River Bulbourne Boxmoor
River
Bulbourne
The Bulbourne flows east and south eastwards
TL 04609 06364
Area to the south of Hemel Hempstead with much of the land run since the 17th century as a trust for local people. The Grand Union Canal parallels the Bulbourne and there are pubs and the remains of older industry.
Post to the east The Magic Roundabout
Post to the west Chauldon
Post to the south Roughdown
Anchor Lane
Anchor pub. Used to have a lump of Hertfordshire pudding stone outside. The pub was very small with no bar
Anchor Brewery. It was owned by Nash, and was sold Imperial Stout, and Fine India Pale Ale
Beechfield Road
Anchor Pub. The Anchor pub was built near its predecessor around 1955 and changed its name to the Leinster. It is now closed
Cowper Road
Houses built 1914
Boxmoor Primary School
Crouchfield Road
The area’s traditional name is Crouchfield and that was taken up by the Development Corporation for a section of the New Town
Fishery Passage
This footpath runs diagonally through the urban area from the Fishery Inn to St.John’s Road at its junction with Anchor Lane – of which it is effectively a continuation
Fishery Road.
Bridge over the canal. A balustraded bridge of 1927 is said to have been demolished for road widening in 1969
Fishery Moor. This was once called Harrison's Moor, It is an old flood meadow with a variety of marshland flowers including lady's smock or cuckoo flower and lady's mantle
Willow grown along the canal is used to make into cricket bats. Trees are harvested at about 15-20 years old.
Watercress beds. These are said to have been owned successively by Hollick and then Draper
Fishery Inn. This pub is alongside the canal bridge. In the early 19th it was owned by John Groome’s King's Langley Brewery which was sold to Benskins in 1897.
Fishery Stores were alongside the pub and sold grocerties to boatmen. It closed in the 1980s
Fishery Cottages. This lay north of the pub and back from the road. Subject to flooding and demolished. Flats in River Park are on the site.
8 Forge Cottage is roughly on the site of a smithy which was north of the pub in the late 19th
Boxmoor Trout Fishery. The lake was excavated in the 1970s after the land had been bought by local residents, to stop it being developed. A great deal of puddingstone was found. The lake is ‘spring fed’ from artesian wells dug to supply the watercress beds. The lake flows into the Bulbourne via a small weir which also controls the flow
Cottage from 19th on the south side of the lake which was housing for watercress workers
Yew Tree Court. Flats on the site of an earlier forge and engineering works
3-5 Plaque saying “EC 1839”
Grand Union Canal
Fishery Lock
Tumbling Bay alongside the lock, There is also the remains of the children's paddling pool built in an old watercress bed.
Kodak boat club moorings,
Fishery Bridge
Station Road Bridge
The River Bulbourne crosses under the canal
Gravel Hill Terrace
29 Hall and Meeting Room
Green End Road
30 Green End Dell. 17th house in colour washed brick with some weatherboarding and timber frame.
Grapes Pub
St. Marys Dominican Convent
Greenend House. 19th Neo-classical brick house. On mid-19th maps this is marked as “Greenend Farm”
St. Rose’s RC Voluntary Aided Infants School was opened in April 1967. The Dominican Sisters built it and taught there until 2003. A Nursery Class was set up in 1976.
Horsecroft Road
81 Boxmoor Social Club founded 1891 for men and boys in St.John's Road and later moved here. The building was St John’s Parish Rooms owned by the Church. The Social Club purchased the building in 1930
St Mary and St Joseph's Catholic Church Hall. This was opened in 2003
Kingsland Road
23 warehousing and industrial site.
London Road
The Mallard. Pub with one of these chain restaurants attached. The pub us on the same site as Railway Tavern which had once been called the Barley Mow. It was for a while La Mirage night club.
Site of a Roman building west of Station Approach. This may have been a villa.
Northridge Way
Bourne Methodist Church. Bourne opened in 1959 to replace the older church at Boxmoor. It is now closed and the site is to be redeveloped.
Puller Road
Post Office Arms Pub
River Park
Flats on the site of Foster’s Saw Mill. The mill dated to the 18th, when it was a shoe and clog factory on the Bulbourne. In the 1790s it was noted as ‘Mr Aubrey’s New Mill’. It was also used as a flour mill and by Dickinsons for rag beating. In 1850 it was owned by Henry Foster. Later it became a steam mills using a Vernon and Guest’ single-cylinder engine which is now preserved at Bressingham. In 1930, it was taken over by J. W. Ward of Bourne as a saw mill. In the Great War ammunition boxes were made there. It was burnt down and demolished in 1967
Sebright Road
Named after Sir John Sebright who founded the local infirmary, Cheere House, in 1831
Station Road
Bulbourne Bridge. The original concrete bridge was built in 1906 and replaced in 1997.
