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Oil Painting 9” x 6”
Label on back reads “Folly Lane” Potters Bar from M.C.A. Dec.25 1909
Image from the Peter Miller Collection
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The oil painting above is dated 1909, and is believed to be the only known image of a pair of cottages that once stood on the south side of Hawkshead Lane to the east of the railway line next to where Hawkshead Bridge is today.
Both Hawkshead Road and Hawkshead Lane have previously been known as Hawkshead Lane, Reeves Lane, Folly Lane, Jennings Lane, and Boltons Lane.
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| OS one-inch to the mile map Middlesex Sheet VII published 1 August 1822 Image from the Peter Miller Collection |
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| Map from Images of North Mymms - J.Potter |
The 1830 GNR plan of the proposed route for the railway, above, depicts the building as two dwellings.
Interestingly, the undated pre-1850 GNR land acquisition map, below, illustrates the intent to construct the Hawkshead Bridge at right angles to the railway, rather than the skew bridge as it is today.
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| Map from the Peter Miller Collection |
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| North Mimms (sic) 1844 tithe map Image from the Peter Miller Collection |
The award book that accompanies the North Mimms 1844 tithe map, above, lists the cottages as Plot 150, Cottage and Garden, owned by John Godfrey and occupied by James Coventon (sic) and another.
The 1841 census is more precise, and lists James Covington as a 30-year-old agricultural labourer living with his 25-year-old wife Eliza and their three daughters aged eight, five and two years old.
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| 1868 OS six-inch to the mile Image courtesy of the National Library of Scotland |
Construction of the railway line and bridge began in 1848 and was completed in 1850. The map above illustrates the railway line and Hawkshead Bridge in close proximity to the cottages. A signal box was also located here but had been removed by 1896.
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| 1896 OS 25-inch to the mile Image courtesy of the National Library of Scotland |
The 1881 census lists 26-year-old signalman George Bonner as living there with his 23-year-old wife Harriet and their one-month-old baby.
The
1891 census lists agricultural worker Major Dell and his wife Elizabeth with
their three young children living in one part, and agricultural worker William
Mansell and his wife Merry with their six young children living in the other
part.
Article by Peter Miller 2019
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