Let's Think Again

 No sooner had the County Education Committee come to terms with the requirements of the 1902 Balfour Act, surveyed its sometimes woeful array of school buildings, and set out a plan for the future, than the upheavals of the First World War intervened.  At least, the east side of St Albans fared well from those early years; the two buildings of Fleetville Elementary Schools were both open before the onset of war, and Camp Elementary School just before the millennium.  But in the latter case day-to-day existence persevered  with limited water supply, no heating and an unfinished playground.  But at least the buildings were sound.

To herald peacetime the government announced further legislation.  Finally enacted in 1921 and known as the Fisher Act, the new Education Act established an all-embracing education programme for children between the ages of 5 and fourteen, with separate phases defining Infants (5 to 7), Juniors (7 to 11) and Seniors (11 to 14, but initially 13).  For the first time the Act laid out an approach to learning, not simply attendance and inspection; the phrase child centred learning entered the educational lexicon.  

The Education Committee, having carefully launched its initial programme, stretching limited funds as far as they would reasonably go, was now expected to adjust and expand even further, with no immediate expectation of increased funding.

The former St Albans School of Art in Victoria Street, whose buildings eventually extended
back to what became the Chequer Street Car Park following the closure of the brewery site.
The building also incorporated the first public library, the Central School and workshops for
senior boys from the town's schools.

However, there is one more local school not mentioned so far, which came into being during the Balfour era; and there were plentiful examples of them throughout the UK.  Central Schools were established in response to a demand by senior pupils coming to the end of their elementary education but with no access, including scholarships, to the existing secondary schools, which in St Albans at the time meant St Albans High School for Girls and St Albans School for Boys.  St Albans Central School was accommodated rather uncomfortably in the first library and art school building in Victoria Street.  It included workshop rooms for senior boys from the city's elementary schools that lacked their own facilities.  It was a shoe horn existence and badly needed sorting out.

The issues facing the Education Committee in addressing the Fisher Act requirements in St Albans was complicated by the nature and condition of the existing estate and it was agreed to manage the process by phasing the improvements, beginning with what was perceived as the most challenging to tackle; the East Ward.  Central and West areas of the city would have to wait their turns.  Even so, the East Plan's implementation stretched out over more than a decade, exacerbated by the stream of housebuilding in the Ward, unbroken for the past forty years or so. Thus huge pressures were placed on available spaces in all three schools; Hatfield Road, Camp and Fleetville – even though the former was not actually located in the East Ward.

Top priority was given to building boys' and a girls' senior schools on land the Committee had purchased in Fleetville (where today's Fleetville Junior School is located).  At the time, in 1921, the land was naively considered sufficient for two separate schools. The norm for the time would have been each school occupying the ground or first  floor of a single building; an arrangement which the Education Committee referred to as "adjacent sites".   While it was a bold start to the plan the new schools would take many years to open; an interim solution was desperately needed for shorter term gain.

Top: a Fleetville School senior class from 1931. From the following year the girls would attend
the new Central School on the other side of Hatfield Road.  Below: In the same year, senior
children at Camp School.  From 1932 senior girls would transfer to the new Central School, 
and senior boys to Fleetville seniors or Hatfield Road.

Funding for a girls' senior school was granted, though no building emerged.  If it had the new building would accommodate senior girls from Fleetville and Camp, and girls from the Central School in the centre of town.  The Camp senior boys would transfer to Fleetville and allow Camp to become the first of the Primary (Junior Mixed Infant) schools.  The interim plan wasn't signed off until 1928, at which time there was still no new senior school!

Top: the new Central School main building – although this photo was taken later than the year
of opening (1931) by which time a new teaching block had been added.  Below: a cookery class in one
of the practical rooms at the new Central School.

Meanwhile, conditions at the Central School deteriorated further and it was agreed – a euphemism for protracted and sometimes heated discussions – that a complete new school would be built – on the land at Fleetville previously reserved for two senior schools.  Central's new school, with an increased number of places, opened in 1931.  The Fleetville and Camp senior girls could finally move into bright new buildings, but Fleetville could not become a primary while its senior rooms were full of Fleetville and ex Camp boys.  Gradually boys transferred from there to Hatfield Road as its accommodation became available; Fleetville therefore emerged as a Primary over time; and it seemed that no sooner had later boys enrolled at Hatfield Road they transferred en-bloc to another new school which opened in 1938 at Beaumonts!  But that is a later chapter in the story.

Fleetville's senior boys did, however, enjoy one new benefit from 1931.  The new Central site also included workshops for practical activity, deemed essential since the existing elementary schools had contained no such facilities.

