august 2018 final 1a 100818 - st albans history · 2019. 5. 10. · ‘squatlife’ exhibition of...

ST ALBANS & HERTFORDSHIREARCHITECTURAL & ARCHAEOLOGICAL

SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER 209August 2018

Finding a Papal BullAnnual General MeetingCity Station’s 150th birthdayNew Museum + Gallery

Discovering Concealed ShoesAlban City School ProjectSociety’s Summer SocialArchaeology Conference

Recognise this St Albans railway bridge? If not, see page 24 for the answer.(Reproduced courtesy of Herefordshire Archive & Records Centre)

Included in this issue:

www.stalbanshistory.org SAHAAS NEWSLETTER 209

President’s Message 3Annual General Meeting 5The New Museum + Gallery 6Group Reports

Treasurer 7Clock Tower 917th Century Group 10Newsletter 11Herts Archaeology & History 11Programme Development Committee 12Publications Committee 12Library 13

Library Material Frederick Walter Kinneir Tarte, Architect 15 An Introduction to the SAHAAS Deeds Collection 17 Library Notes 18The Concealed Revealed Project 21Papal Bull Found in Abbey’s Collection 22Clock Tower Curios 23Where is that Bridge? 24Recent Planning Reports 26Congratulations 28The Alban City School Project 29Summer Social: Dinner at the Vintry 30An Evening in Codicote 31Society Excursion to Colchester 32Lecture Programme, 34The Third ‘Archaeology in Hertfordshire’ Conference 39

CONTENTS

The Society is a Registered Charity, No. 226912. Whilst every care has been taken in the preparation of this newsletter,the publishers cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of the information herein or any consequence arising from it.

Have you a minute?Do you enjoy tracing family history? The Home Front Project collected a largeamount of information about the city's residents at that time. Rather than lose allthat information, we have formed the Biographies Project with the aim of betterrecording it.We are entering our information on templates which will be accessible online andin the library. At present the information is in files of notes which need to betranscribed. There is no need to do any additional research unless you want to, justhelp transcribe what we have. Of course, there would be no objection toanyone's adding to what we already have! If you can help us, or want furtherinformation, please email me (Anne Wares) at [email protected].


PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Our Society heads for the 2018/19season in rude health. None of itwould be possible without the hardwork of so many people, both on theCouncil and among the wider mem-bership. We are very lucky.

Over the summer we enjoyed thesell-out summer social at the CôteBrasserie, otherwise no. 3 High Street.Between Liz Rolfe and Past PresidentKate Morris we learned about thehistory of this important house and itsVintry Garden as well as the ‘enchant-ing mews courtyard’ as described byChris Wares in his article (see p. 30). Ihope this might be a model for futuresummer social events to complementour New Year Party.

There was also the excellent walkround the historic centre of Codicoteas guests of the Codicote Local HistorySociety. Again my thanks to Pat Howefor organising this.

The library has been enhanced bysignificant new acquisitions master-minded by Donald Munro and also bya stock of new chairs thanks to the

generosity of theLand Rover Experi-ence at Luton Hoo(and our luck inhaving Frank Iddiolsas the link).

Our first direct con-tribution to exhibitions at the newMuseum was led by Sue Mann. Weproduced the panels describing treat-ment of the homeless in the townthrough history to complement the‘Squatlife’ exhibition of photos fromthe 1980s. Wearing another hat, Irepresent one of the largest councilestates in St Albans. Its residents havebeen hugely enthusiastic about thisexhibition. Many of them have visited,they have seen that the new museumis for them and illuminates their ownexperience. There are useful lessonshere for our own Society.

So what’s coming up? This newsletterand the new membership card unveilanother brilliant lecture programmedeveloped by Dave and Gill Girdziusz.

Pat Broad and others are progressinga publication on the architecturallegacy of Percival Blow who did muchto shape the look of St Albans and


Harpenden. Christopher Blow, hisarchitect grandson, is helping us withmaterial and providing his owninsights into his grandfather’s work.

Professor James Clark will be writingup his fizzing lecture delivered lastyear on ‘The People of St Albans andTheir Abbey’ for our Herts Archaeol-ogy and History journal. Members willbe able to purchase this at the usualbig discount to the official price.

Work is also well underway on a newwebsite thanks to the hard work of ateam led by Peter Bourton. This mustbecome a shining window to theoutside world, linking into socialmedia platforms too.

The Society offers such tremendousvalue – the newsletter, the library, thelectures and seminars, the trips, thehelp and advice on research, meetingsimilarly minded people, the opportu-nity to be published. Our membershipmay be healthy but I still keep meetingpeople who have never heard of us.So frustrating!

To give ourselves time to thinkthrough matters such as promotingthe Society, your Council held two

away-days this year. As a result thereare various pieces of work in progressand also some opportunities wherewe need volunteers to step forward.There’s more to do on our mission,vision and values as well as mappingout the different bodies with whichwe interact and how we add value.

At the recent Hertfordshire Archaeol-ogy Conference held in Bishop’s Stort-ford, someone observed that some ofthe most significant new discoveriesare currently sitting on museumshelves waiting to be identified andreported. I’m not sure we can offerthat but we do have four importantarchaeological reports on past workcarried out by Society members justwaiting to be written up. Volunteersplease! Roger Miles will be writing upa job spec.

Finally congratulations to MargaretKent, one of our longest standingmembers, on the occasion of her100th birthday.

I look forward to seeing many of youat the AGM and opening lecture on 11September.

Sandy Walkington


ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Notice is hereby given thatthe Annual General Meeting of

St Albans and Hertfordshire Architectural and Archaeological Societywill be held at Marlborough Road Methodist Church on

Tuesday 11 September 2018 at 7.30pmfor the following purposes

Agenda

1) Apologies for absence

2) President's comments

3) To adopt the minutes of the AGM held on 12 September 2017(enc. with the November 2017 Newsletter)

4) To receive the accounts for the year ended 31 May 2018(enc. with the August Newsletter)

5) To receive reports from our various Groups(inc. with the August Newsletter)

6) To elect the following members to serve on Council (with their responsi-bilities) until the next AGM:

Peter Burley Vice PresidentBryan Hanlon SecretaryDavid Moore TreasurerPat Broad Publications OfficerJohn Cox Publicity OfficerDavid Girdziusz Chairman, Programme Development CommitteeGill Girdziusz Lecture SecretaryPat Howe 17th Century Research GroupCaroline Howkins Clock TowerFrank Iddiols TechnicalChristine McDermott ‘Hertfordshire Archaeology and History’ journal


Jon Mein Newsletter Editor and WebmasterRoger Miles Archaeology GroupDonald Munro LibrarySally Pearson Minutes SecretaryDavid Smith Membership Secretary

7) To confirm the election of Chris Hall as Independent Examiner of theaccounts.

The AGM will be followed by a lecture given by Kate Harwood:

‘Repton and the Regency Park and Garden in Hertfordshire’

THE NEW MUSEUM + GALLERY

How wonderful to see the Old Town Hall open as our new museum and gallery!Commanding such a central position at the head of St Peter’s Street, it isGeorgian elegance restored, but so much more – a showcase for all aspectsof St Albans life, a skilful mixture of old and new.

There is much to see - the timeline, the old courtroom and the cells, new viewsfrom the side galleries, the displays of art in the assembly room but for me,the most interesting was the excellently researched and presented gallery ofthe history of printing in St Albans, which I hope will be the first of manyspecialist exhibitions about the city.

Congratulations to the City Council, the Museums and Galleries Trust, themuseum team and the University of Hertfordshire who have worked so hardto bring this project to fruition and grateful thanks to the Heritage LotteryFund and all those who contributed so generously locally to make it all possible.

The official opening evening reception on 6 June was for key contributors, ofwhich SAHAAS was one. Tickets were very limited and I am grateful to theSociety’s Council for allowing me to go to this exciting evening. I felt that Irepresented all our members who gave their time, energy and money to ourfundraising.

Helen Bishop


TREASURER’S REPORT

Enclosed with this newsletter are the accounts for the financial year ended 31 May 2018which were signed by the independent examiner on 23 July 2018 and were approvedby Council on 27 July 2018. As in previous years the accounts are presented in the formatrequired by the Charity Commission’s Accounting and Reporting by Charities - Statementof Recommended Practice (SORP2005). They also contain a report from an independentexaminer even though the Charity Commission does not require such a report forCharities with income below £25,000. I am more comfortable, however, to present toyou accounts which have been subject to independent examination.

The results for the year are split between the restricted and unrestricted funds.

Restricted Funds:There was no activity here and the Mayor’s Prize was not awarded this year.

Unrestricted Funds:Income:

� Membership Subscriptions received at £6,716 and remain the main source ofincome for the Society.

