Lawes inherited the family estate at Rothamsted in 1834. In front of its main building, which faces the common, is a stone, erected in 1893, commemorating 50 years of experiments by Sir John Bennet Lawes and Joseph Henry Gilbert. Harpenden is the home of Rothamsted Manor and Rothamsted Research (formerly Rothamsted Experimental Station and later the Institute of Arable Crops Research), a leading centre for agricultural research. In 1932 Bamville Cricket club was formed and shares part of the Common with the Golfers. The club moved to a new course at Hammonds End in 1931, at which time Harpenden Common Golf Club was formed by those who wanted to remain at the Common. In his History of Hertfordshire in 1879, John Edwin Cussans commented 'Notwithstanding that these meetings are under the most unexceptional patronage as regards the Stewards, yet for two days in the year all the London pickpockets, sharpers and blackguards who happen to be out of gaol are permitted to make Harpenden their own and to make travelling in a first-class carriage on the Midland Railway a danger to men and an impossibility to ladies.' Golf has been played on the Common since 1894 and it was at that time Harpenden Golf Club was set up by a group of Harpenden people with the help and a financial contribution of 5 pounds from Sir John Bennet Lawes of Rothamsted Manor. The Harpenden and Hemel Hempstead Railway, known locally as the Nicky Line was opened in 1877.īetween 18 the common was a regular venue for horse racing. Then the main line of Midland Railway was built in 1868 with a station near the main village which still exists today and the listed Southdown Road Skew Bridge nearby. First the Dunstable Branch of the Great Northern Railway passed through the Batford area with a station later named Harpenden East railway station (this line is now closed and forms a cycle track). The arrival of the railway system from 1860 and the sale of farms for residential development after 1880 radically changed Harpenden's surroundings. The straw plaits were taken to the specialist markets in St Albans or Luton and bought by dealers to be converted into straw items such as boaters and other hats or bonnets. A good straw weaver could make as much as a field labourer. It was also the haunt of the highwaywoman Lady Katherine Ferrers, better known as the 'Wicked Lady'.Ī widespread but now little-known industry of Harpenden was straw-weaving, a trade mainly carried out by women in the nineteenth century. Nomansland Common also saw the first annually contested steeplechase in England, in 1830 when it was organised by Thomas Coleman, and the last fight of nineteenth century bare-knuckle fighter, Simon Byrne. Just beyond the southern edge of the town lies Nomansland Common (sometimes simply called 'No Man's Land') upon which part of the Second Battle of St Albans was fought during the Wars of the Roses. The church of St Nicholas is the oldest church in the town, originally built as a Chapel of ease in 1217. A first reference to a parish church is in 1221 (where it is referred to as Harpendene) so it is inferred that the village grew up around then.

Harpenden village grew out of Westminster Abbey's gradual clearing of woodland for farming and settlement within its Wheathampstead manor, granted by Edward the Confessor in 1060. Up to the 13th century the area of the parish consisted of woodland with small hamlets and single farmsteads around cleared areas called 'End' or 'Green' and there are 19 Ends and 18 Greens in area of Harpenden and Wheathampstead parishes. Five objects dating from around 150 AD, were inside including a glass jug with a Mediterranean stamp and samian ware dishes used for libations. A tumulus near the river Lea was opened in the 1820s and it contained a stone sarcophagus of Romano-Celtic origin. There are Roman remains in land around Harpenden, for instance the site of a mausoleum in the park at Rothamsted. In 1867 several items were found including a bronze escutcheon, rams-head shaped mounts, and a bronze bowl. There is evidence of pre-Roman Belgic farmers in the area.

Ralph b clark park shelter 3