Brampton as it was

"The Alley" is still used, though less so in recent decades, from the eastern end at the 
Beechwood/Beaumont junction with Hatfield Road.  It had been a popular children's
route to Fleetville School.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREET VIEW

Of course, none of us has a personal memory of today's Brampton Road as we might have walked along it just as Fleetville was beginning.  From the junction of Beachwood Avenue and Hatfield Road there remains a footpath with no formal name – used to be given the local name "The Alley" although until the 1890s the path was effectively an open way across the corner of a Beaumonts farm field and onto land belonging to Earl Spencer. It was, however, a direct path to St Peter's Church.  

Emerging at the new homes being planned along Burnham Road, the St Albans Council was asked by the house builder for permission to alter the line of the path to ensure the new proposed roads and gardens could be tidily laid out.  Between Tess Road (now Woodstock Road South) and Brampton Road consent was given to alter the route of the trackway via Princes Road (now also Woodstock Road South) and the lower part of Brampton Road.  A section of the former track edge is still visible as the very much not straight northern boundary of Fleetville Infants School's playground.

Fortunately, the trackway between here and the Midland Railway, including York Road and, of course the occupation bridge, still present as York Road bridge (as many football regulars can attest), was quite straight.  The function of the pathway or track was, until the houses arrived, for agricultural use, and its ultimate destination for many parishioners, St Peter's Church.  So, apart from "The Alley", the school boundary and York Road Bridge, there is little remaining of the former trackway.  The first homes on Brampton's south side. built on the Slade building estate, were between Sandfield and Harlesden roads, gradually spilling eastwards towards towards Princes Road.  Unlike many paths and lanes this track often aims for the corners of adjoining fields. 

The road near the right edge are the two Woodstock Roads; the parallel roads are Brampton
Road (top) and Burnham Road (lower); Harlesden Road at the left edge. The Alley emerge
onto Woodstock Road South bottom right.  From then until the orange line follows 
Brampton Road, the trackway is hidden beneath the homes built in the first decade of the
twentieth century.
COURTESY GOOGLE EARTH

If you had wondered why the high-numbered houses on the south side of Burnham Road are of widely different ages this is the point where the track approaches it from the west side of Tess Road.  It continued across to the north side of Burnham Road, aiming diagonally in a straight line towards Brampton Road turning westwards close to Harlesden Road.

A view southwards from the Ninefields towards Brampton Road in c1916.  Senior children from
local schools maintained allotments here where today is Verulam School.
Though not very clear the field hedge can be seen, together with a few trees – one hundred
years ago!
COURTESY THE HERTS ADVERTISER

Brampton Road looking towards Clarence Road from the Harlesden Road junction c1920.
The nest junction is Sandfield Road where the entrance to Verulam School now is.
COURTESY HERTFORDSHIRE ARCHIVES & LOCAL STUDIES

The same view today.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREET VIEW

A photograph taken from this junction c1920 and looking west shows a fully mature tree on the north side of the road.  Within another five years the Spencer estate will have been laid out, and the tree, which is been Sandfield and Harlesden roads will have made way for School House.  It is sometimes difficult to be exact as modern camera lenses have different focal lengths.

If we focus next on the Clarence Road end of Brampton Road, and on the north side, one aspect of the street scene becomes obvious: the size of the fully mature trees in the front gardens – these are not street trees but have effectively become street trees.  The corner house – actually in Clarence Road – was only one of five houses on Brampton's north side until the 1920s.  A semi-detached pair 1 and 3, and St Paul's Church Vicarage.  The fifth, opposite Glenferrie Road, on a wide plot has been demolished in the modern era to insert three replacements.

