Another Field Built Over

In recent posts we have explored how the Farm Field of St Peter's Farm came to be the beginning of the new east end of St Albans.  So far we have reached Laurel Road as new building occupied Farm Field, reaching the more level ground at the top of the hill. The depth of the development plots increased modestly as the fields lined up along the road to Hatfield: Long Field, Great Long Field and Long Moody, the names which applied during the mid 19th century and are recorded on the tithe maps.  At the northern end of these fields was an ancient track which had connected rural habitations directly with their parish church of St Peter.  The track was developed into Brampton Road.

The group of three pedestrians are crossing at the Laurel Road junction on the left.  An unwidened
Hatfield Road still produced a line of telephone wires.  The cycle shop and F W Fox, chemist
at the Laurel Road corner.
COURTESY HALS

We had reached Laurel Road but in 1901 there was still some level frontage space before the hedge between Farm Field and Long Field is reached.  Beyond the hedge no time had been lost in building along Hatfield Road, but a closer look at this line of buildings will wait for another time.  Today we will look at what was built between Laurel Road and the above mentioned hedge.

Just as on the western side of Laurel Road a cycle maker's shop with domestic premises beside it, now, on the eastern corner of Laurel Road was built a shop also with domestic premises next door.  It was not surprising as corner shops could be seen by approaching potential customers more easily.  It is likely both shops had cellars; we know the cycle shop had one as the Herts Advertiser reported it flooded almost to its ceiling on one occasion during a period of extremely wet weather.

This image shows the line of four properties.  On the corner is recently Laurel House.  The former
domestic attachment is now the Mediterranean Boucherie; Peri-Peri followed by the unconverted cottage.  We wonder whether the first floor bay window is itself a conversion.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREET VIEW

It is possible that both corners were put up by the same builder; although both structures have been much altered and look very different along their sides, there are several clues which suggest they were originally identical.  One of the timbered gable ends has been covered only in recent years. So, who occupied the eastern corner?  We have already met him: Mr Frederick Fox, chemist.  He traded from here for a decade before moving down to Alexandra House at The Crown corner, although he retained his ownership of his former shop and the house next door.

Retro Balaggoynje still has the original shop window sections, while Taylor's Pharmacy has lost
theirs; both retain diagonal entry doors; and in this image both show the timbered gables, now
lost on the right building. 

Frederick Fox was followed by Mr William Lupton, grocer. But for much of its history it served as a ladies' hairdresser and today is a restaurant.  As with the domestic quarters on the west side, the house next door was converted to a shop after a few short residential years.  Most of this time it was the trading base of Mr R G Nelson, previously at the farm homestead carrying on his outfitting business.  Finally, mirroring the block west of Laurel Road were built a pair of cottages; one of which was converted to a shop and the other remains domestic to this day.  In the west the cottages which became a doctor and dentist had a shared beam-topped porch and plain lintels above the window bay. The doors-adjoining porches on the east side are round-topped and the window bay lintels are decorated, as are those on the first floor.  In another connection with the western cottages, all of the window cills have bracketed supports. Incidentally, the cottage's original short tiled path from the front door to the fenced street boundary is still laid in position.

The narrow projecting wall supporting the blue blind hides part of the decorated door arch of the neighbouring cottage; and the otherwise steep step on the threshold has been lessened by a
second step down onto the pavement.  The field hedge would have been between the house and
the next on the right. 

The first of the former cottages has since been converted into a shop; we notice the right return wall of the shop obliterated part of the neighbouring property's porch feature! So, was this to be a specialist shop?  No, but it gave Mr Lupton's customers a place to purchase their provisions after he had moved out.  For a short time in the 1970s it was a shop window for St Albans City Coaches, no doubt at the height of the company's private hire and holiday travel business.

The aerial view allows us to see the angled property boundary on the former hedge line. Behind
the frontage buildings the hedge line is now a narrow drive next to the long narrow building.
COURTESY GOOGLE EARTH

We have now reached the field edge, so where is the hedge?  Of course, that disappeared as the buildings went up, but using an aerial view we can show where it was.  All of the property common boundaries are perpendicular to the main road – except here, where the right boundary of the remaining cottage is angled eastwards.  That's where the hedge was.  If the same developer had been at work there would not have been a problem, but because they were different owners, each had to respect the existing legal boundary, which in this case was a hedge.

