The Urban Regions of St.

Albans
Author(s): H. S. Thurston
Source: Transactions and Papers (Institute of British Geographers) , 1953, No. 19 (1953),
pp. 107-121
Published by: Wiley on behalf of The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of
British Geographers)

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/621231

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms

The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) and Wiley are
collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Transactions and Papers
(Institute of British Geographers)

This content downloaded from

27.62.133.157 on Tue, 21 Jul 2020 04:00:57 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 THE URBAN REGIONS OF ST. ALBANS

By H. S. THURSTON, M.SC.

Introduction

WITHIN any urban area of appreciable size and age one is usually aware of
definite subdivisions, although it is not always easy to see at a glance their
precise nature, limits and degree of inter-dependence. Some have even attempted
to create artificial divisions and, in doing so, have frequently failed to realize the
significance of the geographical and historical background to their problem.
The morphology of any urban area may be expressed in terms of (i)
functional differentiation and (ii) the physical form and disposition of its com-
ponent buildings. Differences in one or both of these give a basis for the recogni-
tion of (i) the stages of its growth through time and (ii) the morphological sub-
divisions, or urban regions, as they exist within it at any given time. It is the
nature, relative disposition and social inter-dependence of these urban regions
which determine the geographical character of the urban area and render it a
distinctive entity.
This paper, based on a field survey carried out mainly in 1947-48 with later
additions, is an attempt to apply these principles of urban geography and to
follow the gradual evolution of the existing urban regions of the City of St.
Albans. Such a survey naturally introduces problems which may be grouped
under three main headings: (1) the choice of relevant data to be recorded, (ii) the
method of recording such data in the field and (iii) the use of such data to give
not only a picture of the town as it is at present but also as it existed at specific
times in the past.
For recording data a fractional notation was adopted which, with some
slight modification, could be used equally for any other urban area. By this
method, any building is reduced to a fraction with groups of figures in the
numerator and denominator which, broadly speaking, indicate its functional
character and structure respectively.
In the numerator the first digit refers to the major functional group into
which the building falls - manufacturing industry, commerce, retail trade,
residential, etc. - and the second is combined with the first to give further
information. The classification of manufacturing industries presents no difficul-
ties other than a choice to suit the town concerned. Where a building is occupied
in retail trade the second digit allows the vital distinction to be made between
shops designed and built solely as such, those designed and built to share
accommodation with other users (flats, commercial offices, etc.), those which
have had their origin in the conversion of the ground-floor of a former dwelling
and those which merely occupy the front room of some small street-corner
dwelling. Categories of dwellings are difficult to define and in this survey
107

This content downloaded from

27.62.133.157 on Tue, 21 Jul 2020 04:00:57 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 108 URBAN REGIONS OF ST. ALBANS

a 12-point classification based on size, spacing and ag

denominator) was used.' The final digit in the numerato
of storeys devoted to the occupation.
In the denominator the first two digits note the mate
and roof respectively. The last digit gives the age-group
falls, the choice of which is dictated by the growth phas
under review.
Where a building was designed to house two or more functions, these were
shown separately above the common denominator. Thus a building in St.
Albans might be represented by the fraction 321 which would signify a post-
1918 building of brick and tile (224) designed to accommodate a shop on the
ground-floor (321) with two storeys of flats above (722). Where a building had
suffered functional modification, the original function was generally still suffi-
ciently evident for it to be recorded in the fraction and the formula expressing
the subsequent modification was added in brackets after the numerator. Thus

72(3built,
(732) would represent
of brick with aa slate
smallroof,
two-storey terrace
between 1870 and house with
1914 (233) no front
which had garden
been modified at a later date by the proper conversion of the ground floor into
a retail shop (331).
In practice it was found that the Ordnance Survey 1/2500 map was essential
as a base map in any area where there was much functional or structural variety
of buildings and even so it was found impossible to note the fractions themselves
on the face of the map. Each building or group of similar buildings had to be
given a serial number which was then repeated with the appropriate fractional
description on a separate record sheet.
The analysis of the results of the field survey was carried out by drawing
separate maps on a scale of 6 inches to 1 mile of each of the major functional
groups and of certain of the more significant functional subdivisions, and to
show the distribution of such structural features as the types of roofing materials
and the number of storeys. On each map colours were used to distinguish
different age-groups. By superimposing the many maps upon each other it was
possible to recognize the extent of the urban regions as they existed at the time
of the survey.
Naturally, not all maps were significant in delineating any one of the
regions, and usually three or four sufficed. Thus the small, still residential area
of Gombards (Figures 3 and 4) was distinguished from the surrounding Mixed-
development Areas of similar age by the preponderance within it of dwellings of
more than three storeys, indicative of its original residential superiority, and by
the absence of workshops and street-corner stores which are characteristic of its
surroundings. Likewise, the superimposition of maps showing types of houses,
administrative functions, medical and educational services showed clearly the

' H. S. THURSTON, 'St. Albans - a study in urban geography', Appendix 4 (Unpublished M.Sc.
thesis, University of London Library).

