Old Hatfield
Arm and Sword Lane
Lane
running down from the Great North Road past pub car park. Was once called ‘Blood and Gut Alley’ or ‘Bug Alley’ because of a
slaughterhouse there. The road continues under the viaduct built to enable Lord
Salisbury to access the Railway station.
Viaduct
villas
Batterdale
Batterdale
House. 18th house, demolished
Triangle
House. This originally belonged to a tanner and there was an adjacent tan yard.
Later a doctor’s surgery. Demolished.
Convent. In 1925 Carmelite nuns built a convent on the
site of the old Hatfield Brewery in Batterdale, by the railway station, and
remained there until 1938
Hatfield
Brewery. The Searancke family are the earliest own local brewers from the late
17th. In 1815 it was sold to Joseph Bigg but by 1819 was acquired by
Joseph Field. By the 1830s it owned forty pubs and produced more than 7,600
barrels annually”. By the 1830s it was owned by the Pryor family, local
Quakers. They had maltsters in Baldock and some of the family were partners in
Truman, Hanbury and Buxton. The company was, Pryor, Reid & Co. Ltd. it
expanded substantially taking over other local breweries. It closed in 1920.
Waters,
The site of the brewery was acquired by W Waters & Co. who built their
garage in a prominent position on the bend at the bottom of Brewery Hill –
roughly covering Salisbury Square
Maltings. Hatfield brewery owners the Searancke family
had two maltings in Batterdale. One was later passed to the Hare family
Fire
station. In 1900 the old Fire Engine House was
sold to the Great Northern Railway and a new building was erected in Batterdale
Church hall. The original
church on the site, dedicated to The Blessed Sacrament and St.Teresa. It is now
the hall for
Marychurch. It was built 1929-30.
William Burgess clock making business. This was sited on the corner
with London Road and closed 1920s. Later undertakers and bark and wood business
Beaconsfield Road
The
line of the road was originally called Beaconsfield Terrace built in 1898 but
the recent layout dates from 1970.
Road
with industrial units between it and the railway which are built on the site of
old sidings. These have included
woodworking, printing, engineering, heating and ventilating, tool making.
Housing on the west side all removed.
This
area was once known as Puttocks Oak and Whitewash Alley – some of this area is
in the square to the north,
Rising
Sun pub. When the railway was first built a level crossing was provide to from
here to the Red Lion in the Great North Road
Police
cottages – there were six police cottages next to the Rising Sun. They were
demolished in bombing in 1944.
Broadway
The
road name ‘Broadway’ seems to date from ‘regeneration’ of the mid 20th.
Before that this was part of the Great North Road or London Road entering
Hatfield from the south. The construction
of the present A1000 road, which by passes the town centre, meant that his could
become an urban side road. It leads from
a roundabout on the A1000 to a junction with Fore Street and Park Street. It
passes Marychurch which fronts onto Salisbury Square.
15 The Salisbury Restaurant. Now Offices. Bolt by the 3rd Marquess of
Salisbury in 1885 with a large public hall on the first floor. Later it became
a Temperance Hotel – marked as this is nth in 1891 census and only appears on
maps marked as a ‘pub’ in the 1930s. After the Second World War it became a restaurant,
since closed
Dray
House pub. This was next to the Salisbury. Prints show it as a free standing
timber building
London
Road (National) School was built by public subscription in 1850. It was located
just south of the junction with French Horn Lane. It was initially for girls and infants but
boys came here after 1854, but in 1904 boys moved to Endymion Road. In 1913,
the infants moved to a building in Church Street and in 1924, the girls also
moved to Endymion Road. The London Road building was then used for adult
education and as a library and was sold in 1935. The building remained, in
industrial use into the 1960s but was then demolished,
1-5
K.C.V. Precision Tool Co. They used the old London Road school building.
One
Bell pub. This was at the bottom of Fore Street on the corner with Broadway
Archway leading to Jacobs Ladder.
Old Workhouse Yard. Site of Salisbury Square.
William Waters’s car and bicycle repair shop 1900s.
James Gray. Coach builder
and motor repair works 1900s. This had grown from a wheelwright in the 1850s
and a new building was on the site from 1886.
