A Tour Around 25

 You may have delved into every post this year as and when each was published, or dipped into the occasional topic as its relative interest to you was awakened.  2025 resulted in a total of forty posts, most at the rate of around three per month; so here is a review of what you may recall and/or topics you may have missed along the way.

The big series of 2025 has been coming across roads with names having an interesting story to tell.  The 12 posts altogether covered 57 named streets from across our east end, extending from the boundary of the Midland railway to Harpsfield, and from Sandridge to London Road.  Of course the total number of roads is well over 350, but twelve posts provided a useful summary.  You will discover one article each month throughout the year.  So we can start exploring.

Each of the selected streets had an imagined design, included a summary of the
source description, and its location and colour grouping

Occasionally we have explored the paths around Hatfield Road Cemetery and the lives of former residents.  The most intriguing was the story behind casual employee Francis Tan Kim Choo from Singapore, and the missing 25 minutes of his life.  Linked to the history of the Rats' Castle public house, we pause to remember the life of architect Percival Cherry Blow along one of the Hatfield Road Cemetery paths.

Anniversaries recalled include the months leading up to the end of World War 2, the messy times of the period, and the relief and celebration of the summer of 1945.  There had always been the promise of employment at the opening of former hosiery mill Ballito, arriving in Fleetville during 1925; revisiting the year 1925 to find out what made everyday life in a less populated east end, remembering modern St Albans isn't only now, but was also modern then!

When Ballito Mills moved in during 1925 two firms had previously moved out.
Hafield Road had not been metalled when this picture had been taken in 1907, but it turned 
from a printing house to a thriving building manufacturing knitting fashion
ladies nylon stockings.

We may not realise it but the district does seem to have what must be the smallest village green at Sleapshyde.  Clarence Park does not look quite like the drawings in one of the posts – some residents may be pleased about that – but there was a possibility, and may still become a reality – temporarily of course – during the summer  months.

A game of cricket certainly could not be played on the green at Sleapshyde.  Must be
the smallest village green of all.

A social necessity for all at some point or other wherever we live, is the need to use a public toilet on our walks.  In these times of restricted local council funding just how does our district cater for our outdoor urgent requirements?

One particular house?  You might consider a 1960s house on the corner of Hatfield Road and Beechwood Avenue, which is undergoing a significant change according to a planning application.  Or, also in Hatfield Road, is work delivering a replacement house, possibly a tight squeeze, just beyond Colney Heath Lane. More is being made of existing larger gardens.

Constructed on a former builder's yard, this house at the junction of Beechwood
Avenue and Hatfield is about to become two homes, if planners agree.

The Rats' Castle is still trading, but under a new name (the Old Tollhouse) but parts of the corner's story had become a little muddled over time.  So the account is being sorted to become more accurate.

Same building, but new name in Fleetville. The former Rats' Castle also has an 
unusual back story.  Read the real version in this post.

It's not often we focus on trees, but this year we discovered the felling of an oak tree in a residential garden.  We wait to discover how old it was, and need to have the experience of a tree ring counter to help us!

Have you observed how the property front boundaries of Sandpit Lane vary along its length?  These are the Sandpit Lane Wastes which have at times posed a few problems for residents when their new homes were built behind the current kerb lines.

There seems to be no end to the number of books written about St Albans.  The current total appeared to be about 65, not all in print, however. A few of the more recent titles are announced.

One of the most recent books published about St Albans.
COURTESY SAHAAS

A flurry of new residential developments are at the planning stage and one is shortly to appear at Oaklands with the delightful name of Oaklands Blossom.  We explore how this has come about.

Four posts focus on the former Beaumonts Farm.  How early residents were able to walk legitimately between Camp Road and Marshals Wick before modern streets had been constructed.  Then how a medieval field provided a brick resource for local housing and today for employment.  The request for a search for pictures of two temporary structures which have not been seen since 1938 and the early 1960s respectively, both in Woodland Drive. And finally, how we can still make our way from Colney Heath Lane and St Peter's Church in exactly the same way as worshippers in the early 19th century had walked the same route.

A corrugated iron house similar to this once stood where 83 Woodland Drive is today.
Does anyone know of a photograph of the real corrugated iron house from this
site?  Lived in by three different farm households between c1901 and 1938.

Enjoy re-reading, and we hope you look forward to another blog collection in 2026.

The listing of all  2025 blogs is shown on the right.  One click takes you straight there.