The End of Our Road

 Recently I rediscovered a postcard photograph from circa 1914  showing off an almost new Glenferrie Road.  The street looked smart!  The photographer had set up his tripod in the middle of the road, probably halfway along the road, and his camera faced towards Hatfield Road.  The only sign of life captured was a road sweeper with his barrow, and I noted how wide the public space appeared to be; no parked cars, of course, and the footpaths were equally clear of rubbish bins, skips, data connection boxes, parking signs or  telephone wires carried on their sturdy posts.  And no white lines on the roadway or coloured spray paint on the pavement.  Litter? Not a wrapper to be found.  In this view just one small street light is  visible, and, if you look carefully, one posting box on the corner where the future Methodist Church will be built.

Many more pedestrians would have been be walking in one direction or the other, and as this photo was facing Hatfield Road, everyone's major view was about twenty feet of the south side of Hatfield Road unhindered by today's obstructions; the growing trees of the cemetery and a field tree predating the cemetery but now removed.  This was a fixed and identifiable scene with which householders were familiar.  East street end had, and still has, is own unique borrowed picture of the next road.  Unfortunately, similar photographs are not available of all of Fleetville's roads, and although today's roads are crowded I thought it might be useful to find Streetview images of nearby residential roads and focus on their own end of road fixed views.

The widest view presented to us is in Clarence Road just south of the park's main entrance; a view not much changed since 1900 – The Crown and the Stanhope Road shops.  Only the former post office, now Chilli Raj, is slightly newer.

Laurel Road may be short but provides same amount of view: Rose Cottage (the one with the cart drive under part of the house) and the first of the three Horndean Cottages just before Cavendish Road.

By the time we reach Blandford Road, the view is one of the views which include mature trees. We just miss seeing the main entrance to the cemetery, and just behind the frontage wall and trees is the entrance to the Manager's lodge.  Blandford Road emphasises the difficulty of cars passing each other while parking occupies both sides of the road and two-way working.

Glenferrie Road today, as one hundred years previously, provides us with a green backdrop to Hatfield Road, being at the eastern end of the cemetery.  The trees have grown more majestic and there are no buildings behind to be masked.  It can't of course be helped that this was the day the bins were collected.  Nevertheless most of the containers remain on the footpath all day and make it difficult for pedestrians generally, those in buggies and with sight or other mobility issues, to negotiate a route between garden walls and kerb-parked cars.

At Sandfield Road we are able to look across to the drive of Rainbow House, formerly the Family Centre, and the frontage of Magnet Kitchens.

The former Hobbs Garage comes into view at the end of Harlesden Road.  These days it belongs to Kwik Fit, of course. And we can just see part of the caretaker's house which was erected c1935 for the Central Girls' School, part of the roof of which can be spotted above the Kwik-Fit building.

An especially green south of Hatfield Road is apparent opposite Royal Road where the backdrop of Morrison's car park is Alban Way.  We are led to this view via the welcome tree lined recreation ground.

A hedge-line borders Woodstock Road south at Fleetville Nursery and Infants School and contrasts with the first of two views of Morrison's supermarket, which is probably a more pleasant streetscape than that of the former Thomas Smith printing works structure (also retained by Ballito Hosiery Mill).  Many would consider that building to have appeared more austere.

Finally, from way down Arthur Road we capture the glazed wall of  Morrison's cafe.  We are also deceived by the sight of a tree which looks as if it is growing on the corner site of the old Institute building, although it is a borrowed view; it is growing in the grounds of Morrison's, near the corner of Sutton Road.  We finish with a 1953 monochrome photograph showing the earlier view from Arthur Road across to the Ballito building.  We can colour it in our imagination as we prepare for our 1953 Coronation street party.

We can, of course, find views from the ends of almost every road in the city.  What connects the selection shown above is of course the busy Hatfield Road.

Photos courtesy St Albans Museums and Google Streetview.