� Income from the Clock Tower opening was £4,500, an increase of £500 on theprevious year.

� Gift Aid for the financial year 2016–2017 amounting to £1,439 was received. Aclaim for 2017–2018 has been submitted and this will be shown in next year’s,2018–2019, accounts.

� Other smaller amounts include £350 from talks given by the Home FrontGroup and £438 from University of Hertfordshire Press being royalties on salesof the Home Front book.

� A generous donation of £1,000 was received from a member for the benefit ofthe Society to be spent at the discretion of Council.

� Fund raising activity was centred on raising funds for the Museums and Galler-ies Trust with a quiz night being held in June 2017, which raised £2,001 thisbeing donated to the Trust. No donations were made from the Society’s funds.

Expenditure:Running/Admin costs were generally in line with expectations, the increase in Post &Telephone reflects a decision to purchase a stock of second class stamps before theprice increase.


The key areas of expenditure are: the Lecture programme, Newsletter, Library andPublications:

� Lecture costs have been well controlled. The move to a different venue and thecontinued use of high quality speakers hasn’t materially increased the costs.

� The Newsletter costs have increased by £394 reflecting the rise in paper andprinting costs.

� The Library as anticipated in last year’s report shows a significant increase dueto the purchase of a new cataloguing software package at £1,915 plus an annuallicence fee of £1,195. £2,000 was set aside in 2016–2017 accounts for thesoftware with the licence fee taken from this year’s income.

� Publications, the Old Town Hall book was published at a cost of £3,200. Againfunds, £4,000, were set aside in the 2016–2017 accounts in anticipation of this.The Publication Account which forms part of the annual accounts reflects this.

Balance Sheet:The activities of the Society generated a surplus of £3,295 including the donation of£1,000 and helped by projects, Library software upgrade and Old Town Hall publicationcoming in under budget.

Funds available to the Society now stand at some £19,840, net £7,840, after allowingfor a reserve of £12,000. The major project on the stocks at the moment is the new website for which a figure of £5,000 has been earmarked. There are two publication projectscurrently being undertaken, which if they come to fruition will incur expenditure of£1,200+/-.

Overall this financial year has been satisfactory due in no small part to good ‘house-keeping’ and management of costs. It is anticipated that the increase in the annualsubscription agreed at the last AGM will improve income for the coming year(s) with aknock-on effect on the Gift Aid amount. It has to be borne in mind that the contributionfrom the Clock Tower is an unknown quantity and whilst good over the last year or so,£4,500 in 2018 and £4,000 in 2017, it cannot be assumed that it will always be at thislevel or better.

Regrettably I am unable to attend the AGM. May I suggest that if any one has a questionregarding the accounts they can e-mail me ([email protected]) by 28 Augustand I will endeavour to provide a reply to be given on the night and, if appropriate,included in the next Newsletter. Similarly, I will respond to any matters raised at theAGM by e-mail direct to the enquirer; please leave an e-mail address with the Secretary,Bryan Hanlon.

David MooreHon. Treasurer


CLOCK TOWER REPORT

Visitors have been paying toclimb the 93 steps of theClock Tower to enjoy themagnificent views since1914. The Arc & Arc tookover the tenancy of thebuilding from 25 March thatyear and sublet the groundfloor to Mr Richardson who,along with running a stationery shopthere, also acted as the custodianand collected the 2d entrance fee.Although only 76 visitors wererecorded in the first week, numbersdid pick up. He stated at the ‘Hert-fordshire Archaeological Society’[sic] Annual Meeting that the totalnumber of visitors for 1914 was6,780 but “the war caused theexpected numbers to drop duringAugust and September.”

Although we don’t have the excuseof the outbreak of the First WorldWar for the expected drop in visitornumbers for this year we do haveother events to take account of.Both the Royal Wedding in May andthe opening of the St AlbansMuseum + Gallery in June had theeffect of lowering our numbers. Wealmost didn’t open for the last slot

on Sunday 15 July due to the WorldCup, but luckily (Editor: surely‘unluckily’?) England didn’t make itto the finals so Mike eventuallyfound a volunteer to accompany himfor the 3pm session. The greatesteffect on numbers will be missingthe last three weekends of theseason in September as the ClockTower will have to close for repairs.

We will, however, be open for thefirst weekend of Heritage Open Days(HOD), from Thursday 6 to Sunday 9September. As part of national HODcelebrations of ‘ExtraordinaryWomen’ we will be putting on adisplay about the local Suffragetteheroine, Constance Lytton, asking“Who was your local heroine?” Inkeeping with the idea of HODs toopen buildings to the public that are

The Clock Tower c.1915 showing the Arc & Arc’ssignboards on the near corner (Caroline Howkins)


not normally accessible, we willunlock the third floor Dial Room onthe Thursday from 1.30pm untilclosing at 5pm. We will also again betaking part in the exciting ‘ThreeTowers Challenge’ on the Sundayalong with St Peter’s Church and theCathedral.

Hopefully now, all our Clockateershave had a chance to look at and usethe new online rota system forsigning up for sessions. Mike hasmanaged to get it up and runningthis season and, so far, it appears tobe working very well. But if you haveany comments do email us via [email protected].

As always, we are looking for newvolunteers to join the roster of Clock-ateers. Manning the Clock Tower forone of the sessions over Saturday orSunday with another Clockateer is afun and interesting way to meet newpeople and talk to the diverse rangeof tourists who visit our city. If youwould like to volunteer, please docontact us at the above emailaddress.

We are open every weekend andbank holiday until mid-September,depending on the scheduling ofrepairs. As always, Mike and I would

like to thank all the Clockateers forgiving their time to keep the ClockTower open for the public to enjoy.

Caroline Howkins & Mike Carey

17TH CENTURY RESEARCHGROUP REPORT

In recent years the Group hasfocused on transcribing early 17thcentury probate documents fromthe St Albans area. We are pleasedto say that transcriptions for the1600-15 period will be published bythe Hertfordshire Record Society(HRS) later this year.

Since sending the transcriptions tothe editors last year, our task hasbeen to write an introduction to thevolume. This would analyse theinformation contained in the docu-ments and place it in its historicalsetting, with reference to other rel-evant publications. We submittedour first draft in March 2018.Heather Falvey, one of our editors,responded favourably and gave usideas for additions and improve-ments. With my co-author, JaneHarris, we tackled Heather’s sugges-tions realising that these wouldcreate a work of academic interestto historians in this field of study.


This has now been finalised, illustrationschosen and the design of the coveragreed. The launch will be announcedon the SAHAAS website and by enewsin due course.

Meanwhile transcribing documents cov-ering the period 1616-30 has continuedand I should like to acknowledge thesterling work by David Lasky who turnsout transcriptions faster than we canprocess them.

We are proposing to continue our workand this will constitute a secondvolume. I understand from the HRS thatthis cannot be fitted in to the currentschedule but we do hope to eventuallygo up to at least 1649.

Pat Howe

NEWSLETTER REPORT

I took over as editor of the newsletterfrom the May edition with John Hum-phreys continuing to provide DTP sup-port. While I don’t anticipate anychange to the format, I do wish toinclude more research content.Members will hopefully notice somechanges in this regard already. Onechallenge we faced this year was thesteep rise in print and distribution costs,

something we are not sure will abateany time soon. So, we are grateful to theseveral Society members who volun-teered to hand-deliver newsletterswhen Maggy and Roderick Douglas stepdown shortly. We are currently consid-ering ways of managing the print costsand will report back about this in duecourse.

Copy deadline for the November 2018edition is Monday 15 October. If youwish to submit material or have anycomments to make, please email me [email protected].

Jon Mein

HERTS ARCHAEOLOGY & HISTORYREPORT

Copies of volume 17 of our journal arestill selling to individuals and institu-tions. Any new members who might beinterested in buying a copy at the mem-bers' price of £5 (usually £20) areadvised to contact me [email protected]. You canfind details of the contents on our web-site. Early preparations are underwaytowards the publication of volume 18,which is expected in 2019.

Christine McDermott

The ‘Squatlife’ Exhibition at the Museum + Gallery includingmaterial provided by the Society ends Sunday 26 August 2018.


PROGRAMME DEVELOPMENTCOMMITTEE REPORT

Following the retirement of Roy andDoreen Bratby this committee nowconsists of Dave Girdziusz, Gill Girdzi-usz, Pat Howe and Tony Berk.

Gill was responsible for twenty-fourlectures: sixteen on Tuesdays and eighton Fridays. Three different venueswere used for lectures in 2017/18 butall lectures for the coming year will beat Marlborough Road MethodistChurch.

Three of the best attended lectureswere ‘Verulamium Revealed’ by ourmember Kris Lockyear, ‘The People ofSt Albans and their Abbey’ by ProfessorJames Clark and ‘History & Architec-ture of 18th Century Gorhambury’ byViscountess Grimston.

