Author Archives: toby1960

Turning off the old Roman road of Back Lane just before it peters out at its eastern end, there’s a track up through the green of Cherry Green, the hamlet lying beyond this house. The green was uncut hayfield. At the top of the track, a disused gatepost is adorned with an antique, roughly madeContinue reading “Cherry Green”

We walked down the old Roman road that is now Back Lane from the expansive grassland at Moor Green, passing through Wateringplace Green to Cherry Green (all of which will have their blogs some time soon). Then we headed towards the farm at Wakeley to look across the site of a medieval village of theContinue reading “Westmill Green”

Redcoats Green isn’t named as such on the current Ordnance Survey, simply marking it as Redcoats. But the 1896 map has the complete name and there’s a road sign with the full name there. The venerable British History Online (BHO) recognises it, as do estate agents (although with less than half a dozen houses, theyContinue reading “Redcoats Green”

Roe Green near Buntingford is a favourite of mine. (There’s another that is now part of Hatfield.) I first stumbled across it on a walk along the ridge from Therfield to Clothall, emerging from the footpath across the fields from nearby Sandon and faced with an expanse of grassland. The edges of the green areContinue reading “Roe Green”

There are two Damask Greens in Hertfordshire. This one is now part of Weston, which lies high up on the chalk above Baldock. The other is part of Hemel Hempstead. An 1896 map shows Damask Green as wholly distinct from Weston and there’s still clear space between the two in the 1946 map. The nameContinue reading “Damask Green”

That’s it. It’s where three country lanes meet and it’s not on Google Maps. While there’s not a lot to see when you get there on your way to Datchworth Green, Bull’s Green, Woolmer Green or Burnham Green – positively metropolitan by contrast – a glance at the Ordnance Survey shows Sedge Green to haveContinue reading “Sedge Green”

Fishers Green is the first green I’ve blogged about that has been subsumed into the urban sprawl of Stevenage. There’s a large grassy space that may be an echo of the original green as it’s bordered by diverging footpaths that I’m guessing pre-date the roads that serve the housing estates. But there’s nothing of itsContinue reading “Fishers Green”

Ley Green and its twin Cox Green sit in one of the valleys that strike through the North Hertfordshire Chilterns. A hamlet that once had a school though no church or even the non-conformist chapel found in many of the sparsely populated upland settlements. Although there is extensive beech and hornbeam woodland within a mileContinue reading “Ley Green”

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Burn’s Green has a pub and a chapel and an agricultural goods dealer, plus a handful of older houses. But most of what there is of it is new build. Its bus shelter library refers to itself as Benington bus stop, so maybe it has an identity crisis. The chapel was closed during the lockContinue reading “Burn’s Green”

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