In 1948, the council tried to get a bus service installed on the Cottonmill estate but the London Transport Executive said they were unable to do so because of the state of the roads leading to the estate. It was… More about ‘Abbots Avenue Bridge’»
Posts Tagged: Herts Advertiser
Murder at London Road station
This post is based on an article from the Herts Advertiser and kindly transcribed by Derek Roft. When the now disused St Albans to Hatfield branch line opened on October 1865 the Herts Mercury reported. “The first train started at half… More about ‘Murder at London Road station’»
Fire at Sopwell Nunnery Farm
As reported at length in Sopwell: a history and collection of memories (Appendix 1), a fire was started deliberately in a corrugated iron shed stacked with waste paper in the area near the ruins called Sopwell Nunnery farm. This was… More about ‘Fire at Sopwell Nunnery Farm’»
Lydia Lightfoot of Holywell Hill
Lydia Lightfoot was born in St Albans in 1875. Her father was George Lightfoot born in 1844 in St Albans and christened at St Peter Church. He started out as a labourer to a bricklayer eventually becoming a builder in later… More about ‘Lydia Lightfoot of Holywell Hill’»
Rescuing the Holy Well – Brian Welch
In the 1980s, the playing field land south of Belmont Hill was set aside for development. There were plans to build a hotel on the site but there was no mention of the Holy Well in the plans. This led… More about ‘Rescuing the Holy Well – Brian Welch’»
Doing a paper round – Val Goodyear-Burrow
In the years after the war, many children were made to do jobs to earn pocket money. Many of the jobs were for their parents e.g. collecting coke from the gasworks on a Saturday morning. Children had to be at… More about ‘Doing a paper round – Val Goodyear-Burrow’»
Sopwell House and New Barnes Mill – Mary Myers
Mary was born in 1929 and lived in New House Park. She recalls the Barnett family who lived in Sopwell House, previously called Sopwell Manor, and how Lady Aileen Barnett was frequently caught speeding. She remembers picking mushrooms, the ice… More about ‘Sopwell House and New Barnes Mill – Mary Myers’»
Prefabs in Sopwell
The years following Word War 2 saw the building of thousands of prefabricated dwellings all over Britain. Familiarly called prefabs, they provided homes for returning servicemen and their families. Many of them were built in Sopwell and some of them… More about ‘Prefabs in Sopwell’»
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