Have we got the oldest cedar tree in England?

I have spent several enjoyable hours poring over the almanac of St Stephen’s Church. The vicar kindly let me loose on a lot of old material including this almanac started in 1914 which chronicles everything that has happened in St Stephen's parish and the church since the church records were kept. It has really fascinating material which I intend to put up on the website when it gets going. (It's under development as we speak.)

So about our lovely cedar tree in St Stephen's field:

I have discovered that back in 1914 the then vicar wrote a letter to Kew Gardens giving the measurements of the famous cedar of Lebanon - then in what was the churchyard. It was pretty big at that time and that’s a century ago. From the reply it looked like they could not identify a larger specimen and so said that it was probably the largest of its kind in England – no mention of the other parts of the UK. It will be interesting to see how much it has grown in that time. We did measure the girth about 5 years ago when we did our tree hugging exercise and we estimated that it was about 9m – or seven adult hugs.

Back in 1914, the tree measured 26¼ft at 3ft from the ground (approx 8m) so it has grown about a metre in 100 years. We still have no accurate estimate of its age. Kew reckons that the previous oldest cedar tree cut down at Wilton House, measured 36ft at 5ft from the ground in 1874 and from its rings it was estimated that it dated from 1638. In order for our tree to fit the legend of King Henry canoodling with Anne Boleyn under it, it has got to be another hundred or so years older that the Wilton House one. Maybe we will never know until it dies and the rings can be counted - and we don’t want that to happen!

The almanac also gives details of what the original Vicarage and the garden looked like. The vicarage had twelve bedrooms/dressing rooms, several reception rooms, cellar and rooms for servants. Outside were small ‘home farm’ buildings viz: three brick cowsheds and pigsty; a cottage for the gardener/chauffeur of five rooms; stabling for 4 horses; two coach houses (or garages) large & small; four large coal and wood sheds ; and a dairy. It was demolished in the 1970s because it was vandalised by youths who took advantage of the generosity of the then incumbent, Rev Hart-Synnot. It must have been a wonderful house and garden in its day.

Here is a lovely description of the garden and grounds. “The Vicarage garden and grounds (of about 2¼ acres) are of great natural beauty. They include an orchard walled on two sides and adjoining the churchyard, a large lawn on the Eastside of the house and a small lawn on the West on Watling Street side, a large walled kitchen garden, a glade at the south side of the large lawn, two shrubberies with trees, a pleasant little wood with fine trees opening from the bottom of the large lawn. There is an ancient and picturesque well with the wheels and cogs of wood. It has not been used since the town water became available.” And there were tennis courts. What a lovely picture of what we have lost. At least the cedar is still standing! 

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Sandy Norman

 

 

Tis (obviously) the climate for sharing memories

There is a growing Facebook group called “Grew up in St Albans, Cottonmill and St Julian’s Estates 1955-1978” and loads of people are posting memories of Sopwell and from many other wards in St Albans. Some members are from really faraway places such as Cornwall. I like to think that our work collecting memories has inspired the group’s creator to set this up.

Many of the photos posted are already in our book and many of the “do you remembers” can be answered by reading our book, although this is not often pointed out, unfortunately. So, part of me is disappointed that my Sopwell Project page on Facebook has only 30 odd members and this one has over 500! On the other hand, it is a really good site to collect stories and identify people to interview.

I have found a photo of the prefabs in Lee Lane – neither Lee lane nor the prefabs exist any longer – and a lovely photo of the railway crossing before the land above it was developed. I am seeking permission to use them of course, although no-one on the site appears to be taking too much notice of the big (c)! I have also made contact with a lady who lived in Mandeville Children’s Home, another building which has disappeared. She has agreed to share her memories.

Earlier this week, I gave a short presentation at St Peter’s Primary School assembly to tell the children about some of the history of the area surrounding their school. 

I explained how we got the name "Sopwell", all about the Nunnery and Sir Richard Lee, about swimming in the river Ver years ago, how the river has changed over the years and about the river industry (mills and watercress). 

And I asked for their help to collect more memories. I asked them to talk to their parents and grandparents about what they remember. They appeared to be interested, which was gratifying. My contact at the school has said that they will get the children to start interviewing their parents from September and that the whole school will be involved in local history and helping us in the project in the Spring Term. This is just what we want!

