The Crown that Moved

 When the Cavendish estate was first built there was a pair of shops west of Albion Road, although by the time they had opened most of the nearby homes were occupied; so too were the villas of Stanhope Road, soon to be followed by the homes of Clarence Park Road.

The photos below show the two shops in their early days; both were owned by Edward Hanley whose home was in Lemsford Road.  On the corner was Aberdeen House, a butchery managed by various specialists, including Mr Steabben, followed by Harry Patience of Popefield Farm.  At the foot of Cavendish Road was a small abattoir which if the building had still extant would be within the curtilage of Ss Alban & Stephen Junior School.

The name of Harry Patience only appeared above the door of Aberdeen House for a very short time,
in the early 1920s.  It is presumed Mr Patience is one of the two gentlemen at the door.
OWNER OF PHOTO UNKNOWN

Next door was the Park Stores owned by E Hanley.  Both shops had projecting display windows
in the early period.  The picture below shows the early interior of the Park Stores.
OWNER OF PHOTO UNKNOWN

Next to Aberdeen House was Park Stores, which had the name E Hanley above the door.  But that did not mean that he put in a full shift behind the counter.  Mr Hanley owned several shops, including three in Fleetville, and installed a manager for each one, while he organised the ordering of stock.  Where a manager did not require the upstairs flat, Edward Hanley rented that out.  In the period before shops arrived on the north side of Hatfield Road, Mr Hanley's shops very much complemented those at the lower end of Stanhope Road, even though they had opened rather later.

If you have passed by this part of Hatfield Road recently you may have noticed that the former Hanley's Stores is now a shop no longer and the conversion to domestic accommodation has been achieved sympathetically.  Menspire and the refurbished house and its railings frontage has created a welcome improvement to this corner.

Above: the pair of shops in around 1910

Below: the current street presentation of these two properties COURTESY GOOGLE STRRETVIEW

The street view of the above pair of shops in 1964, the pair of Charlton Villas, and the former 
coachman's accommodation of the Crown Hotel converted into Martell's coal business.
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Next along the road is a pair of homes called Charlton Villas, erected at the same time as the adjacent shops, for Samuel Collins.  Both number 150 and 148 have always been residential, although for fifty years Arthur Evans ran his plumbing and decorating business from number 148. 

A recent view of the Crown Public House, although the two gabled sections are now paint washed
over the bricks.

The Crown Hotel c1914 with the roundabout in front and surviving tree from the site's nursery days.
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The remainder of the block as far as Camp Road is taken up by the substantial buildings of The Crown Hotel and public house.  The licensing of this house was made possible by the acquisition of the license of the Rose & Crown in Holywell Hill; today the Abbey Flats are on that site.  In fact there was an occasional slip-up in reporting which referred to the new Hatfield Road establishment as the Rose & Crown.  The business was taken on by Luton Ampthill company Morris & Company, and rather helpfully its name has been added to the 1912 revision of the Ordnance Survey map.  However, it seems that the plot had first been acquired by John Green of Bedford.

The 1872 Ordnance Survey shows the bend near St Peter's Farm and Camp Lane meeting it
from the bottom of the map and passing the tiny toll house – the small pink building – with Ninedells Nursery to its right.
COURTESY NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND

To understand the placement of the Hotel in relation to the road layout we need to refer to the 1872 Ordnance Survey.  As we walk past the hotel's former stables and groom's quarters – later converted into Martell's Coal Sales and now private accommodation – the footpath deviates to line up with Stanhope Road ahead.  Such a property boundary dates from the sale of the former Ninedells Nursery and the sale of Hatfield Road Field for the development of Stanhope Road.  Before that time, as shown on the 1872 map, Hatfield Road's notorious bend to the right had the junction with Camp Lane shortly after the turnpike chain toll point.  This is the small pink building near the letters TP on the map.  Until the nursery was sold its boundary met the Hatfield road at the bend.  It is likely that the large tree shown in front of the c1914 photograph is a boundary survivor of that nursery.  To enable vehicles travelling westwards to access Stanhope Road a slip lane was made in front of the hotel.  In effect this created a roundabout.  Although it is not clear when this was closed off it was probably with the growth of motor traffic in the 1920s.  

Along with this great photograph it is worth pondering on two further points.  Unfortunately hidden by the tree, the original hotel name was displayed above the ridge tiling and between chimney stacks.  Such a position demonstrated the prominence of the hotel's position along the main road.  Secondly, on the edge of the roundabout is a cabinet with the city crest on the front.  Place there c1908 it was an early electrical connection box from the supply cable laid from the generation works in Campfield Road.

