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.
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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 .......  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, 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 the 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!
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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.
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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 in number 3 Mr and Mrs Garrett moved into number 5 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 is 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 a 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 the original trackway – to reach the churchyard of St Peter's Church.  So there's more to The Alley than we possibly realised.