Human settlement in England
Brookmans Park
is a village in
Hertfordshire
, southeast England, known for its
BBC transmitter station
.
Brookmans Park railway station
, on the
East Coast Main Line
, is operated by
Great Northern
. It is also a waypoint used in air navigation by
Heathrow Airport
.
History
[
edit
]
Miss Muffet
[
edit
]
Local legend has it that "
Little Miss Muffet
" of the
nursery rhyme
was Patience Moffat, daughter of
entomologist
Dr. Thomas Moffat (possibly Moffett or Moufet), who lived in the area from 1553 to 1604 on a farm.
[2]
He had invited a poet over for Christmas. During his stay he overheard Miss Moffat tell her father of how she was eating her
curds
and
whey
when a spider came down from the ceiling and frightened her. The poet made an alteration to the name Miss Moffat and wrote the rhyme. However, the traceable origins of the rhyme are murky, as it did not appear in a printed version until 1805. The local connection is celebrated by the inclusion of a spider's web in the badge of Brookmans Park School.
[3]
Gobions Estate
[
edit
]
Gobions estate was transferred to John More in 1397: the house renamed More Hall.
Sir John More
became the owner.
[4]
Edward VI
gave this estate to the future
Queen Elizabeth 1
in 1550 by and it was returned to the More family by
Mary Tudor
in 1553.
[4]
Gubbins mansion stood north of Gobions Pond where the back gardens of The Grove meet the wood.
[4]
More Hall later became known under many names such as Gobions.
[5]
Its name has varied over the centuries and through many ownerships.
It had reverted to Gubbens in the 17th century followed by Gubbins in the 18th. Originally the name came from Sir Richard Gobion in the twelfth century.
[4]
The Gobions mansion was of such a fine quality with pleasure grounds designed by
Charles Bridgeman
, that it was visited by royalty. Now, virtually none of it remains, just a few scattered ruins.
The Brokemans
[
edit
]
The Brokemans known as "Manor of Mimmshall" owned by John Brokeman (died 1415). Where the name Brookmans Park originated.
[6]
The Gaussen family arrived in 1786, when
Peter Gaussen
bought the Brookmans estate for his son Samuel.
[7]
In 1838 the Gaussens demolished the Gubbins manor house (he owned both houses and was jealous that Gobbins was better than his other, Brookmans).
[8]
[6]
In 1891, while the family were away on a holiday cruise, Brookmans Manor burned down, caused by a "painter using a
blow lamp
for exterior redecoration".
[6]
Robert George Gaussen then had the stable block, now the Brookmans Park Golf Club House, of the estate converted to his home.
[6]
In 1662 Peter Sambrooke purchased Nashes, alias Moffits, Farm. After the
Great Plague
Peter demolished the old farmhouse replacing it with Moffats House.
[9]
Folly Arch
[
edit
]
Folly Arch, a local landmark visible from Brookmans Park, north of Hawkshead Road between Brookmans Park and
Potters Bar
, was erected as one of the entrances to the Gobions estate as part of
Charles Bridgeman
's garden design for
Sir Jeremy Sambrooke
c. 1740
[10]
It is a
Grade II* listed
building.
[11]
The remains of a track can still be seen in the fields between Folly Arch and Gobions Wood, where there had previously been an avenue of
lime trees
leading from the
arch
to Gobions wood.
[12]
These were destroyed during
WWII
by the farmer who owned the fields.
[13]
The track then passes through the woods, crossing Ray Brook by means of a brick bridge
[14]
which is now ruined but was usable as recently as the 1960s.
Birth of a village
[
edit
]
In 1923 land from the Gobions Estate was bought by the White/Calder building syndicate who formed Brookmans Park (Hatfield) Ltd, to construct a
commuter
village
.
[4]
[15]
The London & North Eastern Railway built Brookmans Park Railway Station in 1926. Around the same time an 18-hole golf course was built on the land and the house, converted from
stables
, became the golf club.
[6]
The
BBC
set up its
transmitter station
on the border of Brookmans Park and
Bell Bar
in 1929.
[16]
In the late 1930s there was a building spree: 55 in 1936, 60 in 1937 - in Uplands Drive, The Grove, Kentish Lane and Westland Drive. 106 in 1938 and 52 in 1939.
Householders protested against the building of bungalows, in Georges Wood Road and Pine Grove, as they would depreciate the value of their properties. The compromise was the 'Bungalette' with a veranda style front porch supported by Tuscan columns, which can be seen in Georges Wood Road today. In 1946 150 houses and 50 smaller dwellings (bungalows) were approved for Westlands Drive and Peplins Way. This continued with another 100 between 1947 and 1950 in Peplins Way, Westland Drive, Oaklands Avenue and the Bluebridge area, to make the residential village we know today.