Now the Crown Public House, we can rest with a pint in the beer garden, and join regulars on televised football evenings.  It is the last pub eastwards along this road until the Rats' Castle.

The Cavendish Sandwich

 In the previous post mention was made of the narrow width of Hatfield Road as the carriageway descends from the cemetery to The Crown.  The first development occurred here from the 1880s – but only on the south side; it would be nearly two decades before the north side followed suit.

The OS map published in 1898 shows a mainly fully developed Cavendish estate, formerly
a tree and shrub nursery managed by John Watson. The properties described in this blog
are within the red rectangle.  For a few years occupants of this part of Hatfield Road 
would have the benefit of a view across to St Peter's Farm and the laurel grove.
COURTESY NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND.

We have laid out the picture of the road as far as Cavendish Road, named after William Cavendish, the Sixth Duke of Devonshire and President of the Horticultural Society (before Royal embellished the title).  The Duke developed one of the country's finest orchid collections, and the street was named in his honour by St Albans' own Orchid King, Frederick Sander.

The next parallel road on Sander's development estate, is Albion Road.  Orchid specialists might wish to confirm whether Albion or Alba was an early variety of orchid named before 1921. The buildings standing on the corner of these two roads sandwich a terrace of homes named 1 to 5 Whitbread Terrace, now 168 to 160 Hatfield Road, and Laurel Cottage, now 158.

The forecourt of Butler's Garage on the Cavendish Road corner.  The workshop behind
incorporated the earlier saddlery and the boot manufactory.
COURTESY BRIAN BUTLER.

The site of Butler's Garage became homes in recent times.

On the Cavendish Road corner the plot, which has only become  housing in recent years, may well have been part of the land belonging to Shakespeare House (later renamed Shakespeare Cottage).  Since being released from nursery use in the late 1870s and being typical mixed development, the land may have remained a building yard for a few years before being taken into occupation by engineer Thomas Hurst. William Jenkinson then constructed a saddlery business on the site in a workshop which remained on the site until the new houses appeared.  A small but busy boot manufactory moved in and during the leather-working downtime a new Methodist mission occupied what spaces remained  on Sundays and in the evenings.  When that factory moved to new premises in Grosvenor Road tailor Daniel Mitchell arrived, and the site later  upgraded for use as a motor garage and workshop for Robb Butler in 1938.  Changing to Swan Car Hire in the 1960s the site was finally relinquished for domestic use by the  millennium.

Numbers 2 to 5 Whitbread Cottages.  The name plate for this terrace is at the top of the
righthand house.

Beyond the modern homes is a terrace of five small dwellings, originally named Whitbread Terrace,  erected in 1883 and benefiting from a view over the "lane" to the farm yard and homestead of St Peter's Farm. Most of the occupants remained here for many years. The owner of the terrace, revealed in the Valuation Office records of 1910 to 1915, was Caroline Shillitoe of Radcliffe Square London SW.  The name plate is fixed to the righthand dwelling.

The two detached houses as viewed in 1912.  On the left is Laurel Cottage, but though they began
as identical buildings the ID panel on the right house has the date 1889 and not Albion Villa, which suggests it was rebuilt on a slightly wider footprint, but otherwise reflecting its partner and the
date both houses were first built.

At the lower end of this terrace stand two identical detached properties with porched entrances and front bays. Today, while you can see the similarities there are also significant differences; it is not just the bay of the righthand house which was lost on conversion for commercial use.  In the eaves are inset panels naming the homes as Laurel Cottage and Albion Villa.  The upper part of the farm field opposite was a laurel grove, which offered the house its name, which  proceeded the naming of the short Laurel Road nearby.

Albion Villa in the era of E E Hooker Ltd, the glass specialists.  First floor windows have
designs of coloured glass which remain today.  This 1964 view shows all of the described
 buildings from Butler's Garage on the far left to the impressive frontage of E Hooker Ltd.
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William Willoughby and Charles Hooker preparing a portion of coloured glass window; a 1960
photograph to celebrate the commission to supply a window for Coventry Cathedral.
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A member of the glassmaking E Hooker family moved into number 3 Albion Road around 1932 and the formative glass business was carried on in a workshop to the left of the house.  A few years later Albion Villa was a acquired and the ground floor converted into a sales area, with upstairs accommodation used for designing the richly coloured designs and motifs used in the company's work in commissions widely in this country and in churches and cathedrals around the world.

We now arrive at Albion Road and it seems appropriate that its name, like Cavendish, should have a link to orchids.  So the question deserves repeating: is there an orchid variety with the Albion name before a 1921 hybrid of the same name?

So we have nearly completed our exploration of Hatfield Road, there remaining one block to reach a conclusion, and possibly a pint, at The Crown.