Discovering the 1527 altar piece of Saint Thomas More

Local historians identify and track down early 16th-century mantelpiece 

The 1527 carved oak chimneypiece
Image from the Peter Miller collection

Introduction to an exciting piece of historical detective work

In 1930, a carved oak Tudor chimneypiece that originated in More Hall, North Mymms, the Hertfordshire home of the father of Sir Thomas More almost 500 years ago, was sold to a buyer in Birkenhead.

It’s believed the item once stood above a small stone altar in a room where Sir Thomas, who was canonised in 1935 as Saint Thomas More, the patron saint of lawyers, would pray.

Brookmans Park shops in 1994

Bradmore Green at the end of the 20th century 

The following slideshow contains 49 photographs of the shops in Brookmans Park as they were in August 1994. The pictures were taken by local photographer Norman Akers and were commissioned by the former North Mymms Local History Society (NMLHS). They are part of the Images of North Mymms collection.

Welham Green shops over the past 100 years

A shopping trip down memory lane 

Click through our slideshow below

The following slideshow features photographs of some of the shops that have served customers in Welham Green from the early 20th century. They have been uploaded from the Images of North Mymms collection.

Policing North Mymms before ‘the police’

Early law and order in North Mymms

Two North Mymms men were transported to Australia
for stealing lead from the roof of the parish church
Sketch of St Mary's in the 1840s by Buckler from the Images of North Mymms collection
Courtesy of Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies

In 1784 two North Mymms men, Robert Usher and James Day, were sent to the gallows for stealing a horse. Five years later Thomas Rumbold and Thomas Pateman were transported to Australia for stealing lead from the roof of North Mymms church. Soon after, labourers John Halsey and John Day were whipped for stealing a piece of bacon. Such were the punishments handed out for crimes committed in North Mymms in the 18th century.

Brookmans Park’s nuclear bunker

Cold War site still intact underneath the transmitting station

Brookmans Park Transmitting Station - 1986

Photograph by Ron Kingdon, part of the Images of North Mymms Collection

During the Cold War that followed WWII the BBC drew up plans for a Wartime
Broadcasting Service (WTBS) to be activated in the event of a nuclear attack.

A bunker, built underneath the Brookmans Park Transmitting Station, was one of 11 at sites around the country.

The twin-wave broadcasting facility was considered to be a crucial part of the nation’s communications strategy in the event of nuclear war.

The North Mymms Parish Plan 2011

“A vision for the future of our community”

In 2010 questionnaires were sent to every home and business in the parish of North Mymms. More than 4,000 documents had been printed. The aim was to gather feedback from local residents and those running commercial concerns about what needed to change in the local community. The findings were meant to form an action plan to shape the future of the parish.

The North Mymms History Project (NMHP) has been looking at what was described at the time as an exercise in “taking the pulse” of the “village communities” in the parish in order to create “A vision for the future of our community”.

The rise and fall of the River Colne

River Colne at North Mymms Park on 29 December 2017
Image by the North Mymms History Project
Released under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0

Hertfordshire’s River Colne flows through the west of North Mymms. During certain conditions, when the swallow holes at Water End are saturated and a lake is formed, the overflow channel feeds the normally dry riverbed of the Colne. Malcolm Tomkins, a prolific local historian who died in 1981, wrote the following article about the river for the June 1966 edition of the Hertordshire Countryside magazine.

Bench marks, trig points or pillars?

North Mymms Notes - No 23

The trig point pillar north of Welham Green
Image by the North Mymms History Project released under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0

Local historian and photographer Mike Allen, one of the team of four behind the North Mymms History Project, has been researching the trig points and bench marks in the parish and exploring the importance of the landmarks in both wartime and peacetime. In edition 23 of Mike’s North Mymms Notes, he traces the history back to Tudor times.