[17]
Brookmans Park Primary School was built as the village grew opening in 1951 for the first 110 pupils.
[18]
Second World War
[
edit
]
The London Blitz
resulted in children being
evacuated
to Brookmans Park.
[19]
In 1940 the first 1000lb bomb was dropped on
Queenswood
’s hockey field in Shepherd’s Way.
[20]
Brookmans Park was on the
Outer London Defence Ring
. These defences included
spigot mortar
emplacements near the
Brookmans Park transmitting station
and one together with tank traps protecting the Station Road railway bridge.
[21]
British
Foreign Secretary
,
Anthony Eden
, on 21 May 1942 stood on
Brookmans Park Station
Platform to welcome his Russian counterpart the Russian Peoples'
Commissar
for Foreign Affairs
Vyacheslav Molotov
and Russian delegation. They were whisked off to
Chequers
leading to the signing of the
Anglo-Soviet Treaty of 1942
.
[22]
Gobions Open Space
[
edit
]
The Gobions Estate
[4]
was an ancient private estate that flourished on merchant wealth near the village of Brookmans Park from the 14th to 18th centuries. The estate's lands now serve the community as a
nature reserve
and open space. It was owned by the now-defunct Gobions Woodland Trust.
[23]
The nature reserve is now managed by the
Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust
as
Gobions Wood
, and another part as Gobions Open Space. It lies close to the Great North Road, adjacent to the village.
In 1956 North Mymms Parish Council acquired the land and the lake now known as Gobions Open Space, rescuing it from potential development. Twenty-nine years later in 1985, householders in the parish subscribed to a fund that helped the Gobions Woodland Trust buy the large remainder of the estate.
Public Transportation
[
edit
]
Brookmans Park railway station
serves the village of Brookmans Park in
Hertfordshire
, England. The station is located 14 miles 37 chains north of London Kings Cross on the East Coast Main Line, on the stretch between Finsbury Park and
Hatfield
.
The station was opened by the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) on 19 July 1926. The station has four platforms in total, two island platforms on both sides, but only platforms 1 & 4 are used regularly, platforms 2 & 3 are only used during line disruption or engineering work. The west side serves northbound services and another island platform serving southbound services which lies to the east. The station car park parallels the island platforms to the east.
As of 2021 this station accepts contactless payment and paper tickets, but not Oyster cards. Services are operated by
Great Northern
to Moorgate.
There are approximately 102 trains departing from Brookmans Park station on a Typical Weekday:
- The first train departs Brookmans Park station at 04:09
- The last train departs Brookmans Park station at 00:37
[24]
The Village is also served by a number of bus routes such as the 610, 242 and 305 operated by
Uno
and
Metroline
respectively.
Brookmans Park transmitting station
[
edit
]
The
Brookmans Park transmitting station
, is situated Northeast of Brookmans Park on the
A1000
Great North Road
[16]
between
Potters Bar
and
Hatfield
in
Hertfordshire
. The
transmitter
played a crucial part in the history of broadcasting in Great Britain, as the first purpose-built twin
transmitter station
in the world capable of
broadcasting
two radio programmes simultaneously
[16]
when it was completed in October 1929.
It also played a part in the early development of television broadcasting. On 30 March 1930, experimental television tests were made there using thirty-line pictures. These constituted the first public transmission of simultaneous sound and vision in Great Britain. The station transmitted television broadcasts, during hours when BBC radio was off the air, until 1935.
The tower has twice blown down, and according to villagers' reports: it interferes with TV and radio transmissions; causes automatic garage doors to open of their own accord and causes radiators, telephones, toasters and waste bins to "play music".
[
citation needed
]
It can interfere with DSL broadband modems, and an additional RF (radio-frequency) filter needs to be placed in the incoming line of houses near the transmitter to avoid high error rates.
[
citation needed
]
Brookmans Park is also home to a
VOR
beacon, used by airliners arriving and departing London
airspace
,
[25]
and affectionately known by pilots and air traffic controllers as 'The Park'.
[
citation needed
]
Brookmans Park School and Chancellor's School
[
edit
]
Brookmans Park has its own primary school, Brookmans Park School and secondary school,
Chancellor's School
. Both are popular with parents, both locally and from across the region and are known for consistently high standards of education at all age levels, according to
OFSTED
reports.
