Berkhamsted

As late as 1930, parts of the High Street at Berkhamsted were not fully made up; but with the increase of traffic on this main arterial road, it had one of the first junctions in Hertfordshire to become controlled by traffic lights. Pilkingtom Manor, mostly hidden by the trees on the left, was demolished in 1959, and today only the Dower House (the white gabled building in the centre of the photograph) survives. In the early 1800s, Berkhamsted was renowned for its high quality bobbin lace. There was a resurgence of the industry in the early 1900s, but with the importation of the cheaper ‘Maltese Pattern’ lace, the industry faded and disappeared.
An extract from from"Hertfordshire Living Memories".

The new church, St Peter’s, seems to have been deliberately placed in a prominent position close to the market place and the approach to the castle. Geoffrey Fitz Piers, Earl of Essex, holder of the castle at the time, was the founder of the church, one of the largest in the county. Its grandeur also reflects the flourishing wool trade in the town at this period. The south side of the High Street was higher and drier, and it was here that the wealthier properties of the medieval town were to be found. On the other side were the stalls, shops and shambles of the traders. It appears that the later medieval lay-out of the town was the result of a deliberate plan initiated by Geoffrey Fitz Piers, and that it was contemporaneous with the building of St Peter’s Church and Castle Street. At about the same time he founded two hospitals, the Hospital of St John the Baptist and the Hospital of St John the Evangelist. It is likely that the second was at the eastern end of the town. Both were dissolved in the 1520s, and the revenues used as part of the endowment for Berkhamsted School.
An extract from from"Berkhamsted - A History & Celebration".

Ashlyns School was built in 1933-35 and accepted its first pupils in September 1935. It originally offered places for 400 pupils aged between 5 and 15 years. The site had been used as an overflow for Thomas Coram’s Bloomsbury Foundling Hospital, but had passed to the estate of nearby Ashlyns Hall prior to its purchase in 1929. The new school was inaugurated by Prince Arthur of Connaught in July 1935; it became a Secondary Modern School in January 1951. Amongst its treasures were the original coat of arms from Coram’s Hospital, which still forms part of the pediment, and an organ donated by G F Handel to the Foundling Hospital. Unfortunately, the organ was removed when the County Council completed the purchase of the school in 1955.
An extract from from"Hertfordshire Living Memories".

The parish church of St Peter, which dates from before 1222, was built on the site of part of the old St John’s Chapel at the side of the Roman Akeman Street. In 1870 it was restored and clad in faced flint to a design by William Butterfield. The surplus flints from the interior were saved and used to build Sunnyside Church of St Michael and All Angels, which was dedicated in June 1909. Among the treasures of St Peter’s is a window commemorating the Hertfordshire poet William Cowper, who was born at Berkhamsted Rectory in 1731.
An extract from from"Hertfordshire Living Memories".

Parked by the side of Kings Road and opposite the memorial are a gleaming black Rover 14, a Riley 1.5 and an early F-type Vauxhall Victor. The school in the background was founded in 1541 by John Incent, Dean of St Paul’s, to provide education for 144 boys. Work was completed in 1544, and the school has been in continuous use since then. William Camden, the antiquarian, said: ‘This fine old school building is the only structure in Berkhamsted worth a second glance.’
An extract from from"Hertfordshire Living Memories".