Pat and Tony arranged three very suc-cessful visits. These were to the SamuelPepys Library in Cambridge on 25October 2017 followed by Colchesteron 1 May and Codicote on 5 July.

As usual Roderick Douglas and FrankIddiols provided excellent service withthe IT/AV used at lectures. The teamhas now been expanded with the addi-tion of John Ridge who kindly volun-teered to assist. Unfortunately

Roderick will be stepping down thisyear as he is moving out of the area.We thank him for his valuable contri-bution over the years. His reliabilityand expertise will be greatly missed.

Attendance figures for the lectureshave been buoyant since our move tothe church. The suggestions for lecturetopics, possible speakers and potentialvisits are always welcome and help usenormously with putting the pro-gramme together for the future.

Please do contact us by [email protected].

Dave Girdziusz

PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEEREPORT

Our most notable achievement in2017-18 was the much-delayed publi-cation of The Old Town Hall, St Albans.Released in September 2017 with alaunch at Waterstones, sales reached397 copies by June 2018. Over 90members bought copies; thank you foryour support.

We sold 18 copies of other publicationsand total revenue from all publications(excluding our Herts Archaeology &History journal) amounted to £1,539.


Other achievements included a draftpublishing strategy which has hadpositive feedback from Council. Weplayed a full part in the websiteproject and are planning to revampthe publication section for the newwebsite. Work on publishing stand-ards progressed with the productionof house style guides for print andweb. The committee has also beenexploring ideas for new publicationswhich we hope to develop in thecoming year.

At the start of the year, the commit-tee comprised Patricia Broad, JohnCox, Ann Dean, Sue Mann, ChristineMcDermott and Roger Miles. Rogerstepped down in March 2018 andJon Mein joined in May, taking overfrom John Humphreys who with-drew from the committee in 2017.We met three times and held oneemail meeting.

Patricia Broad

LIBRARY REPORT

It has been a productive year for theLibrary on a number of fronts, withstaff as busy as ever making inroadsinto the growing mountains of mate-rials coming our way. The develop-ments have by and large beencovered in previous Newsletters but

the main areas of progress havebeen:

The implementation of the SoutronOn-Line Public Access Catalogue,enabling members and the world ingeneral to see our book and pam-phlet holdings - a real step forward.Although cataloguing training hasbeen variously interrupted, it is nowprogressing well and we expect tohave five cataloguers operationalvery soon. We are now tackling anextensive backlog, and the work isspread by cataloguers takingbatches for cataloguing on-line athome.

Library Volunteers. The appeal forVolunteers has been very successful.In addition to those mentioned inprevious issues, the Library Teamhas been very effectively reinforcedrecently by Ros Trent, PhilippaHurst, Terry Price and Lin Watson,who are weighing in with admirablyfocused enthusiasm.

Computer hardware. In a majordevelopment our computer prob-lems have been greatly relieved bythe generosity of Christine Dunn inresponse to my note flagging up ourdifficulties in the last Newsletter. Asa result we have been able toreplace the computer that was vir-


tually at a halt with a high-specmachine tailored to our needs builtby Malcolm Merrick. We can look toupgrading its companion. It also givesus the opportunity to consider alter-native ways of local networking (thepublic Wi-Fi connection at SandridgeGate being intermittent), and also tolook at image collection manage-ment software in order to optimisethe arrangement of our extensivedigital images collections. We reallyare most grateful to Chris for hersplendid gift-aided generosity, whichcould hardly have come at a moreopportune time.

Large monitor screens. CarolineHowkins has very generously givenus two large TV / computer screens.One is particularly big and will beexcellent for viewing maps etc. Thesecond will replace the monitor forthe main Library PC.

Research materials. John G.E. Coxhas gifted us files and folders fromhis personal collections of local mate-rials which he is happy for us todistribute into our various specialsubject files, etc. There is much fugi-tive material amongst this and weare very pleased to have it.

Beardsmore final instalment. Theportfolio case of estate agent partic-ulars relating to properties in StAlbans and area was collected fromthe Cathedral library in May.

Furniture. The somewhat vexedquestion of suitable and uniformseating for the Library, Council meet-ings and Seminars has been resolvedby the eagle-eyed Frank Iddiols spot-ting a suitable batch of used butcomfortable office chairs. Posteriorswill now be uniformly pampered,though some may regret the chron-ologically reduced range of seden-tary experience.

The progress over the past year is asever down to the enthusiasm andhard work of our splendid andhappily augmented band of Libraryvolunteers. Particular thanks are dueto Jon Mein, Tony Cooper and FrankIddiols for being such Library stal-warts; to Malcolm Merrick for hishelp and advice on scanning, compu-ter hardware and equipment; to DiDunn and Susan Smith for their workon the paper files; to Sue Bellamy forher listing work on deeds, now virtu-ally complete; Diana Penton for herindexing work on the Kinneir Tartepapers; to Sally Pearson for all her


efforts in organising disposals ofsurplus stock which have raisedseveral hundred pounds; to the cat-alogue trainees (especially CarolineHowkins for her ‘magic’ minute tak-ing); and to Sheila Green, John Cox,David Lasky and all others who havehelped from time to time. Thanks tothe efforts of all these folks we havesettled very successfully at San-dridge Gate, where we have anoverall visitor rate little differentfrom what it was in the Old TownHall.

Donald Munro

FREDERICK WALTER KINNEIRTARTE, ARCHITECT

We have recently published a handlist of the contents of the Library’scollection of material about this localarchitect on our website. Here DianaPenton, who produced the handlistintroduces this intriguing man.

My interest in this fascinating storyarose from enquiries to the SAHAASLibrary about the site of The Dell inSandpit Lane. As a resident for over20 years I had often wondered whatpreceded the present block of flats

built in 1965. When Tony Cooperkindly supplied details of a finehouse built in 1900/01 designed byKinneir Tarte, I was hooked! I joinedthe Society and found myself com-piling a handlist from three full box-files of evidence gathered in the1980/90s by past-president JohnBrodrick.

In 1999 John contributed an articleabout Tarte, ‘A Man of Two Worlds’,to the Society’s publication A HistoryIn All Men’s Lives. He also gave alecture to the Society in 1996,reprised in 2013. Working throughhis meticulous research revealedKinneir Tarte as a most engagingman, warm, energetic, versatile,sociable and public spirited. Hecame to St Albans as a young archi-tect in 1886 and, as well as designingnumerous buildings, plunged intolife in the city becoming a councillor,joining many societies, includingours. By 1907 he had reached a peakin his standing in local society, pro-fessional and public life.

Then suddenly, at the height of hiscareer, aged 50, astonishingly, heabandoned it all and emigrated toAustralia to become a farmer, laterpromoting the benefits of Milch


Goats. The reasonsfor his departure areobscure, but hetackled his new lifewith courage andenergy.

Reading his diary ofthe long journey toAustralia was adelight. No com-plaints or gloom but acheerful, observantand witty account ofdaily life on board,although his descrip-tion of the streets of Melbourne,which he thought magnificent, as‘finer than any in England, except for

St Peter’s Street in St Albans’ wasespecially poignant.

Diana Penton

Sketch by F.G. Kitton of a house designed by Tarte (SAHAAS)

IMPORTANT CHANGES TO THE SOCIETY LECTURE PROGRAMME

Two significant changes will affect the Society’s lecture programme from thestart of the 2018/19 season in September.

1. All lectures will be on Tuesdays; we find Tuesday night talks attract a higherattendance than Fridays.2. The venue for all lectures will be Marlborough Road Methodist Church,our current Tuesday night venue, so we will no longer be using the St AlbansSchool lecture room.

No venue is perfect but the church provides easier access for members withmobility issues and is more flexible when there is a big attraction in terms oftopic or speaker. It will also lessen the possibility of lectures being moved atshort notice. Some people will be sad to lose the link with the school but wefeel on balance this is the right decision.


AN INTRODUCTION TO THESAHAAS DEEDS COLLECTION

Since the 1970s, the Society hasreceived various property deeds andlegal papers relating to St Albans fromboth individuals and firms of solici-tors. This collection received a consid-erable boost in 1983, around whichtime members became alarmed at thewanton destruction of a number ofhistoric documents which occurredwhen a local firm needed morestorage space. The Society appealedto business organisations likely to holdsuch material to donate it to theSociety for research purposes. Thegenerous response resulted in thecollection of 44 boxes of deeds andother documents numbering some1500 - 2000 items dating from the

second half of the 16th century to thelate 19th. Most of this material wassent to what is now HertfordshireArchives and Local Studies, but a smallproportion concerning the ancientborough of St Albans and a number oflegal papers from local solicitors’ firmswere retained and are now housed inthe Society’s Library.