Ss Alban & Stephen's new school building opened on the corner of Camp Road and Vanda
Crescent in 1934.
COURTESY HERTS ADVERTISER

A further school which had been educating children from across the city, had its base behind a church building in Beaconsfield Road.  Its lessons were regularly interrupted by the arrival of trains at the station at the foot of the shallow cutting.  Ss Alban & Stephen Catholic School became part of the system under the Balfour Act, in which grants were paid by the local authority.  Such schools, controlled by the Church of England or Catholic Church, were and are known as Voluntary Controlled or Voluntary Aided schools.  In 1932, the Church acquired land from the Friederick Sander estate in Vanda Crescent for its new school (now the Ss Alban & Stephen Infants); perhaps surprisingly opening as an elementary model, but that was undoubtedly its most economic arrangement given the smaller numbers of expected pupils.  So Alban and Stephen became the next new establishment in the East End, just a year after the new Central.

Although later phases of the re-organisation plan would also impinge on the East Ward a brief explanation would be better left to a later post, otherwise readers would, I fear, find the changes more mystifying than the Hatfield House maze! 

To Save a Tree

 We now move westwards from the Senior Central School (Fleetville Juniors today) on the third field to be sold by the Grammar School, but rather later than the fields incorporating the Fleet Works and Fleet Ville.  Called Poor Six Acre Field we assume the name to reflect the quality of its top soil.  [Further along the road at the cemetery this top and sub-soil is brought to the surface when new burials are due]. So selling for development would have been an easy decision to make.  During and following the First World War the field, or at least a part of it, was delineated into allotment plots "for the war effort", partly to avoid the recreation ground being utilised for the same purpose, which was certainly a real risk. 

To fully understand which plots today occupy the front of this field, the first to the west of the school's vehicular entrance is Grimsdyke Lodge, then BC Cycles and Magnet.  Although Topps Tiles is also part of the modern range of development this will form part of the next post.

The Valuation Office records from 1910 to 1915 reveal that during the lifetime of its data, W H Lavers, the owner of the timber yard nearby, also acquired the frontage land to the west of the school entrance, 206 to 202 and possibly 208 as well.  So, we will consider number 208 first.  It is doubtful if many current residents of the district recall a detached house to the west of the school entrance, but a photograph in the St Albans' Museums Archive shows one to be there.  

The house behind the railings was built for the school caretaker.  The large detached house behind
the bus stop had two owners in its short lifetime before being demolished shortly before 1967.
It is possible the tree in its front garden may be the one referred to in the text below, but it
certainly did not survive the next stage in the site's life.
COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS

It was erected shortly after the First World War and its first occupant was Mrs Bell; her name appears as the occupant in the 1930 and 1934 street directories.  From then on the occupant was Mrs Wilkins.  In both cases we only know their names.  If Mrs Bell was the owner of the house she may also have purchased the adjacent  land, the plots taken over by Mr Lavers from the Grammar School.  From then on numbers 208 to 202 were treated as a single plot of ground even though no further houses were built there.  However, a row of lock-up garages existed at the back of 206 to 202 from c1930 until 1967.

An article in the Herts Advertiser 19th April 1973 revealed that Mrs Wilkins had planted an oak seed on her land in 1935 to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of George V and Queen Mary.  She very much wanted to protect the tree from development by Fairview Estates to whom she had sold her property in 1967.  Your Editor cannot recall such a tree being present, although a photograph from the archives of St Albans Museums proves it was growing in the front garden. The oak tree – which would now be 86 years old – is not within the boundary of Grimsdyke Lodge today.

The left section of Grimsdyke Lodge was the location of the former detached house.

Grimsdyke Lodge, a development of eight 1-bed flats, dates from 1967 and a central throughway gives access to rear parking.  It is thought that the name of the building came from Grimsdyke Developments, a development arm of Fairview Estates. 

Three of the four eventual sections of the ironmongery (DIY) shop begun by James Andrew, and successively by the Tuckett family and then Leon Reed. On the left is part of the open ground
owned by Mrs Wilkins of the detached house, now part of Grimsdyke Lodge.
COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS

Numbers 200, 198 and 196 were created in 1910 by builder James Andrew, who also occupied the western end of this multi plot.  He also had a shop on the north side of the road directly opposite from which he sold building accessories and fittings.  Mr Andrew  constructed a two-bay unit consisting of shops on the ground floor  with living accommodation above – often the upper floors were converted into storage areas, but it is not certain whether that was the case here. Two ground-floor-only shop units were added later, one on each side of the original structure, and this part of Hatfield Road became a very successful DIY centre managed by Leonard Reed – until the industrial estate DIY warehouses popular from the 1980s motoring boom, and suddenly Reed's became no more.

