River Bulbourne, Northchurch
River
Bulbourne
The Bulbourne flows south eastwards
Post to the north Northchurch
Post to the east Gossoms
Ashby Road
Home Farm. This was on the corner with Covert Road. Buildings on the site appear to be a conversation of stable and other building.
Bell Lane
Grim's Ditch. A 210m Long Section Immediately North West of Woodcock Hill
Northchurch Social Centre, run by The Northchurch and District Association. At a public meeting held by the Rector in 1962, it was agreed that a new hall was needed. Money was collected door to door and in 1965 the site was acquired and the centre built with the addition of grant money. Everyone over 18 in Northchurch and the Western part of Berkhampstead are automatically members.
Burial Ground. This was the site of a Baptist chapel built in 1840 which grew until by the late 1870s it has a schoolroom and vestry. It was demolished in 1920.
Bell Lane Cottages. Built in the 1920s-30s
Mechanics Institute, this was on the north corner with Alma Road. It was later known as the Technical School and built around 1902. During the war it was an evacuee’s boy’s school, housing some 150 boys.
Canalside
Industrial and trading area
Douglas Gardens
Lagley Meadows Recreation Ground
Sportspace
Durrants Lane
Durrants was one of the manorial holdings of Berkhampstead and this was a gated road up to 1914.
Woodcock Hill. The estate existed by the 19th and the house was built by Frank Moore in the late 1840s. In 1911 it was owned by Robert Mcvitie – who could get a direct train to his biscuit factory in Willesden
The Rookery
Coxes Dell. In the late 19th this was a small wood over an old chalk pit. A 17th owner was a Mr. Cock.
Grand Union Canal
Bushes Lock No 50. Also known as Awkward Billy Lock or Crooked Billet Lock
High Street
A4251 – this is the old A41 now bypassed to the south. It was previously part of the Sparrows Herne turnpike road but originally pre-Roman and Roman Akeman Street.
49 Northchurch Place
67 Northchurch Baptist Church. The church had been based in a chapel in Bell Lane which by the 1890s was too small. The present building was constructed in 1900 and a hall extension opened in 1987. In 2004, the congregation bought Cherry Tree Cottage next door.
69-73 17th houses in colour washed brick,
79 17th house. Roughcast
80 Rectory
84 - 96 North Church Almshouses or Church Houses. They are 15th or 16th timber framed buildings with an over sailing 1st floor and colour washed brick nogging. There is also a Churchyard wing which is later with 19th bargeboards
87 Saint George and the Dragon Public House. Part of late 16th timber framed house on the east side with framework exposed. Joined on the west side by an 18th brick house. Said to be haunted by one of the ex-regulars. The pub has an extant Benskins Brewery plaque by the door.
126 Rosemary Cottage. 16th or early 17th. Timber framed brick house. Once called Morris's Farm.
127 Exhims. House in brown brick. Considerable extensions at the back, now Exhims Mews
144 Old Grey Mare Pub, this has been demolished and replaced by a block of flats called Barnet House. The sign board remains outside
St.Mary’s Church. The parish church has a Saxon origin and is one of the oldest churches in Hertfordshire. There are Saxon remains in the south and west walls and flint wall extensions were built before the 14th centuries. It is thought that the nearness of the Danelaw boundary led to the Saxon building being reinforced in stone with one single entrance. A stone-faced tower was added in the 15th with a stair turret and in the 1880s an, aisle, vestries and a porch. The octagonal font and piscina are 15th and there is a 14th chest. A brass tablet in the church commemorates Peter the Wild Boy. A white ensign in the church was presented when the war memorial was dedicated.
Churchyard. A gravestone of Peter the Wild Boy. War Memorial. This was an early dedication and some names are duplicated on the Berkhampstead memorial as parish boundaries had changed. In the early 1960’s a crack was found and to preserve the names inscribed on the memorial's base it was decided to remove the cross and re-erect it on a new base. The original base remains but was moved nearer the churchyard wall
Northchurch Hall. Brick and timber house, once a farm-house, enlarged in 1760 by William Duncombe. It appears to have disappeared in the early 1960s and replaced with terraced housing.
Durrants Farm - site of farm which replaced the manorial holding of Durrants
New Road
St. Marys Church of England School. The school is adjacent to the church dates from 1864. It was built on land given by Earl Brownlow of the nearby Ashridge Estate and extended in the 20th.
Church Hall, alongside and accessed via the school.
North Bridge Road
Industrial and Trading Estate
Berkhampstead Waste Disposal and Recycling Facility
Northchurch
Northchurch is thought to be an older settlement than Berkhampstead but that the focus of the area moved eastwards after the castle was built. It has been known as Berkhampstead St.Mary
Railway
Northchurch tunnel. 355 yard long, built in the 1830s on the London and Birmingham Railway. It now forms part of the West Coast mainline.
Sources
British Listed Buildings. Web site.
