Brookmans Park Motors in the 1950s

The workshop at Brookmans Park Motors at Bell Bar in the 1950s
Image courtesy of the Peter Miller Collection - photographer unknown

A collection of photographs of the Brookmans Park Motors (BPM) garage, showroom, and petrol station forecourt at Bell Bar in the 1950s has been acquired by one of the North Mymms History Project (NMHP) founders and uploaded to this site. We have digitised the photographs and shared them below.

The 'Welham Green curve'

The scene of the Hatfield train crash
Image from The Health and Safety Laboratory

On 17 October 2000, an InterCity 225 train bound for Leeds left London King’s Cross at midday heading north on the East Coast Main Line. It passed through North Mymms travelling at 185 km/h (115 mph) before encountering the 'Welham Green curve' where it started to derail before travelling a further 1km to a point south of Hatfield. Four people died and 70 were injured.

The final report by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR), July 2006, concluded that the "immediate cause of the derailment ... was the fracture and subsequent fragmentation of the [outer] rail on the [northbound] fast line at the Welham Green curve". The rail failure, according to the board, was due to the presence of "multiple and preexisting fatigue cracks in the rail".

North Mymms man given 10 years for "forgery and fraud"

North Mymms House front entrance 1870s
Photograph R. Sinclair part of the Images of North Mymms Collection

On Wednesday 4 November 1908 Sidney Boughton Pope, who lived in Welham Manor, Welham Green, was sentenced to 10 years penal servitude for a series of crimes in which he was accused of stealing thousands of pounds through "forgery and fraud". Among his victims was one of the owners of North Mymms Park.

The judge described the case as "one of the most serious" he had ever had to deal with. He said it was "extraordinary" that so many "simple-minded people" had been "taken in" by the accused, and likened the case to "Alice in Wonderland".

A German child evacuated to North Mymms during WWII

Theodora Schwarzschild, third from the right bottom row
At the "large old and very cold house" in Brookmans Park where she was educated
Image North Mymms Local History Society,
Part of the Images of North Mymms Collection

In 1938 a Jewish girl fled Hitler's Germany with her family and headed for England. Soon after arriving she was separated from her parents along with dozens of other children and evacuated to Brookmans Park. Speaking no English, she remembers being "deposited" on Brookmans Park Station and taken in by a "really special family" who lived in Brookmans Avenue. She recalls being woken one night after a shell exploded in the back garden "blowing out the upstairs windows".

Early Memories of Eleanor Vyse 1887-1976

Water End School c 1903. Headmistress Mrs Cooke on the left
Image part of the Images of North Mymms Collection

Eleanor Vyse left school before she was 13 to help her mother care for her brothers and sisters. She was glad to get away from the schoolmistress who was "stern" and who could control 60 children "by just looking at us". A highlight of the year - "almost the only one" - was tea and games on the vicarage lawn on Ascension day. A year after leaving school she moved five miles away to serve as a mother's help doing "stacks of washing up". It was not an easy life for some children growing up in North Mymms towards the end of the Victorian era.

Welham Green when "everyone just about knew everyone else"

The Water Cross, Welham Green 1900s
Photograph by G Knott, part of the Peter Miller Collection

Washing clothing by hand with water from a brook, freshly made bread baked daily and delivered door-to-door, welcoming evacuees during WWII, and the day a bomb landed near to the North Mymms cricket pitch shattering a stained glass window in St Mary's parish church - just some memories shared by a local resident who lived in Welham Green when it was a small village where "everyone just about knew everyone else".

The history of Welham Cottages

Welham Cottages, Station Road, Welham Green - 1982
From the Images of North Mymms Collection

In 1890 a pair of cottages at the junction of Dellsome Lane and Station Road, Welham Green, went under the auctioneer's hammer. The highest and final bid of £340 was made by Alfred William Vyse, a local haybinder.

The semi-detached cottages, which were called Welham Cottages at the time of the sale, were owned by Coningsby Charles Sibthorp of North Mymms Park who had a vision for building "a model village" at Welham Green. Welham Cottages, which were built in 1872, were part of that plan. A datestone with the original owner's initials C.C.S. is on the front face of the premises.

