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A growing collection of books, features, images, documents, and maps, collected, curated, and presented by a team of local volunteers keen to preserve the history of North Mymms

Bell Bar from above 1947

From our aerial photography over North Mymms series


Photograph of Bell Lane, The Legg and Brookmans Park Golf Course, Bell Bar, 1947 Image courtesy of Britain From Above
Bell Lane, The Legg and Brookmans Park Golf Course, Bell Bar, 1947
Image courtesy of Britain From Above
This site has downloaded 50 aerial images taken over North Mymms in the 1920s, '40s and '50s. They are from the Britain From Above project and show how the area has changed over the years. This collection was taken over Bell Bar in 1947.

Six galleries with 72 aerial images spanning 90 years


This photo-gallery is one of six in our series of aerial images over North Mymms. The collection includes a total of 66 photographs taken in 1928-29, 1947, 1948-54, the early 1960s, and 2002. The images show how North Mymms has developed over the course of almost 100 years. There are links to all six galleries at the bottom of this article.

Please feel free to add any observations or comments in the comments box below the gallery.

Photograph of Bell Lane and Brookmans Park Golf Course, Brookmans Park, 1947 Image courtesy of Britain From Above
Bell Lane and Brookmans Park Golf Course, Brookmans Park, 1947
Image courtesy of Britain From Above
Above: This photograph, taken in 1947, shows the Brookmans Park Golf Club, which had opened 17 years earlier. Also visible is the Great North Road (A1000), Bell Lane, Bulls Lane, The Drive, and the top of Pine Grove. In the distance is Peplin’s Wood and Bradmore Way. The hamlet of Bell Bar is middle of the image.



Photograph of The hamlet, Bell Bar, 1947 Image courtesy of Britain From Above
The hamlet, Bell Bar, 1947
Image courtesy of Britain From Above
Above: The hamlet of Bell Bar with the Great North Road (A1000), Bell Lane, Bulls Lane, Peplin’s Wood, and in the distance (top left) the village of Brookmans Park with Bradmore Way and Station Road. The railway track and Skimpans Bridge, Welham Green can be seen top right. Brookmans Park golf course is to the left.



Photograph of Bulls Lane and Peplin's Wood, Bell Bar, 1947 Image courtesy of Britain From Above
Bulls Lane and Peplin's Wood, Bell Bar, 1947
Image courtesy of Britain From Above

Above: A view of Bell Bar looking north-west over towards Peplin’s Wood and, to the top right, the village of Brookmans Park with Bradmore Way. The Great North Road (A1000) can be seen along with Bulls Lane, Bell Lane, and Woodside Lane. Top right is Water End and a bit lower is the southern edge of Welham Green.



Photograph of Nursery off the Great North Road and Bell Lane, Brookmans Park, 1947 Image courtesy of Britain From Above
Nursery off the Great North Road and Bell Lane, Brookmans Park, 1947
Image courtesy of Britain From Above

Above: A view of Bell Bar looking south-west over towards George’s Wood and the site of Chancellor’s School, which would be built 17 years later. The picture includes Bell Lane, Pine Grove and shows a few houses on Mymms drive and Brookmans Avenue. A mast at the Brookmans Park Transmitting Station can be seen middle left. The cucumber nursery later acquired by the Dutch Nursery in 1964 can be seen at the bottom.



Photograph of Bell Lane, The Legg and Brookmans Park Golf Course, Bell Bar, 1947 Image courtesy of Britain From Above
Bell Lane, The Legg and Brookmans Park Golf Course, Bell Bar, 1947
Image courtesy of Britain From Above

Above: A view of Bell Bar looking west with Bell Lane, Bulls Lane and the Great North Road (A1000) in the near distance. Beyond is Brookmans Park golf course, and further away can be seen houses on Brookmans Avenue, Mymms Drive, and Georges Wood Road. The site of Chancellor’s School, which would be built 17 years later is top left.



Photograph of Bulls Lane and Brookmans Park Golf Course, Brookmans Park, 1947 Image courtesy of Britain From Above
Bulls Lane and Brookmans Park Golf Course, Brookmans Park, 1947
Image courtesy of Britain From Above

Above: A view of Bulls Lane, Bell Bar looking south over to Brookmans Park. The Brookmans Park golf course can be seen in the middle distance with Brookmans Avenue, Bradmore Way, Bluebridge Road, Moffats Lane, Mymms Drive and Brookmans Park village beyond. Gobions Wood is in the distance.



Our six collections of aerial images taken over North Mymms are:



All the images in this feature have been downloaded under the terms and conditions set by Britain From Above. These conditions are as follows:
"Permission is granted for limited distribution of specially prepared images.  These are accessed by selecting the 'Download' button under each image.  These images are limited to 580px on the longest side and carry a special watermark.  You may copy solely these watermarked images to a blog or personal web page as long as the page is freely available with no login restrictions and no charges.  The following conditions apply: you must display the attribution which is contained in the watermark, you must not resize or crop the image, you may make no commercial use of the image or attempt to sell it, sub-license it or use it in any form of advertising.  You must create a return link to the Britain from Above site."
The photographs are originally from the Aerofilms collection which includes 1.26 million negatives and more than 2000 photograph albums dating from 1919 to 2006. Aerofilms Ltd, was an air survey company set up in 1919. In 2007, the collection was bought by Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), English Heritage (EH), and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW) from Blom ASA. Britain from Above was a four year project aimed at conserving 95,000 of the oldest and most valuable photographs in the Aerofilms collection, those dating from 1919 to 1953. Once conserved, the images were scanned into digital format and made available on the Britain From Above website for the public to see, download for non-commercial use, and buy higher resolution versions.


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