Station Moor. This belongs to the Boxmoor Trust.
Horse Chestnut Avenue. this avenue of trees was planted in 1902 for the coronation of Edward VII.
St.John's Road
Blackbirds Moor was bought by the Boxmoor Trust in 1844. It is used by Boxmoor Cricket Club and by visiting fairs and circuses. the Trust holds a Conker Festival there. This area once contained Star Cottages named for an adjacent pub. demolished in 1933. There was also a rope walk here.
Primitive Methodist Chapel. A meeting-place at Crouchfield is mentioned in the 1851 Ecclesiastical Census and in 1858 it was part of the St Albans Mission. In 1869 work began on a chapel close to the junction with Cowper Road. It was in brick, and had a room used as a Sunday school. In 1870 when it joined the Berkhamsted Circuit. It remained in use until 1959 when Bourne Methodist Church opened. The site is now a row of garages behind shops
St. Mary and St.Joseph Roman Catholic church opened 1898 – but masses had been said in a local cottage since 1893.
Three Blackbirds. A pub which dates from around 1760. It was on a main road and is said to have been used by the highwaymen which are shown in pictures on display. An old bakers oven was once found there
Steam Coach pub. Celebrates a steam powered coach which the son of Joseph Cranstone, the local engineer and local inventor built and drove to London, crashing it on the return journey.
Churchill House. Earlier this was called The Heath and had been built c. 1830. In 1934 it was bought by the Borough and used as a child welfare centre. It was demolished in the late 1960s for the Dacorum Sports Centre.
Thorne Close
New development on a backlands industrial site – possibly a coal yard
Wharf Road
This appears to have been built on the site of a gravel pit, a chalk pit and a kiln used in a brickfield
Woodland Avenue
Anglican Convent of St Mary and the Angels. This was opened in 1928 and closed in 2003
Woodlands Close
Scout Hut
Sources
Bennetts End Baptist Church. Web site
Boxmoor Social Club. Web site
Boxmoor Trout Fishery. Web site
Boxmoor Trust.. Web site
Careybaptistshemel. Web site
Dacorum History Digest. Web site
Hemel Today. Web site
Hertfordshire Genealogy. Web site
My Primitive Methodist Chapel. Web site
National Archive. Web site
Nobbs. A walk along the canal towpath
Pub History. Web site
The Bulbourne flows east and south eastwards
TL 04609 06364
Area to the south of Hemel Hempstead with much of the land run since the 17th century as a trust for local people. The Grand Union Canal parallels the Bulbourne and there are pubs and the remains of older industry.
Post to the east The Magic Roundabout
Post to the west Chauldon
Post to the south Roughdown
Anchor Lane
Anchor pub. Used to have a lump of Hertfordshire pudding stone outside. The pub was very small with no bar
Anchor Brewery. It was owned by Nash, and was sold Imperial Stout, and Fine India Pale Ale
Beechfield Road
Anchor Pub. The Anchor pub was built near its predecessor around 1955 and changed its name to the Leinster. It is now closed
Cowper Road
Houses built 1914
Boxmoor Primary School
Crouchfield Road
The area’s traditional name is Crouchfield and that was taken up by the Development Corporation for a section of the New Town
Fishery Passage
This footpath runs diagonally through the urban area from the Fishery Inn to St.John’s Road at its junction with Anchor Lane – of which it is effectively a continuation
Fishery Road.
Bridge over the canal. A balustraded bridge of 1927 is said to have been demolished for road widening in 1969
Fishery Moor. This was once called Harrison's Moor, It is an old flood meadow with a variety of marshland flowers including lady's smock or cuckoo flower and lady's mantle
Willow grown along the canal is used to make into cricket bats. Trees are harvested at about 15-20 years old.
Watercress beds. These are said to have been owned successively by Hollick and then Draper
Fishery Inn. This pub is alongside the canal bridge. In the early 19th it was owned by John Groome’s King's Langley Brewery which was sold to Benskins in 1897.
Fishery Cottages. This lay north of the pub and back from the road. Subject to flooding and demolished. Flats in River Park are on the site.
8 Forge Cottage is roughly on the site of a smithy which was north of the pub in the late 19th
Boxmoor Trout Fishery. The lake was excavated in the 1970s after the land had been bought by local residents, to stop it being developed. A great deal of puddingstone was found. The lake is ‘spring fed’ from artesian wells dug to supply the watercress beds. The lake flows into the Bulbourne via a small weir which also controls the flow
Cottage from 19th on the south side of the lake which was housing for watercress workers
Yew Tree Court. Flats on the site of an earlier forge and engineering works
3-5 Plaque saying “EC 1839”
Grand Union Canal
Fishery Lock
Tumbling Bay alongside the lock, There is also the remains of the children's paddling pool built in an old watercress bed.
