Spring Issue of Herts Past and Present

The Spring 2017 issue of Herts Past and Present has just been published by the Hertfordshire Association for Local History.

As always it contains an interesting collection of articles

Hertfordshire men at Passchendale, 1917, by John Cox
In search of "My Lord" Salisbury, by Nicky Webster (about researching and publishing the life of James Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquis of Salisbury)
William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury - The Education of a nobleman, by Alan Thomson
'Plenty of Punch and Good Company' - Bringing local history to life about a theatrical production dramatizing the life of John Carrington, farmer of Bramfield
The Enclosure of the Manor of Barnet, 1818, by Susan Flood
Local History Essay Competition - with details of essays on Knebworth, Lemsford and Croxley Green
Report of the 2016 HALH Symposium on Hertfordshire at war through the centuries.
Book Reviews: Watford : A History, by Mary Forsyth; St Albans: Life on the Home Front, 1914-18, edited by Jonathan Mein, Anne Wares and Sue Mann; On Hertford and its Environs: A Portrait in verse of Hertford and the Surrounding Countryside, by Thomas Green (1719-91), edited by Jean Purkis and Philip Sheail.

Dates for the Diary

13 May  - HALH Spring Meeting and AGM, Ware

24 June - Summer Visit, Benington Lordship, Benington

11 November - Symposium: Women of Hertfordshire, Hitchin

Albert Arthur Darrah, photographer of Rickmansworth,

Photographers

Finch's Avenue

Janet has provided an interesting post card of Finch's Avenue, Croxley Green by a photographer, Albert Darrah, of Rickmansworth, which I had not previously come across. A quick search online showed several post cards by him were on sale on ebay - most in the same series - with captions in handwriting. Another card,almost certainly latershows Rickmansworth war memorial. It turns out that before the First World War Albert was employed to make photographic emulsions (who for??). It is only after he had fought in the war that I find supporting evidence for him as a professional photographer. Unfortunately there are no postal dates for any of the cards I have traced and it would be very useful to know if the cards with somewhat crudely written captions were produced before or after the War. Let me know if you have a date-able card by this photographer.

See Full Details so far.

The Rickmansworth Historical Society

Many of the towns and villages in Hertfordshire now have local history societies which are run by, and for, people who live in the area and hold regular meetings with invited speakers. However many now have web sites, a newsletter, and other publications and even if you live too far away to attend meetings they can be an important source of information.

The Rickmansworth Historical Society is no exception and it is important to note that the Society's activities cover the history of the "old parish area" of Rickmansworth which includes Chorleywood, West Hyde, Mill End, Croxley Green, Loudwater, Batchworth and Eastbury as well as the town of Rickmansworth. They have monthly meetings which include talks of both general and specifically local topics and I note with interest that on the 13th March Bill Templeton is giving a talk on "13 corn and paper mills along the River Chess" which I am sure will include some Hertfordshire Mills such as the one at Loudwater. It has a quarterly newsletter, The Rickmansworth Historian, and there is a index of past issues, and a few selected articles on the web site. I found the article on the web site about Pest Houses very interesting - especially as it included details of a number of Hertfordshire pest houses I had not known about. 

There are a number of publications for sale, only one of which, Rickmansworth - A Pictorial History, I have reviewed on this web site. The latest of their publications is A Village Boyhood in Croxley Green, by Frank Paddick (1909-1965) which tells of a time when life in the village was dominated by Dickinson’s Croxley Mill.

Rickmansworth

Unlike many such local history sites their site does not include a collection of old photographs of the area  - but if you visit the Rickmansworth page of my site you will find many pictures (and additional historical information) ot the town and the surrounding villages.

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If your local history society, museum  or similar group has a web site relevant to local and family history in Hertfordshire why note drop me a line so I can include a review in this Newsletter, which currently gets around 200 hits a day from all over the world. 

Special Trees & Woods of the Chilterns

As some of you may know there is a page on this web site with pictures of Hertfordshire Trees which were considered notable 100 years ago. There is also another page with old pictures of Tombs with Trees in Hertfordshire Churchyards. In connection with these trees I was in touch with Rachael Sanderson several years ago about a project to record interesting old trees in the Chiltern Hills.

Today I attended the Chilterns Countryside and Food Festival at Ashridge and discovered a book, Special Trees & Woods of the Chilterns, was been published in 2010. It is an attractive volume which deals with trees and woods in Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire (the vast majority are here), Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire. The Hertfordshire section deals with:

• Woods of the Whippendell Valley
• Ashridge
• War Wounds
• Hockeridge and Pancake Woods
• Abbey Pagoda
• Domesday Oak
• Croxley Green Commerative Trees

The River Chess at Croxley Green

The River Chess, at Croxley Green
A Frith Post Card

Book: Croxley Green as it used to be

Croxley Green as it used to be, by Peter Frost, is an A4 paperback containing many pictures of old Croxley Green. It was privately published in 1986 and unfortunately the print quality does not really do the pictures justice. It is hard to find but loan copies are available from the Hertfordshire Library Service.