The Little Books 1

 In the author's book collection are a number of what might be termed "little books" about St Albans: small format slimlines containing a number of photographs.  Many are loosely themed – the Cathedral, St Peter's Street, churches, shops and so on.  Others are collected as "then and now" so that readers are able to compare scenes over a period of time.  The question to be asked is, how well represented are the eastern districts of the city?  While there exist quantities of subjects taken in the inner city streets, alleys and courts, it is certain that few photographers have ventured further than the distance between two consecutive bus stops in their search for enticing material.  So how to prove that assertion.

This week I took from the shelf Maurice Ferrara's little book St Albans Past & Present, published in 1982 (ISBN0950735221).  At the time of writing six copies are listed for sale under www.abebooks.co.uk.

The front cover has an engaging period pic of the Clock Tower, High Street and Cathedral Tower; a Clock Tower and Market Place monotone drawing also occupied the inner title page.  So that probably sets the tone.  It is not until page 32 that we break out of the 1835 town boundary and experience the first image in the remote yonder: a World War One training camp in London Road's Cunningham lower slopes. The second eastern photo shows the operational prison, but neither join in the book's design intention to show more recent versions of these two locations.

Fleetville's turn comes from page 58 onwards with a pair of images of The Crown (the first with the well-known tree and island), and a  street scene of Hatfield Road between Blandford and Glenferrie roads.  There follows the deceptive comparison between a carless Glenferrie Road and its more modern car tunnel equivalent.  Then there is the sixty years separating versions of Bycullah Terrace, Hatfield Road (including a rare inclusion of the Co-operative Store which replaced the former Ballito Hosiery Mill).

We are also rewarded with then and now pictures of the Nicholson coat factory in Sutton Road, the first including what might be the full contingent of employees at the time, and a little indirect evidence of the field opposite (now Campfield Road) which was still used as a  recreation field before the opening of Fleetville Recreation Ground now called Fleetville Park.

It is rewarding to see once more the often-seen photograph of pedestrians walking along the middle of Hatfield Road down towards the Beaumont Avenue junction – and the empty spaces beyond where houses would shortly be constructed; the modern version is surprisingly quiet at the same location, with no more than four cars visible!

There known to be east least two published images of troops making their way along Hatfield Road towards their training ground at Oaklands, or perhaps to the grounds of Hatfield House.  It is good to discover the version selected for publication is the lesser known of the two.  But its partner is not a more recent version of the same location, but a 1908 photograph of a carcass-hung frontage of Aberdeen House, the butcher shop then managed by Mr Steabben.

One more pair shows one of the most popular shots – in fact the only image of the Camp District in the book – of the Camp Hill hamlet.  Its modern equivalent reminds us just how long ago this little book was published (1982) for the Rubber Works still occupies the opposite site of the road; the Dexter development is still a few years away.

Near the end of this collection are are two pairs of pictures of Sandpit Lane which together demonstrate just how much east end growth has affected streetscapes at Hall Heath and Newgates.  Fortunately the author has found a glorious circus photograph, unfortunately not taken in any of the eastern locations where circuses so often pitched up.  But the circus is, at least, represented as a popular form of entertainment in the first half of the twentieth century.

Finally an open space pair shows scenes within Clarence Park.

Added pages include a sample front page of the Herts Advertiser & St Albans Times, and of a short-lived mid-week paper called the St Albans Clock Tower.  In 1906 there were just 135 telephone subscribers covered the whole of St Albans – just five of them in the eastern districts.  The entire directory fits on a single page of this book!

And that is it.  Nothing from Oaklands, nor Marshalswick.  No farms or detached hamlets were represented.  Either photographers were unadventurous or their work has not survived.

The Co-op Arrives

An early St Albans Co-operative Society grocery shop soon after the Society's formation in 1902.

 This week the focus for a photograph and building has only one problem: we don't know where it was, or rather, I have little idea of its whereabouts.  All I know is the obvious, because it says so on the fascia.  St Albans Co-operative Society. We see a fine establishment, apparently intending to go places; four assistants plus the manager, and much money spent on the shop frontage so clearly not for a location in the suburbs.  The style is in the typical design of the opening decade of the 20th century.

We know that the St Albans Co-operative Society expanded into other nearby towns, such as Hatfield, Harpenden and Hemel Hempstead, but of these only Hatfield had opened in the very early years.  Perhaps in St Albans Road and possibly near Tingeys.  But when did shops at Harpenden and Hemel launch?

But we should begin, as they say, at the beginning.  The Co-operative movement arrived in St Albans in 1902.  It is from the St Albans Society's Golden Jubilee booklet that we learn of the early shops that were open to its members.

The first grocery shop opened in London Road, in the same year of its formation.  Unfortunately I was unable to identify the premises, and critically for SACS a serious fire destroyed the building within a year.  So if that was the premises above, what an early end to this story!

The Society quickly obtained a short lease on 13 Verulam Road, which today is the location of Pizza Express.  Kelly's directories suggest the shop opened in c1906 and remained open until around 1914.  However, although the shop is shown attached (to number 11 on the left) there is no attachment where the fence is to the right, but we know that an attached building (number 15) was present at the time.  Which means the photograph is not 13 Verulam Road.

The Co-op bakery was build in Castle Road in 1914, its Hatfield grocery opened in the same year, and a bakery shop traded at 89 London Road.  The latter probably opened after the Fleetville bakery and therefore possibly not until the end of the war.  By which time shop front design had changed somewhat and would probably have been plainer at the lower end of London Road.  The bakery shop may have had a short life here as there is no mention of it in Kelly's directories. Today it exists just upstream of Gabriel Square.

A push to Fleetville took place in 1922 and Cambridge Road c1940. Warrior House and the Society's Central Hall was also opened in 1921/2.

We have therefore excluded any further possibilities for the shop in the top photograph, and from the evidence and possibilities above we can conclude that the location could have been

1.  The unknown numbered London Road premises in its opening year – an appropriate year for the Society to engage a professional photographer, but not to suffer a catastrophic fire; or

2. The Hatfield Shop which opened c1914. Much may depend on its exact location; or

3.  A location known by one of our readers.  Remember, key clues might be the building to the left, the space to the right, and what can be seen in the reflections from the display window.

Over to you!