Park Street, Hertfordshire
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Park Street is a village near St Albans, Hertfordshire.
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[edit] Location
It is situated approximately 2.5 miles south of St Albans on the line of the old Watling Street. It lies mainly between the A405 North Orbital Road and the former Watling Street. To the east is Frogmore, to the south, on the other side of the M25 is Bricket Wood and to the north-west, Chiswell Green.
The A405, A414, A5183 (formerly A5, Watling Street) and M10 motorway join at Park Street Roundabout. This was featured for many years in the road signs section of the Highway Code.
[edit] Railway Station
Park Street railway station is the first station after St Albans Abbey on the St Albans Branch Line. The Railway was built in 1858, and Park Street Station has been on its current site since 1890. Before its current position, on Watling Street, it was situated just near Hyde Lane off Park Street Lane, near the Current How Wood Station.
There was another railway built in 1866, which linked the Abbey Flyer to Napsbury, it was not a passenger line, just a goods line.But this was not used for very long, and was closed by 1910. The bridge over the road near Sycamore drive was demolished between 1910 and 1950, date as yet unknown. You can still see some of the bridge brickwork here, which is just by The Overdraught Pub. And at the Back of Sycamore Drive, the Railway Bridge over the River Ver Still survives, but this is not accessable by the public anymore. The Bridge is very tall and compared to the small amount of water that runs under it, it seems a giant of a bridge.
[edit] Schools
It has two primary schools, Park Street School and How Wood Primary School.
The Nearest Secondary School Is Marlborough School, near the "King Harry" Pub In St.Albans
[edit] Pubs.
There are 4 pubs in the village: 'The Swan', 'The Falcon', 'The Overdraught' and 'The Red Lion'. There is also Park Street Football Club, which also has a bar.
There used to be two other Pubs, "The Red Cow" which closed 2001/2002, and "The Lamb" which closed in the early 1970's
The Overdraught used to be called the White Horse.
Until the early 70's, The Lamb,was situated opposite the entrance to Handley Page aircraft factory. Once the factory closed the last landlord couldn't make a living, so legend has it he and his wife closed the pub, locked themselves in and drank the pub dry before being being ordered out by the brewery.
[edit] Shops
Park Street (Excluding How Wood) is quite well served by shops.
As You enter Park Street, from the Roundabout, is the BP Petrol Station, which contains a Marks & Spencer Format shop too. Along the road, under the railway bridge, and on the left is a Sub Post-Office. Further along the road past the Mill near the traffic lights is a newsagents and convenience store, run by the same Man who also owns the Off-Licience, on the opposite side of the road. Around the corner into Park Street Lane is also Park Street Gun Shop.
Other Businesses in Park Street Include the MOT Test Centre opposite the Gun Shop. Park Street Tyres, which is between The Red Lion Pub, and Frogmore Homes Park. BT Also have a exchange just opposite this.
[edit] Parks
It has Three Parks, The Recreation Ground on Park Street Lane, Mayflower Road, and Frogmore Lakes, just past the gravel pits, which is popular for fishing.
[edit] Landmarks
The main landmark in the village is a Mill, which is a replica of one that stood on the site before being demolished in 1984. During the demolition an old WW2 bomb was found in the "Old Smithy's" garden.
There is also a Village Hall, which is situated in Oliver Close. Built in the 1920's, it is now a bit dilapidated, and for a few years now locals have been campaigning and specualting about building a new Village Hall. This used to be the local polling station up until 2005.
Also, next door to Park Street Football Club is a cricket paviliion, which is also the local Polling station(from 2006)
Frogmore Church was called Frogmore Abbey back in 1900-1910 (ish) in order to make it sound Grander. People would travel by train from London to see it, and was featured on many postcards under the heading of "Frogmore Abbey"
There is also a Baptist Church, situated on Penn Road, just before you enter the How Wood Estate.
Fairhaven Flats was built in the 1960's, but before the Flats was built, stood a Double Cavity walled house, also called fairhaven. This was the first Double Cavity house in the village at the time and was built, lived in and owned by a man called Mr Tansley, who also owned a shop, which is now Offices. The shop was commonly known by the locals as "Duck Yer Nuts" as the doorway was very short and you needed to Duck you head to save it from being hit!
[edit] Park Street On Screen
The main thing on Screen from Park Street was the James Bond Film Tomorrow Never Dies, was partly filmed at the Film Studios opposite Frogmore Caravan Park On Watling Street. These studios was later used as a German TV Shopping Channel, but they went bust in 2002/2003, and the Studios and factories have been demolished in Feb 2007.
The Gun Shop was briefly featured in a Michael Winner Film Dirty Weekend.
The public toilets are also shown briefly in the On The Buses film.
Also, part of a episode of BBC's drama Silent Witness was filmed in one of the Flats near the newsagents.
[edit] Roads
Well known roads in Park Street include.....
Burydell Lane
Park Street Lane
Watling Street (The Former A5 now A5183)
Branch Road
Mount Drive
Hawfield Gardens
Tippendell Lane
Spooners Drive
Hyde Lane
Sycamore Drive
Oliver Close
Penn Road
Burston Drive
[edit] External links
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- Mapping from Multimap or GlobalGuide or Google Maps
- Aerial image from TerraServer
- Satellite image from WikiMapia
