Absent Photo: Smallford Tollhouse

 You might be surprised to note the location of this week's absent picture, convinced you have viewed a photo of this building on this very blog and on the SAOEE website itself.  You would, of course be correct – and to prove it here it is below.  Undoubtedly one key reason for its survival was the building's survival, thought to have been the early 1950s, which gave it a better chance of being photographed. In fact by the Herts Advertiser in 1935 when the demolition proposal, for road widening, was first announced; but the war intervened.

A press photo taken in 1935 when it was anticipated the cross roads junction would be widened
with the consequential demolition of the toll house (left), which we eventually lost in the early
post-war period.  Hatfield Road facing east towards Hatfield. Station Road on the right and, 
mainly hidden Sandpit Lane (now renamed Oaklands Lane) on the left.
COURTESY HERTS ADVERTISER

Many readers will already be aware that the HA, several years ago, destroyed its entire photographic library in order to save space.  So the version shown here is a low grade photographic copy taken directly from a paper copy of the HA at Hertford.  The result is therefore unique.  I say unique, unless other good images taken, perhaps, post war come to light.

OS map published 1898 after the closure of the turnpike, but the toll building remains, circled in
red.  The house faces both St Albans and Station Road.  This is the first edition of the map
which identifies a telephone call box (TCB) at the Three Horseshoes PH.
COURTESY NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND

Let's therefore investigate what our image shows, and therefore work out what it does not reveal.  The context was an event, as mentioned above, about to take place in which the highways department of Hertfordshire County Council was to widen a section of Hatfield Road at what was then known as Smallford Crossroads.  The photographer captured the scene which would shortly change.  The road shown is Hatfield Road facing eastwards a short distance before its name changes to St Albans Road West. On the right is the entry to Station Road, but the fourth road, which we now know as Oaklands Lane and which then was still called Sandpit Lane, is almost completely hidden from view.  Its entrance is just visible in front of the corner building.

It is the corner building which was the toll house, a much more substantial building than others in the locality, such as the Hut Toll in Colney Heath Lane, or the Rats' Castle Toll (see Absent Photo series two posts back).  For a start it was built of brick, had a tiled roof and substantial chimneys.  We therefore assume it served as a headquarters for the eastern half of the 51-mile turnpike, possibly as far as Rickmansworth or Chorley Wood (as then written).  It was occupied until c1880 after which the turnpike was disbanded and became a county road.  It is probable that ownership of the toll house transferred to the County Council but there is no evidence that the premises were occupied during the period until 1935.  In fact there is no reference to the toll house, or former toll house in any of the following four census returns. Its condition is likely therefore to have deteriorated, although the image gives the impression of being in perky condition.

The thicket of trees on the north side of the roundabout marks the location of the former toll house.
Its front boundary on Hatfield Road would lie below the present road surface; however it is
thought the whole of the Sandpit Lane arm of the house is below that road.
COURTESY GOOGLE EARTH

If we are able to see an image of the eighteenth century tollhouse; is that not sufficient?  Well, certainly it is a help and does inform us of the architectural style.  But there is no clue about the extent of the two wings, nor therefore the number of rooms, which a photo taken from the entrance of Station Road would do, or from Sandpit Lane/ Oaklands Lane.  An earlier image, say c1900, may have captured the location of the gate or gates.  The main gate crossed the Hatfield road, but there would have been two side gates for traffic entering the turnpike towards St Albans.  All of these features are a matter of guesswork and assumptions without  photographic evidence, or from an artist's brush or pencil. 

It is thought this boundary fence was part of the rear boundary of the plot on which the toll house
hat been constructed.  The paddock beyond is the same one shown on the 1898 map.

As with previous absent photos, the toll house was as much about people as its structure.  In 1851 married couple William and Elizabeth Berry lived here and were responsible for collecting the payments.  No doubt they both engaged in casual work in the hamlet even though it is likely to have been a busy spot, especially as a public house, farrier and rooms were nearby.

An earlier generation photo which shows the Hatfield Road elevation of the toll
house.  The building beyond is the Four Horseshoes Beer House which was eventually
demolished in the same road widening operation.  Today's bus lay-by is behind here.
COURTESY SMALLFORD STATION & ALBAN WAY HERITAGE SOCIETY

John and Rebecca Simpkins had replaced the Berrys by 1861, and they remained at least to the 1871 census; but by 1881 the house was empty – this was the first full year after the turnpike had closed.  No job, so no home.  A family needs to move on; fortunately John was able to take casual work and Rebecca transferred her labour to the Three Horseshoes public house across the road.  So, for these, and maybe other families and boarders, the toll house had been a home, but became an empty building of memories for them.

If we were searching piles of pictures, hoping to discover a further – and better – photograph of the Smallford tollhouse, we could be assured of identifying a building a distinctive design. Just look at it! Might we be successful?  Who knows, but at least we can try.