On the east side of the road it crossed to over and by 1994 was part of
diamonds rover. Both premises have been demolished
Church Street
This
used to be called Back Street
Jacobs Ladder – this old staircase emerges here having come down
from the original and older Salisbury Square
4 The Bakers Arms. In 1850 it was owned by the Newtown
Brewery who ran a bakers and a beer shop here. It was acquired by the Hatfield
Brewery in the 1890’s and later by Beskins. In 1904 there was growing concern
about the great number of public houses in the town, and In 1928 seven licences
were refused in Old Hatfield, the Bakers Arms was one. It is a private house.
Two
Brewers pub. It was here until the 1880s when it was replaced by the rectory
42b
National Map Centre. Partner of OS.
Wesleyan Methodist Chapel. In 1851 5
members held services in an old cow shed adjacent to the Two Brewers Pub. By
1864 there were 18 members and they moved to a new site
St Ethedreda's Church Hall - a
building which was originally Countess Anne's School. In
1732 the Countess Anne of Salisbury founded a charity school for the education
of forty girls. In the 1870s the school moved into this building and stayed
until 1912. In 1913, the infants moved here from London Road. School. It is red brick with stepped buttresses.
Cranbourne Road
On the route of a path through allotments going to the station
Endymion Road
Schools.
In the 1880s The London Road School was
over-crowded and in 1904 a new building was opened here for the boys only.
Before 1910 however it was called St Audrey’s. In 1924, the girls as came here
and it became a mixed school. New buildings were added and the school expanded.
In 1944 it was destroyed by bombing. In 1946 it was built as a Secondary Modern
under the new Act and the County Council took it over as a Controlled School. The new St. Audrey’s Secondary Modem
School was formally opened by the Minister of Education on 26th July 1946,
being the first new school to be built in the country after the Second World War. In 1957 the school moved out and these buildings
became the Broadoak Primary School, then it became the Onslow School - which in
the 1970s was on both sides of the road. It is now the Countess Anne ‘Academy’
School with an address in School Lane
Hatfield
Polytechnic. This was in the Onslow School building on the east side of the
road and included the National Reprographic Centre. The site is now housing
Fore Street
This once led up from the Salisbury Arms to the old parish church on the
hill and to the gate of the Old Palace. It was part of the Great North Road,
used by traffic going from London to Edinburgh and all points in between
Fore Street Gatehouse, Lodge at Hatfield House entrance. It includes a porter's lodge and two cottages. It is
in red brick and was part of the entrance to Bishop
Morton's Palace, c1480 with 17th and 19th additions. In the wall is an Edward VII post-box.
10 East Indian Chief Pub. This is now a private house. In the 18th it was named The
Roebuck and then the Nags Head, later it was the Marquis of Granby and then the
Full Measure. It was the Indian Chief by 1855
12 Church Office. There is a letter box set into the wall.
11 This was a butcher’s shop 1940's - 1960's. Hooks for
hanging the carcasses remain under the window eaves.
42 Crown House. Originally part of The Rose & Crown Public House dated 1495
Wrought-iron gates. It is said that once one of the seven pairs of
gates, made in Sussex in 1710, which once enclosed St Paul's churchyard in
London were here.
French Horn Lane
Section
west of the railway
The
section west of the railway was a new road built in 1970 through allotments
while the old line of the road became a cul de sac. The line of the ‘new’ French Horn Lane is a
featureless main road and runs under the railway to the roundabout on the Great
North Road from which The Broadway goes into Old Hatfield.
10
site of old Rectory, latterly Howe Dell School run on self expression
principles.
Manfield
and Berner Maltings. These were immediately before the old railway bridge. Later
replaced by houses and now demolished.
Railway
Bridge. 1893 Railway Bridge removed in
1970. The old bridge was on the line of the pedestrian underpass.
Wesleyan
chapel built 1889 and closed in 1938. It then became a furniture store. Demolished 1968 in order for the new roundabout
and railway bridge to be built,
Herts
Militia Buildings,
Walter’s
Garage Workshops
Great North Road
The
present Great North Road is the A1000 built as a bypass to the town centre. The
previous road north from London ran through the centre of Hatfield – now
Broadway and Park Street. The road south
of Batterdale was earlier ‘London Road’
Hertford
Conservative Association offices.
Demolished,
Public hall, 1910. Built
by Lord Salisbury. Silent movies and also originally a public library Regent cinema opened in the mid 1930s. Taking over from the old Public Hall opposite the
railway station. By 1970 it was a dual use cinema and bingo
club, The Curzon. Lager as Chequers Bingo, since closed. Demolished.
