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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

Brookmans Park from above 1947

From our aerial photography over North Mymms series


Photograph of Brookmans Park Railway Station and the London & North Eastern Railway line (LNER), Brookmans Park, 1947 Image courtesy of Britain From Above
Brookmans Park Railway Station and the London & North Eastern Railway line (LNER) 1947
Image with original caption 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 shows how Brookmans Park has developed since 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 Brookmans Park Transmitting Station and George's Wood. Brookmans Park, 1947
Brookmans Park Transmitting Station and George's Wood. Brookmans Park, 1947
Image with original caption courtesy of Britain From Above

Above: The Brookmans Park Transmitting Station from the north-east 18 years after it opened. Also visible are the Great North Road, The Drive, Pine Grove, Kentish Lane, Georges Wood Road, Mymms Drive, and Bell Lane. Also visible is the site of Chancellor’s School, which would be built 17 years later.



Photograph of Brookmans Park Golf Course, Brookmans Park, 1947
Brookmans Park Golf Course, Brookmans Park, 1947
Image with original caption courtesy of Britain From Above

Above: Brookmans Park golf course viewed from the north with Bulls Lane in the foreground and Brookmans Avenue and Golf Club Road in the distance. When the image was taken in 1947 the golf club would have been 17 years old.



Photograph of Peplin's Wood and Brookmans Park Golf Course, Brookmans Park, 1947
Peplin's Wood and Brookmans Park Golf Course, Brookmans Park, 1947
Image with original caption courtesy of Britain From Above

Above: This shot, taken in 1947 looking south over Brookmans Park, shows Peplin’s Wood in the near distance just beyond Bulls Lane. Bradmore Way is visible, but Peplins Way and Brookmans Park Primary School have yet to be built, with the school opening its doors to pupils five years later.



Photograph of Peplin's Wood, Brookmans Park, 1947
Peplin's Wood, Brookmans Park, 1947
Image with original caption courtesy of Britain From Above

Above: Brookmans Park from the north with Bulls Lane passing under the railway at Skimpans Bridge, Welham Green. The Gardens, Oaklands Avenue, and Westland Drive can be seen beyond Brookmans Park village centre. Bradmore Way is visible, but Peplins Way and Brookmans Park Primary School have yet to be built.



Photograph of Brookmans Park Railway Station and the London & North Eastern Railway line (LNER), Brookmans Park, 1947
Brookmans Park Railway Station and the London & North Eastern Railway line (LNER), Brookmans Park, 1947
Image with original caption courtesy of Britain From Above

Above: Brookmans Park village centre from the south-west with the station, Station Road, Bradmore Lane, Bradmore Way, Oaklands Avenue, Westland Drive, The Gardens, Bradmore Green and Brookmans Avenue all visible.



Photograph of Residential area around Brookmans Avenue and Bradmore Green, Brookmans Park, 1947
Residential area around Brookmans Avenue and Bradmore Green, Brookmans Park, 1947
Image with original caption courtesy of Britain From Above

Above: Brookmans Park from the south with the golf course at the top right, Bradmore Way to the left, Bradmore Green and the village centre beneath, and the early development to the west of Bluebridge Road, Oaklands Avenue, and Westland Drive. The southern side of Moffats Lane had been built up to number 12 - beyond that there were open fields.



Photograph of Brookmans Avenue and Brookmans Park Golf Course, Brookmans Park, 1947
Brookmans Avenue and Brookmans Park Golf Course, Brookmans Park, 1947
Image with original caption courtesy of Britain From Above

Above: Brookmans Park from the south with the golf course at the top right and Bradmore Way to the left. Houses can be seen along both sides of Brookmans Avenue and along the north side of Moffats Lane. Moffats House is to the right. Beyond the golf course is Bulls Lane leading from Bell Bar to Welham Green.



Photograph of Brookmans Avenue and Brookmans Park Golf Course, Brookmans Park, 1947
Brookmans Avenue and Brookmans Park Golf Course, Brookmans Park, 1947
Image with original caption courtesy of Britain From Above

Above: Brookmans Park from the south with the golf course at the top and Brookmans Avenue below. Moffats Lane twists past Moffats Farm and Moffats House before reaching what is now Jonas Way and The Grove. Park Close and Moffats Close were yet to be built.



Photograph of Mymms Drive and Brookmans Park Golf Course, Brookmans Park, 1947
Mymms Drive and Brookmans Park Golf Course, Brookmans Park, 1947
Image with original caption courtesy of Britain From Above

Above: Brookmans Park from the south with the golf course at the top left and Golf Club Road and Bell Bar beyond to the right. The junction of Brookmans Avenue, Georges Wood Road, and Mymms Drive can be seen, although with far fewer houses. Moffats Lane, The Grove, and Calder Avenue are also visible, but Moffats Close has yet to be built.



