St. Mary Magdelene at Caldecote, just east of Stotfold, has been cared for by the Friends of Friendless Churches and Caldecote Church Friends since it was declared redundant in 1982. The 14th and 15th century building was the church of the smallest parish in Hertfordshire. It is simple, solid and timeless.
Author Archives: toby1960
Structure #1
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Wood #1
This is the first post in a three-stream series that is more fully explained here. I hope you enjoy it. The Wood and Structure streams will contain few if any words. The Churches stream will have some accompanying text.
Hertfordshire Greens
Hertfordshire has 159 places with Green in their name, says Lee Prosser in An Historical Atlas of Hertfordshire (University of Hertfordshire Press, 2011) and around one third are mentioned before 1500. Tom Williamson (The Origins of Hertfordshire, University of Hertfordshire Press, 2010, pp231-233) says many developed in the 12th and 13th centuries from isolated farmsteads, although some bearContinue reading “Hertfordshire Greens”
Bassus Green – full circle
This is the final post in the Hertfordshire Greens series. And it’s a return to where we started. The photo heading the introductory page (reproduced as the post previous to this) was taken in 2017 – the only photo not taken this year. It showed three oak tree skeletons against a background view from theContinue reading “Bassus Green – full circle”
Wilkin’s Green and the vanishing greens
We turned off the A1057, the old Hatfield Road from St. Albans, into a country lane and found Wilkin’s Green just a hundred yards off the main drag. There’s a farmhouse, then a tiny triangle of lanes enclosing a former smithy. From there we headed down a byway towards Bullen’s Green, crossing the Smallford Trail,Continue reading “Wilkin’s Green and the vanishing greens”
Kettle Green
Kettle Green – fittingly – lies on Kettle Green Lane, near Hadham Cross. A few houses and farms dot the country road but my assumption is that Kettle Green Farm is most likely to be on or near the site of the original farmstead in cleared land. If that’s the case, then it fits oneContinue reading “Kettle Green”
Perry Green
The leisurely route to Perry Green led down winding lanes and across the fords of the River Ash. This is the Perry Green near Bishop’s Stortford, not the one previously visited out Harpenden way. Crossing one ford, a kingfisher perched on the depth measuring pole. Perhaps a couple of dozen houses line the Y-shape formedContinue reading “Perry Green”
Crabb’s Green
We picked our way along a footpath and over some fallow land from Stocking Pelham to Crabb’s Green. The hamlet is a stone’s throw from the Essex border that on this stretch exhibits no obvious geological or topographical logic so we have typical ‘Hertfordshire Greens’ a mile or two inside Essex. The few houses ofContinue reading “Crabb’s Green”
Upwick Green, Walnuttree Green
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA The view from this bench in a field in Upwick Green was bucolic until the roadworks started. A dumper truck kicks up dust in the middle distance and out of shot there’s a long scar across the countryside. The noise from this far off is not loud but it is persistent. TheContinue reading “Upwick Green, Walnuttree Green”
