the top spot: railway work and printing.  The growth and popularity of the Midland Railway had encouraged a number of homes to be in build  during the 1880s and 1890s where commuters were close enough to walk to the Midland Station, the Midland Railway employed men to maintain and fire the locomotives for journeys beginning locally; and of course a considerably number of trained and skilled locomotive drivers – the term engine driver became a popular term.

There was a necessity for offices of clerks making out and recording details of tickets creating timetables, and no doubt recording employment details and freight loads.  All four roads had a fair number of employees working on the railway, some in supervisory roles could be detected in the larger properties further west.

And yes, the same can be said for tenants in the printing industry, and no doubt all had local work at the two Smith's works – Orford Smith quickly becoming the Sally Army building at Campfield.  The many skills in the industry were represented on the estate, in machinery maintenance, paper, compositing, proof reading and distribution.  Again there was evidence of more highly skilled employment and supervisory work in Blandford and Glenferrie roads.

1911 would be the last census that would identify the number of printing employees compared with railway operatives; the impending war from 1914 affected this trade more heavily than in rail transport.

Beyond these two industries other occupations were more widely spread and varied.  Two residents were employed in the prison until that closed; carriers, no doubt for local carriage; at least five residents worked in the GPO (post office); a number of tailors, not only those from Nicholson's coat factory in Sutton Road; naturally there were a number of brickies and joiners given the quantity of building work in this part of St Albans.  Engineers, perhaps described more vaguely what their work involved, but one was at the electric arc lighting factory in Campfield.

The ladder roads gave home to a wide variety of employment, and no doubt this would increase and change over the following decades, to include retail, an increase in law, property and banking jobs.  The betterment of wages would begin to alter the mix from rental to purchased homes, particularly when landlords decided to cash in their investments and look for potential house owners.  Enter a new style of banking with the Mutual or Building Societies in th 1930s.

Hills and Ill-Fitting Junctions

 I have previously illustrated in this blog that we can identify the levels of that part of Hatfield Road between The Crown and Loreto College can be dated specifically to the 1860s.  For readers who are unfamiliar with this section of road a cyclist beginning a journey at The Crown would be engaged in a steady climb to the railway bridge on the Midland Main Line Railway.  The cyclist would then, assuming the Lemsford Road traffic lights are in her/his favour, be able to freewheel some distance until the climb resumes outside the former College of Further Education – this, incidentally, is the foot of the St Albans hill along the main entry road.

The view from The Crown to the Hatfield Road Bridge.  Before the 1860s this road would have
been approximately level.  On the left ahead, Granville Road was one of the few roads
constructed to form a level junction with Hatfield Road.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREET VIEW

From the recreation area of Clarence Park the view shows the height of Hatfield Road above
park level opposite the Station Way junction.

Walking or riding was much more straightforward, of course, before the railway arrived because the bridge only arrived in the 1860s.  Whenever we visit Clarence Park we observe the enormous amount of spoil required to build up the road level – the road originally being at the same level as the park.

A similar remoulding of Victoria Street (then named Victoria Road for most of its length) was undertaken for the purpose of "vaulting" over the Victoria Street Bridge, before reaching the foot of St Albans hill near Lattimore Road.

Close to the bridge the relatively newly constructed Station Way has been graded back from
Hatfield Road from the much steeper gradient when it formed the station goods yards.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREET VIEW

It may not look very steep, but for a bicycle without gears and waiting for a green light the effort
would have been – and still is – considerable.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREET VIEW

Pre-world war two buses used Beaconsfield Road to negotiate an awkward junction, especially
for under-powered vehicles, to make their way into the former station forecourt.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREET VIEW

The Alma Road/Victoria Street junction could be just as challenging as Hatfield Road for
cyclists, although Alma Road lacked traffic signals until the 1970s.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREET VIEW

Two inclines in one: first from Alma Road to the middle of the junction, and then the climb to
the brow of the bridge. To the left lay the bed of a former stream – the same stream which
lay below London Road close to the the current Odyssey Cinema.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREET VIEW

...and looking down from nearer the top of Victoria Street Bridge, the buses referred to
stopped just to the right of the present car park sign.  The camber (the difference between
the road height in the middle and that at the kerb) was more extreme before the surface was
relaid, causing stopped buses to noticeably towards the side of the public house.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREET VIEW

Buses also advanced over the bridge and turned into the station forecourt on occasions – 
another exciting part of the route for upper deck passengers!
COURTESY GOOGLE STREET VIEW

Cyclists, however, have also been irritated by the same road improvements when using roads such as Alma Road, Beaconsfield Road and Lemsford Road. Hint: cycles with sophisticate gearing were far less common.  It would be another two or three decades after the bridges arrived before housing development took place in New Town (between the St Albans hill and the railway line), so the employees who created the slopes approaching and leaving the bridges had no need to blend the gradients into the side roads, because, of course, they weren't yet there, still having a useful life as productive fields.