In a forthcoming post we will find out how the cattle were removed to make way for more of Hatfield Road's mile of shops.  We have now reached Long Field.

A Boundary Road

Hatfield Road passes St Peter's Farm and bends right
after passing the pond in 1879.  This is pre-park and there
is no sign of Clarence Park Road.
COURTESY HALS

In the previous post we noted the impressive little corner building, Alexandra House, which became home to Barclays Bank until the late 1960s.  So far, however, we have only explored part of the former open space which was the frontage of St Peter's farm homestead and its cottage.  Land agent Dorant retained control of the corner plot for later development, and before proceeding further we need to ask questions about this corner, for until 1894 or thereabouts there was no corner, merely a bend in Hatfield Road.  In designing the layout of Clarence Park for John Blundell Maple a wide residential boundary road was created and along it a number of villas were proposed.  No doubt the intention was to claw back some of the expenditure on the park through these plot sales.  We'll return to the history of Clarence Park Road and Upper Clarence Road – as they were named – on another occasion.

The 1897 map shows Clarence Park Road and the park
 laid out, but no development surrounding the farm.
COURTESY NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND

If you have visited the park and left via the Clarence Road gate you might have taken in the view on the opposite site of the road (photo below).  This is what you would see: a 1920s detached dwelling to the right of Clarence Park Mews, with a gap-filling post-WW2 home on its left.  Thereafter begins the line of large villas.  The Mews was originally the cart entrance to the farm's barns and stores.  These survived and were rented out for furniture and other storage and in recent times have been converted for residential use.

View across Clarence Road, the space between the two houses was the
former farm cart track leading to the barns, now Clarence Park Mews.

Clarence Park Mews.

The space between the farm track and Hatfield Road was made available for development and three terraces of homes were built; each terrace had hung tiling at first floor level, arched front porches, and the end properties in each terrace slightly projecting with their front doors set back.  There were occasional references in the press  to the benefits of occupying a home opposite the park.

The Valuation Office records for the period up to 1915 show the block of land with their houses owned by W J Elliott of Chequer Street.  William Jermyn Elliott, born in the West Indies, was a piano dealer, whose shop was at 20 Chequer Street.  I am not certain whether he was also the developer of 2 to 30 Clarence Park Road or whether he acquired the estate after completion as an investment.  Today they remain largely as built, even showing evidence of small cellars and one or two original paths. A few still maintain little decorative front gardens, but most have utility gravel or pavers, bins, and car parking for small vehicles.

The terraces viewed from the park
(above) and from the road (top).

To the Hatfield Road end of the first terrace was added Alexandra House, which incorporated number 2 Clarence Park Road.  As an end of terrace dwelling it looks rather different from those on the ends of the other terraces.  Alexandra House consisted of a house and two shop units.  When the paint was hardly dry in 1903 the left shop was rented by chemist Frederick Fox who, for the previous nine years, had plied his trade on the corner of Laurel Road.  It seems likely Mr Fox saw the location of Alexandra House as not only closer to the homes in Stanhope Road, Clarence Road and Granville Road, but the wider corner location giving more visibility, even though he was moving further from the growing district of Fleetville itself.  Herbert Pike open his chemist shop between Sandfield and Harlesden roads after Mr Fox had moved downhill.  When Mr Fox retired from the corner the business was taken on by chemist partners Shields & Warren who remained until the 1970s, since when it transformed into a bridal shop.

The two retail premises and flat above.  Part of the bank premises appears to have included a basement.  The first
floor hung tiles from the terraces continue around the frontage.
COURTESY BARCLAYS ARCHIVE

The more prominent building with block facing is undeniably a bank which you would recognise as such even without the sign.  Opened just before WW1, it became the first such service in the Fleetville district.  Barclays moved further eastwards to the corner of Sandfield Road c1970, by which time all of the major banks also  had a presence here – before all of them left the district again. None of the new-style banks have arrived in their place either.  The Crown Barclays has had many transformations since, and is now a money transfer business.

So, in a period of fifteen years the wide frontage of the former farm's green space had been replaced by houses and shops; a period during which the whole of Fleetville between the Crown and the Recreation Ground and its parallel roads had been developed.