The Skelton investment

In our exploration of the properties lining Hatfield Road eastwards from The Crown, Rumballs land agents had enabled Horace Slade to acquire Great Long Field (or Long Field East as it was also known).  The hedge separating Long Field from Long Field east met Hatfield Road just before the line of Blandford Road, so when Frank Sear first purchased the land for his nursery and its shop and house it was on the east side of the hedge and in Long Field East.  But Jacob Reynolds of Heath Farm expressed an interest in part of St Peter's Farm and purchased a strip of land on each side of Blandford Road.  He was clearly only interested in residential development,  not main road development.  His purchase had not included Sear's future Ninefields Nursery, nor had it approached the main road on the east side of Blandford Road.

An early plan of the land purchased by Joshua Reynolds.  The road names
have not yet been agreed, but the land is on either side of Blandford Road.

In stepped Mr H Skelton, a builder from Luton who purchased an interest facing Hatfield Road when development first began in 1899.  On this land he straightaway built two terraces of four houses each.  There will be a closer look at these in the next post.  For now, that land accounted for only half of the Hatfield Road frontage in his ownership.  From Blandford Road he was content to leave a sizeable plot vacant for a full ten years.  As for living close to the job, he, his wife, son and daughter, occupied four different properties, at least two of them – and maybe all of them – he had been responsible for building.

Mr Skelton's purchased land east of Blandford Road.  The first building, consisting of four purpose- built shops was not developed until c1910.  On the far right, the building beyond Asker's awning is where J B Rollings ran his wholesale confectioner's business.  The rectangular clock is fixed
to the first floor front elevation.
COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS

The ornate balustrading hides the view from the street of the second-floor windows, which are
nevertheless visible from the more distant view shown in the top picture of this pair.

In 1910 the design for a terrace of four at the plot-in-waiting at the Blandford Road end was agreed and proceeded with, and would certainly have made a greater impression than his earlier gable ends further along the road.  Those who only look down or ahead when walking along the road may not have noticed.  Neither is it obvious to many of us that this terrace is triple floored.  Above the ground floor, which was intended to open straight onto the pavement rather than via a slim six foot garden space, the first floor has residential squared profile bay windows and adjacent ancillary rooms with a flat window.  Except the corner property, which only has a longer bay window, which is angled; no flat window for another room.  The reason for this becomes clear when we look around the corner.  These appear to be more than tiny flats and all four extend some distance to the rear.  Number 109 has two windows overlooking Blandford Road, a benefit not available to the other three properties; it is therefore probable that the internal layout is different.

The third level attic room windows are mainly hidden behind an ornate stone balustrade with the roof drainage fed downwards from pipework below balustrade level.

Since 1922 number 109 has been a home of St Albans Co-operative Society grocery department.  The author only remembers it from the 1950s, when it was already self-service, except for the delicatessen counter. Home delivery, so popular once more, was also a feature back then; the customer handing in a notebook, with requirements ticked if supplied, and the assistant calculating the cost.  Even "subs" were taken into account if the exact product wasn't in stock.  Today it is still part of the Co-op as Funeral Care.

Next door at number 111 it took until 1938 for the Co-op to open its butchery, which previously had been an independent shoe shop and a gents outfitter.  The shop front was fairly impressive, with the lower facing panels having a black stone grained finish, and heavy glazed doors with shiny metal edgings.  When the Co-op opened its supermarket its little local shops closed.

The third Co-op shop in the row, number 113, was its greengrocery and then Society Dry Cleaners, but only from the early 1950s. Before then the sign above the door welcomed young people to the Carlton Club, while the fascia stated Bishop's Stores.  The shop attracted a number of young people and one of the activities which came out of these comings and goings was a very successful football club.  To this day, a detail page on the St Albans City Football Club's website carries photos of the teams of young people from the immediate post-war period.

A 1945 Carlton team pictured at Clarence Park
COURTESY THE GORDON JAMES COLLECTION

Number 115's first occupant was a trader which later became well known for its delicatessen shops in Victoria Street and Chequer Street, Saxby Bros, but by 1930 A Asker had taken over what had previously been a watchmaker's and then become Fleetville's pawnbroker's shop.  Today it is a cafe.

Mr Skelton's purchased land facing Hatfield Road between Blandford and Glenferrie roads is
boxed in orange. The properties in this post are numbers 109 to 115, and number 117.
MAP COURTESY NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND

And finally, in this post ...

