Rural Relaxations: Have you seen a Rolling English Drunkard ????

Wych Elm Lane, Woolmer Green

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I was visiting Woolmer Green recently and on passing under the railway line I could see Wych Elm Lane climbing the hill.  I was immediately reminded of G. K. Chesterton's poem:

Before the Roman came to Rye or out to Severn strode,

The rolling English drunkard made the rolling English road.

A reeling road, a rolling road, that rambles round the shire,

And after him the parson ran, the sexton and the squire;

A merry road, a mazy road, and such as we did tread

The night we went to Birmingham by way of Beachy Head.

On Mardley Heath

At the same time I visited the nearby Mardley Heath Nature Reserve - and took a lot of pictures of what is a combination of ancient woodland (with plenty of bluebells) and a sand/gravel pit which has been recovered by nature. [Pictures]

Remember - Your assumptions may not always be correct

Help Desk

Ebenezer Albert Fox

At the end of May I attended the Herts Family History Society Meeting and also took the opportunity to walk round the village of Woolmer Green. At either side of the entrance to a modern housing estate there was a brick pillar, each surmounted by a bust. One was labeled Ebenezer Albert Fox (1857-1926) and the other Albert Ebenezer Fox (1857-1936). So I decided to ask myself a question and find out who these obviously important twins were. Had they lived in a big house that had stood where the estate now is ... ... ??? 

I was in for a surprise - read what I found out about 

The Fox Twins

Welwyn gets a face lift

The pages for Welwyn have had a major face-lift to make it far easier to find relevant material. There is now an extensive menu - while the Welwyn home page has thumbnail picture links to the Church, the old Police station, the Great North Road, and Woolmer Green. There are also links to the more significant answers relating to Welwyn. One page on the floods of 1795 (which also affected other parts of Hertordshire) can now be found - when previously it had been "lost" among other pages.

The High Street, Welwyn, from an E. Ashby post card posted in 1905

A number of books about the town currently have skeleton reviews. If you come across any short reviews (and not just for Welwyn) why not ask me about the book - for instance "does it contain any information on ..." and I can usually provide a review which includes a mention of the topics that interest you.