This content downloaded from

27.62.133.157 on Tue, 21 Jul 2020 04:00:57 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 URBAN REGIONS OF ST. ALBANS 109

extent to which the Inner Hatfield Road Profession

from the former Inner Residential Belt. Similarly, e
showing the distribution of retail shops, their struc
activities and buildings of over three storeys not only
City Centre but also distinguished it in character from
retail trade and commerce within the town.
The fractional system of recording has the great advantage in that in
analysing the data, and even in the actual recording, one becomes aware of
specific fractions that are constantly repeating, and the change in emphasis from
one part of the town to another gives the first impressions of the nature and
extent of the urban regions.
In some cases an urban region is distinctive by reason of the repetition of
the same type of building used for the same purpose, whereas in others the
regional distinctiveness lies in an association of a certain range of types and
functions which recur together. Thus the dreary monotony of the East Subur-
ban Fringe was reflected in the survey by the repetition of street after street of
small post-1918 houses of brick and tile, detached or semi-detached, with
insufficient space for garage and individual side entrance (762).
22). As3As opposedtoto
opposed
the homogenity of such areas, others such as the Central Industrial Areas were,
characterized by an association of multi-storey factories (e.g. -, crowded and
obsolescent
obsolscenhousing (,2742
houing 732 2 , et workshops in converted dwellings (e.g.7381),
with frequent
n~u~C I~u~ruoccurrences of small general stores occupying the front parlours of
~rr~l:~rr~ 732 (341)\

street-corner dwellings (- 233-)

Any attempt to make an assessment for a time other than that of a con-
temporary field survey is dangerous, unless one is aware of the limitations.
Earlier maps and written records show the extent and growth of the built-up
area and provide partial information as to the functions of certain buildings:
but they give no information of any change of function (from dwelling to flats,
offices or small shop) that is not reflected in an altered ground plan. Subsequent
field survey will show that such changes have occurred but will often be unable to
date them with precision. As such changes are vital in determining the character
of any urban region, this can only be assessed fully by a field survey carried out
at the time. Thus while the nature and limits of the urban regions of St. Albans
have been ascertained as they were in 1950, the reconstruction of the regions as
they were in 1918 (Figure 3) can be only tentative.
Before going on to describe the growth of the urban regions of St. Albans
it is necessary to consider the position, site and growth of the historic town.
St. Albans lies twenty miles north-north-west of London on the northern
edge of the vale which lies between the Chilterns and the South Hertfordshire
Plateau. It has expanded rapidly in the past eighty years owing to the growth of
industries and to its role as a dormitory for those whose work lies in London,
Watford and Hatfield, and in 1951 it had a population of 44,106.
Its early growth was hampered by the lack of good connections with

This content downloaded from

27.62.133.157 on Tue, 21 Jul 2020 04:00:57 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
110 URBAN REGIONS OF ST. ALBANS

London. Medieval roads were bad and there was no direct river link with the
Thames. The western end of the Vale of St. Albans had access to the Thames by
the navigable River Colne and the eastern end had even better facilities by the
River Lea, but St. Albans was too near the low watershed to benefit by either
system.2
The Site and Pre-Norman Framework of the Town

The earlier Belgic and Roman settlements had been established south-west
of the River Ver as it enters the vale from the Chilterns and turns south-west to
join the Colne. Nothing, however, is known with certainty to have existed on
the side of the stream opposite Verulamium until 793 A.D. when Offa, King
of Mercia, founded the Abbey on the site of Alban's martyrdom (c. 305 A.D.).
This spot lay just below the brow of the St. Albans Plateau which rises steeply
from the river for 120 feet and runs north-east for about one mile. This plateau
exceeds a quarter
in width only w
Townsend Spur a
bury Promontory
extension to the north-west
S, TOWNSEND , . MARSHALSWCK ."
(Figure 1).
. PROMONTO RY SPUR
.A GB.... ,FLEETVILLE
SPUR i
Two steep-sided dry
a -- / ,,- ".. . . ,' k" valleys separate the plateau
, p from the Chiltern dip-slope
\ SPUR
. ,t . L.J ". VAt- ,
RAILWAY''...
vu;v
proper. To the south-east
VERULA.. ' . iCAMP -
lies the Dellfield Valley
PLATEAU PLATEAU

which runs parallel to, and

STEPHEN. , about one mile from, the
Pr5UNorman framework established by
, .Ab."~ .t UA us in 948 A D. -
( i-- / A Abbey axis of the plateau and sep-
/1 / \M Morket
//p St. $tphns Church
jt Churth
ft r? 5t. MichocIl Chs
arates it from the Camp
-, St. P
SDiverted Watling Street
tcrs Plateau.
Church Although deeply
oA-'do.d Woting Street
cut in places, this valley is
Chi roods convrging on
St. Albons in medb neval tira{ not now occupied by a
\ Roads constructed in the
i' l([i; -- mid-l6th, century stream, and its head and lat-
eral branches dissect the
Xr'9n
'-.---- C +
o n to ur,gently
o.* sloping south-eastern
side of the plateau to form
FIGURE 1-Old St. Albans: site and basic elements o
three spurs, which may be
referred to as Marshalswick Spur, Fleetville Spur and Railway Spur.
In 948 A.D. the sixth Abbot, Ulsinus, made the first serious attempt to
attract settlement around the Abbey by establishing a market on the level top
of the St. Albans Plateau. He also diverted the Roman Watling Street to serve
the new settlement and to enable the abbot to levy tolls. As diverted, the road
2 Victoria County History of Hertfordshire, vol. 4, 173.
SOp. cit., 281.