Brookmans Park School, opened in 1952, situated in Bradmore Way in the village of Brookmans Park. The school itself has a large playing field.
[18]
In the late 1950s the
PTA
raised enough money to build an open air
swimming pool
, in the school grounds, where the school children learn to swim and pass distance swimming certificates. This pool has now been filled in.
[15]
Nearly twenty years after the Education Act was passed in 1944 and thirteen years after the site was first designated in 1950 the search and purchase were completed. The sense of the urgent need for the school can be seen from the fact that in less than eighteen months the first pupils would cross the threshold of Chancellor's School and turn the plan for a secondary school for the children of the villages in the area into reality.
[26]
The Brookmans
[
edit
]
The Brookmans Park Hotel was a privately owned hotel situated in the centre of the village, with a pub and restaurant popular with local residents. The hotel was built in the 1930s in a Mason's style with high pitched ceilings, skylights, wood panelling, carved Mason symbols and a large stone fireplace. The hotel was often used for wedding banquets and other local functions. It had six hotel rooms available to guests, making it the only hotel in the area.
Martin Chivers
ran the Brookmans Hotel from 1983 to 1996.
[27]
The Brookmans Park Hotel was taken over by a national brewery chain in July 2006. After extensive refurbishments it reopened in April 2007 as
The Brookmans
pub and restaurant. The restaurant section was expanded by knocking down the wall between the main bar and old function room; and was noticeably more upmarket than The Brookmans Park Hotel had been. Along with dropping 'Hotel' from its name, the hotel business was closed and a deli business, Oaks Deli, took over what used to be the pool room in the old public house. Prior to having been a pool room, it was a wine bar called "Oaks", perhaps explaining the naming. In summer 2011 The Brookmans was taken over by Peach Pubs
[28]
and after a refurbishment and menu overhaul reopened in October of the same year.
Brookmans Park Golf Club and Lawn Tennis Club
[
edit
]
Brookmans Park Golf Club is adjacent to
Chancellor's School
, just off Brookmans Avenue. It is a popular golf club for local players, possessing a full
18-hole course
, deemed quite challenging by players locally.
[29]
The Brookmans Park
Lawn Tennis
Club, on Golf Club Road, is another popular sporting facility for local players. It possesses four
floodlit
artificial grass
courts, and two macadam courts.
[30]
It regularly participates in local and regional tournaments.
Churches
[
edit
]
Brookmans Park is in the
Church of England
Parish of
North Mymms
, served by St Mary's Church in North Mimms Park. In 1948 the squash court in (now No 48) Moffats Lane became a chapel - St. Michael and All Angels.
[17]
[31]
[16]
It is served by the
Roman Catholic
parish of Hatfield which has a Chapel of Ease (St Thomas More) in the neighbouring village of
Welham Green
.
[32]
After meeting in a shop from 1942, a hut was built in Oaklands Avenue to house the
Congregational Church
congregation in 1948
[16]
which is now the car park of the current
United Reformed Church
that replaced it in 1960.
Notable residents
[
edit
]
Music and dance
[
edit
]
Politics, nobility and royalty
[
edit
]
Sports
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
United Kingdom Census 2001
"Archived copy"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 26 March 2009
. Retrieved
20 March
2009
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
link
)
- ^
Shackle, Eric (15 June 2001).
"Was Little Miss Muffet a local girl?"
.
NorthMymmsHistory.uk
. North Mymms History Project
. Retrieved
31 August
2020
.
- ^
"Home | Brookmans Park Primary School"
.
www.brookmanspark.herts.sch.uk
. Retrieved
3 October
2022
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
"Gobions Estate North Mymms Hertfordshire"
. Retrieved
3 October
2022
.
- ^
"History"
.
Brookmans Park Golf Club
. Retrieved
20 July
2019
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
"A Brief History of Brookmans Park Mansion"
(PDF)
.
- ^
Finn (2018). Margot and Kate Smith (ed.).
The East India Company at Home, 1757-1857
. London: UCL Press. p. 264.
ISBN
978-1-78735-028-1
.
- ^
HRO 23702, 23704
- ^
Killick, Bill.
"The apothecary who built Moffats House in Moffats Lane"
.
NorthMymmsHistory.uk
. North Mymms History Project
. Retrieved
31 August
2020
.
- ^
Millar, Peter (2018).
"Folly Arch through the ages"
.
NorthMymmsHistory.uk
. North Mymms History Project
. Retrieved
17 May
2020
.
- ^
"Name: THE FOLLY ARCH List entry Number: 1100984"
. Historic England
. Retrieved
27 December
2015
.
