Library news: February 2011
by Tony Cooper
At the time of writing, the library team is preparing an exhibition to be held in the library during Residents First weekend, January 29th and 30th, showing photographs of St Albans from the 1890s to the 1920s. These were taken by local photographer Stanley Kent, and taken from an album he presented to the Arc and Arc in the 1930s. The images to be shown are newly digitised and enlarged from the album photographs. Residents First weekend will almost certainly have passed by the time members will read this paragraph, and they may have missed the opportunity of seeing the exhibition. Do not despair: the images will be put up on the Arc and Arc website in due course.
The company Drivers Jonas Deloitte has recently given us photocopies of 19th century notices announcing auction sales by one of their ancestor companies, Messrs Driver, of properties in the St Albans area. We are very grateful for this gift. The notices fall into two groups. The first is concerned with land in the areas of Sleapshyde, Smallford Station, Colney Heath, and Welham green, all to be sold on 1st July 1914. They include several farms, meadow land and woodland, as well as building land, and plans of most of the sites are provided. The second group features properties to be sold in St Albans, Park Street, St Stephens, Napsbury, Abbott’s Langley, Ridge, and London Colney, for sale at various dates between 1812 and 1816, in 1837 and 1869. The properties include houses in St Albans, one of which, in the Abbey Orchard, is engagingly described as "cheerfully situated adjoining the borough town of St Albans". Among the others are Park Mill, Napsbury Farm, and the Colney House estate. The notice for the latter carries an illustration of the front of the house, floor plans of the ground and first floors, and plans of the estate, indicating ownership of adjoining properties.
A correspondent from Spain, David Payne, who presumably found the Arc and Arc via the website, wrote to tell us of his St Albans ancestors, who lived in Culver Road. His grandfather, Alfred Thomas Hopkins served in the Machine Gun Corps in the first World War, and was killed near Ypres in 1917. His death is recorded in the St Albans Roll of Honour, but it carries no further details. Mr Payne has provided those details in his letter, together with a map of the Jam Trench where Alfred died, a transcript of his officer’s report of the incident, a copy of the Herts Advertiser report of his death, and a copy of a photograph of Alfred, in uniform, with his wife and young children.
Mr Payne’s maternal forebears ran The Angel pub, Sleapshyde, and The Plough in Smallford, and he has provided a photograph of a family wedding group outside The Plough around 1919.
Other enquiries have concerned the origin of the name Smug Oak; St Peter’s church; a booklet on families of the Camp, now acquired for the library; and Sir Richard Raynshaw and his house in Spicer Street.
Books recently added to stock
English medieval graffiti,
by Violet Pritchard. Cambridge U.P. 1976. xii, 196 pp, illus. Graffiti in Hertfordshire sites are described and illustrated on pp 91-118.
Understanding the archaeology of landscapes: a guide to good recording practice.
English Heritage, 2007. 36 pp, plans, photos, illus.
Pint pot versus coffee pot: temperance in late Victorian St Albans,
by Jonathan Mein. 17pp, photos, diagrams, maps. The text of a presentation to the Arc and Arc in September 2010.
Poverty, old age and gender in nineteenth-century England: the case of Hertfordshire
By Nigel Goose. Continuity and Change, vol. 20, no 3, 2005,
pp. 351-384. Examines the relative incidence of poverty, with special reference to gender, and its treatment under the New Poor Law. (A journal article, but shelved as a book)
The Oxford Companion to family and local history,
edited by David Hey. 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, 2010. 661 pp.
The origins of Hertfordshire, by Tom Williamson.
2nd edition. Hatfield, Hertfordshire Publications, 2010.271 pp, maps, plans, illus. Expanded and revised from the first edition, taking into account new research and theories as to the history of Hertfordshire from late prehistoric times to the 13th century.
Children of the labouring poor: the working lives of children in nineteenth-century Hertfordshire,
by Eileen Wallace. Hatfield, Hertfordshire Publications, 2010.168 pp, illus, plans. The focus is on children working mainly in agriculture, straw-plaiting, paper-making, brick-making and chimney-sweeping. Conditions were comparable to those in Northern industrial towns.
"We have to deal with the farmers": episodes in the history of North Hertfordshire in the 19th and 20th centuries,
by Margaret Bowyer. Cambridge, EAH Press, 2010. 80pp, illus. Essays illustrating how national legislation was applied in practice by the lower tiers of government, in particular in education and agriculture.
St Albans historical map and brief guide.
St Albans Council, 1968. Folded map, with a chronology and notes on the more prominent buildings.
