Margaret recalls that after building the Cottonmill Estate, St Julian’s was built. She said that there was no access to the estate other than by foot because of the cattle bridge in what is now Abbots Avenue. Over the cattle… More about ‘St Julian’s Estate – Margaret Brown’»
Category: Places and spaces
Shops and deliveries – Margaret Brown
Once there were four shops in Cottonmill Lane built when the Mentmore estate was constructed in 1938-9, two either side. Margaret shares her memories of them. She also recalls the delivery vans that called round selling all sorts of goods… More about ‘Shops and deliveries – Margaret Brown’»
Cottonmill Lane – Margaret Brown
Margaret Brown, born 1928, remembers Cottonmill Lane as being a narrow lane with footpaths, how it was mainly fields, and allotments with little or no access to other roads from the lane. For example, she remembers her mother telling her… More about ‘Cottonmill Lane – Margaret Brown’»
Sportsmans Hall and the stables in Cottonmill Lane – Margaret Brown
Margaret Brown continues her memories of Cottonmill Lane. She remembers the stables opposite the Nunnery ruins where horses and hounds were kept which would be where Nunnery Stables is now, She also remembers the man who looked after the horses… More about ‘Sportsmans Hall and the stables in Cottonmill Lane – Margaret Brown’»
Boleyn Drive – Margaret Brown
Margaret tells the story of when the Mentmore estate was built in 1938-39. It was built by Janes the builders of Luton. They stopped making up her road, Boleyn Drive, because of the war. It was an unmade road until… More about ‘Boleyn Drive – Margaret Brown’»
Sopwell Mill
In Cottonmill Lane almost opposite Priory Walk, there is a little track which leads down to Sopwell Mill Farm. The original mill on this site was probably one of the three St Albans mills referred to in the Domesday Book.… More about ‘Sopwell Mill’»
Betty Entwistle House/Eywood House
Betty Entwistle house, a local authority sheltered housing scheme in Holyrood Crescent, was constructed around 1975-76 and officially opened in 1977 with the planting of a tree. The photo below shows a local dignitary doing the planting. In the background… More about ‘Betty Entwistle House/Eywood House’»
Abbots Avenue Bridge
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’»
Prefabs – Tavistock Avenue
When Michelle Mackenzie’s Uncle Bill passed away in 2017, she discovered several photos of her uncle and his family: the Becketts, who lived in a prefab in Tavistock Avenue in the 1950s. Their prefab, number 106, must have been where… More about ‘Prefabs – Tavistock Avenue’»
Searchlight battery – Denis Mardel
Denis remembers during the war there being a searchlight battery behind Cottonmill Lane. He remembers the soldiers and the Nissen huts and the fenced in area with the searchlight which would have extended near where the bottom of his garden in… More about ‘Searchlight battery – Denis Mardel’»
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