Overall these documents represent animportant collection for those study-ing the history of the city from the16th century onwards. However, untilrecently, only a part of this collectionhad been listed, notably the docu-ments relating to the ancient Boroughof St Albans calendared by the lateDavid Dean, a past president of theSociety. In particular, there remaineda large number of previously uncata-logued legal papers awaiting atten-

Plan of premises on south side of Fishpool Street, 1877(SAHAAS Deeds Collection ref. SDC/1/140)


tion. These have been listed over thelast year or so and comprise deeds,particulars of sales and correspond-ence about properties in the cityincluding those in the areas aroundDagnall Street, London Road and Cath-erine Street.

With the cataloguing of these docu-ments, the whole collection has beenfully listed for the first time. Thiscatalogue is now available via theLibrary page on the Society’s website.It is anticipated that this data will betransferred to the online library cata-logue in due course.

If you have any questions concerningthis collection please email us:[email protected].

Susan Bellamy

LIBRARY NOTES

Beardsmore Collection materialsHere is a further selection of some ofthe more interesting items recentlycatalogued.

The Hertfordshire almanac and countyhandbook for the year ... 1881. Hert-ford: Stephen Austin & Sons, 1881. iv,143,[i],63p.; ill.; 19 cm. A mine ofinformation about Hertfordshire andits institutions, listing office holders,addresses, etc. Contents include the

"Hertfordshire Almanac Advertiser1881" being 63p of trade advertsbound at end.

A Week at Welwyn, by William Cham-bers. Second edition, with additions.London: W. & R. Chambers, 1876. 92p.; map; 17cm. The notable Scottishpublisher and lexicographer’s accountof touring around Welwyn and Hert-fordshire in the earlier 1870s.

South Mimms, by Revd FrederickCharles Cass. Westminster: printedby Nichols and Sons, 1877. 128p.; ills.,geneal. tables; 30cm. 4to. One ofthree scholarly parish histories byCass, printed by Nichols for theLondon & Middlesex ArchaeologicalSociety. The others, also in ourBeardsmore acquisitions, are for EastBarnet (1880) and Monken Hadley,[Barnet] (1885-92).

The Garden City. A study in the devel-opment of a modern town ..., by C.B.Purdom. With 4 coloured pictures byT. Friedensen and 140 other illustra-tions. London: J. M. Dent & Sons,1913. xii, 329 p. A near-contemporaryaccount of the development of thefirst Garden City at Letchworth. Thisis one of several interesting items in awealth of Beardsmore Collectionmaterials on the early developmentof Garden Cities and New Towns inHertfordshire.


Hesketh Prichard, D.S.O., M.C.: hunter:explorer: naturalist: cricketer: author:soldier: a memoir, by Eric Parker.London: T. Fisher Unwin, [1924]. ix,271 p., [8] leaves of plates : ill., ports.; 23 cm. Prichard (1876-1922) marriedLady Elizabeth Grimston in 1909, livedat Prae Wood, died at Gorhambury andwas buried at St Michael's Church, StAlbans. The copy has various tipped-and pasted-in pieces, 1918 to 1970,relating to Grimston and Hesketh-Pri-chard family members; including a MS.letter from Prichard to Sybil Grimston,Oct. 1918.

Donald Munro

New Library acquisitionsThis ancient road: London to Holyhead;a journey through time, by AndrewHudson. Burgess Hill: Red Door, 2017.217pp, illus. map, index. The Londonto Holyhead road largely follows theRoman road, Watling Street, and nowthe A5, through Hertfordshire and StAlbans. Its history, changes, events andtravellers along its length are noted.

A place in the country; Three CountiesAsylum 1860-1999, by Judith Petti-grew, Rory W. Reynolds and SandraRouse. Hatfield: Hertfordshire Publica-tions, 2017. 120pp, illus, notes, index.The Asylum was founded in 1850 near

Stotfold to house the ‘pauper lunatics’of Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire andHuntingdonshire. A detailed account isgiven of the buildings, changes in treat-ments and care of patients, and of thestaff who looked after them. It becameknown as Fairfield Hospital before itclosed because of the end of institu-tional care.

Cassiobury: the ancient seat of theEarls of Essex, by Paul Rabbitts andSarah Kerenza Priestley. Stroud:Amberley Publishing, 2017. 159pp,illus, bibliog. Cassiobury Park is thelargest in Hertfordshire, reputedlygiven to St Albans Abbey in 793 by KingOffa of Mercia. The history of theestate, house (once described as apalace) and the owners is related, withcopious illustrations. Sadly it has noindex.

Recent journal articlesIn: London Colney History SocietyNewsletter, no.34, Spring /Summer2018pp 7-8 “Who lived at Cotlands andwhen? Part 1”, by Colin Chapman.Cotlands, later called Cotlandswick,seems to have been built about 1898.Among the families living there insubsequent years were the brewingAdeys. The house became a prisonerof war work camp in WW1.


In: The Alban Link, Spring 2018, no.88pp 8-9 “Charles Wilton, picture framemaker, carver, gilder and artist, 1843-1911”, by Hazel Gowland. A briefaccount of the life and business ofCharles Wilton. One of his clients wasLord Grimthorpe, of whom his opinionwas low. A member of SAHAAS,Wilton wrote and published a pam-phlet on early maps of St Albans,including Benjamin Hare’s map of1634. Further research on his life isunder way.

In: Rickmansworth Historical Review,no.15, June 2018“West Hertfordshire: in the steps ofHerbert Tompkins. Part 3: Bushey toCassiobridge”, by Brian Thomson. Themain feature of the article is SirHubert Herkomer’s home and hisschool in Bushey, which operatedfrom 1883 until 1904. From 1905 itwas run by Lucy Kemp-Welch asBushey School of Painting.

Tony Cooper

ST ALBANS & DISTRICT LOCALHISTORY NETWORK AUTUMNCONFERENCE

Date: Saturday 20 October

Venue: Verulamium Museum

Presentations include Pope AdrianIV, watercress, the other side ofboundary walls, Cathedral Stories,local inspirations for a Dutch artist,the new Museum + Gallery, and aHarperbury patient’s story.

Bookings opened on 29 July so, bythe time you read this, tickets mayall have been snapped up. To checkplease email the organisers [email protected].

HERTFORDSHIRE ASSOCIATIONOF LOCAL HISTORY SYMPOSIUM

Date: Saturday 10 November

Venue: Lemsford Village Hall

This year’s theme is ‘planned settle-ments’. Talks will include RomanVerulamium, Saxon and medievaltowns, 18th century St Albans andHertford, Victorian Hitchin, the Char-tist settlement at Heronsgate andLetchworth Garden City.

Tickets will be £12 for members, £15otherwise.

More information will follow viaenews and the website or keep aneye on www.halh.org.uk.


THE CONCEALED REVEALEDPROJECT

Following her interesting talk at theHerts Association for Local Historyspring event in May, we invited Dr Houl-brook to provide this introduction to herproject.

What do an old shoe, a wooden poppet,and a dried cat have in common? Theyare all objects that have been foundhidden away within the fabric of build-ings. In fact, a vast variety of items hasbeen found under floorboards, thresh-olds, and hearthstones; within walls; upchimneybreasts; above ceilings and roofbeams; and in thatching. People usuallyfind them today when they’re renovat-ing their homes, and the objects are insuch odd places that most of them can’thave ended up there accidentally. Theymust have been deliberately secretedaway by past occupants or buildersmany years ago.

But why? Practically nothing waswritten at the time about this custom,so we have no sources explaining whysuch objects were concealed and whattheir concealers were hoping to achieve.This hasn’t stopped people from propos-ing theories, the most popular beingthat these items were hidden to protectboth house and occupants from malev-olent forces. According to this theory,

these objects were apotropaic (evil-averting) devices.

The question remains though: whywould an old shoe, a wooden poppet,and a dried cat be considered effectivesupernatural safeguards? Concealeddeposits range from the mundane to thedistasteful, but they certainly don’tseem inherently magical. And yetpeople went to the trouble of brickingthem up in walls, secreting them upchimneybreasts, or laying them beneathhearthstones. They must have investedthem with some significance. But why?And how can we distinguish betweenprotective, accidental, non-ritual, oreven sentimental concealments (e.g.time capsules)?

Together with Owen Davies I have beenasking these questions, and pinningfinds of hidden objects onto a map,freely available to view here:www.historypin.org/en/person/66740.We are asking that anyone who hasfound a hidden object, or knows a storyabout one, to please contact us. Wewould be very happy to hear from you.

More information can be found on theproject website:theconcealedrevealed.wordpress.com.