52 Priory House. May have been a pub demolished. Opened 1605 and then 1696. Called
the Green Man and later The White Lion.
Searanake Brewery and the Bradshaws,
54 Great Northern PH - formerly the Hatfield Arms and before
that the Great Northern Hotel and before that Duoro Arms. ‘Old railway workers
pub’.
Hatfield Station. This
lies between Welwyn Garden City and Wenham Green on the Great Northern Railway
and Thameslink, It opened in 1850. It once served two other lines – the branch line to Dunstable Town closed in 1965 and the railway to St.Alban's
Abbey, opened 185 and closed in 1951. The station is a red
brick box building from 1973, architect.
Hardy of British Railways Eastern Region. This was a much earlier
station. Private waiting room for Marquess of Salisbury. In 2015 it had a bus interchange and taxi rank, refurbished ticket office,
three new shops and step-free access to all platforms.
51 Encore House
61 GE Healthcare, offices,
research and development, Life Care Solutions
& Ultrasound Education
Entrance gates to Hatfield House and Park. Late C19, gates, listed grade II, with low,
curved brick walls. There are two carriage entrances, flanked by piers with stone
lions and separated iron screen with the statue of the Marquess of Salisbury who
built this gateway to provide access to the station. From here the drive goes on
an embankment and over a bridge above the village street to the park entrance
to the park.
Salisbury Statue. Bronze seated statue of Robert Arthur
Talbot, Third Marquess of Salisbury, 1830-1903, He was three
times Prime Minister. Sculpture by G Frampton R.A., 1906. Stone base with Salisbury
coat of arms and inscription.
Hatfield War memorial. This is next to the
gates to Hatfield House, donated by Lord Salisbury. It commemorates 139 local
servicemen who died in the Great World War and in 1921. The names are also
recorded of those who died in air raids. It is in a garden enclosed by a
clipped yew hedge and a wall. The Portland stone memorial cross is a wheel-head
cross and there is a pavilion designed to provide shelter for visitors by Frederic
Kenyon in 1918. There are inscriptions: “We will remember them 1939 – 1945/ (44
names)’ ... Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory mcmxiv – mcmxix/
(names) .... We will remember them 1939 – 1945/ (15 names)/ victims of enemy
action on 3rd October 1940/ (21 names)/ victims of enemy action on 22nd September
1944/ (4 names)/ victims of enemy action on 10th October 1944/ (9 names)
Northcotts House. School
run by Rev. Benjamin Peile, Curate of Hatfield in 1838 and closed around
1860. Later used as Hatfield Red Cross hospital in the Great War donated by
Lord Salisbury. Home guard
centre in the Second World War. It
was demolished in the 1970s to make way for a block of 25 flats also known as Northcotts.
London
Road School, This was near the corner with French Horn Lane. Later used by KCV
Precision Tool Co. Thus National School was built
by public subscription in 1850, It was initially for girls and infants but, in
1854, boys transferred to the school. From 1904, girls and infants only were in
thus premises. In 1907, the name was changed to Church of England Schools. In
1913, girls only remained and left in 1924. The building was then used classes,
adult education and a library. . It was eventually demolished as part of the
Hatfield New Town development.
Hatfield House
King Edgar presented 'Hetfelle' to the monastery of Ely and in 1086 Domesday 'Hetfelle was still theirs By the
early 12th it had become a residence for the bishops and Hatfield
was known as Bishops Hatfield.
The Old/Bishop’s Palace. A very early
brick palace was built 1480-49 by John Morton, Henry VII’s Archbishop. In 1538
the manor passed to the Crown and the palace became home to the royal children
- Mary, Elizabeth and Edward. Here Elizabeth
and Mary spent many years of their childhood, in virtual imprisonment. Elizabeth’s
first Privy Council took place in the great Hall. James I gave Robert Cecil
Hatfield in exchange for Theobalds and the estate remains with his descendants.
Cecil demolished most of Morton’s palace and built a new house. What remains of the old palace is a line of
buildings in red brick, with end gables and a central tower. Over the archway of the gatehouse are
ancient beams and a mullioned window. The west front has a square tower, and at
the end a stepped gable is surmounted by a twisted chimney. The great hall remains,
The House. In
1611, Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury built a Jacobean House adjoining the
Old Palace. It decorated for entertaining the Royal Court, with State Rooms with
paintings, fine furniture and tapestries. Examples of Jacobean craftsmanship include
the Grand Staircase and the stained glass window in the private chapel. The
south front, the wings, the central arcade, and the tower provide a vista. There
is a clock tower from the roof of the great hall, with an octagonal dome. The
hall rises to two floors and has spectacular carved screen. On the first floor
is a long gallery. The second Marquis of Salisbury, built terrace
gardens either side of the house and installed a maze, electric lighting, and
water gardens.