Kodak boat club moorings,
Fishery Bridge
Station Road Bridge
The River Bulbourne crosses under the canal
Gravel Hill Terrace
29 Hall and Meeting Room
Green End Road
30 Green End Dell. 17th house in colour washed brick with some weatherboarding and timber frame.
Grapes Pub
St. Marys Dominican Convent
Greenend House. 19th Neo-classical brick house. On mid-19th maps this is marked as “Greenend Farm”
St. Rose’s RC Voluntary Aided Infants School was opened in April 1967. The Dominican Sisters built it and taught there until 2003. A Nursery Class was set up in 1976.
Horsecroft Road
81 Boxmoor Social Club founded 1891 for men and boys in St.John's Road and later moved here. The building was St John’s Parish Rooms owned by the Church. The Social Club purchased the building in 1930
St Mary and St Joseph's Catholic Church Hall. This was opened in 2003
Kingsland Road
23 warehousing and industrial site.
London Road
The Mallard. Pub with one of these chain restaurants attached. The pub us on the same site as Railway Tavern which had once been called the Barley Mow. It was for a while La Mirage night club.
Site of a Roman building west of Station Approach. This may have been a villa.
Northridge Way
Bourne Methodist Church. Bourne opened in 1959 to replace the older church at Boxmoor. It is now closed and the site is to be redeveloped.
Puller Road
Post Office Arms Pub
River Park
Flats on the site of Foster’s Saw Mill. The mill dated to the 18th, when it was a shoe and clog factory on the Bulbourne. In the 1790s it was noted as ‘Mr Aubrey’s New Mill’. It was also used as a flour mill and by Dickinsons for rag beating. In 1850 it was owned by Henry Foster. Later it became a steam mills using a Vernon and Guest’ single-cylinder engine which is now preserved at Bressingham. In 1930, it was taken over by J. W. Ward of Bourne as a saw mill. In the Great War ammunition boxes were made there. It was burnt down and demolished in 1967
Sebright Road
Named after Sir John Sebright who founded the local infirmary, Cheere House, in 1831
Station Road
Bulbourne Bridge. The original concrete bridge was built in 1906 and replaced in 1997.
Station Moor. This belongs to the Boxmoor Trust.
Horse Chestnut Avenue. this avenue of trees was planted in 1902 for the coronation of Edward VII.
St.John's Road
Blackbirds Moor was bought by the Boxmoor Trust in 1844. It is used by Boxmoor Cricket Club and by visiting fairs and circuses. the Trust holds a Conker Festival there. This area once contained Star Cottages named for an adjacent pub. demolished in 1933. There was also a rope walk here.
Primitive Methodist Chapel. A meeting-place at Crouchfield is mentioned in the 1851 Ecclesiastical Census and in 1858 it was part of the St Albans Mission. In 1869 work began on a chapel close to the junction with Cowper Road. It was in brick, and had a room used as a Sunday school. In 1870 when it joined the Berkhamsted Circuit. It remained in use until 1959 when Bourne Methodist Church opened. The site is now a row of garages behind shops
St. Mary and St.Joseph Roman Catholic church opened 1898 – but masses had been said in a local cottage since 1893.
Three Blackbirds. A pub which dates from around 1760. It was on a main road and is said to have been used by the highwaymen which are shown in pictures on display. An old bakers oven was once found there
Steam Coach pub. Celebrates a steam powered coach which the son of Joseph Cranstone, the local engineer and local inventor built and drove to London, crashing it on the return journey.
Churchill House. Earlier this was called The Heath and had been built c. 1830. In 1934 it was bought by the Borough and used as a child welfare centre. It was demolished in the late 1960s for the Dacorum Sports Centre.
Thorne Close
New development on a backlands industrial site – possibly a coal yard
Wharf Road
This appears to have been built on the site of a gravel pit, a chalk pit and a kiln used in a brickfield
Woodland Avenue
Anglican Convent of St Mary and the Angels. This was opened in 1928 and closed in 2003
Woodlands Close
Scout Hut
Sources
Bennetts End Baptist Church. Web site
Boxmoor Social Club. Web site
Boxmoor Trout Fishery. Web site
Boxmoor Trust.. Web site
Careybaptistshemel. Web site
Dacorum History Digest. Web site
Hemel Today. Web site
Hertfordshire Genealogy. Web site
My Primitive Methodist Chapel. Web site
National Archive. Web site
Nobbs. A walk along the canal towpath
Pub History. Web site
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