Sopwell Memories exhibition at the Museum of St Albans

We are pleased to announce that, to accompany the launch of the Sopwell Memories website, www.sopwellmemories.org.uk, there will be a free exhibition, which we have curated, of the story behind the website at the Museum of St Albans in Hatfield Road, from 1-31 August 2014.

Do come along to see it!

Many residents and past residents have contributed their memories in the form of oral history recordings and photographs and to date over 40 people have been interviewed resulting in 137 posts. The website is interactive, so you may add your own comments and memories.

Project Manager, Sandy Norman, says: “It has been really enlightening talking to past and present residents about their memories. These would be lost to future generations if we had not decided to preserve and celebrate them. Their stories and photographs will be an invaluable resource for education institutions and social historians as well as the general public.”

Please look at the website and if possible, drop in to see the exhibition.

It’s downhill all the way

The new www.sopwellmemories.org.uk website is being read and you all seem to like what we have done. Some people have posted comments already which is good. Keep them coming and feel free to let me have any new images of yours to add to what we have already.

I have posted several interesting stories this month.

If you have not yet had a look at the post about the North Western hotel from Grant Peerless, it is worth a look and listen.

Grant lived in the hotel which was on the corner of Prospect Road and Holywell Hill, in the 1940s and 1950s. Originally a late Victorian railway hotel, it no longer exists of course. It had a spell of being the Abbey Tavern before finally closing to make way for offices.

Also interesting were the stories told to me by Brian Welch who lived on Holywell Hill at one time in one of the houses belonging to the Colne Valley Water Company – remember them? Brian was one of the so called ‘vandals’ who was instrumental in preserving the site of the Holy Well.

And more stories about Holywell Hill come from Jennifer Taylor whose father owned the Adaire ladies fashion shop at the Peahen hotel. Jennifer went to school on Holywell Hill too.

The More Memories of Sopwell project ends in August but we are going out with a splash. We will be having an exhibition of all our work in the museum in Hatfield Road for the whole of the month of August. We know you will enjoy it.

I still have lots of information to put on the website so keep checking now and then.

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Sandy Norman

Alive but not quite kicking

The Sopwell Memories website is alive!

We had our “soft” launch at the Sopwell Residents Association AGM last Wednesday, where I gave a brief demo of its capabilities. 

The main launch - hopefully with press coverage - will be in August, as part of the month long display in St Albans Museum in Hatfield Road. 

I am really pleased with the work that we have put into it and I am sure, once people find out about it, they will be too. So the thing to do is to tell all your friends and family who may have an interest in the history and memories of Sopwell and St Albans. 

I have posted on the Sopwell Project page on Facebook and we had a couple of comments fairly quickly. It has been favourably received, so that is good. 

At present, the website is not yet being picked up by Google search so, to access it, please type the following URL in your browser: www.sopwellmemories.org.uk (or simply click on the link).

We are sure that the website will be of interest to:

• anyone interested in history of the area
• anyone interested in genealogy
• primary and secondary school teachers setting projects
• students researching local topics
• anyone looking for old unpublished images of the area

and I am sure there will be many more reasons to use it.

Try it out and see what you think and by all means, let us know. This is the soft launch so if there are any glitches we can iron them out by August.

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Sandy Norman

Freak weather in Sopwell

We all know about the flooding in Sopwell which happens every few years or so in the Ver Valley, but did you know about lightning strikes and a waterspout?

Not once, but twice, a house in Nuns Lane got hit by a thunderbolt. The first time happened in the early 1950s. I have recorded interviews from two different people who reported that they had seen a red flash across the skies which hit a roof in Nuns Lane and set it alight. The house in question apparently belonged to a Mr and Mrs Tichner who lived at the top of the lane – I think that means the Cottonmill Lane end. Fortunately no-one was hurt. The second thunderbolt struck many years later. Does anyone else remember these thunderbolts? What was the number of the house? Apparently, it was opposite no 22 Nuns Lane. Can anyone confirm this?

I have recently taken out a subscription to the British Newspaper Archive for a month to see if I could find any gems about Sopwell and came across this item from 1859.

On Thursday afternoon week, a most singular phenomenon appeared coming in a southward direction from Park Street towards the town. It consisted apparently of a dense mass of aqueous vapour or air, attended with a most fearful rushing noise, taking a tree up by the roots on Sopwell farm for some distance, whirling the birds in the air along its progress, and doing mischief to some cottages; it passed through the vale across the river Ver at Holywell Hill, where it came into contact with the Willow tree growing over the Holy Well in the meadow; this it broke asunder in its way rolling up the lead, and taking the tiles off the houses, damaging trees, and passing on to Hill Street in a direction towards Redbourn. The alarm amongst the inhabitants was great, and many had great difficulty in maintaining respiration, the current of air was so great. We have not heard of anyone being injured. It was probably what is known as a waterspout on land. 

Herts Guardian, 2nd August 1859

Now that is freaky! I also found it interesting that there was a willow tree growing over the Holy Well and that people knew where it was then.

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Sandy Norman