Sheepsheadhall along Bradmore Lane

Sheepsheadhall Cottage, Bradmore Lane
Photograph A Nott / G Knott part of the Images of North Mymms collection

A small, wooden-faced brick cottage "set in neat gardens" on what was described as "an excellent holding" once stood alongside Bradmore Lane on the edge of Brick Kiln Wood. Now the site is overgrown with the adjacent woodland having reclaimed the land.

The spot where Sheepsheadhall Cottage once stood (location - https://w3w.co/gloves.head.every) is a third of a mile west of the junction with what is now Station Road.

The compact "brick, timber, and tiled" cottage, with a "parlour, living room, and scullery" downstairs and four bedrooms upstairs, stood at the point where the woodland meets a field. There were "good gardens" and a "well of water".

Welham Green Dixons Hill Road from 1899

Photographs of Welham Green Dixons Hill Road area since 1899
Slideshow created from the Images of North Mymms collection

The following slideshow is made up of 46 photographs from the Images of North Mymms collection recording the history of the area. This selection includes photographs of the Dixons Hill Road area of Welham Green dating back to 1899.

Brookmans Park roads since the 1930s

Photographs of Brookmans Park roads since the 1930s
Slideshow created from the Images of North Mymms collection

The following slideshow is made up of 28 photographs from the Images of North Mymms collection recording the history of the area. This selection includes images of the roads in Brookmans Park dating back to the 1930s.

Welham Green and Marshmoor railway history

Royal Lancer 60107 at the railway footpath crossing in 1963
Photograph by R.Kingdon, part of the Images of North Mymms collection

The following slideshow is made up of 57 photographs from the Images of North Mymms collection recording the history of the area. This selection includes images of rail traffic through Marshmoor and Welham Green.

Brookmans Park Station - opening and early use

Brookmans Park Station opening 1926
Image from the NMLHS part of the Images of North Mymms collection

The following slideshow is made up of 66 photographs from the Images of North Mymms collection recording the history of the area. This selection includes images of the opening of Brookmans Park Station in 1926 and some of the early rail traffic through the station.

Welham Green Station construction and opening

The first train at Welham Green Station on 29 September 1986
Photograph by R. Kingdon - part of the Images of North Mymms collection

The following slideshow is made up of 30 photographs from the Images of North Mymms collection recording the history of the area. This selection includes images of the construction and opening of Welham Green Station in 1986.

Welham Green schools - pupils and staff

Welham Green Boys School in the 1890s
Image P. Nash part of the Images of North Mymms collection

The following slideshow is made up of 54 photographs from the Images of North Mymms collection recording the history of the area. This selection includes images of the pupils and staff of schools in Welham Green dating back to the 19th century.

Welham Green schools - buildings

Welham Green Boys School in the 1930s
Image E. Bailey / P. Miller, part of the Images of North Mymms collection

The following slideshow is made up of 16 photographs from the Images of North Mymms collection recording the history of the area. This selection includes images of the schools in Welham Green over the last 100 years.

Buses and coaches serving North Mymms

London to Brookmans Park Cream Line route pre WWII
Image courtesy P Miller part of the Images of North Mymms collection

The following slideshow is made up of 56 photographs from the Images of North Mymms collection recording the history of the area. This selection includes images of buses and coaches serving North Mymms over the years.

North Mymms pubs

The Old Maypole, Water End 1960s
Photograph Peter Miller, part of the Images of North Mymms collection

The following slideshow is made up of 53 photographs from the Images of North Mymms collection recording the history of the area. This selection includes images of pubs in Bell Bar, Water End, Welham Green, and Brookmans Park.

North Mymms Bowls Club

North Mymms Bowls Club Women's team 1980s
Picture B. Duggan, part of the Images of North Mymms collection

The following slideshow is made up of 18 photographs from the Images of North Mymms collection recording the history of the area. This selection depicts the activities of the North Mymms Bowls Club which is still going strong today.

Women's organisations in North Mymms

North Mymms WI choir
Image courtesy of M. Lovell, part of the Images of North Mymms Collection

The following slideshow is made up of photographs from the Images of North Mymms collection recording the history of the area. This selection depicts the activities of the various women's organisations in North Mymms in the late 20th century.

North Mymms Football Club

North Mymms Football Club 1900s
Image B Hickson - part of the Images of North Mymms Collection

The following slideshow is made up of photographs from the Images of North Mymms collection recording the history of the area. This selection of 13 images depicts North Mymms Football Club over the years.