The fullest four-section extent of Leon Reed's DIY Centre shortly after its closure.
COURTESY DIANA DEVEREUX

But this is putting the cart before the proverbial horse, because one of the original shop units, number 200, remained a drapery and then ladies' outfitter from c1912 through to the 1960s. Number 198 was held by builder James Andrew until he opened his shop opposite, and was then taken on by Harry Tuckett, whose family had previous ironmongery experience working at Hallam's, a well-known ironmongery on the corner of Chequer Street and High Street (the giant letter H still features on an external wall of this building, now a bank).  The Tuckett family also managed a general store in Camp Road on the premises which later became John Dearman's ironmongery, now private houses.

Leonard Reed took over in the mid-1950s and gradually expanded into the ladies' outfitter unit and then built first one wing on the eastern side, followed by a second on the western side, on the land previously occupied by James Andrew's open depot for his building trade, although that must have gone by the time I first knew Fleetville in the 1950s.

200 and 198 were demolished and replaced by the modern Richmond House, home to Weddings Unlimited and now BC Cycles. It is a mixed site incorporating retail and apartments.

This part of Hatfield Road has seen plenty of variety in its urbanisation since it was a field with poor soil, with many changes too.  And Mrs Wilkins' oak tree was only one of the oaks failing to survive to the modern day.  Seven mature oak trees quietly growing  in the field were felled and offered for sale, possibly to make sale for development much easier.

Next time we will be introduced to a member of a very well-known family.

The Handy Stores

 Following a brief break we return this week to the south side of Hatfield Road where a new replacement building for the Girls' Central School was opened in 1931.  The County Council had no need of a road frontage in its day-to-day management of a school, and so from now on many of these sites would make use of passing trade and all would be developed in the same period as the school, around 1930.

The first property west of Morrison's car park, the timber yard of former times, is the Campaign for
Real Ale (CAMRA) building.  It was formerly West & Sellick, motor accessories and repairs. From above the plot is almost wedge-shaped and there is no back land the business can use.

Next door to the timber yard of W H Laver was the motor accessories and repair shop of West & Sellick.  Although today it is a headquarter building for the organisation Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) no changes have been made to the external structure, remaining as built.  Internally,  evidence of the original workshops and warehouse stores can still be detected, although today's use is administrative. The forecourt provided good space for parked cars and vans, but there was always room for stacks of tyres, presumably used ones which the company would not have minded disappearing overnight, so saving on disposal costs!

Businesses occupy the frontage plots while the school sits behind them.
COURTESY GOOGLE EARTH

Next door was the entrance to the school.  It has come to be referred to as a pedestrian entrance, but when first opened it was the only entrance.  However, the number of vehicles would have been few in number and such routines as "the school run" non-existent   But a  separate vehicular entrance was created later in the decade.

This photo is from 1964.  The police pillar phone box is to the left of the school entrance, followed
by a pair of semi detached houses, in recent years replaced by a residential building in similar but more   modern style. Beyond is a group of three shops.  This is the period of Pat's Cafe and a year after Geoffrey Golding's business opened here. In this period the bus stop, minus lay-by, was still further along the road.  Today, it has moved to where the car is shown parked.
COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS

From memory many of us imagine a small number of shops following on, but there has always been a residential building next to the school pedestrian entrance, a sizeable semi-detached pair, remarkably similar in design to the current building, although these are now apartments.  First identified in the 1928 street directory and soon named St George's and Moorshill by their respective owners, ex military camouflage officer Howard Edwards moved into St George's at the end of the war and launched his sign and screen painting business, which included substantial exhibition panels and murals. As the business grew – and included back screen cloths for major exhibitions at London exhibition centres –  lack of space forced him to move to former straw hat premises in Victoria Street as Falcon Displays.  The firm remains today though not in St Albans.

Adjacent premises went up at the same time, c1928, and became a group of three retail premises, 222, 220 and 218.  The first spent the majority of its time pre-millennium as a cafe.  As The Rendezvous it was a popular weekend meeting spot for cycling groups, and was later taken on by Jack Hart who also ran a cafe in Verulam Road. There were other owners in succession, including the Timms family who also used the premises as an aquatics shop – restful ambiance while sipping a cup of tea!  Today it is Claims Solutions.

The parade as it was in 2012 ...

... and recently.  In pulling the camera lens back a little the symmetry of this block is revealed,
with the soaring roofline of the two ends. An added point of interest is the inclusion of boundary
railings which was a feature of the next door cafe for many decades.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREETVIEW

The 1950s during the period of the twin units.

Looking eastwards in the era when ironmongers' shop windows often spilled onto the footpath,
although in this case it would have been the front garden!
COURTESY ANDREW FREEMAN

The Royal Warrant above Mr Golding's business.