Ellenbrook in 1946

 In the next of the series of posts inspired by a series of aerial photographs, we have hovered over Ellenbrook, which before modern times was neither part of Hatfield nor an outlier of St Albans.  A collection of aerial photographs appears on the website of Historic England (HE), part of a survey undertaken by the RAF in 1946.  Unless HE has been selective in what it has published from its archive we believe the survey aircraft made a single sweep west-to-east over St Albans.

The featured imaged looks down on part of St Albans Road West and de Havilland Aircraft
Company.  This 1946 survey shot also includes the Comet Hotel (right lower centre) finished in 1936.
COURTESY HISTORIC ENGLAND

To locate our bearings, the image above is broadly as map and compass with north at the top of the photo.  The road in the lower half of the picture is St Albans Road West with Smallford on the left.  It joins what is now Comet Way (formerly called the Barnet Bypass laid in the 1920s) which joins the photo on the right from the Welwyn Garden City direction and sweeps southeastwards to meet the A1 – now the A1(M) Roehyde Interchange.  The only other roads  of note are the private service road linking the many facilities within de Havilland Aircraft Company, and in the top right corner a lane which linked St Albans Road West and Harpsfield Hall Farm.  The remains of this farm could be seen to the right of the lane.  

Harpsfield Hall Farm which was demolished to accommodate the expansive aeronautical activity.

A late 1920s view of the Flying Club between the completion of the bypass and the
arrival of de Havilland Aircraft Company, which relocated from Stag Lane,
Edgware. The future site of Comet Hotel is left centre with the mentioned 
Ellenbrook homes c1910 beyond along St Albans Road West meandering towards
St Albans.

From the massive hanger to the smaller specialist workshops this company had, of course, completed its massive output of Mosquito aircraft.  It had first occupied the site in 1929, taking over parts of three farms: Harpsfield in the north-east, Nast Hyde in the south, and Popefield in the west.

However, the landscape was not completely empty when DH arrived, for the London Flying Club had occupied the eastern part of the site from the early 1920s.  During that time it was known as the Hatfield Airfield.  

There was even development activity before then.  During the first decade of the 20th century land from Nast Hyde was sold to defray costs of upgrading Great Nast Hyde House.  New houses were erected in St Albans Road West and in Ellenbrook Lane from 1910, and to attract potential owners a golf course was laid out beyond the north side of St Albans Road West, and an agreement was reached with the Great Northern Railway to erect a halt (Nast Hyde Halt) so that residents could board a train to Hatfield Station and then join a fast service to London Kings Cross.  The development was brought to a halt soon after 1914 with the golf course later buried under DH's runway.  Housing on the south side of the main road eventually became the Selwyn and Poplar estates.

Ordnance Survey map from 1937 showing the location of the former homes on the north side
of St Albans Road West.  Comet Hotel is at the map's centre.
COURTESY NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND

Occupying a broad swathe across the middle of the aerial photo can be seen a few of the early Nast Hyde houses, sandwiched between the main road and the DH service road. Most of the heads of household had London-based jobs, which supported their wide and long plots on which were spacious detached homes.  The house furthest east (where now is the Mosquito roundabout) can be identified by its wide C-shaped front drive.  It was later converted into a social base for the Flying Club; and the last house in the development became a hotel now known as Beales.

As the land demands of de Havillands increased so the houses along the main road were sacrificed.  If you had travelled from St Albans to Hatfield by bus in the post-war period you may have been aware of the homes – and then they were gone!  Today the expansive university parking zone occupies where those families once lived.

The Benskin Comet Hotel newly finished in 1936, showing the beacon on the roof.

In order to allow the Barnet Bypass to connect with the A1 in the late 1920s – shown on the photograph lined with poplar trees – the then  Ministry of Transport negotiated with the Nast Hyde estate to purchase a swathe of land.  Benskin's Brewery took the opportunity of purchasing a triangle of land in a prime position just where the bypass curved off towards the south-west.  The public house and hotel which it had built, and is now listed, took its name from the newly arrived de Havilland Aircraft Company, calling it the Comet, referring not to the post war jet aircraft but the Comet Racer of the thirties.  A motif of this iconic aeroplane has been displayed on the hotel's frontage ever since.  

The Comet Hotel was not just an ordinary hotel design. The architect was keen to shape it in the form of an aeroplane, which can really only be appreciated from the air.  Cockpit, fuselage, tail and wings, albeit stumpy ones, can all be identified.  It is possible that the wings could later have been extended had the need arisen, but this did not occur.  Today the Comet has been fully restored to its original design, following a number of ill-conceived alterations over the years.  Even the roof beacon has been replaced, the purpose of which had been to guide early pilots of small aircraft to the airfield in the days before radio guidance.  The grounds appear surprisingly spacious and the car park uncluttered; although in 1946 a new entrance/exit has been laid to Comet Way to add to the access on St Albans Road West.  The gardens to the rear of the Hotel have now themselves been developed with new student accommodation.

