Hitchin’s Highway Boundary Bricks
This brick indicates the boundary between a private property and the main road (Highway). These were set in to the pavement to show where a person’s property boundary was and what they were responible for and what the Hertfordshire County Highways were responsible for too. Not many of these exist anymore and therefore must be preserved for posterity just to show what they looked like and how they operated. This particular example set in the pavement on Queen Street, is outside a building used by the Hertfordshire Theatre Schools as a repository.
Seebohm Garden
In a tiny little bit of Hitchin off Biggin Lane by the actual Biggin, lies a petite semi-secluded park, known as the Seebohm Garden. It is only occasionally used by one or two older Sikh men drinking strong lager away from prying eyes, other times by teenagers/school children hanging around; at other times it’s also used by elderly people to have a rest from their heavy shopping bags, before carrying on home. This bit on the photograph above, shows the ivy creeping up the concrete steps that lead down from Biggin Lane to this little utilised green space. A nice quiet area used for some respite away from the madness and hectic pace of life in the modern world.
Timber Framing
This rare shot of timber framing without its brick nogging, wattle and daub or plaster and lath is in Bancroft in Hitchin. The shot below illustrates just what it is like after the brick has been inserted and plastered over. This probably survived due to an adjacent building being rebuilt or a newer one inserted next to the existing old one. This link to the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum illustrates the building process of a timber framed building very well indeed.
Johnny Cash Graffiti
Coming up Hollow Lane there will be found a set of steps towards the top, leading up on to Windmill Hill. There will be found a piece of ‘stencil’ graffiti that looks like Johnny Cash. A serendipitous find when walking Jo-Jo’s dog, Henry.
Windmill Hill Toilets
At the bottom left of Windmill Hill, was a public convenience and a telephone kiosk. These were still there up to the 1970s. By the 1980s they had been demolished. The gaps that were left behind are still there and not filled in. These two photographs illustrate the area that was once the Gentlemen’s WC; leaving behind the wonderful glazed tiles and ivy. The Telephone Kiosk area is just to the right of this.
Dino-Van
Not necessarily to do with Hitchin per se, but it was passing through it and it was a photographic opportunity not to be missed. It was an unusual van design and some thought had gone in to it and it wasn’t the usual dull, plain or un-imaginative thing that is usually sported on vans up and down the length and breadth of the British Isles. More please.
Set in Stone
The Vermiculated Stonework on Bucklesbury has some interesting letters and numbers incised in to them. Click on the above photograph for a larger view. The Letters W A can clearly be seen and the date 1867 (1857?) too. The combination are obviously the architect’s initials and the date of the facade of the building; the frontage being newer than the rest of the building. (Thank you to Alexander Palfreman-Brown for this previously unspotted gem)
Paternoster and Hale Printing Office
This photograph is to show the old Paternoster & Hale Printing Office building in more detail. You can see the Orange Tree Sandwich Bar as mentioned in the last blog entry.