- ^
Map of North Mimms Park
. Bodleian Library.
- ^
"Gobions Estate North Mymms Hertfordshire"
. Retrieved
10 February
2020
.
- ^
Millar, Peter (2019).
"North Mymms' major historical bridges"
.
NorthMymmsHistory.uk
. North Mymms History Project
. Retrieved
17 May
2020
.
- ^
a
b
c
Thorn, Tracet (2019).
Another Planet: A Teenage in Suburbia
. 14 High St., Edinburgh: Canongate Books.
ISBN
978-1-78689-258-4
.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location (
link
)
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
"Brookmans Park - Pictures From The Past"
.
NorthMymmsHistory.uk
. North Mymms History Project
. Retrieved
22 June
2020
.
- ^
a
b
Kingsford, Peter.
"A Modern History of Brookmans Park 1700-1950"
.
NorthMymmsHistory.uk
. Chapter V: North Mymms History Project
. Retrieved
30 May
2020
.
- ^
a
b
Sarson, Bethany.
"Brief history of Brookmans Park primary school"
.
Brookmans Park School
. Archived from
the original
on 23 November 2015
. Retrieved
22 November
2015
.
- ^
Tether, Marjorie.
"Brookmans Park Evacuees"
.
NorthMymmsHistory.uk
. North Mymms History Project
. Retrieved
18 May
2020
.
- ^
"A History of Queenswood"
.
Queenswood.org
. Queenswood School
. Retrieved
20 May
2020
.
- ^
Miller, Peter.
"Brookmans Park's WWII spigot mortar emplacements"
.
NorthMymmsHistory.uk
. North Mymms History Project
. Retrieved
28 May
2020
.
- ^
"Top secret WWII Russian visit to Brookmans Park 1942"
.
NorthMymmsHistory.uk
. North Mymms History Project
. Retrieved
31 August
2020
.
- ^
"293797 ? THE GOBIONS WOODLAND TRUST"
. Charity Commission for England and Wales
. Retrieved
27 September
2015
.
- ^
"Table B"
.
timetables.greatnorthernrail.com
. Retrieved
3 October
2022
.
- ^
Wrigley, Sylvia (25 September 2009).
"Brookman's Park VOR (BPK)"
.
FearOfLanding.com
. Retrieved
22 June
2020
.
- ^
Sarson, Bethany.
"Brief history of Chancellor's School"
.
Chancellor's School
. Retrieved
22 November
2015
.
- ^
a
b
Culley, Jon (14 May 1996).
"Sport Where are they now?"
.
Independent.co.uk
. Independent
. Retrieved
20 May
2020
.
- ^
"Brookmans Park Restaurant"
.
brookmanspub.co.uk
. Peach Pub Co. 2020
. Retrieved
18 May
2020
.
- ^
"Brookmans Park Golf Club"
.
bpgc.co.uk
. Brookmans Park Golf Club
. Retrieved
21 May
2020
.
- ^
"Brookmans Park Tennis Club"
.
ClubPark.lta.org.uk
. LTA Tennis
. Retrieved
20 May
2020
.
- ^
"Picture of St. Michael and All Angels"
.
NorthMymmsHistory.uk
. North Mymms History Project
. Retrieved
30 May
2020
.
- ^
"Hatfield Parish"
.
parish.rcdow.org.uk
. Roman Catholic Church of MaryChurch
. Retrieved
30 May
2020
.
- ^
Jankowicz, Mia (13 October 2018).
"Welwyn Hatfield MP reacts to Brookmans Park Brexitometer"
.
WHTimes.co.uk
. Welwyn Hatfield Times
. Retrieved
25 May
2020
.
- ^
"Mr Grant Schaps"
.
CompanyCheck.co.uk
. Company Check Ltd
. Retrieved
25 May
2020
.
- ^
Kingsford, Peter. "Chapter 1".
A Modern History of Brookmans Park 1700-1950
. Retrieved
20 May
2020
.
- ^
"Brookmans Park Hotel Limited"
.
CompaniesHouse.gov.uk
. Companies House
. Retrieved
25 May
2020
.
- ^
"A close community in Brookmans Park"
.
HertfordshireLife.co.uk
. Been aroundthe world: Hertfordshire Life. 4 February 2010
. Retrieved
20 May
2020
.
- ^
"School gifted signed shirt after letters to England star Bukayo Saka"
. 20 July 2021.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
Boroughs or districts
| |
---|
Major settlements
(cities in italics)
| |
---|
Topics
| |
---|