In number 1 lived retailer Luke Pelly in 1922, and Mr and Mrs Garrett moved into number 3 in the same year; a semi-detached pair.  But there is a delightfully designed corner house at the Clarence Road junction, with views both along Clarence Road to the south and along York Road.  More recently part of its rear garden was released for two additional detached houses.  The Garratts at number 3 were associated with  the former Trinity Church in Beaconsfield Road and they invited members of the church Women's group to their house for a social event.  A photograph appeared in the Herts Advertiser to illustrate just what one hundred people might look like, the number estimated to be present.  Mindful of the size of the house – and assuming the weather was kind enough to meet out of doors – there were two vacant plots to the right of number 3; with or without specific permission this event must surely have taken place at least partly on the additional land!  The next occupied house at the time was the Vicarage at number 9.

The first two houses are modern garden plots, followed by numbers 1 and 3, and 
likely hedgerow trees from the former track.

Numbers 1 and 3.  In 1925 the space occupied by the house on the right was an vacant
area of land.  It was undoubtedly this which enabled such a large gathering (see below).

A group of around one hundred people gathered, all from Trinity Church, at the home of 
their host at number three, and undoubtedly at the future garden next door!
COURTESY THE HERTS ADVERTISER

For the length of the majority of the street Brampton Road was laid directly on the track.  The few ancient trees surviving are all hedgerow trees on the Spencer estate.  If there had been trees on the Slade estate side it is inevitable these would have been offered for sale as standing timber in advance of development in order to benefit the development costs.

A majestic hedgerow tree in a post hedgerow era.

It is therefore still possible to walk the original trackway for almost the full distance, except for that short street diversion along Burnham Road and part of and Harlesden Road, as shown on the aerial photograph.  And once you have reached the railway the council have even thoughtfully provided a pedestrian crossing to walk Manor Road and a short distance of St Peter's Road where a handy footpath – undoubtedly also the original trackway – to reach the churchyard of St Peter's Church.  So there's more to The Alley than we possibly realised.

What a Waste

 You have probably driven eastwards along a road from St Albans and considered its straightness; not absolutely straight as in a ruler, but as good as straight gets in these days and times.  We associate such straightness with roadways created by the Romans.  I'm not sure whether it is possible to proved this latter point – indeed its age may even extend even further back in time.  But for the purpose of this post we will assume "'tis olde!"  This is Sandpit Lane. As with Sandridge Road there has been an oddity about the ownership of land along at least some sections of Sandpit Lane.  On the south side of the lane between Stone Cross and the railway bridge; and eastwards of the bridge on both sides of the lane there are still "wastes", the name  given to the ultra wide verges behind the kerb line.

Don't look too closely if you're driving, but in sections of Sandpit Lane there are wide and 
lengthy distances of open space alongside the road.  In former centuries you may have found these 
useful en-route to St Albans.  Once open grazing they are now mainly wooded.

The Wastes, as they are known, are important to the Council, 
for they belong to us all, as confirmed by a reminder notice issued
in 1914 in response to mis-use at the time.
COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS

For as long as has been recorded these roadside wastes have existed under common law for the use of drove animals being moved from one place to another, including to market, and to protect their legal status a local by-law under the Commons Act, 1899, was created in advance of expected twentieth century developments for such roadside strips of land which lay beyond fenced farmland.

Until 1898 the land south of Sandpit Lane was part of Earl Spencer's St Peter's Farm, after which
a number of wealthy individuals gradually acquired plots of various widths.  On the north side of 
the lane the estate of the Marten family was eventually sold in c1926 and housing development
on the land was handled by agents Simpson Lock and Vince. This OS map is dated 1922 and is
therefore still grazing up to the hedge line,
COURTESY HERTFORDSHIRE ARCHIVES & LOCAL STUDIES

By the next map revision, 1939, one or two more homes have appeared to the south – two more 
side roads from Earl Spencer's own housing estate had appeared.  But how did he manage to
obtain permission to cross the Wastes?  Meanwhile to the north, the same issue was partly
solved in a rather different way.
COURTESY HERTFORDSHIRE ARCHIVES & LOCAL STUDIES

In particular, the Council probably had in mind the section of Sandpit Lane between the railway and the hill approaching Hall Heath.  In the photograph below, facing eastwards, the northern limit of St Peter's Farm on the right, which was offered to the market in c1898.  On the left was the "back door" of Marshalls Wick House and its grounds, also about to go the same development way, even though a sale of the estate did not proceed for a further twenty-five years.  Nevertheless, it was anticipated both sides of Sandpit Lane would eventually be lined with impressive houses, and because of the value of the land the properties built would also attract substantial values.  

