Network Newsletter. St Albans and District Local History. St Albans and District Local History Network. St Albans Own East End

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1 St Albans and District Local History Network Newsletter St Albans and District Local History Network October 2013 The Network was formed in 2010 to give any individual, group or organisation in the St Albans District a local history connection with others having similar interests. It provides a simple means for everyone with an interest in local history to communicate with each other. The Autumn Conferences are excellent for meeting everyone, discovering what other people are doing and spreading the word about your interests or current research. Today s conference is therefore a wonderful celebration of local history in and around the city. Between times there is our address, sanetwork@me.com, which can be used to announce your own events or for searching expertise on a particular topic, or for obtaining answers to your research questions. Currently we are in contact with nearly one hundred people and groups, and that is great free advertising for an event, or source for a question think of it as the equivalent of one hundred reference books in the local history collection at the library. Between us we have a massive knowledge base, and the Network is one way to tap its breadth and depth. Your Network organising committee is Catherine Newley, Elizabeth Gardner, Brian Adams and Mike Neighbour. Wheathampstead History Society Our big undertaking this year is a Heritage Lottery funded High Street Project which aims to tell the story of the village high street over the last hundred years. Some fascinating stories are starting to emerge, not only about the use of the premises fronting on to the high street but also about the men and women who lived and worked in them. Farms, pubs, blacksmiths, saddlers and a wheelwright have been replaced by estate agents, nail bars, hairdressers and Asian food outlets. With a rapid expansion in population from about 1,424 in 1911 to 6,058 in 2001, the change from rural to urban is marked and being marked. We are keen to hear from anyone with knowledge of the high street. If you can help, please contact us. wood.highstreetproject@gmail.com. We also run monthly meetings with talks to which all are welcome. For more information, please contact Ruth Jeavons (Hon. Secretary) ruth.jeavons@ntlworld.com. St Albans Own East End Both Volumes 1 and 2 have now been published. A total of nearly 750 A4 pages all about the eastern districts of St Albans. Since then additional insights are being compiled, about the old route between the town and Camp, about Butterwick and the actual start point of the Reading and Hatfield turnpike road. They will be added to the books website. Many questions raised during the past few years, and which remain unexplained, are listed; someone will have answers! Around half of the questions already have satisfactory solutions. In conjunction with Fleetville Diaries, there is a growing collection of photographs, emerging from people s private collections, the earliest from around I am encouraging as many people as possible to open their shoeboxes and explore what they have. Many are of stunning quality and unique in the stories they tell. Some of the pictures acquired recently, through the generosity of their owners, are on display today. Mike Neighbour 1

2 The Redress of the Past: Historical Pageants in Britain Twentieth-century Britain was subject to regular bouts of pageant fever. Communities across England, Scotland and Wales staged theatrical re-enactments of events from local and national history with thousands of men, women and children involved as performers, organizers and spectators. This was national costume drama on a grand scale. Over the course of the twentieth century many hundreds of events were mounted by communities and institutions, ranging from small churches and village communities to large cities such as Liverpool and Manchester. St Albans played a key part in this story, with outdoor historical pageants in 1907, 1948 and 1953, and an indoor pageant play, Time and the City, performed at the new city hall in I gave a talk on these pageants at the St Albans Local History Network conference in 2011; an audio podcast of this can be found at gl/kunrk or via my website at markfreeman.org.uk. In collaboration with Paul Readman and Paul Vetch (King s College London) and Angela Bartie (University of Strathclyde), I have been awarded funding by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for a major research project examining historical pageants in modern Britain. This will commence on 1 November 2013 and run for three years. Drawing on oral and written evidence, the project will provide an authoritative treatment of the subject. It will offer key insights into the role of heritage in leisure activities, the interaction between local, national and imperial identities, and the character of community life. It will recover the stories that communities and institutions told about themselves. The main outputs will consist of a comprehensive database of historical pageants, a monograph envisaged as the key book on the subject, and an edited volume of essays situating British pageantry in its international context. In addition the project team will work with a number of local history partners to produce exhibitions and events relating to historical pageantry in specific places. One of these partners is St Albans Museums, and others include St Edmundsbury Heritage Service and Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle. The project website will include general commentary on the pageant movement, representative images of pageant-related ephemera, interactive maps and oral testimonies from witnesses to historical pageants. It will allow interaction between the public and the project, enabling individual users and local history societies some of whom will be actively involved in the project to contribute their own memories and memorabilia. We intend to collect memories of historical pageants from those who organised, participated in and watched them, and I would be pleased to hear from anyone who remembers those in St Albans, or any others. The project will have a low-volume list to keep people informed about our progress; please contact me if you would like to be added to it. Mark Freeman mark.freeman@glasgow.ac.uk City and District of St Albans Tour Guides The St Albans Guides are celebrating next year, 2014, fifty years of guiding in the City and District of St Albans. Since its founding in 1964 the Association has expanded its walks from the city centre and Verulamium to outlying Redbourn, Wheathampstead and Harpenden and approximately 88 walks are regular fixtures throughout the year. Specific tours are arranged for visiting groups from U3As, WIs, historical and archaeological associations, colleges and schools. A range of illustrated talks is also available to clubs and societies based on the theme of local history. The resources of local history societies and heritage organsations are a vital link in conveying the history of St Albans and the fiftieth anniversary of our guiding organisation is robust proof that the history of our town is in demand. Full details of our programme can be found at 2

