Norton
Norton maps (2 available)
Map of Hertfordshire
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
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Norton books (11 available)
- 2 photos on Norton appear in 2 Frith books - View photos of Norton
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Norton and Hertfordshire
Norton memories
Read and share memories of Norton and Hertfordshire inspired by Frith photos
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Hertfordshire memories
Letchworth Childhood
Seeing the fountain in this picture brings back childhood memories from the 1950/60s of sailing boats up and down the paddling pool at weekends or when your parents took you down on a sunny afternoon. Summer fetes and funfair on the grass area between the paddling pool and Norton Way South, last but not least playing in the small wood behind the paddling pool before the Council cut it down and spoilt it!
A memory of Letchworth Garden City contributed by Ian Griffin
Man in Picture 1965
The white-haired man in the photograph, I believe, is my father John Neville. He was a police sergeant in Hitchin from 1941 until his retirement in the late '50s.
A memory of Hitchin contributed by John Neville
Visiting
The lady in the centre of the photograph walking towards the camera is Mrs Kate Silsby my grandmother who lived at 8 Tilehouse Street. When this was taken we think she would have been walking to St Ippollytts to visit her daughter Mrs Babs Brown.
A memory of Hitchin contributed by MAUREEN RAINE
The Bell Hotel, Hare Street, Buntingford
I have recently discovered that my Great Grandfather John Main originally from Devon (a shoe maker) and then in Brixton, London as a Dairy Manager owned the Bell Hotel in Hare Street around 1905.
My Grandmother lived there as a little girl and would often tell us stories as children about how it was haunted and about secret panels etc and of an old huntsman who would sit on the garden wall!
I have several old postcards of it and the Street. He was still there in 1916 when my Grandmother married and I think on into the 1920s.
I just wondered if The Bell was still there?
A memory of Buntingford contributed by Judith Irwin
Extracts From Norton & Hertfordshire books
Now part of a strictly controlled conservation area, this group of shops on the corner of Green Lane and Norton Road blend into the environment. The Standard 8 and the pre-war Morris 8 complement the view, and the youngster on the tricycle reminds us that Norton was still a tranquil backwater. Only the concrete 1930s telephone kiosk seems out of place.
An extract from from"North and East Hertfordshire Photographic Memories".
This quiet north Hertfordshire village offers teas in the garden - or something a little stronger at the Three Horseshoes (left). The pub had been the village school in 1873. In the background is the 12th-century parish church of St Nicholas, which has been superseded by the ultra-modern church of St George in the ‘new’ town of Letchworth. St Nicholas’ is particularly proud of its peal of eight bells, which includes one cast in the 1500s and another, recast in 1946, in memory of the travelling evangelist, Gypsy Smith.
An extract from from"Hertfordshire Living Memories".
The village of Norton dates from the Saxon period. One of the earliest references to Norton is a grant by Offa of Mercia to the monastery at St Albans. A priest is mentioned in Domesday, and it is possible that his wooden church stood on the site of the present church of St Nicholas, which was dedicated in 1119. In the church is a memorial to a little girl named Cole who was born in September 1752 and died in February 1752 - of course, between these dates, the calendar was reformed! Tea rooms and public houses, like the Three Horse Shoes (left), have always been a necessity in the village - when the estate was being investigated for purchase by the First Garden City company, Norton End's drinking water was found to contain 14% sewage.
An extract from from"North and East Hertfordshire Photographic 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".