Although G D Golding comes next today, the first three decades at 220 and 218 belong to a different trade.  Percy Sharp opened as the first retailer at number 218, calling it Household Stores.  Within three years Cyril Etches, who had successfully run bus services in the district with partner W Flowers, were bought out by London Transport in 1933.  They had a small bus garage at the eastern end of Wychlands Crescent.  Using his share of the buyout Etches purchased the household business from Sharp.  Within a short time he also moved in next door.  It took him a few years before his next move, renaming the business The Handy Stores.  However, he encountered strong competition, especially from Leon Reed a short distance away, who had eventually spread into three shop units, and so The Handy Stores returned to a single unit. In 1963 began the business opportunity taken on by Geoffrey D Golding.  Golding's bespoke tailoring business has remained at number 220 ever since and there can be few people unaware of the accolade of Geoffrey being awarded a Royal Warrant which he displays proudly above the shop front.  In 2021 Mr Golding announced his retirement, although he has ensured his business continues.

The closure of The Handy Stores also begins the consolidation of services to car owners, which will be detailed in the next post.

Educational Future

 While we can way find our way along Hatfield Road by means of the frontage shops, we now have a choice: the premises which line the south side of the road, and the occupier of the back land.  We have reached the next of the fields owned by the St Albans Grammar School.  Hertfordshire County Council planned a three-stage re-organisation of schools which had been a mix of board and elementary schools, which had themselves been borne from an earlier collection of British and National schools.  One desperately urgent need was to separate senior pupils from infants and juniors to provide senior schools and distinct Junior Mixed and Infant Schools.

In 1925 Fleetville and Camp districts possessed no schools for senior children of either gender, and the council agreed to purchase a site of less than five acres for a pair of senior schools.  Quite what it thought would fit on this acreage for two schools and its attendant playgrounds is debatable, quite apart from a playing field.

The 1924 map shows the cemetery and a large undeveloped space to its east.
COURTESY NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND

Timber yard – see previous post – and a number of shops and business to the west by the time the
1937 map was published.  Behind is the site of the Central and Senior Girls' School in its original
square building and the separate handicraft building.
COURTESY NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND

From around 1918 a central school for girls had been operating in a rather ramshackle set of buildings in Victoria Street – partly a former  library, an arts and technology centre, boys' handicraft rooms and a school for girls who would benefit from a full four-year curriculum not limited to the existing leaving age of thirteen.  Most of these spaces had to be shared and were not for the exclusive use of the school.  And as the number of qualifying girls increased the available space became crowded.

New premises was desperately needed for the school and for practical rooms which could be shared with elementary schools lacking in these facilities.  So, new central school buildings came to Hatfield Road, and a search for a new pair of senior schools for the eastern districts would continue (and was eventually found at Oakwood Drive in 1938).

A cooking lesson in one of the practical classrooms.
COURTESY JENNY BOLTON

The new Central and Senior Girls' School school had no need of a frontage to the main road and so was not included in the sale to the education authority.  One pedestrian entrance, still used as such, was created at the eastern end between a motor factor (then West & Sellick and now CAMRA), and a further entry at the western end, later improved for access to the ancillary buildings, parking and a caretaker's house.

A typical HCC architectural design from the 1930s, of expanded buildings at Hatfield Road.
COURTESY JENNY BOLTON

By 1938 the school was changed to become a secondary St Albans Girls' Grammar School, with attendant increases in accommodation and for an increase in places.  In 1951 a new site was built for STAGGS in Sandridgebury Lane, originally intended to become a boys' secondary modern school – the county council changed its mind several times during this period!

Original handicraft and pupil teacher buildings, now unused on the site.

Overcrowded Fleetville JMI school earnestly hoped the former girls' school buildings would be available for them, but the inadequate Beaumont schools, new in 1938, became a boy's secondary modern and its girls formed a new school in Hatfield Road, first as Beaumont Girls school, and then altering its name to Sandfield Girls to avoid the name Beaumont being used for two sites in different locations. All of this new accommodation was required for an increase in the leaving age to 15. Instead, Fleetville Overflow School was constructed in Oakwood Drive, being named Oakwood JMI School in 1958 when it opened.

Aerial view of the current school, playing field, ancillary buildings and the former Family Centre.
COURTESY GOOGLE EARTH

Sandfield School later merged with Marshalswick Boys' School at The Ridgeway; and the parents of Fleetville JMI made a further attempt to move from their, by now, even more overcrowded Royal Road location.  This time they were more successful and the Junior department became custodians of the Hatfield Road buildings in 1975, enabling the infant department to spread out in Royal Road.

Fleetville Junior School is therefore the longest of the five occupiers of the buildings at forty-six years.  The first two occupiers would even have experienced the occasional passing of a train on the southern boundary!