The extension to the top featured image, also taken in 1946.  The C-shaped drive at the house opposite
the Comet Hotel car park is on the extreme left (both of the lower left corner), and the turn-off right towards Hatfield is top right, above which can be seen the former Stone House Hotel with the light coloured surfacing.  Its location can be identified because the road St Albans Road West still exist although the bypass end is now covered by the Galleria car park.
COURTESY HISTORIC ENGLAND

This week I have added an extension to the featured aerial image, borrowed from part of the adjacent photo.  The main road eastwards joins the Barnet ByPass, and from memory was controlled by a set of traffic signals.  By the 1950s the bypass was very busy and Hatfield New Town was emerging.  On the supplementary image the junction is on the lower left – just below that C-shaped front drive I wrote about above.  To reach the centre of Hatfield by bike, car or bus, vehicles kept to the right lane on the bypass until reaching the wide gap at the next junction on the right, which is a continuation of St Albans Road West.  When traffic flow allowed drivers moved forward to enter the new road.  Today this is at the parking end of the Galleria.

Cavendish Road bridge when newly finished in 1956.  The photograph was taken from the 
Queensway roundabout.  The bridge was demolished c1983 and replaced by ...
COURTESY HERTFORDSHIRE ARCHIVES & LOCAL STUDIES

... a flatter bridge under which is the Hatfield Tunnel.  The Galleria shopping centre, on the far side on the right, was constructed over the tunnel.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREET VIEW

Of course, today at the  roundabout in front of the Comet Hotel there is a new road, Cavendish Way, which is part of Hatfield New Town's strategic road network.  When created in the 1950s it bridged the Hatfield & St Albans Railway, which had already closed for passengers.  Hatfield bound buses diverted to this new road and then used Queensway to reach the centre of the New Town.  The bridge was replaced in the 1980s in order to bridge, not only a now closed railway (Alban Way), but also Hatfield Tunnel.

How this entry to Hatfield has altered in the past hundred years.

Avoiding Hatfield Road

At times it can seem like a conundrum with no easy solution, but the question of avoiding driving along Hatfield Road, can be countered by the equally exasperating how to avoid Sandpit Lane, and even how to avoid the bypass.

When traffic flows smoothly on all three roads between Hatfield and St Albans there is no issue, and at least on two of the roads the resulting extended travelling times are, hopefully, temporary.

In Hatfield Road, readers may recall, a few months ago gas pipe replacement work was undertaken in St Albans Road West, between Smallford and Ellenbrook.  For the next two months similar work is to start between Smallford and Oaklands with the inevitable one-way working using temporary traffic signals.  This is a busy section at the best of times and two new permanent signal sets have been installed at Oaklands College (pedestrian controlled) and at Kingsbury Gardens.  The former is near the uncontrolled  junctions of  Colney Heath Lane and South Drive, but so far the interruption to flow has been minimal.  But in a foretaste of what is to come temporary signals in three phases arrived recently near Oakwood Drive and Longacres.  Standing traffic queued back as far as Smallford roundabout.

Junction improvements in Sandpit Lane.

So, if that is not to your liking you could try driving westwards via Sandpit Lane, but you are likely to be queuing soon after the House Lane roundabout.  The reason here is road surfacing, new junction, footpaths and roundabout at Oaklands Grange, near Barnfield Road.  Work has been ongoing for several months, and the recent difficulties have probably resulted from some drivers trying to avoid the Hatfield Road works – which are about to get even worse.

Of course, once clear of Newgates the next queue is at the Beechwood Avenue lights, where there seem to be more vehicles than usual turning left to return to Hatfield or Ashley roads, but no doubt a proportion of drivers continue west to find alternative routes nearer the city.  And I have noticed a small increase in cars and vans turning north into House Lane, no doubt heading for Marshalswick and the fiveways junction at the King William IV.

So, let's try the bypass.  You might join it at the Roe Green interchange and westwards you may have a fairly easy journey as far as London Colney's congested roundabout – though continuing further west to avoid the city you could join a long queue on the approach to Park Street.  

Normally, travelling eastwards takes time on approaching Roe Green, although we might be applying the brakes anywhere back to Sleapshyde Lane, but once this junction has been negotiated, on the green as it were, you are buoyed at the prospect of a swift journey through the tunnel, except that recently eastbound traffic has sometimes been stationary underneath the Galleria and very slow moving as it leaves the A1(M) on the approach to the former Jack Olding's junction.

I can find no obvious cause except for the usual "weight of traffic", but travelling between Hatfield and St Albans is presently fraught with problems and therefore expensive on fuel and time.  Best to leave a generous amount of time for your journey and stock up with some extra patience!