Gardens. Extensive
and complex gardens and park, created from medieval parks. Robert Cecil's
formal, early C17 gardens were created by designers including Thomas Chaundler
and Salomon de Caus, and planted by John Tradescant the elder, as head
gardener. The gardens were landscaped in the C18, but then remodelled and
extended in the C19 and C20 There Are original fountains, a
large relief of Queen Elizabeth I and a maze.
South approach. Thus
was the main entrance in the C17. It was aligned on the centre of the south
front. The road way goes to a lodge, 2km tithe south south of the House.
West Gardens, these formal
garden are overlooked by the C19 west terrace. The Privy Garden, bounded by a
lime walk, has the West Parterre. To the west of this the lower Scented Garden,
The Wilderness Garden extends south from these formal gardens, with the remains
of C19 wooded pleasure grounds.
East Gardens, terraced
gardens lead down a slope from the east front, a double flight of steps leads to
the east parterre, with a C20 kitchen garden, an orchard and the Mount Garden. A
flight of steps goes to the Maze Garden, and the Pool Garden, with swimming
pool ad yew hedges. Beyond this is the New Pond and Wild Garden, laid out in
the early C17
Maze 1840s, restored
mid/late C20#
Hatfield Park is made
up of several earlier parks, including Middle Park and Innings Park. The
central area around the House and gardens is pasture, with scattered trees.
Oak tree. The remains of an old oak tree, under which Princess
Elizabeth was reputably sitting when news was brought of her accession to the
throne after the death of Mary Tudor, are still preserved.
Old French Horn Lane
This
was diverted and partly closed in 1970. These
notes cover the original lane as well as the small section now there
Hatfield
Gas Works. Company established in 1860 by Lord Salisbury. In 1925 taken over by
the Welwyn and Hatfield Gas Co. This was on the south side of the road
immediately next to the railway. Now partly St.Ethelreds Drive.
Park Close
Built on the site of a Non-Conformist Cemetery. Gravestones
can still be seen at the far end
Park Meadow
Newish
housing on previous dairy farm land,
Park Street
This was previously
Duck Lane. Part
of the road is known locally as Brewery Hill
2 Eight Bells Inn. This claims to be the pub house mentioned in Oliver
Twist where Bill Sikes and his dog went after the murder of Nancy. It is low-roofed,
timber-framed 16th building with a 19th front.
Jacobs Well 19th pub. This was opposite the Horse
and Groom.
Park Street Chapel. Built 1823 the first nonconformist church
in Hatfield. In 1925 it was congregational. Demolished in the 1960s but some
gravestones remain
Butchers Arms. This was also opposite the Horse and Groom
21 Horse and Groom Pub. Grade public house it is based on a 17th or earlier timber frame with a later red brick casing. Still
in business! It stands at the end of the old Arm and Sword
Yard.
Salisbury Square
Basically
a car park, The original square was a double terrace of houses built for Sergeants of the Herts Militia. There was also a band room and an armoury and a communal pump. Hatfield was the headquarters of the militia 1852-1872. Demolished 1972.. The buildings on the west side follow the line of the old Great North
Road.
Marychurch,
RC. Planned in 1962 but built 1969-70. It was founded in 1930. Church designed by George Mathers; glass by Dom. Charles
Norris and Dom. Paulinus Angold; font and welded steel screens and gates by
Angela Godfrey.
School Lane
Called
Old St Albans road
Stable Yard
Carl Russell Co
Gunmakers Ltd. 60
years experience in the British gun trade and specialise in British shotguns as
a gun makers.
St Eltheldreda Drive
Site
of Hatfield gas Works
Sources
Hatfield
Borough Council. Web site
Hertfordshire
Churches,
Hertfordshire
Historic
England. Web site
Kirby
& Busby. Hatfield. A pictorial history
Nairn.
Modern Buildings,
Mitchell
& Smith. Branch Line around Hertford and Hatfield
North
Mymms History Project. Web site
Our
Hatfield. Web site
Waymarking.
Web site
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