Denis lives in Abbots Avenue West. He describes what the area looked like years ago before the shops were built. He also describes visiting his married sister in Park Street c.1936 and the route he took to get there from… More about ‘Walking to Park Street via Sopwell – Denis Mardel’»
This is a lovely tale which was told to Michelle Mackenzie by her Uncle Bill about his time working at Mercers Chronometers. In the late 1950’s I was working as a draughtsman in the drawing office of Mercers. St. Albans City Council had… More about ‘Designing the clock face for St Albans clocktower’»
According to Noel Godman, the Godman family have been involved with St Stephen’s for over 500 years. The Godman family were a family of skilled engineers. John Godman (1828-1908) was born in the St Stephens area and was baptised at St… More about ‘The Godman family of St Stephen’s’»
The commercial watercress industry ceased in the Riverside Road site in the 1970s. A lot of the springs had dried up. Some of the productive land was used for allotment but there was a lot of fly tipping so it needed some attention. St… More about ‘Watercress wildlife area’»
In 1931-2, subsidised by the government, the Workman’s Housing Association built 134 houses where there was once a footpath leading up the hill from Eywood Road. The estate was called the Eywood estate which later became part of St Julian’s… More about ‘The building of Doggetts and Wilshere’»
In December 1948, a man was found murdered just inside the allotments opposite the ruins in Cottonmill Lane. The man was Steven Varley, a 52 year old who worked as a shop steward at de Havilland’s at Hatfield. The full… More about ‘Murder in the allotments’»
As reported at length in Sopwell: a history and collection of memories (Appendix 1), a fire was started deliberately in a corrugated iron shed stacked with waste paper in the area near the ruins called Sopwell Nunnery farm. This was… More about ‘Fire at Sopwell Nunnery Farm’»
The Great Northern Railway (GNR) line from St Albans to Hatfield was opened on 16th October 1865 but there had been plans to construct this branch line much earlier than that. Local landowners were encouraged to form an independent company… More about ‘Hatfield – St Albans Railway (Alban Way)’»
Lydia Lightfoot was born in St Albans in 1875. Her father was George Lightfoot born in 1844 in St Albans and christened at St Peter Church. He started out as a labourer to a bricklayer eventually becoming a builder in later… More about ‘Lydia Lightfoot of Holywell Hill’»
The following description of the people who lived in the area around St Stephen’s Church is derived from the census returns from 1851 to 1911. Watling Street is not mentioned. People who lived in that area were just living in… More about ‘St Stephen’s 1841 – 1911′»
