Breachwood Green
Breachwood Green maps (2 available)
Map of Hertfordshire
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
See this old map of Hertfordshire
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Breachwood Green books (9 available)
- 1 photos on Breachwood Green appear in 1 Frith books - View photos of Breachwood Green
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Breachwood Green and Hertfordshire
Breachwood Green memories
Read and share memories of Breachwood Green and Hertfordshire inspired by Frith photos
Colemans Road
When I was small my mother used to help out in the farm run by Mr Coleson, which was behind the photographer. His son Tommy still lives there I think.
I remember collecting eggs and Mr Coleson drinking milk that was still warm from the cows he had.
The house at the bottom is now called the Old Queen's Head after its original use as a pub. I remember part of it being used for the doctors surgery, the doctor being either a Mr Probyn or a Dr Crill.
Contributed by kevan peters
Cottages in Lower Road
My dad used to live in the end cottage up until the early 1950s (the one next to the car). Both my grandparents lived there until about 1965.
The cottage was very small, with no running water and an old earth closet toilet. The water had to be collected in pails from standpipes every day.
These were dotted around the village next to the older cottages that did not have any internal running water, and this was the norm right up untill the late 1960s, when a lot of the houses were modernised. From memory, the water appeared to be not charged or metered as during the summer holidays you always could get a free drink and play around by ...read more here
Contributed by kevan peters
Hertfordshire memories
Cottages in Lower Road
My dad used to live in the end cottage up until the early 1950s (the one next to the car). Both my grandparents lived there until about 1965.
The cottage was very small, with no running water and an old earth closet toilet. The water had to be collected in pails from standpipes every day.
These were dotted around the village next to the older cottages that did not have any internal running water, and this was the norm right up untill the late 1960s, when a lot of the houses were modernised. From memory, the water appeared to be not charged or metered as during the summer holidays you always could get a free drink and play around by ...read more here
A memory of Breachwood Green contributed by kevan peters
Colemans Road
When I was small my mother used to help out in the farm run by Mr Coleson, which was behind the photographer. His son Tommy still lives there I think.
I remember collecting eggs and Mr Coleson drinking milk that was still warm from the cows he had.
The house at the bottom is now called the Old Queen's Head after its original use as a pub. I remember part of it being used for the doctors surgery, the doctor being either a Mr Probyn or a Dr Crill.
A memory of Breachwood Green contributed by kevan peters
Extracts From Breachwood Green & Hertfordshire books
Outside the row of terraced cottages at Breachwood Green near Hitchin stands a pristine Ford 100E model. In front of one of these houses stood the community’s well. This was cemented over in the 1950s. It was 175 feet deep, and was notorious for breaking its rope and losing the bucket. This had to be fished out using a hooked heavy iron ‘strudgel’, which was lowered on a strong cable and scraped around the bottom until it caught on the handle of the bucket so that it could be brought to the surface.
An extract from from"Hertfordshire Living Memories".
In 1901, Hermitage Road was a pleasant, open avenue. The building on the left in view
46642, left, is the Hermitage, home of Frederick Seebohm; very little of it still remains.
Windmill Hill is just visible in the background.
An extract from from"Hitchin Town and City Memories".
A view of St Marys church in 1931, with the War Memorial in the foreground. In 1752, the Rewd William Cole wrote that the tower was `one of the most clumsy and heavy ones I ever saw`. Perhaps `solid` is a kinder description.
An extract from from"Hitchin Town and City Memories".
In the 1960s, the Sun Hotel’s yard did not include
fire escapes from the upstairs rooms, as it does now.
Otherwise, there is little but the parked cars to give
a clue to the date of this photograph. The timber-
framed buildings, on the left, are believed to date
from the 16th century.
An extract from from"Hitchin Town and City Memories".
This 1908 view of the churchyard from the south shows the gates that once protected the dead from body snatchers. J Shipley Slipper, a
dentist, held a surgery at Waldock’s on the left, but only on alternate market days - a long wait if you’d just missed him. George Savage’s
draper’s shop is by the gates on the right, and next door to him is Allsop’s, trading as a cash tailor under the slogan: ‘The Novelty House
for Neckwear’. The façade of his shopfront has been rendered, and scoured with lines to give the impression that it is built of stone.
Unfortunately, the years have taken their toll and the render is slowly falling off. Halsey’s is on the right: an advertisement in the window
draws attention to ‘Halsey’s Dog Food’ - packets of puppy biscuits surround it. Strictly speaking, the buildings from Savage’s to Halsey’s are
in the Market Place, whilst those on the other side are in the Churchyard.
An extract from from"Hitchin Town and City Memories".