3 Methodist archives A wide range of archive material from Methodist chapels (past and present) in, among other places, St Albans, Redbourn, Hatfield, Shenley, Welwyn and Wheathampstead is available at HALS. The archive includes photographs, plans of churches, Trustee Minute books, accounts and details about manses, dating from the 19 th century through to the present day. For further information about what is available, contact Elizabeth Gardner (archivist to the St Albans/Welwyn Methodist Circuit). She would also be delighted to hear of any other information or material relating to Methodism in this area. sixtewin@hotmail.com Cover of the stewardship campaign brochure showing Marlborough Road Methodist Church in 1962 History of St. Saviour s St Albans I am always pleased to have any information, photographs etc relating to the early history of the parish. We have uncovered a great deal of material from around 1890 to 1920 but but would appreciate more material on the period from 1920 to Reverend Peter Wadsworth Vicar of St. Saviour s The Vicarage, 25 Sandpit Lane, St. Albans, AL1 4DF Tel : peter.wadsworth52@ntlworld.com 3 St Albans Civic Society Looking to the future with an eye to the past The Society s strapline makes clear that we walk hand in hand with local history. Consider the Art Deco Odeon (now Odyssey) being restored by cinema impresario, James Hannaway. The Civic Society campaigned hard to save the building, and raise the money to buy it. However, the city s continued lack of a Strategic Local Plan is a serious threat to our heritage, with developers circling round acres of vulnerable Green Belt. Moreover, with no Retail or Shop Front Policy, empty premises are filled with inappropriate discount or coffee shops, sometimes actually in pairs, to the detriment of the historic street scene and our independent traders Cuts make the city look uncared for. Street repairs are slow, and often done badly. With a newly-formed group of local retailers and stakeholders, including the Civic Society, seeking to address these Public Realm issues, we hope this will not be yet another talking shop. Society Contacts : Hon Secretary Tel : joxhey@gmail.com Marion Hammant, Committee Member Tel : marionhammant@hotmail.co.uk What s in store? Work has been progressing at the museum to create a basic inventory of all the objects in the social history collection that are currently stored behind the scenes. With a team of volunteers, I ve been working two days a week to document, photograph and locate each object within our store. The long-term goal is to get all the updated information into our museum s collections database and eventually add it to website. In the meantime, if you have an enquiry about something you think we may have and you would like to have a look at it, please contact me to discuss it further. Catherine Newley catherine.newley@stalbans.gov.uk

4 St Albans and Hertfordshire Architectural and Archaeological Society In spite of our name, we have a strong commitment to local history and archaeology, not so much of the architecture these days, although it is all grist to the mill! We have been around since 1845, which makes us one of the oldest local societies in the country, and means we have a particularly fine library, but we are a friendly society with a regular programme of interesting lectures and outings, and offering a real opportunity to get involved in local research, in a small group which does not expect you to know it all. If Archaeology is your interest we can offer some opportunity to get involved here as well. Check out our website for contact details and we hope to see you soon! Arc & Arc First World War Project The Arc & Arc s project to research the effects of the First World War on the social and economic development of St Albans proceeds well. With a team of 18 amateur and three professional historians our goal is to produce a book in 2016 that tells the story of how our predecessors in the city met head on the vicissitudes of war. So far, our research and our talk at the conference reflects this - encompasses the increasing problems faced by the city s big businesses and as well as the attitudes of those who, for various reasons, didn t want to fight. A further ten volunteers are transcribing the 1911 census for the area (around 24,000 names in total); the key benefit of this work will be a social and occupational assessment of the city in the years immediately prior to the war. We will also update the audience with details of our plans for jonmein@aol.com Sopwell Memories Project Following the success of our publication: Sopwell, a history and collection of memories, the Sopwell Residents Association was granted 10,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund All Our Stories Grant. The money was given to continue the Sopwell Project of researching the history and collecting memories from residents both past and present. The letter announcing the grant came on the very day of the last Autumn History Conference! The outcome of the project will be a website called Sopwell Memories and will contain a mixture of text, images and oral history recordings. We had a successful official launch of the project (together with a party to celebrate the 10 th anniversary of the SRA) in May. We are hoping to collect memories from many of the immigrant communities to the area and will be involving the local schools. For more information please follow our blog: blog.sopwellmemories.org.uk which has been up and running for several months. If you would like to help in any way please get in touch with me. Sandy Norman Project Manager, Sopwell Memories Project sandyanorman@gmail.com Tel: Soldiers marching through Fleetville during the First World War (Colin Pinchbeck collection, O/803, St Albans Central Library) Sandridge900+ The 2014 celebrations of the 900th anniversary of the consecration of St Leonard s will include several history events. There will be an exhibition on Sandridge at the Museum of St Albans from 25 April until 29 May, and a two-day medieval spectacular on Bernard s Heath on May to commemorate the 2nd Battle of St Albans, with a re-enactment by the Medieval Siege Society. There will also be lectures on Dr John Griffith, the reforming vicar of Sandridge; William White and the restoration of 1886; St Saviour s in the First World War; and the early radio stations on Woodcock Hill. For details of times and places, and of publications, consult our website:

5 Fleetville Club and Institute building, 1999 (St Albans Museums Service) Fleetville Diaries Fleetville Diaries (FD) is the local history group for the east side of St Albans. We welcome everyone to our monthy meetings at Fleetville Community Centre, usually on the final Wednesday evening of the month; and in the summer months we lead guided walks around our home patch. We provide a forum for everyone interested in the history of Fleetville, creating an archive of local oral histories, documents and memorabilia. FD builds a network of people who can contribute to a variety of local history projects and support schools in their local history curriculum. We encourage participation in local history projects, and we share information via local exhibitions. As well as participating in national initiatives, members sometimes liaise with local and county heritage projects. Above all, at FD, we enjoy meeting people and and sharing each others stories. For further information, visit Liz Bloom at bloom_liz@yahoo.co.uk Fleetville guided walks We have just completed our third season of guided walks around the district of Fleetville. The routes on our programme so far are : Working in Fleetville Living in Fleetville Shopping in Fleetville Steaming Through Fleetville Laid to Rest in Fleetville: Bakers Dozen Laid to Rest in Fleetville: Pioneers The latter two are both tellings of around twelve stories about former inhabitants of St Albans who are buried in Hatfield Road Cemetery. Each walk takes approximately one and a half hours, rain or shine! The maximum number we can accommodate on each street-based walk is 25; the cemetery walks considerably more. We hope to extend our programme further in 2014, including a walk through Camp. Full details will appear in the New Year on both of these websites: Two boys at the cemetery gates on Hatfield Road c.1915 (Colin Pinchbeck collection, 35/718, St Albans Central Library) The Salvation Army Printing Works, Campfield Road, 1904 (The Salvation Army) 5

6 Hertfordshire s First Cinemas And Arthur Melbourne-Cooper I researched local cinema history as part of a degree at Birkbeck College. I m still particularly interested in local Edwardian filmmaker-cum-exhibitor, Arthur Melbourne- Cooper. His achievements were not insignificant yet he is barely mentioned in the official versions of British film history. I m intrigued by this type of micro-history; the real-life stories of individuals who were involved in important developments and happenings and who contributed to society s progress. Personal testimony (memories, letters, diaries etc) may shed light or provide historical evidence that hasn t, for whatever reason, earned them the attention they deserve. I would like to hear from any descendants of Hertfordshire residents who may have acted in any of the Alpha films between 1901 and Related to this, I am currently looking for a particular church in the area, featured in one of Melbourne-Cooper s early films. If you have any specialist knowledge or interest in similar areas, please contact me Tel : jo_coleman_home@yahoo.co.uk St Albans Signal Box St Albans Signal Box has been working with Derby Museums and The Roy Burrows Midland Trust to display in the box a collection of items relating to St Albans and the Midland Railway. These include a new 1916 style signal in the garden, to join the two others, 1870 and 1950, all now available for visitors to operate from ground frames or from the box. We have an original St Albans South Junction signal box diagram from 1915 and numerous cast iron notices including one that says you must not bathe in the reservoir! Over the heritage weekend we were able to display a series of photographs from the collection of H.C.Casserley with the kind permission of his son Richard Casserley. These were photographs taken of St Albans and Napsbury railway from 1900 to 1960s and can be viewed at the box with a little notice. Research on Frederic George Kitton In November 2012 I picked up some research I started work on in the writer and illustrator Frederic George Kitton [ ]. Born in Norwich, he moved to London in 1879 becoming a trainee illustrator on the Graphic where he worked until He moved to St. Albans in 1889 but had had lodgings here from He submitted work to Exhibitions locally and elsewhere as well as producing regular drawings for publication in the Herts Advertiser. At present I am working through his contributions to various London journals whilst waiting for the return to the recently refurbished Charles Dickens Museum of his Library, which he bequeathed to the Dickens Fellowship in his will. I am unlikely, however, to learn whether or not he contributed to an Art Exhibition in York as they too are closed for refurbishment, supported by Lottery funding. John G E Cox johnge.cox@btinternet.com 6 St Albans South signal box after restoration, March 2009 (photo:john Webb)