Dr Ceri HoulbrookUniversity of Hertfordshire

Email: [email protected]


PAPAL BULL FOUND IN ABBEY’SCOLLECTION

According to the Society’s minutes apapal bull of ‘Pope John 26th' wasexhibited at the meeting on 14 April1852 which had been found to thesouth of the Abbey’s Lady Chapel.Given that there was a Pope John XXIIIin the twentieth century this seemedto warrant further research.

Two newspaper reports gave moredetails and both referred to Pope JohnXXIII not XXVI. The Hertford Mercury(24 April 1852) reported that the bullhad recently been excavated in agarden adjoining the Abbey’s east endand that it had the heads of St Peterand St Paul on one side and JohannusP.P. 23 on the reverse. Of particularinterest was that the Revd Nicholson,the Society’s chairman and rector ofthe Abbey Church, ‘gave some historyof this pope’ so he must have existed.

Having discovered that John XXIII waspope from 1410 to 1414 and that theRoman Catholic Church refers to himas an antipope, it became clear thathe was in place during the GreatSchism in the Western church. Thepapal court had officially returned toRome from Avignon in 1377 but papalelections continued in Avignon too. To

resolve the problem the cardinals helda council in Pisa in 1409 and theyelected Pope Alexander V and then,when he soon died, John XXIII but thatsimply resulted in three popes as theothers both continued. At a furthercouncil at Constance in 1414 all threepopes were forced to resign and PopeMartin V was elected as the sole pope.It was he whose three bulls werefound with the skeleton of Abbot Johnof Wheathampstead in the recentexcavation at the cathedral.

More details of this turbulent periodcan be found in The Chronica Maioraby the Abbey’s chronicler, ThomasWalsingham, which convenientlycovers the period 1376-1422. TheEnglish translation by David Preestwith introduction and notes by Profes-sor James G. Clark is particularly usefulas Clark corrects inaccuracies andadds details to Walsingham’s narra-tive.

I am delighted to say that the lead bullexhibited at the meeting has nowbeen found in the cathedral’s muni-ment room and is exactly as describedin the Hertford Mercury report (seephotos overleaf). It would be good toknow what document it was attachedto but unfortunately this part of Wal-singham’s Abbey chronicle is missing.One possibility is an injunction about


the collection of the papal tax orPeter’s Penny as we know John’s pred-ecessor, Alexander V, sent one. Hope-fully Prof. Clark can resolve this.

Many thanks to Liz Rolfe for her helpwith this note.

Sheila Green

The obverse (top) and reverse (bottom) ofthe bulla (Reproduced courtesy of theCathedral & Abbey Church of St Alban)

CLOCK TOWER CURIOSDrawing on her unrivalled knowledge ofthe history of the building, CarolineHowkins has drafted several short notesabout the tower for the Newsletter.Expect to see the others in future editions.

When was the Clock Tower built?

Any entry for the Clock Tower found in adirectory or guide up until only a fewyears ago would have stated that it wasbuilt sometime between 1403 and 1412.But, since 2009 when sample tree-ringdating of the building’s timbers wascarried out, wecan be more pre-cise. The basis ofdendrochronolog-ical dating is thattrees of the samespecies, growingat the same time,in similar habitats,produce similarring-width pat-terns. In the caseof the ClockTower, four samples were taken fromtimber joists in the Dial Room on thethird floor (see photo) which showed thatone tree was felled in the winter of1401-2, and the others in the period1401-4. This suggests that the tower waserected quickly and probably by 1405.

Caroline Howkins


WHERE IS THAT BRIDGE?

Struggling to think where in St Albansthe bridge shown on the front cover is?If so, you won’t be alone as it no longerexists, at least not in that form. It wasthe original Midland railway bridgeover London Road which, we assume,was largely replaced in the 1890s whenthe railway was widened. What a pitythe ‘handsome skew bridge’, as theHerts Advertiser describedit in 1866, has been lost.

We came across that con-temporary photo when wewere thinking about how torecognise the 150th anni-versary of the opening ofwhat is now the City Stationfor passenger traffic on 13July 1868. As this is arguablyone of the most importantdates in the history of StAlbans, the remainder of this brief notelooks at the building of the Midlandrailway in the eastern outskirts of thetown and then considers what some ofits short-term effects were.

For much of the mid-1860s this was abusy building site. On what had beengreen fields there were hundreds ofmen constructing the new gaol as wellas the large embankments and bridgesof the Midland railway extension fromBedford to London. Exactly how many

were working on the two projects isuncertain. In 1867, material from 700workers’ huts was put up for auctionby the railway contractors. Throughextrapolation this suggests there wereup to 7,000 navvies in the area, a barelycredible figure that needs furtherthought. There were certainly enoughof them to concern the town’s inhabit-ants. Drunkenness was a problem withbeer readily available from at least one

off licence on site as well as new publichouses like the Midland Railway Inn(now the Horn pub) close by. As acounter, local churches clubbedtogether to provide the navvies withother things to occupy their spare time.

The opening of the Midland station in1868 passed with little celebration.Contrast this with the pomp that sur-rounded the opening of the Abbeystation ten years earlier. Then there

London Road bridge today from the south-west(Roderick Douglas)


was a public holiday in the town, flagseverywhere and a procession from theTown Hall down Holywell Hill to thestation. The official speeches that fol-lowed expressed relief that St Albanswas at long last plumbed in to the railnetwork and anticipated prosperoustimes ahead. It is hard though to findevidence for any economic bloom.Prospect Road, where properties onthe south side of the street abut theAbbey station, is a useful indicator.Here the few mid-Victorian housesremind us that development in whatwas the prime spot for speculativerailway sprawl was little better thandesultory. We can draw the same con-clusion for the opening in 1865 of theHatfield branch line station in LondonRoad.

The Midland line differed from theother two in that it did bring significantchange. Admittedly we have to look tothe mid-1870s to find it. Only then forexample was the town council confi-dent enough to initiate the upgrade ofVictoria Street from not much morethan a farm track to today’s thorough-fare linking town centre and station.New residential streets around thestation came later in the decade.Developed on the west side of therailway, Oswald Road in 1878/9 wasprobably the first to be laid out. Stan-hope and Granville roads, to the sta-tion’s immediate east, followed in

1880. Other ‘firsts’ were the modernstraw hat factories owned by Scott andKershaw. These were built a year laterin Victoria Street, their close proximityto the station convenient for importingcheap plait from the Far East, a newsource being tapped from c.1870. Thepreviously ‘old fashioned town’, as oneobserver described St Albans in 1864,was now a city expanding beyond itsmunicipal boundaries. The Midlandrailway was a key factor in this changeas it still is for the prosperity of the cityin the 21st century.

A fully referenced version of this noteis available in the Society’s Library. Ourthanks to Edmund King, Rudi Newmanand Anne Wares for their help.

Jon Mein and Roderick Douglas

Missing Back Issues of theNewsletterWe are lacking issues 53-57 from ourLibrary file of the Society’s Newsletter.These date to the early 1970s. HALSwould charge heavily for reproductioncopies, and we wonder if any of ourmore senior members have or haveinherited copies that we could photo-copy or digitise ourselves.

If you are able to help please do let usknow via [email protected].


RECENT PLANNING REPORTS

This is the second in our series ofabstracts from reports consideringrecent archaeological work or architec-tural assessments. These were pro-duced to satisfy planning conditions. Ifyou would like further informationabout any of these, please contact thedistrict archaeologist, Simon West, [email protected].

Town Hall Chambers,31 - 37 Market PlaceArchaeology Solutions Ltd (ASL)(Report no. 4932; 2016)

Technical analysis allowedthe [National Heritage] listdescription, which ascribesan early 18th century datefor construction, to berefined. The earliest fabricvisible is consistent with a16th century date and priorto the planned worksincluded a large chimneystack and a portion ofexposed timber-framing atfirst floor level, along with the roofstructure. During the planned worksthe ceilings and floors were exposedrevealing substantial floor joistingtypical of the date, as well as smalldiagonal ties triangulating the tie-beams to the original wall-plate (notpresent).

Monitoring also revealed a structuraldivide between the southern threebays and the northern two bays, withthe southern range containing 16thcentury fabric, while the northernelement is probably of 17th centurydate, though insufficient fabric wasexposed to confirm with certainty.

The next general phase is largely con-sistent with a late 17th century or early18th century date, perhaps around1700. This saw the entire street frontrebuilt in brick as well as substantialinternal alterations. Detailed inspec-

tion was carried out in the first floorrooms where modern dry lining hasbeen removed as well as at roof levelwhere sections of the parapet havebeen exposed. The panelling in the firstfloor front rooms appears contempo-rary with the re-fronting of the façade,while some time later the panelling was

Town Hall Chambers (Roderick Douglas)


hidden behind wallpaper of which onlyfragmentary remains survive.