Before the end of Lemsford Road was remodelled the junction was much narrower, being
the width of the higher lane seen today.  Again a more challenging turn for an earlier single
gear bicycle.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREET VIEW

Hatfield Road: on the left is Loreto College; on the right the former Further Education College.
The St Albans hill begins as we approach Lattimore Road.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREET VIEW

Victoria Street at the Lattimore Road junction.  The St Albans hill begins beyond this
junction.

When houses began to grow along Alma, Beaconsfield and Lemsford roads little attention was given to road building, especially at Sandpit Lane, Hatfield Road and Victoria Street.  Although a modest amount of tinkering has been attempted at the Sandpit Lane/Lemsford Road junction, cycling from the former to the latter has always been a challenge – as has cycling from Beaconsfield to Lemsford Road, with the additional effort required to complete the procedure from a standing start, before the traffic signals jitter towards giving preference to Hatfield Road traffic instead, or a motor vehicle turns right from Lemsford to Hatfield Road across your path.

The circumstances are almost identical for cyclists on their way from Alma Road to Beaconsfield Road, or, even more challenging,  intending to turn right from Alma Road launching into the climb to the even steeper Victoria Street Bridge.

Not a problem today, but when the railway station was on the other side of the bridge and of Victoria Street – and when Stanhope Road was tree-lined, the early buses stopped using the latter road and, instead, used Hatfield Road and turned left into Beaconsfield Road, many of them turning in the station forecourt before proceeding into St Albans centre.  Before the Second World War buses had less powerful engines and less sophisticated gearing than today, so driving these vehicles to negotiate such changes of gradient demanded extra skill from their drivers.

Even double deckers approaching the bridge from a decapitated (i.e. felled) Stanhope Road would provide top deck passengers with an uneasy sensation at the bus stop just before Alma Road.  Not only was the road gradient still steep from the top of the bridge, but rather strangely, the road camber gave travellers the feeling they were about to be tipped sideway out of their windows, or that the bus would itself inevitably tip across the pavement into the hotel back yard!  The stopping place has of course been removed, passengers now leaving or boarding their services outside the new station building.

We certainly have been left with awkward junction gradients as a result of the railway passing through the city.

It's Private (2)

In the previous post we discovered a number of privately operated schools within the boundaries of St Albans at the time – the time in question being between the 1870s and the mid-1950s.  A few were men taking charge of a boys' establishment, perhaps preparing their charges for public schools at one end of the academic scale; and at the opposite pole providing practical skills as had been expected in the earlier 19th century industrial schools.  Most were owned by single women who would give classes to girls who would otherwise have little formal education.  A hybrid school type run by married couples focused on classes for girls, but with small groups for "little boys", usually under nine year olds.

Rowlatts and Lyndale.  These establishments were located in St Peter's Park when it was a fresh young residential district, a part of New Town.  Today we would identify the heart of St Peter's Park as Manor Road, in which Rowlatts School was located. Nearby, on the corner of Hillside Road and St Peter's Road was Lyndale School; the two schools between them being managed by Miss Elizabeth Sheehan, Miss Mary Sheehan and Miss Kate Sheehan.  The origin of Rowlatts was in 1886 when an advertisement appeared in the Herts Advertiser, when the name "High School for Girls, Miss Lewin, London Road" was identified. The following year a large house named Rowlatts was offered for sale in The Avenue.  Miss Lewin established her young school here.  By 1891 Miss Hornsby had become the Principal.

An early brochure produced, showing the grounds set aside for the pupils of this extant
school in Hatfield Road, opposite the former St Albans College of Further Education.
COURTESY LORETO COLLEGE

Loreto College  As with some many private schools Loreto opened in a tea magnate's substantial villa in Hatfield Road, a property the college still owns.  It was also fortunate in acquiring two adjacent plots, former nurseries, New Zealand and Wellington.  Later  Marlborough House and its grounds was also purchased.  Loreto is unique in this  collection in having grown in both size and success, and adapted to today's national education format.

Dirleston House opened in 1901 in a newish house at the Sandpit Lane end of Battlefield Road, and under the supervision of Mr John Henderson.  The establishment did not receive the name Dirleston for another five years when ownership passed to Cumming E A Atherton.  As with many little private schools Dirlston House lasted no more than ten years.

The former site of Athalls School in Hall Place Gardens, now the location of Maple
JMI School.

Athalls seems to have occupied a villa in Hall Place Gardens from new in 1907.  It pre-empted by two years the arrival of St Albans High School for Girls, although land for the latter had been acquired at the same time.  Athalls announced itself as a boarding and day school for young ladies, another example of competitive spirit in the use of similar names or moving in close by.  It appears Maple JMI School has been built on the same site.  Mrs Brumleu was in charge of Athalls and had her residence adjacent to the school rooms.