Finally, we have also had some oral history training this week, so interviewing will commence shortly.

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Sandy Norman

More Memories of Sopwell Project officially launched!

The official launch of our community project took place last Saturday, 18th May in St Julian's Church, Abbots Avenue, St Albans. We combined the launch with a memories gathering exercise as well as celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Sopwell Residents Association.

There must have been about a hundred people who attended over the three hours it lasted. For us, it was a success to have been able to attract that many, and the church was equally pleased.

Our goal was to reach out to all members of the community to persuade them to share their memories and join in the fun and we certainly achieved that. There were several older residents willing to tell their stories, some of whom we have already interviewed before. However, we were pleased to see the younger generations, including children, coming forward to join in.

Video booth with willing volunteer

As well as a "Memory Wall" on which to leave a memory, we borrowed a video booth from the University of Hertfordshire so that those wishing to share a memory could be recorded. If their memories appeared interesting or relevant, they were encouraged to agree to a follow up interview at a later date. This proved to be very popular with everyone, including children. It is nice to see and hear a child saying spontaneously how lovely it is living in Sopwell because it has wonderful historic places to visit. The message is really getting through!

Continuing with the theme of children, the SRA held a children's painting competition for three age groups. We asked all three local primary schools to get involved which they did very enthusiastically. The theme of the painting was Sopwell as we wanted to encourage the children to become aware of their local area and hopefully show their appreciation in art form.

We had about 80-90 entries quite a few of which were of the same subject. The teachers must have suggested that the ruins in the Nunnery Open Space would be a good subject as the majority of the entries were of the ruins. Another favourite was the river, the paintings suspiciously all looking the same until we realised that they were copying a photograph.

Mayor looking at portraits

However there were also some other interesting subjects to judge. One enterprising class decided to paint portraits of the Mayor. Although this may appear to have been irrelevant, it wasn't as the present Mayor is a Sopwell Councillor and a governor of the school in question.  The judges spent several hours judging the entries and came up with some worthy winners. We gave prizes to the three winners and runners up. However, because the Mayor's portraits were so amusing, we decided to award prizes for this category. These were judged by the Mayor on the day.

Discussing the banner

We had several tables of displays of old photographs and maps, rolling displays on computers and our two splendid banners to trigger memories and discussions.

Artifacts table

We also had a table display of memorabilia: artefacts dug up in gardens and allotments or found near the ruins or old buildings such as old coins, milk bottles and other small bottles, roof tiles and tesserae, oyster shells, and clay pipes. The eagerly expected mammoth bone turned out to be a fossilised mammoth's tooth which was no less splendid.

Another highlight was to hear the Mandeville school choir sing three beautiful songs which brought tears to many eyes. There was a really clever magician, Tony Middleton, also a local, who entertained  the smaller children for the last hour. After the formal launch, the Mayor of St Albans, Councillor Eileen Harris and myself cut the wonderful chocolate cake made by a 16 year old, another local, Jed Armstrong.

Mandeville Children's Choir

Magician Tony

Cutting the cake

The event was filmed, including a number of video interviews, so, eventually, we will have a real digital record of what everyone said was a wonderful community occasion.

Video interview

You can see more photos in our album about the launch event on Facebook.

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Sandy Norman

Tea party and family fun this Saturday afternoon!

All Sopwell residents and friends are invited to take part in a double celebration this Saturday, 18th May, 2-5pm at St Julian's Church on Abbots Avenue

What are we celebrating?

1. The formal launch of the "More Memories of Sopwell" project
2. The 10th anniversary of the Sopwell Residents Association (SRA)

Programme of events

14.00  Displays and stands, video booth, etc. open to the public
14.30  Mandeville school choir
15.00  A bit of ceremony:

• Mayor and local Councillor for Sopwell, Eileen Harris, formally launches the "More Memories of Sopwell" project
• Winners of the children’s painting competition announced and prizes awarded
• Cutting of the 10th anniversary cake (home-made by 16 year old local resident, Jed Armstrong)

15.30  Sopwell resident magician and illusionist, Tony Middleton, will be putting on

           a "Magic Workshop" for the children, which will keep them enthralled 

           and amused (see www.magichourshow.com)

17.00  End

All Sopwell residents and friends welcome - no charge.

Do come along to join in the fun, learn a bit about Sopwell's rich history and hopefully share some of your own memories with us.