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.