Welham Green when "everyone just about knew everyone else"

The Water Cross, Welham Green 1900s
Photograph by G Knott, part of the Peter Miller Collection

Washing clothing by hand with water from a brook, freshly made bread baked daily and delivered door-to-door, welcoming evacuees during WWII, and the day a bomb landed near to the North Mymms cricket pitch shattering a stained glass window in St Mary's parish church - just some memories shared by a local resident who lived in Welham Green when it was a small village where "everyone just about knew everyone else".

This collection of memories of Welham Green during the first part of the 20th century (1920-1950) is just one of several recollections collected over the years by the former North Mymms Local History Society (NMLHS). Many are published on this site. The memories (below) were written by Lorna Jarman (nee Messenger) who was born in 1919 in Welham Cottages. 

The original written memories have been shortened and comments have been added by the North Mymms History Project (NMHP), which appear in italics and enclosed in parentheses. These additions are in order to add information. Throughout the piece we have added relevant maps, images, and links where we felt appropriate.

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Memories of Welham Green
by Lorna Jarman

The Water Splash looking south - 1900s
Photograph by G Knott, part of the Peter Miller Collection

Our little history starts at Paine's Cottage near the Water Splash.

Paine's Cottage, Station Road - 1958
Photograph by Ron Kingdon, part of the Images of North Mymms Collection

(Water Splash, or Water Cross, were the names used for the spot on Station Road south of the Catholic church where there was a ford and a footbridge - before the road bridge was built - location - https://w3w.co/boot.yoga.report, and which is sometimes flooded after rain and is still referred to as 'The Watersplash' because of the nearby house of the same name).

Flooding at 'Water Splash' on Station Road 1966
Image from the former North Mymms Local History Society (NMLHS)
From the Images of North Mymms Collection

A lane ran alongside the old cottage where the Paines lived towards the railway line and alongside the brook which flowed to the road named the Water Cross. Houses have now been built on this ground but in the 1900s it was an open lane with another old cottage where the Vyses lived and was known as Vyses Lane.

(The lane mentioned in Lorna Jarman's account no longer exists. Instead, a public footpath follows part of the route from Station Road to the North Mymms Youth & Community Centre. Up until 1996, that public right of way, which is North Mymms public footpath 34, ran east from the cottage then continued south of the football pitch to steps leading up to a pedestrian crossing over the East Coast Main Line. This footpath was diverted by Hertfordshire County Council for safety reasons. This is not Vyses lane, referred to in the piece, Vyses/Wises lane exists elsewhere.)

The Ordnance Survey 25-inch map revised in 1922 and published in 1924
Image courtesy of the National Library of Scotland
Click on map for a larger version

Children waiting to cross the East Coast Main Line - 1963
Photograph by Ron Kingdon, part of the Images of North Mymms Collection

(Paine's cottage was demolished and houses built on the land in the 1960s next to The Watersplash cottage which is still there and which has the datestone C.C.S. 1884. The C.C.S. stands for Coningsby Charles Sibthorp who also built Welham Cottages at the junction of Dellsome Lane and Station Road.)

The Waterspash cottage, Station Road, Welham Green 1960s
Photograph by Charles Saunders, gifted by V Gascoyne
From the Images of North Mymms Collection

Mr Bill Papworth told me that this lane went across the road now known as Station Road, and through Potterells farm land to Warrengate Road, Water End. People of Welham Green would often walk to Water End "across the park" as we called it; actually we were walking along Vyses Lane if this is the case.

(Bill Papworth was a local postmaster and parish councillor. The lane that Lorna Jarman is referring to, could either be North Mymms public footpath 8 which heads SW from Station Road towards Water End, see the blue line on the map below map below, or it could be the route of an unofficial path alongside the north edge of the brook which runs west from Station road at the edge of a field, see yellow line on the map below.)

Some routes mentioned in Laura Jarman's account
Footpath 8 (blue), footpath 34 (green), diversion (orange), footpath 33 (lilac)
Possible route of what is referred to as 'Vyses Lane' in yellow
Image created on MapHub by the NMHP - click on map for larger version

My great great grandfather, George Vyse, is believed to have lived in this little cottage in Vyses Lane. He is buried in the St. Mary's Churchyard, North Mymms. My great grandfather, also named George Vyse, lived in the old cottage. He married Julia Tyler and they raised their family there.

(The North Mymms History Project has been unable to identify the cottage mentioned by Laura Jarman in her account.)

A woman collecting water from 'Water Splash' in the early 1900s
Photograph by Charles Saunders, gifted by V Gascoyne
From the Images of North Mymms Collection

Great grandmother Julia and her daughter Lydia did washing, I presume for money, and the boys of the family, Alfred, Fred and George, had to carry water from the brook because no water was laid on to the cottage.

A house was built on land behind the old cottage which faced the road and is known as the Water Splash house. Eventually the old cottage was demolished. I do not know how many years they lived there but four more children were born there.

My grandfather was a professional hay binder but in off season would work on tree pruning or planting, he planted the orchard there. The Water Splash house eventually went up for auction, grandfather wanted to buy it but the price went too high for him. He was however able to buy Welham Cottages consisting of semi-detached houses in the village centre.

Welham Cottages, Station Road, Welham Green - 1982
Photograph from the former NMLHS
From the Images of North Mymms Collection

Both properties were built by Coningsby Charles Sibthorpe, the small plaque on Welham Cottages reads C.C.S 1872. I was born in 1919 in 1 Welham Cottages, Welham Green which was one of two cottages owned by my grandfather Alfred William Vyse.

The roads past the cottages in 1920 were unmade gravel. A heap of large stones was kept on the grass triangle in front of the houses for the council to fill in the holes which from time to time appeared. Welham Green in those days was a small village where everyone just about knew everyone else.

