Baldock

The market town of Baldock developed at the junction of a Roman road and the ancient Icknield Way in the mid 1100s. It is said that the Knights Templar named the town 'Baudacum' - a Latinised from of Baghdad - and that this evolved into Baldock. The market still meets on the original site each week, but on a non-market day in the 1920s, Baldock has an air of almost desertion. On the right, in the background, is Quenby's garage with its 'swing-arm' petrol pump. On the opposite side of the road, almost obscured by the dark shadow of the Town Hall, stands a Great War gun carriage.
An extract from from"North and East Hertfordshire Photographic Memories".

The Icknield Way was a pre-Roman, Iron Age trading route running along the northern border of Hertfordshire. At Baldock it formed the length of White Horse Street and Hitchin Street. Inns and beer houses served the needs of travellers and waggon drivers - the Chequers stands on the left and the George and Dragon faces us in the distance. The photographer stood with his back to the site of the White Horse, which burnt down in the 1860s. Fred Butler, who ran the petrol station on the left, started business in the 1890s as a bicycle retailer. Past Butlers on the left is the Rose and Crown, which provided overnight garaging for motorists and was strongly endorsed by both the AA and the RAC. A far cry from the days when the four-legged horse power ruled and Baldock's annual horse fair took place in White Horse Street.
An extract from from"North and East Hertfordshire Photographic Memories".

In the 1920s and 1930s, the George and Dragon Hotel was a popular stopping-place for cyclists and walkers following the route of the Icknield Way. For the more discerning 'Commercials and Motorists' it provided 'wines, spirits and billiards'. The George and Dragon stands opposite the corner of Sun Street and adjacent to the site of the Sun public house (later the Victoria.) Only the 1950s 'Keep Left' sign differs from the view today.
An extract from from"North and East Hertfordshire Photographic Memories".

Hitchin Street formed part of the complex of parallel trackways which made up the Icknield Way. Baldock provided a resting place for travellers, and little has changed in the 1000 or so years of its life. Even in the mid 1920s, almost every other building is an inn or a tavern - only the concrete lamp post and the television aerials identify this as the 20th century.
An extract from from"North and East Hertfordshire Photographic Memories".

A rare Lea Francis convertible is parked outside Randolph Antiques. Between the houses in the distance was the site of the Roman Catholic church dedicated to the Holy Trinity and St Augustine of Canterbury in 1926; it was never completed, and the remains were demolished in 1977. Next door to Randolph’s stands the Cock pub, an old establishment and one of a portfolio of Baldock public houses owned by John Izzard Prior in 1823. The gardens in the foreground are at the corner of Mansfield Road close to the Lodge. The Lodge was originally the entrance to Elmwood House, located close to the site of the Kayser Bondor factory built c1919 for the Full-Fashioned Hosiery Company - this later became a large Tesco store.
An extract from from"Hertfordshire Living Memories".