Ancient Monuments Info. Web site
Dacorum Council. Web site
Hertfordshire Churches
Hertfordshire County Council. Web site
Northchurch Baptist Church. Web site
St. Marys Church of England School. Web site
The Bulbourne flows south eastwards
Post to the north Northchurch
Post to the east Gossoms
Ashby Road
Home Farm. This was on the corner with Covert Road. Buildings on the site appear to be a conversation of stable and other building.
Bell Lane
Grim's Ditch. A 210m Long Section Immediately North West of Woodcock Hill
Northchurch Social Centre, run by The Northchurch and District Association. At a public meeting held by the Rector in 1962, it was agreed that a new hall was needed. Money was collected door to door and in 1965 the site was acquired and the centre built with the addition of grant money. Everyone over 18 in Northchurch and the Western part of Berkhampstead are automatically members.
Burial Ground. This was the site of a Baptist chapel built in 1840 which grew until by the late 1870s it has a schoolroom and vestry. It was demolished in 1920.
Bell Lane Cottages. Built in the 1920s-30s
Mechanics Institute, this was on the north corner with Alma Road. It was later known as the Technical School and built around 1902. During the war it was an evacuee’s boy’s school, housing some 150 boys.
Canalside
Industrial and trading area
Douglas Gardens
Lagley Meadows Recreation Ground
Sportspace
Durrants Lane
Durrants was one of the manorial holdings of Berkhampstead and this was a gated road up to 1914.
Woodcock Hill. The estate existed by the 19th and the house was built by Frank Moore in the late 1840s. In 1911 it was owned by Robert Mcvitie – who could get a direct train to his biscuit factory in Willesden
The Rookery
Coxes Dell. In the late 19th this was a small wood over an old chalk pit. A 17th owner was a Mr. Cock.
Grand Union Canal
Bushes Lock No 50. Also known as Awkward Billy Lock or Crooked Billet Lock
High Street
A4251 – this is the old A41 now bypassed to the south. It was previously part of the Sparrows Herne turnpike road but originally pre-Roman and Roman Akeman Street.
49 Northchurch Place
67 Northchurch Baptist Church. The church had been based in a chapel in Bell Lane which by the 1890s was too small. The present building was constructed in 1900 and a hall extension opened in 1987. In 2004, the congregation bought Cherry Tree Cottage next door.
69-73 17th houses in colour washed brick,
79 17th house. Roughcast
80 Rectory
84 - 96 North Church Almshouses or Church Houses. They are 15th or 16th timber framed buildings with an over sailing 1st floor and colour washed brick nogging. There is also a Churchyard wing which is later with 19th bargeboards
87 Saint George and the Dragon Public House. Part of late 16th timber framed house on the east side with framework exposed. Joined on the west side by an 18th brick house. Said to be haunted by one of the ex-regulars. The pub has an extant Benskins Brewery plaque by the door.
126 Rosemary Cottage. 16th or early 17th. Timber framed brick house. Once called Morris's Farm.
127 Exhims. House in brown brick. Considerable extensions at the back, now Exhims Mews
144 Old Grey Mare Pub, this has been demolished and replaced by a block of flats called Barnet House. The sign board remains outside
St.Mary’s Church. The parish church has a Saxon origin and is one of the oldest churches in Hertfordshire. There are Saxon remains in the south and west walls and flint wall extensions were built before the 14th centuries. It is thought that the nearness of the Danelaw boundary led to the Saxon building being reinforced in stone with one single entrance. A stone-faced tower was added in the 15th with a stair turret and in the 1880s an, aisle, vestries and a porch. The octagonal font and piscina are 15th and there is a 14th chest. A brass tablet in the church commemorates Peter the Wild Boy. A white ensign in the church was presented when the war memorial was dedicated.
Churchyard. A gravestone of Peter the Wild Boy. War Memorial. This was an early dedication and some names are duplicated on the Berkhampstead memorial as parish boundaries had changed. In the early 1960’s a crack was found and to preserve the names inscribed on the memorial's base it was decided to remove the cross and re-erect it on a new base. The original base remains but was moved nearer the churchyard wall
Northchurch Hall. Brick and timber house, once a farm-house, enlarged in 1760 by William Duncombe. It appears to have disappeared in the early 1960s and replaced with terraced housing.
Durrants Farm - site of farm which replaced the manorial holding of Durrants
New Road
St. Marys Church of England School. The school is adjacent to the church dates from 1864. It was built on land given by Earl Brownlow of the nearby Ashridge Estate and extended in the 20th.
Church Hall, alongside and accessed via the school.
North Bridge Road
Industrial and Trading Estate
Berkhampstead Waste Disposal and Recycling Facility
Northchurch
Northchurch is thought to be an older settlement than Berkhampstead but that the focus of the area moved eastwards after the castle was built. It has been known as Berkhampstead St.Mary
Railway
Northchurch tunnel. 355 yard long, built in the 1830s on the London and Birmingham Railway. It now forms part of the West Coast mainline.
Sources
British Listed Buildings. Web site.
Ancient Monuments Info. Web site
Dacorum Council. Web site
Hertfordshire Churches
Hertfordshire County Council. Web site
Northchurch Baptist Church. Web site
St. Marys Church of England School. Web site
Comments