132 – 142 Fishpool StreetArchaeology Solutions Ltd(Report no. 5219; 2016)[Formerly a large gap in the buildingline on the north side of the street]

The excavation and monitoringrecorded small scale Roman activityin the form of three pits and a chalkand clay surface. Similar activity hasbeen recorded at sites nearby andthis relates to activity beyond thecity walls in the ‘urban periphery’ ofVerulamium. The archaeologicalwork also recorded post-medievalfeatures which would appear torelate to activity to the rear of streetfrontage development during thisperiod. Much of this activity appearsto relate to domestic habitation. Thefinal phase of activity recorded relatesto 19th century activity. Masonry struc-tures appear to represent brick-builtouthouses and garden features, includ-ing attempts to terrace the naturalslope of the land. Activity appears tocease in the mid-19th century whenthe site became used as a garden area.

Hare & Hounds public house,Sopwell LaneWessex Archaeology(Report ref. 118250.02; 2017)

The National Heritage List for Englanddescription suggests a date of 17thcentury and available historic mapping

confirms that it existed by 1721. Theroof above the main part of the prop-erty comprises a typical queen strutarrangement of 17th - early 18thcentury date which has had two phasesof expansion. It has a large brickchimney within the centre of the westthree bays; these bays are likely tohave formed the earliest part of thebuilding.

Laths and plasterwork were added tothe roof space, probably during the18th century, to form a garret. Twobays were then added to the eastduring the late 18th-early 19th centuryand repairs made using sawn softwoodtimber. An extension to the south wasadded in the late 19th century and asingle storey extension between 1924and 1937, although this roof was notinspected as part of the works.

Edited by John Ridge and Jon Mein

Note: thanks to Wessex Archaeologyand ASL for permission to use theirabstracts.

The Hare and Hounds (Roderick Douglas)


CONGRATULATIONS …

… are due to several SAHAAS members.

The Hertfordshire Association for LocalHistory gives awards to people who havemade significant contributions to thepromotion of local history in the county.On a balmy afternoon in May, MikeNeighbour received the award for hisachievements in this field from the asso-ciation’s president, Dorothy Abel Smith.

Even if you don’t know him by sight,many of you will be familiar with Mikethrough his excellent two-volume publi-cation, St Albans’ Own East End, hisregular blog as well as his work with localhistory group Fleetville Diaries. His focusstretches beyond the eastern half of thecity though. For example, he activelysupported the recent Smallford stationproject for the Smallford Station & Alban

Way Heritage Society, and is one of thefounders and leading lights in the StAlbans and District Local History Net-work. Add to these his remarkable featin capturing and then indexing digitalcopies of over 13,000 photos from theHerts Advertiser (1914-60) and it is clearthat Mike’s award is very well merited.

Congratulations as well to Simon Langs-dale for his recent award of an MA fromthe University of Hertfordshire. Thesubject, the management in the earlyVictorian period of the Abbey parishcharities, is particularly interesting. Inidentifying probable links between theembezzlement of charity funds and themore familiar story of electoral corrup-tion, Simon questions our understandingof the town’s many scandals at this time.You can download a copy of his disser-tation from uhra.herts.ac.uk by search-ing for ‘blagg’ or wait a year or so to hear

his talk to the Society as part of the2019/20 programme.

And last but not least, congratula-tions to Andie Hill. You’ll recall herdescription in the May newsletter ofthe schools-focused ‘St AlbansLegacy’ project she’s leading. We aredelighted to record that Andie hassince received over 200 entries tothe competition, some of which willbe on display at the museum later inthe year. More anon.Mike Neighbour with Dorothy Abel Smith (P. Sheail)


THE ALBAN CITY SCHOOL(HATFIELD ROAD) PROJECT

In 2016, the School’s headteacher askedHelen Bishop, then the Society’s Presi-dent, whether we could provideresearch into the background of theoriginal Victorian school to form thebasis for teaching materials for a Year 5module. This site has played a significantrole in education in St Albans in variousguises. St Peter’s National School wasbuilt on land donated by Earl Spencer in1836. The 1870 Elementary EducationAct started the involvement of the Statewith the formation of the EducationDepartment which gave powers toBoards of Education run by local peopleelected by ratepayers. Revd HoratioNelson Dudding, vicar of St Peter’s,handed over the school to the newboard. It opened with 24 scholars as theHatfield Road Board School for Boys, thecity’s first board school, in 1879.

We provided information in a variety offorms which the teachers could use toachieve the skills outlined in theNational Curriculum. This included atimeline, background notes and a map.It is one of the fortunate schools whichhas a surviving log book from 1879 to1896 giving an invaluable insight intoschool life. Thus, much of the work couldbe based on a primary source. The HertsAdvertiser provided another angle with

detailed accounts of the Board meetingswhich were very lively at times particu-larly when religion or the rate to be paidwere discussed.

We provided a copy of the logs, acompare and contrast exercise for 1879and 1890 and excerpts on themesincluding attendance, fees and pupilbehaviour with some possible questionsto ask pupils. As today, the pressure toproduce the highest possible examresults was great particularly as thiseffected funding and teachers’ pay.

It proved to be a fascinating subjectwhich merits more research to producea fuller history of this interesting schooland the development of the Boardschools in general. Is anyone interestedin helping? If so, please do get in contactvia [email protected].

Philippa Hurst, Helen Bishop andRomaine Byers

THE GREAT WARREMEMBEREDAn evening of remembrance withthe words and music of the soldiersfighting for King and Country. Thisfund-raising event is at St Michael’schurch on Friday 7 September2018. Tickets are £20.

See stmichaels-parishchurch.org.uk


SUMMER SOCIAL: DINNER AT THEVINTRY

It is a rare treat to have one’s historyserved up with fine dining but that isexactly what we were treated to whenwe met at Côte Brasserie for a Societysummer social.

Joining the Mayor of St Albans, CllrRosemary Farmer, around fifty or somembers of the Society met at TheVintry, 3 High Street on Tuesday 10 Julyfor dinner and to discover the fascinat-ing history of the house, its gardensand its inhabitants.

The evening began al fresco with aninvitation to explore the grounds at ourleisure. Accompanied by some wellwritten ‘taster notes’ that includedhelpful maps and images we were ableto explore the Vintry Gardens whilecatching up with friends in the lateevening sunshine. I am sure I was notalone in being amazed to discover that,hidden away behind the building, laysuch an enchanting mews courtyardwhich the owners very kindly permit-ted us to enter from the restaurantgardens. St Albans still has the abilityto surprise!

After our perambulations the partyretired inside to a delicious threecourse meal, served with generousportions of perfectly seasoned history.

Between courses Kate Morris enter-tained us with the history of the houseand regaled us with tales (some ofthem scandalous!) of the occupants,which Ann Dean’s dramatic perform-ances brilliantly, and humorously,brought to life.

All in all, a thoroughly enjoyableevening. The combination of exploringlocal history with a fine meal in a localrestaurant is a recipe for success thatit would be well worth revisiting. Ourthanks to Kate Morris and Liz Rolfe fortheir impeccable research, Ann Deanfor her performances and ChristineMcDermott for her excellent organisa-tion.

Chris Wares

Note: Please see the back cover forphotographs from this event.

MEMBERSHIP

Welcome to the following newmembers:

William Fingland St AlbansPaul Jellings St AlbansDavid Kemp HatfieldTerry Price St AlbansNicholas & Judith Salisbury

St Albans

David Smith


AN EVENING IN CODICOTE

On a very warm evening in early July,fifteen members gathered at Codi-cote Museum situated behind thePeace Memorial Hall in the HighStreet. We were greeted by NicholasMaddex, chairman and foundermember of the Codicote Local HistorySociety. The Museum building pre-dates the Memorial Hall by abouttwenty years and was built in 1905 asa working men’s clubhouse; it laterbecame the base for the local BritishLegion. The Museum collectionincludes two sets of tools, one belong-ing to Alfred Males who was born in1888 and was a self-taught carpenterand draughtsman, and the other toAlfred Kelly who was one of severalgenerations of shoemaker and repair-ers.

Nicholas then took us on a guided tourof the centre of the village. The firstreference to Codicote is in 1002 whenKing Aethelred the Unready sold themanor to one of his ministers, Aelfelm.The latter then gave it to the Abbot andChapter of St Albans Abbey whichowned it until the Reformation. Aweekly market was granted in 1267 tobe held on Fridays. The market placewas situated at the junction of the mainWelwyn to Hitchin road and the roadfrom Wheathampstead.

Several coaching inns once existed inthe village to take advantage of trafficon the Bedford to London route. Oneof the main inns was the George andDragon which was built in three phasesbetween 1500 and 1600 and is nowthree separate dwellings. Another wasthe Red Lion: dating from the 17thcentury, this was still trading in 1960.

