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Datchworth
Datchworth maps
Historic maps of Datchworth and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Datchworth maps
Datchworth area books
Displaying 1 of 8 books about Datchworth and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Datchworth
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Hertfordshire memories
Childhood Memories
I remember when I was just a young teenager... you could roam around the village and just about everyone knew you.
I loved to wander down to Mill Stream Lane with my jam jar and fishing net and walk along the stream searching for stickle backs and anything else I could catch. The fields behind us would whisper in the breeze and the sunlight would filter through the trees and glisten on the water below. Life was not so demanding, not worried too much about stranger danger and you knew that you was nestled in a village that looked after its own.
I remember old "Snowy" who had worked for years in the local butchers shop.
I remember Mr Warner one of our primary school teachers...looking back he was a steady influence in our lives and rarely raised his voice to his students even when we caused him to quieten us down from chattering too loudly.
There was a post office and a general store and dear old... Read more
100 Years of History
I am a collector of Wattons history. I have been collecting postcards, photos, in fact anything to do with Watton. I have old blacksmiths tools made by the blacksmith in 1910, over 600 postcards, stories and memories and a great deal more. I have been on TV with my collection. and done exhibitions, talks, village walks and talks. I travel all over the country to see ex Watton residents, seeking more items and stories to add to my collection. This is a hobby and it is nice to keep all the Watton bits togther in one place for people to be able to look at. The exhibition cost me over £600 (of my own money) to get together. I had free entry and over six hundred people attended. I have started to write a book with many photos and stories of the village, this is a book I feel I must write so the many people that have given me so many items can see they are being used well. If... Read more
Vine Cottage And Blacksmith Shop
William Wright lived in Vine Cottage, Aston, there was a blacksmith shop beside the house, across the road was the orchard with many fruit trees and all the animals. I used to spend time there in the summer with Aunty Edith and Uncle William, I lived in a town in Gloucestershire so it was a wonderful treat for me to stay at the farm. We had to feed the animals morning and night, I was scared of feeding the turkeys as they would rush at the food buckets and I thought they were going for my legs, we collected lots of chicken eggs, did vegetable gardening, picked fruit, cleaned up the place a bit, walked to Walkern to visit my granny Clements, walked to Shephall to visit Aunty Joyce Canfield and Susan. On Sunday I went to Sunday school at the mission at Aston End.
Panshangar
I would like to contact anyone who has worked or lived in Panshangar from 1940 onwards. I am compiling a book and would love to hear from anyone who knows what the outbuildings behind what is now the Flying School cafe were used for. Do you know? Did you work or live there? Please also let me know if you have any photos from the times. Were you there in the war? Please leave me a message and I will ensure you go in my book! Thanks Catherine
My First Time on A Plane
My family moved to WGC when I was 3, which means as I was born in 1955 made it 1958. I remember living in Howlands,Thistle Grove and Haldens, but one of my most vivid memories as a child (probably about 6 or 8 years old) was visiting my grandad on the Panshanger building site. He was a brick layer and my dad was there also, he was a crane driver. My friends and I would spend time also playing in a disused aircraft on the old aerodrome. I remember it as a DC2, probably wrong on the type of plane but thats what it reminds me of. I also remember a reservoir by the estate, it was in a hollow. I shall return to this site regularly as it's bringing back many memories.
Goldings
Thousands of teenage boys would have spent their formative years at William Baker Technical School which was housed in the historic mansion of Goldings in the village of Waterford. In 1922 around 240 boys and staff marched from Stepney Causeway where Barnodos had their training workshops to the station where they travelled by train to Hertford. Forming up behind their band they marched past the newly errected war memorial laying a wreath in memory of Barnodo Boys who had lost their lives in the Great War, and onto their new home at Goldings in Waterford. Within the 110 acres a number of good sporting facilities were created for football and rugby. The boys initially constructed a swimming pool from the damned river, and later dug an outdoor pool in the lower meadow. Each year the ball-boys for Wimbledon were selected and trained by the school chaplin, and the boys were able to build tennis... Read more
A Childhood 1940s
My grandfather bought Hendersons in c1911 and it was the principal drapers and furnishers in the town until my Dad sold the business c1961. It then became a John Blundells and is now I believe the Waitrose in the Old High Street. In the just post-war days, apart from the normal shops like Woolworths and Boots, Stevenage was possibly best known for its innumerable pubs. From the Marquis of Granby on the Great North Road towards Baldock, to the Roebuck nearly in Knebworth - there must have been over 20 - it was impossible to do a full pub crawl in one night! Are The Two Diamonds, The Red Lion, The Unicorn, The Marquis of Lorne, Our Mutual Friend, The White Hart, The White Lion still in existence? The other thing was the outlying Greens - Fisher's (where I used to go riding on Tom Kelly's horses c1950...Ah! (Thalia Danks and Marigold Gibbons, where are you now?) and Todd's in particular but there were others that I now... Read more
