The Little Books 4

 Well, here we are at the fourth in our series of small format photo books about St Albans, and our pondering over how much they represent the Eastern districts within the full range of pictures  in the books.  We didn't start too well with two of the earlier publications, and in the third at least we encountered a section devoted to Clarence Park if not to Fleetville or Camp.

This week's little volume, is different in that it contains a specialist collection from the St A|lbans Museums archive, where you might expect to come across many of the best composed photographic studies.  Around St Albans (ISBN0752422898) compiled by Anne Wheeler and Tony Stevens is from the series Images of England by Tempus Publishing.  Around St Albans is definitely in print, which according to the Waterstones website is priced at £12.99.  For comparison with the Abebooks website, which has been necessary for the previous little books in this blog series, there are currently 8 copies available, ranging from £3.39 to £24.18.

Around St Albans contains the largest number – 200 photos – of all the little books covered so far, and as with the previous volume, has divided the contents into fourteen small subject related sections.  The earlier two books, you will recall, were limited to mixed subject matter. In this week's little volume although Clarence Park is not included, the district of Fleetville is specific in this book but it does not include the other major eastern settlements of Camp or Marshalswick.  It is also contains a relatively small number of pictures (11), although the occasional photo appears within other subject sections. So there are occasional surprises through the book.

The first aerial is in Fleetville.  The long building lines centre right are the original printing works, 
with later additions for the hosiery mill behind. The taller block was post WW2, later taken
over by Marconi Instruments.  The surrounding houses and trades are greyed down.
COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS

The second aerial is close by the one above.  The two roads are Sutton Road (foreground), and
Hedley Road (right).  This is the early incarnation of Nicholson's coat factory. The branch railway is on the left and the first informal recreation space meets the tree line and Sutton Road.
COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS

A cottage at Colney Heath, occupied by the Bush family c1900.
COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS

There is also a much improved representation of the villages and other rural spaces than in any of the earlier books: three each from Colney Heath and Wheathampstead, one from Smallford and 3 from London Colney.  However, agricultural scenes are still exclusively from farms near St Michaels. Under Industry there are several images of Ballito, one of Marconi Instruments and one of the Co-op Dairy.  Railways feature three images, all from the bridges along London Road.  One Camp shop shows Tucketts (later to become Dearman's).

The New Camp Stores run by the Tuckett family, who also traded from near Sandfield Road,
Fleetville.  The above shop was on the corner of Camp Road and College Road. Later it would
be taken over by John Dearman. The premises is no longer retail.
COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS

The other Camp district photograph features the c1914 composed picture of soldiers, probably in training, outside Camp Elementary School.  The County Boys' School's (named Verulam School in the book although it would be another 20 years for that name to appear) new 1938 craft workshop classroom is featured, as is an outdoor shot of an early post-war athletic event.  We find an unusual triple picture of an Adult School group, although it is just before the Stanhope Road premises was opened and would have been at or near its Lattimore Road base.

In a lovely low-key touch a wedding is shown: an unnamed couple outside St Paul's Church, posing on the Hatfield Road footpath close to the current bus stop and showing the Co-operative grocery shop fascia in the background.

The third aerial in this set was taken in 1959 above Marshalswick, where the new estate was
under development.
COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS

The final days of Sander's office buildings in Camp Road are more visible in one picture as the old railway bridge has been removed leaving a remarkably open streetscape. Finally, in the section titled The Rural City is an aerial shot from 1959 of the growing new Marshalswick estate.

Leaving the picking out of East End scenes for a moment, one feature of this little book which makes it stand out is the opportunity taken to select images from collections.  This is possible because of the rich and diverse St Albans Museums archive. Alf Gentle and Arthur Melbourne Cooper, both accomplished craftsmen in their own right, each have their own chapters, as does the former National Children's Home.  In particular Cooper's little collection is a rare survivor.

The study of two young girls shows them plaiting, an early process in the making of straw
hats.  They may have been at home, or at an industrial school.
COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS

One of the stand-out photographs in the collection, which probably should have been in a Schools section but ends up as part of Industry, is the child study of two young children occupied casually in plaiting, a trade occupying the time of hundreds of grown ups and children in the late 19th and early 20th century.  And although the location is not specified it is just possible these two girls were residents of one of the eastern hamlets or isolated cottages.

While it is difficult to be specific about a few of the East End subjects or locations a more respectable 38 photographs appear in this overall collection of 200 images, with the quality of the subject work and reproduction also the best of the bunch so far.

Above photographs courtesy St Albans Museums.

Copies of this book available from St Albans Museum+Gallery at the Town Hall.

Piecing Together a Story

In this and the next post I'll explore further a couple of incomplete stories which have been reported and re-told, in the hope that further details might come to light.

This post focuses on a 1943 account of a military incident which, in itself, has been well-recorded and is available to view on the internet, and I don't doubt its level of accuracy, given the source –  Military History Forum. It concerns a training flight by an RAF Lancaster on 22nd October 1943.  The flight was notable for us in that the plane crashed into a field at Warren Farm near Colney Heath.  All details of the flight had been recorded, including the names of the crew of seven who were all killed in the wreckage.  Even more, the places where they were all buried.  A book has even been published of the incident.

So far the story recorded is of the flight, the plane and the crew.  But others were also part of the story, and saw or heard the event as bystanders; maybe in contacting the authorities or attempting to give assistance.  Elements of the account are circumstantial; with little or no evidence recorded.  So we would love to learn their experience in this dreadful crash.

It is alleged that a group of scouts were in the vicinity that night.  They may have been undertaking their own scout activities – night hikes, camping, wide games – or may have been present on observational duties on behalf of the Air Raid Precautions.  It is said that the boys observed the crash and how the plane presented itself after it had broken up on impact.  Exposed were the contents of the bomb bay.  The proximity of the crash to the nearby farm house and other buildings posed a potential risk to life and property, and the scouts made what might be considered by some a reckless decision; by others a selfless act of group bravery.  An unknown number of bombs were carefully removed from their splintered compartment and carried to relative safety a distance away from the flames engulfing part of the plane.

The usual post-crash evaluations were made, the remains of the plane recovered and the bodies removed from the site.  The scouts resumed their duties and presumably returned home to bed.  It would be presumed that for such service the scouts would have been honoured with a bravery award; not that the boys would have been expecting to be rewarded; after all, they were scouts.  Nevertheless, a fuss ensued in the period of time which followed.  The obvious question: why were they not recipients of an award?  The reason given was that an award was quite unnecessary as the bombs were not live, given that they had been loaded onto a training flight.  But, of course, the scouts did not know they were dummies and carried out their duties as if they handling live ammunition.

The scout element in the Lancaster crash story needs to be credited with some authenticity and so far the author has not discovered it.  Even the detailed book Milestones of 105 Years of Hertfordshire Scouting, compiled by Hertfordshire Scout Historian Frank Brittain does not relate the event.  So, now it is open to all of us to take the story further if we know of evidence.  The scouts themselves if still alive would now be in their late eighties, but their accounts may have been passed down through their children or grandchildren.

How much, if any, of the above account is true? Do respond if you have any relevant details you could contribute.