Also in the village, and like St Albans,there are a considerable number oftimber framed dwellings which werethen clad in brick in the 18th century.

At the end of our tour we retreatedback to the shade of the museum forvery welcome biscuits and cups of teaprovided by the Local History Society.

Our grateful thanks to Pat Howe fororganising a very interesting evening.

Graham Norman

The former George & Dragon (Pat Howe)


A DAY IN COLCHESTER

At 8.30am on 1 May 2018 we boardedour coach for Colchester (Camulo-dunum), two hours away. We arrivedat the War Memorial to meet theexperienced Blue Badge guide, PatrickDenny. He introduced the area as thesite of the oldest recorded pre-Romantown in Britain. The Romans later gaveit the high status of colonia, signifyingthat it housed military veterans.

In Castle Park sits the largest remainingNorman keep in Europe; it is 50 percent more extensive than London’sWhite Tower. It was built between1069 and 1076, by Gundulf, Bishop ofRochester, founded on the podium ofthe Roman temple of Claudius. Themassive vaults beneath have beenexcavated and are viewable on a castletour. The familiar story of Roman mate-rial recycling is illustrated externally by

local flint facing and Roman brick andtile lacing and string courses. Interest-ingly, the tiles of the string course arelaid on their sides and not flat. Patrickexplained that the builders simplypicked up piles of pilae, from theirpositions raising a hypocaust floor,turned the stacks through 90 degreeswith mortar still intact, and placed thestacks in the walls where they are stillto be seen as a continuous string.

We walked around the castle, lookedat the monument commemorating theCivil War siege and gazed over thebeautifully maintained and landscapedgardens flowing down to the riverbefore walking to the nearby narrowhistoric streets. Here we saw a roadwith coloured paviours setting out thecorner of a great Roman theatre, prob-ably built over an earlier one men-tioned by Tacitus as being here in thetime of Boudicca. We entered the

ground floor of a house main-taining an exposure of the exca-vation of the theatre’sfoundations with useful wallillustrations indicating the the-atre’s form and use.

Second came the Dutch quar-ter: ancient streets and eclecticarchitecture, home to 16thcentury Flemish refugeesfleeing religious persecution,and earlier Jewish and otherrefugees. Here, we viewed latePart of the group by the Roman wall (Roy Bratby)


medieval timber-framed and jettiedhouses. This walk ended past the prom-inent Victorian water tower, namedlocally as ‘Jumbo’, by a pedestrian archat the Balkerne Gate through a sectionof the town’s Roman wall. Colchesteris fortunate in having large portions ofthis wall intact where some of thefacing survives, not just the core.

After lunch, we moved to the Romancircus for a tour led by Philip Crummy,Director and Principal Archaeologist ofthe Colchester Archaeology Trust. Theonly known example of a circus inBritain, the site is still a work inprogress having only been discoveredin 2005 during exploratory excavationsprior to development. It became aScheduled Monument in 2007 and nowhas a visitor centre housing an excel-lent 3-D scale model.

The circus was an elongated oval racetrack, approximately 450m by 70mwith a spina, or separator, along muchof its central area containing largelap-counters. Highly skilled charioteerssped around several times and danger-ously jostled and raced in teams. Up to15,000 people could be seated andthere is a clever full-sized cross-sec-tional model of the circus’s raked seat-ing. The location of the starting gatesis indicated with narrowly spaced full-sized block-built sections. Chariothorses were bred smaller and lighterthan horses today.

From Colchester, we travelled to StMichael and All Angels Church inCopford to be welcomed by the wellinformed church warden, HeatherGarnham, who also kindly provided teaand biscuits. The Norman and laterfrescos are some of the finest and bestpreserved in Britain. Saved from theReformation by white-wash, the Victo-rian renovators cleaned and thenfalsely coloured some of the images.However, the vista, including anunusual arch of zodiac symbols, showshow wonderfully and fully decoratedchurches of this era were.

Elated and tired, we returned from thispacked day at 6.30pm.

Dr Tony Berk

Wall paintings at Copford church (Roy Bratby)


Tuesday 11 September 7.30pmAnnual General Meeting followedby:Repton and the Regency Park andGarden in HertfordshireKate Harwood

Over the course of his career Reptonwas commissioned for 400 sitesacross England, Scotland and Wales,with influences further afield. Seven-teen of his commissions were in Hert-fordshire, a high concentration for asmall county. However, he was notthe only landscape designer of noteat that time; Lewis Kennedy andWilliam Sawrey Gilpin also designedgardens in Hertfordshire. The talk willput their work in our county in contextand look at what the future holds forthese sites.

Kate Harwood is a former universitylecturer in Garden History and is Con-servation and Planning Officer forHertfordshire Gardens Trust (HGT)and a member of SAHAAS. She lec-tures, writes and teaches on garden

history and has been working with theHGT to produce a book on theHumphry Repton sites in Hertfordshirein time for his bicentenary in 2018, aswell as on a number of local andnational projects. Kate is the nationalresearch co-ordinator for Repton forthe country gardens trusts and ishelping to organise the seminar to beheld at the Garden Museum in Londonin November.

Tuesday 18 SeptemberWrest Park – Thomas Archer’sPavilionRichard Luscombe & John Wallace

Thomas Archer (1668-1743) was aleading Baroque architect, whoseextant works bear testimony to hisstrong continental influences. Amongthese are St Philip's Cathedral, Bir-mingham; St John's, Smith Square,London; and Chatsworth's grandCascade House of 1703. In 1709 hebegan a commission from Henry Grey,1st Duke of Kent, to build a magnifi-cent domed Pavilion at the end ofWrest Park's Long Water. A majorrestoration in 2017, by English Herit-age, reclaimed the Pavilion's iconicplace as a central focus. The lecturewill outline the history and architec-ture of the Pavilion within the contextof other garden buildings at Wrest.

Richard Luscombe and John Wallaceare members of the Volunteer History

LECTURE PROGRAMME11 September – 20 November 2018

All lectures commence at 7.45pm.

All lectures are held at MarlboroughRoad Methodist Church.

Late changes will be notified on ourwebsite and via e-news.


Research Team at Wrest Park; anEnglish Heritage property. Richard isits Volunteer Historical RecordsKeeper. Qualified as an historian, hehas a background in teaching andlocal studies librarianship. He fre-quently writes on the history of Wrest.John is a Joint Co-ordinator leading theVolunteer History Research Team. Achartered architect, with many years'experience working on historic build-ings, his background is invaluable forhis historical research with EnglishHeritage.

Tuesday 25 SeptemberWhitechapel in 50 BuildingsLouis Berk

Whitechapel is one of the best-knowndistricts of Greater London, if not theworld. The buildings here range fromthe majestic – for example, the Nicho-las Hawksmoor churches at theeastern and southern end of the dis-trict and the magnificent RoyalLondon Hospital in the centre – to awonderful series of social housingprojects which date from 1695 to themodern era. The buildings also mapthe journey of the various immigrantcommunities from the Huguenotweavers of the 18th century to thelarge Jewish community of the 19thand 20th centuries to the recentgrowth of the Bangladeshi commu-nity, as evidenced by the changingface of Brick Lane. Louis Berk will be

discussing a selection of buildingsfrom his books on Whitechapel illus-trated with his photography of thearea.

Louis Berk is an award-winning pho-tographer and former secondaryschool teacher who has specialised inurban photography in the historic eastend districts of Whitechapel and Spi-talfields for the last 15 years. Amongsthis many publications his most recentbooks include Whitechapel in 50 Build-ings and Secret Whitechapel (jointlyauthored with Rachel Kolsky) and EastEnd Jewish Cemeteries: Brady Streetand Alderney Road, the result of a5-year photographic study in two ofthe oldest Jewish cemeteries in theeast end. He has also had his workpublished in books and magazines inpublications as broad as a biographyof the artist Banksy and the ‘Boris Bus’.

Tuesday 9 OctoberMarshalswick Mansion andSt Albans’s Country House HeritageDr Peter Burley

Marshalswick mansion stood on thenorthern side of St Albans until 1927,when it was dismantled brick by brick.It is the only country house lost in StAlbans in the inter-war period. Thistalk will look at the origins of thehouse and its name, who lived thereover the centuries and the differentgarden design and architectural


phases it went through. Its heyday inthe late 19th century and whatremains of its heritage will beexplored, together with why it failedwhen other country houses of thesame period locally have survived.Re-watching a few episodes ofDownton Abbey will be essential prep-aration for this talk!