Photograph of George's Wood Road and Golf Club Road, Brookmans Park, 1947
George's Wood Road and Golf Club Road, Brookmans Park, 1947
Image with original caption courtesy of Britain From Above

Above: The development of Georges Wood Road came before houses were built along Calder Avenue and at the junction with Mymms Drive and Moffats Lane. But the post-war house building programme meant that the fields in the pictures would soon be developed. Brookmans Park golf course is top left and Bell Bar top right.



Photograph of George's Wood, Brookmans Park, 1947
George's Wood, Brookmans Park, 1947
Image with original caption courtesy of Britain From Above

Above: Georges Wood Road at its junction with the yet-to-be developed Pine Grove leading up to the site of the future Chancellor’s School. To the right is the Brookmans Park Transmitting Station alongside the Great North Road (then the A1). Bell Bar is top left with Bell Lane winding round to Bulls Lane.



Photograph of Brookmans Park Transmitting Station and the Great North Road, Brookmans Park, 1947
Brookmans Park Transmitting Station and the Great North Road, Brookmans Park, 1947
Image with original caption courtesy of Britain From Above

Above: The Brookmans Park Transmitting Station, also known as The London Twin-Wave Broadcasting Station photographed from the south. Also visible are Pine Grove, Georges Wood Road, and Kentish Lane. Bell Lane is top left just after the site of the yet to be built Chancellor’s School.



Aerial photograph of George's Wood Road, Brookmans Park, 1947
George's Wood Road, Brookmans Park, 1947
Image with original caption courtesy of Britain From Above

Above: Brookmans Park from the east with George’s Wood and Georges Wood Road leading into Brookmans Avenue. A yet to be developed Calder Avenue extends from Moffats Lane. The Grove is visible as is Mymms Drive, Pine Grove, and Kentish Lane. The Brookmans Park golf course is top right.



Aerial photograph of George's Wood, Brookmans Park, 1947
George's Wood, Brookmans Park, 1947
Image with original caption courtesy of Britain From Above

Above: Brookmans Park golf course top right, with Golf Club Road below leading to Brookmans Avenue, Mymms Drive and Georges Wood Road. Pine Grove and the Great North Road (then the A1) along with houses along Upland Drive. The site of the Brookmans Park Transmitting Station is bottom right and The Cuttings bottom left.



Aerial photograph of Pine Grove and Brookmans Park Golf Course, Brookmans Park, 1947
Pine Grove and Brookmans Park Golf Course, Brookmans Park, 1947
Image with original caption courtesy of Britain From Above

Above: Brookmans Park golf course top, with Golf Club Road below and Bell Lane on the right. The Drive leads from Bell Lane to Pine Grove and the site of the future Chancellor’s School. The site of the Brookmans Park Transmitting Station is at the bottom with the Great North Road (then the A1) above it.



Aerial photograph of Peplin's Wood and Brookmans Park Golf Course, Brookmans Park, 1947
Peplin's Wood and Brookmans Park Golf Course, Brookmans Park, 1947
Image with original caption courtesy of Britain From Above

Above: Peplin's Wood with the railway running alongside. Station Road can be seen at the bottom of the photograph. Brookmans Park golf course is top right and the houses at the end of Bradmore Way can be seen right middle of the picture. Bulls Lane, running from Welham Green to Bell Bar is middle to top left.



Aerial photograph of Bradmore Way and Brookmans Park Golf Course, Brookmans Park, 1947
Bradmore Way and Brookmans Park Golf Course, Brookmans Park, 1947
Image with original caption courtesy of Britain From Above

Above: Station Road, Bradmore Lane, Bradmore Green, and Bradmore Way all visible from this shot taken to the west of Brookmans Park. The Brookmans Park golf course is on the left with Brookmans Avenue on the right leading up to Georges Wood Road and the Great North Road (then the A1).



Aerial photograph of Brookmans Park Railway Station and Brookmans Avenue, Brookmans Park, 1947
Brookmans Park Railway Station and Brookmans Avenue, Brookmans Park, 1947
Image with original caption courtesy of Britain From Above
Above: A shot from the west that shows much of how Brookmans Park had developed since the last aerial photographs taken in 1928 - also on this site. Here we see Brookmans Park Station, Station Road, Bradmore Green, Bradmore Way, Brookmans Avenue, Moffats Lane, Bluebridge Road, Bluebridge Avenue, The Gardens, Westland Drive, and Oaklands Avenue.

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




You may have noticed that the Britain From Above project uses an apostrophe in George's Wood Road, as does Google Maps and the close-detail Ordnance Survey maps. The local road signs all read Georges Wood Road. So we have left the original captions as they were (in order to comply with the terms and conditions for using the images - see below), but we have used the locally-accepted version, Georges Wood Road, in all our descriptions.

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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