Jonah Chuck starting his round from his Dellsome Lane bakery
Wife Beatrice looking on from behind the gate
Image c1900 by G. Knott gifted by P.Grant, part of the Images of North Mymms collection

There were two grocery shops and a bakery where bread was baked daily by Mrs Chuck and delivered warm in a lightweight cart by Mr Chuck.

Chuck the bakers delivery trap 1900s
Image from the former North Mymms Local History Society
From the Images of North Mymms collection

Milk could be fetched from either of the two farms, Seymours or Crawfords, at milking time. Fruit and vegetables could be grown in gardens and allotments, and imported fruit and other commodities bought from Hatfield, three miles away.

Potterells Farm stables with North Mymms Memorial Hall on the right - 1966
Photograph by Ron Kingdon, part of the Images of North Mymms Collection

(Seymours was Potterells House Home Farm, and Crawfords was Potterells Farm in Welham Green.)

The post office in Dellsome Lane in 1966
Photograph by Ron Kingdon, part of the Images of North Mymms Collection

There was no butcher's shop, but I know in the 1930s a Hatfield butcher would deliver weekly, our family used this service. The post office in the 1920s was kept by Mrs. Goodman in Holloways Lane, and I think it was after she remarried that it moved to Dellsome Lane.

Coat of arms granted to Hatfield Rural District Council 14 May 1945
Source - Wikipedia / Wikimedia

There were two areas of gardens allotments where a nice size piece of ground could be rented from the council (Hatfield Rural District Council operated from 1894 to 1974), which was in Hatfield in the 1920s. One area was across the road from Welham Cottages, the other in Dellsome Lane where some of the shops are now built.

Welham Green Parochial School 1930s
Image E Bailey, from the Peter Miller Collection

The school (in Dellsome Lane - location https://w3w.co/tables.drum.hope) was for boys; girls went to Water End, but both schools eventually took small children of both sexes.

Water End School being converted to a house in August 1966
Photograph by Ron Kingdon, part of the Images of North Mymms Collection

The headmistress was Miss Simons, assisted by Miss Clark and Miss Crelling. Sunday School was always at Water End but about 1937 it was started by Mr. Buxton in Welham Green. In Mr Buxton's time I helped with the Sunday School for many years. In the 1920s Mr. Ward was vicar, Mr. Buxton in 1930s-1940s, and Mr. Hamel-Smith 1940s-1950s.

1st USA General Hospital, North Mymms Park 1940s
Photograph by J Clayton part of the Images of North Mymms Collection

After America joined hostilities (during WWII) a hospital for American soldiers and personnel sprang up very quickly on North Mymms Park Estate. This was taken over after the war by the council and used for housing. Part of North Mymms Park house was used as a convalescent hospital for British wounded servicemen and personnel.

A ward in the WWII hospital in North Mymms Park house - 1940s
Photograph by Ron Kingdon, part of the Images of North Mymms Collection

There was no resident doctor; Dr Briton or Dr. Holmes came from Hatfield and if medicine was prescribed the doctor made it up which meant a three mile trip to collect it. Chemists did not make up prescriptions in the 1920s, anyway there was no chemist shop in Welham Green.

Nurse Sadler on her retirement with Mrs Burns
Image R Papworth part of the Images of North Mymms Collection

Nurse Sadler was our district nurse, she got around on a bicycle and she had a large area to cover. The nurse lodged with Mrs. Childs in the row of houses known as Barfords.

There was no gas or electricity in the 1920s, oil lamps and candles were used for lighting and the kitchen range for cooking and heating with a coal fire. I think it was in the early 1930s that gas was laid on into the village and anyone who wanted it could have it connected free of charge to their property. Many took advantage of this offer.

The 303 bus on The Great North Road at Bell Bar - May 1966
Photograph by Ron Kingdon, part of the Images of North Mymms Collection

A reliable bus service ran along the Great North Road hourly between Barnet and Hatfield and if you missed the bus to come home from Hatfield you could walk as far as Redhall signal box, cross over the field and railway line, and get into Travellers Lane then walk through to Marshmoor siding, or go through the fields to Pooleys Lane, coming out at Frowick. There were none of those warehouse buildings alongside the railway line in 1920 it was open country.

North Mymms Guides 1936
Photograph gifted by J Knight, part of the Images of North Mymms Collection

Miss Seymour from Potterells started the 1st North Mymms Girl Guide company, of which I became a member, in 1929. After Miss Seymour left North Mymms this was taken on by Marjory Shepherd of Frowick House, and later by Hannah Buxton and Bess Albury. Nora Shepherd, Marjory's sister started the Brownies. I was lieutenant for the Girl Guide company but when Bess Albury finished I was not able to carry on alone, so the company closed.

There was a long wooden building known locally as The Scout House in Dixon Hill Road, it was the meeting place for much of what happened in Welham Green. Women's Institute, Girl Guides, Women's British Legion, Young People Fellowship meetings to name a few. Also, baby welfare, whist drives, jumble sales, dances and any money making effort - all were held in the Scout House, there was nowhere else to go. It was burnt down, I know no details.

Welham Green had London evacuee children at the start of the 1939-45 war, most returned after a few weeks and the few who stayed joined in our village life.

Welham Green had one bomb - it came one Sunday lunch time, the only damage was a large hole in the road between Marshmoor siding and the end of Travellers Lane.

Water End had one bomb on the cricket field - this one was the cause of damage to the beautiful stained glass window of the church.

Eleanor Vyse, Lorna Annie Jarman (nee Messenger), Daphne Helen Jarman
Photographed by R Kingdon in the 1950s - Images of North Mymms Collection

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