The issue for the council did not appear to be the appearance of homes themselves, but how to access them.  The plots, and therefore the homes built on them, would stand behind the wastes.  In order to bring vehicles from Sandpit Lane to each plot, builders, and subsequently the owners themselves, would need to cross the adjacent waste which neither had the legal right to do.  

To the south of the lane the waste finished at the foot of Hall Heath hill, but they were deeper on that side.  On the north side one group of homes benefitted from a common access drive.  Nevertheless, unless the wastes were discontinuous at this point the common access left and re-entered Sandpit Lane to enable legal access to each home in the group.  The legality of "jumping the gap" from a public road to a house owner's acquired building plot took time to resolve.

Sandpit Crescent was a solution for a number of adjacent property owners, where they
jointly created their own private driveway at the front of their plots.  However, it is not
certain how they gained permission to join their drive to the lane at each lane.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREETVIEW

Sunderland Avenue joined the lane from the south, and the Spencer Estate made the connection
through the Wastes – presumably with permission.

On the former St Peter's Farm, owner Earl Spencer was anxious to connect his roads northwards of Brampton Road to Sandpit Lane.  First connecting Clarence Park Road and Sandpit Lane with a new Upper Clarence Road, and then reserving two strips to ensure his future estate could also connect with Sandpit Lane.  These strips would become Sunderland Avenue and Churchill Road.  It seems that Earl Spencer was able to ensure his roads crossed the wastes legally, presumably because, when completed, his roads would be dedicated as public highways.  Now heavily wooded the open ground would traditionally have been regularly cropped by grazing animals.  The land was at its widest between Clarence Road and Churchill Road, before swiftly giving out to enable the plot boundaries to reach the back of the footpath. 

On the north side of the lane the wastes continue further east and finally give out opposite The Dell, although before development this was was the location of Home Wood which further delayed building until the final full stop at Wick Wood.  

Simpson Lock & Vince agency handled the development of the Marshalls Wick estate with new homes in Marshals Drive from 1932 and the north side of Sandpit Lane from 1936.  

Them the air the lines and groups of trees behind the kerb are part of the historic Sandpit Lane
Wastes.
COURTESY GOOGLE EARTH

Some of the plots to the south have since been sub-divided, in particular at The Dell (the
grey C-shaped block) and in the area of Monks Horton Way.  To the north several homes have
been extended on their original plots, although there has been an occasional additional house,
especially near Homewood Road.
COURTESY GOOGLE EARTH

On the south side it took five years for the first property, The Dell, to be occupied and to appear in the next Kelly's Directory in 1903.  The Dell was under the ownership of Thomas Grimwood. On the farm boundary the next three adjacent houses between Clarence Road and the future Sunderland Avenue were first occupied in 1908.  Store owner William Page moved into his new home, Monks Horton in 1914.  It took until 1956 and 1960 for the next homes to appear on either side of Churchill Road.  And the two major developments were latest of all at The Dell and Monks Horton Way.  So residential growth had taken around eighty years before we began to discover them as we know them today.

Street Plates 8

 More interesting details about some of the roads and streets around the residential and often quieter byways of eastern St Albans  But let's begin with an example which isn't in St Albans at all, although the parish of St Peter would have taken it right out to the ancient Harpsfield Hall – which along the way Hatfield's Harpsfield Way received its name.