Mr Skelton had a plot of land left between the 1910 development we have explored today and the two terraces of houses to the east and which we will find out more next time.  Around 1920, and because of the small amount of extra width he allowed a shop for Mr John  Blackmore to run a drapery business, with residential accommodation to the side rather than above or behind.  However, for whatever reason Mr Blackmore sold up within a couple of years in favour of a man well-known in Fleetville, Mr John Bradbury Rollings.  He was living in a small house in Brampton Road and in charge of a small wholesale business.  The urgent need to expand brought him to buy number 117, which he named Clifton House after the house he had previously owned in Finsbury.  As he did not need the attached house for residential purposes, this, along with the shop, became the new warehouse.  The top photo, taken in 1964, shows the property – it is the one with the rectangular clock attached to the frontage.  Compare it with the picture taken in 2012.  The right side which was the original shop received a significant change, both to the frontage and to the roofline.  In the 1960s, further expansion forced the company to move into a warehouse at the top of Camp Hill, number 117 eventually being the home of a popular computer accessories retailer called Beebug.

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We have seen a considerable range of traders moving into this growing party of the city, and either staying because they were successful, or moving on after a while to try their luck elsewhere or in the search for larger premises or more popular locations.  This week Saxby's, Rollings and the Co-op did just that.  Next time we'll see how Mr Skelton's terraces of homes fared.

 

Long School Trip

A recent (2019) front page item on the website under the heading Decade News 1940, refers to schools which evacuated to St Albans from south coast towns in 1940.  While this was a significant event in itself and lasted for two years, we must not lose sight of the initial 1939 evacuation of schools from London whose official return did not take place until the war's end in 1945.  Given the distance in time from these evacuations we are in danger of losing what memory of the experiences still remains.

A letter of thanks and appreciation appeared in the Herts Advertiser in 1945 from the head teacher of Princess Road School, London.  As there were five schools with the same name in different parts of the capital it was necessary to identify the correct establishment.  The school which came to our city was Princess Road School, Camden, now renamed Primrose Hill Primary School.  There were some 300 junior children and the same number of infants.  It is not yet known whether both departments came, but we know that the school was paired with Fleetville School, which of course then only occupied the Royal Road building and its recently acquired huts.  Would there have been sufficient space for 600 children, if the hall was used for two classes?

Princess Road School, now renamed Primrose Hill Primary School, Camden.

Fleetville's own children attended school in the mornings, while Princess Road used the buildings in the afternoons.  Lest we imagine that this straightforward arrangement lasted uninterrupted for six years we must take into account a number of varied factors, including parents choosing to have children returned to London at any time they chose, children transferring to a senior school when they reached eleven, parents moving to a different town when allocated to new jobs; so the situation was fluid.  London County Council's own records are therefore scratchy.

A group of children – the adults are possibly their teachers – walking from
the station on arrival.  It is not known which school they were part of.
HERTS ADVERTISER.

Princess Road was also given access to the hall at St Paul's Church, presumably only for the mornings where their less formal education and other activities took place.  It was, at least, a base out of the rain and snow in winter.  That part of Blandford Road outside the church was cordoned off to form a temporary playground each day.

We know from occasional reports in the Herts Advertiser that the children ranged far and wide around the city visiting places of interest – and at least one letter home mentions a history study of the Romans at Verulamium.  Of course!

Princess Road School shared the accommodation at Fleetville School
for up to six years – afternoons only!

All of these children were billeted with families around the district, and it is presumed most stayed in homes in and around the Fleetville district.  Hosts would have taken responsibility for their evacuees during the weekend. So for up to six years the child population of our East End probably doubled.  On the positive side that's twice as many friendships which might have developed, and it would be good to think some of those friendships continued, at least by letter, after the return to Camden.

Today, we know that Primrose Hill Primary is interested in its own history, because it has a history page on its website.  So it is possible the school will wish to add a little extra paragraph about the extended school trip their children experienced between 1939 and 1945.

In the next post we will discover what happened to another Camden school, Haverstock Hill, when it was evacuated to St Albans.