Hertfordshire places: an alphabetical finding aid for historical place-names in Hertfordshire,
compiled by Margaret Ward. H. Hertfordshire Family History Society (Special Publication no 7), 2008. 64pp.
Herbs: a comprehensive list of herbal remedies, and some brief notes on their adaptability to the treatment of common illnesses.
St Albans, Heath and Heather Ltd, 1925. 102 pp, illus.
Local history internet sites: a directory.
Compiled by Jacquelene Filmore. Ashbourne, British Association for Local History, 2010. 38pp. Lists 353 sites, with some detailed notes on additional recommended sites.
In search of St Alban,
by Simon Webb. Langley Press, 2010. 48pp, illus. The story of St Alban, set against the background of Roman Verulamium. Includes Bede’s version of the story from his Ecclesiastical History.
Hertfordshire gardens on Ermine Street,
by Hertfordshire Gardens Trust and Richard Bisgrove. The Trust, 1996. 32pp, illus, plans. The gardens lie along the line of the modern A10.
The remarkable trees of St Albans,
by Kate Bretherton. Redbourn, The Author, 2010. 242pp, illus. A celebration of trees in the St Albans district, with many fine photographs.
Tominey’s City Ices: ice-cream manufacturers of St Albans: an illustrated history,
by Sharon Tominey. The Author, 2010. 40pp, photos.
Recent journal articles
In Herts Past and Present Autumn 2010
pp 3-12 Lydia Hope’s inventory of paintings and Charles I’s art collection, by Sylvia Beare. Lydia Hope left 34 paintings on her death in 1691. Investigation shows that many of them came from King Charles I’s collection, sold in 1649.
pp 13-14 Some of Hertfordshire’s special trees, by Rachel Sanderson. Discusses Oxhey Woods, and some individual trees in Ashridge.
pp 15-21 The great Bed of Ware: a literary history, by David Perman.
pp 22-30 Property ownership in twelve Hertfordshire parishes in the nineteenth century, by Nigel Agar. Analysis of a sanitary inpector’s report on the Rural District of Hitchin 1877 shows evidence of social change, the decline of the squirearchy, and rise of property ownership by the middling classes.
In The Alban Link Autumn 2010
pp 4-5 The Ikon of Christ Pantocrator, by the Very Rev. Jeffrey John
pp 6-9 Abbots of the Abbey of St Alban: the role of post-Conquest abbots, by Sheila Green. An introduction to the abbot’s role, which also explains how they were elected.
pp 10-12 We’re ringing the changes, by Julia Low and Justin Cross. The Abbey bells have undergone a major restoration.
pp 13-15 A tale of two clocks, by Gail Thomas. There may be a link between a late 14th century clock in the Italian town of Chioggia and St Albans Abbey, where Abbot Richard of Wallingford’s clock had been designed 50 years earlier.
pp 16-19 Celebrating Matthew Paris, by Andrew and Gabriella Shepstone. Report of the Matthew Paris symposium held in February 2010.
In Current Archaeology October 2010
pp 37-41 Boudicca’s final battle, by Neil Faulkner. A trailer for a detailed article in the first issue of a new journal, Military Times. The second section discusses the archaeology of the Boudiccan revolt.
In Harpenden and District Local History Society Newsletter October 2010
pp 8-9 WW2 secret radio stations in Harpenden, by John Marlow. Report of a Society talk by Stan Ames, mentioning sites at Sandridge and Smallford.
pp 10-12 "The Onlooker", by Eric Brandreth. An account of a short-lived local journal.
pp 15-17 Hidden histories: slavery in Hertfordshire, by Joyce Bunting. Report of a talk by Llinos Thomas, which cites some examples of people of Afro-Caribbean descent present in Hertfordshire, and some of the people involved in the emancipation movement.
pp 21-23 The lost diaries of Sir John B Lawes, as researched by John Jenkyn and Roger Plumb, by John Jenkyn. The diaries and associated papers, covering the years 1847 to 1879, are concerned with administration of the Rothamsted estate and associated businesses.
In Current Archaeology December 2010
pp 12-19 Un-Roman attitudes: exposing the myth of Britannia, by Miles Russell and Stuart Laycock. Argues that Roman culture had less influence on Britain than is conventionally thought.
Journals received
British Archaeology
November/December 2010
Conservation Update
Hendon and District Archaeology Society Newsletter
issues for October, November and December 2010.
London Archaeologist
Autumn 2010
Independent Archaeology
October 2010
Hertfordshire People
December 2010
Current Archaeology
November 2010
The Local Historian
November 2010
Local History News
Autumn 2010
Bricket Wood Society Newsletter
December 2010