COURTESY AIR BRITAIN PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES COLLECTION

Built on acres which had been Harpsfield Hall Farm was de Havilland Aircraft Company; busily occupying thousands of employees during its busiest period through the 1930s to the 1950s, before merging with Hawket Siddeley and then British Aerospace.  Major developments have taken place in recent years on the former airfield site, and some of them include access roads and residential courts whose names celebrate well-known aircraft types from the de Havilland years.

One of the most celebrated marques was Tiger Moth, the name of which was given to a nearby street.  There had been at least two series of Moth aircraft, both bi-wing types, and very popular.  Probably over three thousand were manufactured during the 30s and 40s, to over 24 air forces and countless private operators. However, a derivative type was Queen Bee – clearly Geoffrey de Havilland's fascination for the insect world spilled over to his business world.  Queen Bee was a pilotless craft use for training and could be flown, drone-like by radio control.  In fact the current use of the word drone comes from a bee's style of flight.

In the exploratory world of the appliance of electricity for powering devices and lighting spaces this energy source was in its infancy at the dawn of the twentieth century.  Experimental installations were mainly restricted to small or relatively small buildings as controls and connectors (switches and sockets) had to be laid mainly on the surface of walls and ceilings, and the large bulky protectors (fuse cabinets) hidden away in out-houses and cupboards.  It was a disruptive task but a number of houses were constructed in which cabling was built in and hidden.

Bold plans for statement buildings, like office buildings, stores and hospitals saw the benefits of installing, mainly electricity for lighting.  The economics and efficiencies worked.  And so it was that Thomas Edison not only designed the installation for Hill End Mental Asylum, the building on the ground from 1899 onwards, but also designed and perfected electric light units – lighting bulbs to you and me.

Among the most difficult road names to explain are those selected by private developers on whims of fancy or places which have a meaning for their families.  In the case of Thirlmere Close it all began with Charles Hart's naming of three short roads on his New Camp Estate, one of which was Windermere Avenue, and it was this road which was later extended into what became known as the London Road estate.

So, not only did Windermere Avenue become triple its original length into the former allotment gardens but it gave a direct connection to Cell Barnes Lane and Drakes Drive.  Given the narrowness of the original road it was decided later to close off Windermere from Thirlmere for vehicles, reducing the former to its original length once more. But if you wish to wallow in thoughts and personal memories of England's Lake District there are other Lake District roads nearby too.

Another badged area of our country is Cambridgeshire. The developer, Arthur Ekins, of the Camp estate – formerly part of Beaumonts Farm until the 1890s – named roads he was then laying out, after features of the county of his birth.  Apart from the rather obvious Cambridge Road Mr Ekins also honoured the town, Royston, which lay astride the road which joins Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire.  The road was, and still is, not any old highway but the strategically important Roman road linking London with York, Ermine Street. 

But more strategic than that and not content with one Roman road the town is at the crossroads of a second, Icknield Way.  So our Royston Road is not just a straight side road between Camp and Cambridge roads; it recognises a major Roman junction, which is just as important today, given that to ease the crossroad congestion the modern Icknield Way now steers north of Royston.  Did Roman roads have bypasses?  Well, they do now!

COURTESY GOOGLE STREETVIEW

 There is a little estate of roads which remains rather hidden from the busy life along London Road.  To discover it pass south-eastwards first under the impressive London Road railway bridge, and if, on the left, you come to Cunningham Avenue you travelled too far (start signalling when you reach the bridge).  This tucked away residential estate consists of the main feeder Colindale Avenue linking three short spurs, Kenton Gardens, Hordle Gardens and Orchard Close.  It might have become an extension of Dellfield, but didn't.  Instead it placed its face towards London Road.  Its developer was George Collins, whose business focus was in the suburbs of North London, hence, we suppose, the naming of Colindale and Kenton.  Perhaps we need to delve a little deeper for the naming of Hordle and Orchard, which will wait for another occasion.