Grosvenor House.  This school was another in Bricket Road but probably only lasted for a short while.  The Misses Garlick announced "a boarding and day school for girls, and classes for little boys".  There was a resident French mistress and fully qualified visiting staff.  There is only one year to guide us, an advertisement in 1908, by which time most of the houses on the east side had been completed.

Home School for Girls.  The school may have been in the vicinity of Worley Road, for it was owned by Mr & Mrs Baird, living at Worley House.  The school first appeared on the scene advertising in 1898 "for yearly, weekly and daily boarders". Perhaps daily boarders applied to pupils for occasional boarding or on a particular night of the week. There was no evidence of sustained advertising.

Windcliffe.  Another 1898 start-up "for the daughters of gentlemen".  Miss Elizabeth Sheehan ran the school from a house in Hatfield Road, but its specific location is uncertain. At this time the options were opposite Clarence Park or between Lattimore Road and Marlborough Road.

St Albans Kindergarten and Preparatory School.  A trial run which perhaps didn't get very far.  It appeared c1930 at 26 Beaconsfield Road in a house owned by Miss Kathleen Kidd. 

The imposing building on the west side of Holywell Hill, formerly the home of Ernest Six
and the base for Holywell House School.

Holywell House School.  One of the very few schools still operating until the 1960s. Holywell House is about halfway down the west side of Holywell Hill and was the home of Mr Ernest Wix.  Following his death and then the death of his wife, the house was sold in 1931.  It was purchased by two sisters, the Misses Cloutte who converted the building into a private school: a boarding and day school for girls, and a boys' prep school.  Even evening classes were advertised, so the sisters were kept very busy.  The sisters retired c1960 and the property acquired by S Lander, architect.

Darnford School even had a flag of its own which two pupils were photographed with
for the press.
COURTESY THE HERTS ADVERTISER

Durnford House.  The school opened in 1951 in part of the Liberal Club premises, 9 Hatfield Road, the principal being Mrs Ruby E Colby.  As with most of the other schools in the collection pupil numbers were probably few, but the uniform for pre-prep and prep school pupils was wine and blue, with the letters DH in the centre of the blazer pocket badge.  In 1952 the school had capacity for 10 day pupils over six years old.  In 1953 the school moved into the White House in St Peter's Street. although 9 Hatfield Road was retained.  Classes were also held at a house in Hall Place Gardens; not all of the road's residents apparently approved!  In a short number of years Darnford found itself educating 150 children from 3 to 18, but was effectively bankrupt.  In an attempt to consolidate premises it looked to rent either Sopwell Manor or Thorne House.  We assume the proposals failed, and there was no further word about Darnford House.

The Misses Wright School.  Possibly the earliest school project extended back to 1877 when a new house had been erected in Victoria Street and the first pupils enrolled in October of that year.  It was listed in the 1881 census, but probably dwindled soon after and nothing more was heard of the school.

Battlefield House School. Battlefield House was a building at 4 Chequer Street, just around the corner from the Misses Wright.  Around 1880 Miss Mason advertised for "girls or young ladies" and was still continuing to do so in 1886, but nothing further was heard after this date.

Mr Hawkes High Grade Elementary School.  Another school which probably had a short life at 13 Verulam Road from 1886.  Mr Hawkes "would be" preparing boys for Oxford and Cambridge entrance examinations, the College of Preceptors and Post Office exams.  "Mrs Hawks looks after the under sevens".  The phrase "would be" suggests the plan was more in hope than success.

Miss Hestor's School.  Miss Hestor had accommodation at 3 Victoria Street for a school in 1887, but nothing further was heard so it is assumed no potential pupils applied.

The Ladies' School.  Applicants for a newly advertised school at Alban House, St Albans would need to be familiar with its location.  Either Miss Upton was overwhelmed she no longer needed to advertise, or no-one was able to locate the premises!  No further advertising was located.

Alma Road Girls' School.  Was this a further establishment or a school looking for larger accommodation.  But just one advertisement was  placed by Mrs Deed in 1897.

St John's Lodge, which was at the Sandpit Lane end of Beaumont Avenue, now replaced by
the St John's Court development.

St John's Court.  The Misses Blackwood acquired Avenue House at the Sandpit Lane end of Beaumont Avenue c 1922 and from this time the house was renamed St John's Lodge.  From here the sisters operated a school.  It must have been quite successful as the school continued, renamed as St John's Lodge Prep School, later continuing  from a new house at 75 Jennings Road from 1934 when the Beaumont Avenue house was sold to William Bird.  One ex-pupil recalls attending the latter premises and remembers the uniform of mauve blazers, and mauve and silver horizontal stripe ties.  The same ex-pupil also recalls transferring to Fleetville School in 1944.