Peter read history at the University ofYork and then did research at Univer-sity College London, gaining a PhD in1981. Among his published works areWitness to the Revolution (Weiden-feld and Nicolson, 1989), on theFrench Revolution and The Battles ofSt Albans (with two colleagues – Penand Sword, 2007). He is a member ofthe Battlefields Trust, English Heritageand SAHAAS, of which he is vice-pres-ident. He participated on the St AlbansMuseums and Galleries AdvisoryGroup. He is researching, writing andpresenting on local topics. He has livedin St Albans – and on the battlefield ofthe Second Battle of St Albans (1461)– since 1976.

Tuesday 16 OctoberNeville Chamberlain: a ReputationRevisedDr Martin Holmes

Although regarded as a disastrousPrime Minister by the British public,Neville Chamberlain has beendefended by many professional biog-

raphers and historians, albeit for dif-fering reasons. In this talk Dr Holmesexplains the discrepancy and seeks toshed fresh light on Chamberlain’senigmatic and controversial career.

Dr Martin Holmes is well known as anOxford University specialist in Britishand European Politics and History inthe 20th century. A graduate of Uni-versity College Oxford, he was Lec-turer in Politics at St Hugh’s CollegeOxford, 1987 – 2009, since when hehas been an (Hon) Member of theSenior Common Room. He is theauthor of six books on British andEuropean Politics and the author ofmany articles and essays and has beenthe Oxford Director of the Universityof Nebraska annual undergraduatesummer program since 1989. He hasspoken regularly at academic confer-ences in Britain and Europe as well aslecturing in the United States, SouthKorea, Australia and Malaysia.

Tuesday 23 OctoberThe General in Winter: the Marlbor-ough / Godolphin relationshipDr Frances Harris

The lecture will draw on Dr Harris’sbook, The General in Winter: theMarlborough-Godolphin Friendshipand the Reign of Queen Anne. It wassaid of Queen Anne’s Captain-Gen-eral, John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marl-borough, and her Lord Treasurer,


Sidney, 1st Earl of Godolphin, that eachwas “the greatest of his kind that hardlyany age has afforded”. Their publicpartnership was chiefly responsible forwhat has been called “the glories of theAge of Anne”, the Union of England andScotland to form “this Island of Britain”,and its establishment as a Europeanand global power. But it was not just apublic partnership; it was also a closeand lifelong friendship which fullyencompassed Marlborough’s beautifuland tempestuous wife Sarah. One ofthe places most closely associated withit was Holywell House, St Albans, andthe gardens Marlborough created here.

Frances Harris was formerly Head ofModern (post-1603) Historical Manu-scripts at the British Library and sinceher retirement in 2010 has held Honor-ary Research Fellowships at SheffieldUniversity and Birkbeck College, Univer-sity of London. She has publishedseveral books and articles on the laterStuart period of British history, includ-ing A Passion for Government: The Lifeof Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough,Transformations of Love: The Friend-ship of John Evelyn and MargaretGodolphin, and in 2017, the last volumeof the trilogy, The General in Winter:the Marlborough-Godolphin Friendshipand the Reign of Queen Anne.

Tuesday 6 NovemberThe Monks’ Graveyard Excavation:Finding a lost Abbot at the AbbeyChurch and Cathedral of St AlbansRoss Lane

Between August 2017 and February2018, the Canterbury ArchaeologicalTrust worked at the Cathedral andAbbey Church of St Alban ahead of theconstruction of a new visitor, educationand welcome centre. Commissioned bythe Dean and Chapter and overseen byCathedral Archaeologist ProfessorMartin Biddle, the team was taskedwith excavating ground situated withinthe angle of the south-east Transeptand Presbytery. This lecture willdescribe the significant finds discov-ered during the excavations includingthe long-lost brick-lined tomb whichevidence suggests contains the remainsof Abbot John of Wheathampstead whodied in 1465.

Ross Lane is currently a Project Officerat Canterbury Archaeological Trusthaving started with the company in2005. Originally from Canterbury hisentire archaeological career has beeninvolved in the study of Kent and itssurroundings, with a particular interestin the development of pre-historic set-tlements. His previous experience exca-vating medieval sites include a Hospicefounded by St Radigund’s Abbey in


Canterbury and a selection of buildingsfrom rural medieval Sturry, Kent.

Tuesday 13 NovemberLamer ParkDr Kris Lockyear

Archaeology begins at home, and in thiscase literally. Lamer was a minorcountry house situated just north ofWheathampstead. With its origins inthe 13th century, the estate surviveduntil just after the Second World Warwhen most of the land was sold off foragriculture, and the Georgian housedemolished. A surprising amount of thehouse and gardens survive, however,and the speaker now lives in part of thecoach house constructed in c.1760. Thegrounds were designed by NathanielRichmond and Humphry Repton. Thistalk looks at the archaeology andhistory of the area, including map evi-dence and church monuments, tothrow light on one of the less well-known estates of Hertfordshire.

Kris became interested in archaeologyat the age of 10 when he visited Veru-lamium on a school trip. He joined theWelwyn Archaeological Society aged 11and excavated with Martin Biddle onthe Chapter House site at the age of 13.Having undertaken a BA at Durham, anMSc in Archaeological Computing inSouthampton, and then a PhD at UCL,

Kris took up a post at UCL where he isnow a senior lecturer. He returned tolive in Hertfordshire in 2002 and wasable to develop his love of the archaeol-ogy of the county. Since 2009 he hasbeen director of the Welwyn Archaeo-logical Society, and in 2013 he foundedthe Community Archaeology GeophysicsGroup. Amongst his various publica-tions is the edited volume Archaeologyin Hertfordshire: Recent Research, pub-lished in 2015 by the University of Hert-fordshire Press.

Tuesday 20 NovemberSir Thomas Gresham’s ExchangeProfessor Stephen Alford

“Go to the Exchange, crave gold as youintend.” (William Haughton, English-men for My Money, 1598). Sir ThomasGresham's first great contribution tothe life of Elizabethan London was theRoyal Exchange, the purpose-built mer-chants' bourse which opened in 1567.Why did Gresham finance and build it?What did Londoners (and others) dothere? What does the Exchange tell usabout Gresham's ambitions both forhimself and for London? And what doesit suggest about how trade and culturewere changing and developing in thelater sixteenth century?

Stephen Alford was educated at theUniversity of St Andrews and taught for


fifteen years at the University of Cam-bridge before moving in 2012 to Leedsas Professor of Early Modern BritishHistory. He is the author of six books,including a biography of William Cecil,Lord Burghley (2008), The Watchers: A

Secret History of the Reign of ElizabethI (2012), a short study of King EdwardVI for the Penguin Monarchs series(2014) and most recently London's Tri-umph: Merchant Adventurers and theTudor City (2017).

THE THIRD ‘ARCHAEOLOGY INHERTFORDSHIRE’ CONFERENCEAlong with several other Society mem-bers, I made the journey on Saturday14 July to the Museum in Bishop’sStortford to attend this biennial con-ference. I am not much of an archae-ologist, Victorian social history beingmore my pigeon. On the face of it, theprogramme of ten 30-minute talkspromised little to justify a 2-hourround trip to the Essex border.

I am glad I made the effort as therewere plenty of highlights. Two talks inparticular held my attention: RossLane’s about the recent dig at theAbbey and Helen Gibson’s discussionof the ‘New River’. Both were certainlyworth hearing and are by coincidencepart of the Society’s 2018/19 lectureprogramme. An introduction to thedevelopment of Bishop’s Stortfordalso contained much of interest withits overview of the changes to thelocation of the river crossing and thetown’s street pattern. And then therewas Mark Landon’s talk about theextensive Iron Age coin mould discov-eries at Braughing. These are impor-

tant for our understanding of thedevelopment of coinage at this time.Quirky stuff, to me anyway, but none-theless fascinating. Having to leaveearly, I missed Richard Mortimer’spresentation about Iron Age territorialboundaries: subsequent reports ofthis were excellent.

In general terms, what was noticeablewas how accessible the talks were tosomeone with my limited archaeolog-ical knowledge. There were few occa-sions during the day when mycomprehension was defeated byunexplained jargon for example.

Hearty congratulations to the organ-isers, Kris Lockyear and othermembers of the Welwyn Archaeolog-ical Society together with Chris Lyda-more and the museum team. Theorganisation was good, the venuewith its on-site parking was easy tofind and the IT/AV facilities fit forpurpose. For most of us the proposedlocation for the next conference willbe much closer to home: St Albans in2020.

Jon Mein

Pictures from the Summer Social

Photos courtesy of Andy Lawrence

Now that’s a view to have from yourback garden!

The former stable block withthe exit to Holywell Hill

(L-R) Liz Rolfe, Cllr Rosemary Farmer,Mayor of St Albans, Sandy Walkingtonand Kate Morris

Kate Morris describing the formerinhabitants of no. 3 High Street

august 2018 final 1a 100818 - st albans history · 2019. 5. 10. · ‘squatlife’ exhibition of...

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