7 University of Hertfordshire Heritage Hub a diary, log-book and other hand written material kept to record all work required and carried out. All these books are kept at the Hertfordshire Scouts County Archives and Heritage Centre at Well End Activity Campsite. The University of Hertfordshire s Heritage Hub represents scholars across the University with an interest in history and heritage. We aim to support local history societies, community groups, museum professionals and individual researchers in exploring their local story and bringing that story to a wider audience. In so doing, it is our goal to encourage the making of connections, to stimulate new conversations and new research which tell us all more about the county in which we live and the wider regional and national story. We have worked with a range of partners on local history projects, and are currently supporting recent winners of the All our Stories award including the Residents Associations of Smallford and Sopwell, and those uncovering the story of their High Street at Wheathampstead. We are planning a further event in our Remembering the First World War series to take place early For more information please visit our website Dr Julie Moore j.p.2.moore@herts.ac.uk Hertfordshire Scouts And The Great War With the centenary of WWI approaching Hertfordshire Scouts are keen to inform of their involvement in the Home Front. As the Founder Baden-Powell was a former soldier and national hero, he could see war approaching. He organised his right hand man, Percy Everett the County Commissioner of Hertfordshire and Charles Dymoke Green the District Commissioner of St Albans to mobilise Scouting in the county in readiness. Following the declaration, a meeting was held at Dursley, Avenue Road, St Albans and a few days later, every Scout in St Albans was ready to provide a round the clock service to the Army, Police, Fire, Ambulance, Council and other bodies. An office with a telephone was set up off Holywell Hill and 7 Charles Dymoke Green (Hertfordshire Scouts Association) The County Commissioner had written to the Chief Constable and the organisation spread like wild-fire through the county and the UK. As most of the coastguards were commissioned to war service, all coast-watching duties were carried out by 8000 Sea Scouts during WWI including several from Hertfordshire. It was quickly found that other organisations e.g. the Army cadets were unsuitable to undertake Home Front duties like guarding bridges, telephone lines and docks etc. as they were only trained to follow orders, whereas Scouts were trained to live in survival situations, and were also proficient in signalling, first aid, cooking and were able to use their own initiative. Because of their local knowledge, Scouts in WWI were also used to guide soldiers to billeting, deliver messages and sound the All clear on their bugles following an air raid. A whole chapter in The Times History of the First World War was devoted to the Scouts and included references to St Albans and Hertfordshire. As the Historian for Hertfordshire Scouts I have prepared an illustrated talk on Scouting in WWI and will be pleased to show this at the next Conference in Frank Brittain Archivist & Historian, Hertfordshire Scouts. archivist@hertfordshirescouts.org.uk

8 The Hertfordshire Gardens Trust The Hertfordshire Gardens Trust is a charity dedicated to researching the history of our parks and gardens. A number of publications have resulted from this the latest being Hertfordshire Garden History, Vol II: gardens pleasant, groves delicious. Hertfordshire has over 200 historic gardens surviving at least in part which are of local importance plus 45 on the English Heritage Register [the equivalent of listing a building]. Many of these are under threat from neglect or development and we engage with planners, owners and developers to try to ensure our historic gardens are not destroyed or spoiled. We have produced a gazetteer containing brief details of 26 surviving gardens in St Albans and have recently added Hanstead House by Percy Cane, and Torrington House. In addition we have researched the grand 18 th century garden at Holywell House, the Marlborough Almshouses and other disappeared gardens. The research continues currently on Munden House. More information at uk or Kate Harwood. conservation@hertsgardenstrust.org.uk Herts Advertiser Re-Photographing If you were at the 2011 Autumn Conference you will recall hearing about the project to rephotograph all pictures from the Herts Advertiser up to This was desirable/required asover the original photo library from that newspaper no longer exists. The first results from the digitising process are now available; all photos which appeared between 1914 and 1919, in.jpg format, have been produced on a DVD. This is just in time for groups engaged in WW1 projects, and we will no doubt hear more about these at the conference today. Two copies of the TENS disk are available to use at HALS, one at MoSTA and another at SAHAAS. The images may be freely used. Work has now begun on producing the images for the TWENTIES and FORTIES DVDs. For further information on the project please contact Mike Neighbour mikeneighbour@mac.com The Herts Advertiser based in the old Methodist Church buildings in Upper Dagnall Street. (picture from Herts Advertiser) Section from a map of the Marshalswick estate, 1900s, showing the house, outbuildings and gardens 8