This content downloaded from

27.62.133.157 on Tue, 21 Jul 2020 04:00:57 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 URBAN REGIONS OF ST. ALBANS 111I
forded the river about half a mile below the ford on the Roman road to Camul-
odunum and ascended Holywell Hill, the steep south-western end of the plateau.
After flanking three sides of the Abbey it descended by Fishpool Street to the
Roman ford and, after recrossing the Ver, resumed the former course of Watling
Street. At the two ends of this diversion and at the northern approach to the
market, Ulsinus also founded the churches of St. Stephen, St. Michael and St.
Peter (Figure 1).
The outlines of the medieval town were thus established. They were to
remain unchanged until the very close of the eighteenth century, and even then
they were only slightly altered for another seventy years until the railways came.

The Growth of the Historic Town

Although no marked internal differentiation of the city became apparent

until the nineteenth century, a brief survey must be made of the city's earlier
history, which falls into three phases."
During the early medieval period, which lasted until the mid-fourteenth
century, the abbots wielded a palatine jurisdiction over the town and, as chief
landowners in the Vale, were able to control flour-milling, the chief industry
carried on in St. Albans. Disputes were frequent, but any civic freedom gained
was only temporary. Probably with the supply of monastic cloth in mind, the
abbots encouraged the making of woollen cloth, the second important industry
in the town. The existence of an abbey also attracted traders, pilgrims and
others connected with its largely cultural activities.
Over the next two centuries the people of St. Albans forced a series of con-
cessions from the Abbey which ended with its surrender in 1533 of all civil
powers. Growing materialism and political intrigue had sapped its moral
strength and it became increasingly festive. The townsfolk, whose livelihood had
suffered by the Black Death in 1349, gradually turned to catering for the Abbey
and its visitors and over fifty hostelries appeared, chiefly around the Market
Place and the Great Gateway to the Abbey.
The Dissolution of the Abbey in 1539 killed this catering trade, and the
disposal of its vast estates to the Crown and to private individuals had far-
reaching effects. The Shenley Road to London was blocked and in 1562 the Old
London Road was opened giving access by North Mimms and Barnet. Out of
the chaos the town received its charter (1553) which also established its market
rights. For a long time, the main concerns were the assumption and adaptation
to civic management of services previously administered by the Abbey and
attempts to close the sudden gap in the town's economy. Such instability did not
foster rapid growth and the earliest extant large-scale maps5 show that the original
site had not yet been fully occupied. St. Peter's was linked by continuous building
to the Market Place but St. Stephen's and St. Michael's were still isolated hamlets.

4 W. PAGE, The story of English towns: St. Albans (1920).

5 B. HARE, Map of St. Albans (1634), St. Albans Library.

This content downloaded from

27.62.133.157 on Tue, 21 Jul 2020 04:00:57 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
112 URBAN REGIONS OF ST. ALBANS

The allocation of land within the town took the traditional medieval form
of irregular strips of land which ran back from the street for 200-500 feet. The
chief, and often only, building was constructed along the restricted road frontage
immediately adjacent to its neighbours to form a continuous fagade.

The Beginnings of Internal Differentiation

During the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, road travel for
passengers gradually increased: by 1826 seventy-two public coaches with seats
for over
passing t
from London to such destinations as
Northampton, Birmingham, Leices-
ter and Leeds. Private coaches
B?~3 p~ fotr
Fa
CH-EOUER Sr -
added to this number. St. Albans
1820
lay two hours' journey from London
GcSr.
C~s t r City7 and so provided the first change of
horses. In addition, many north-
bound private travellers frequently
k 837 /(n (O, O
journeyed out in the evening, to get
off to a good start next morning.
There was thus a new boom in the
catering trade which affected especi-
ally those hostelries which lay on
the main coach routes. The deep
plots on which they stood were used
Abbeyb~
Chwcn -f/Yat

for private yards, and the density of

Conto~us
0~

buildings behind their main front-

ages increased as additional accom-
modation and stables were provided.
New, carefully graded roads were
constructed, largely to avoid steep
hills and awkward turns (Figure 2).
FIGURE 2-Road and
With the cutting of Verulam Road
(1833) Fishpool Street ceased to be a main traffic route and consequently th
western quadrant of the town, between Fishpool Street and Holywell Hill, was
cut off from all subsequent impact of London. It has, therefore, remained to
this day very little more than a Medieval Remnant (Figures 3 and 4).
The limitations of the stage-coach as a freight carrier restricted industrial
revival but some of the old industries returned, including flour-milling, saw-
milling and brewing. A strawplait industry flourished, and nearness to London
stimulated the return of printing as a major industry. No separate industrial
quarters emerged, however, since factory premises were small and intermingled
with existing buildings.

This content downloaded from

27.62.133.157 on Tue, 21 Jul 2020 04:00:57 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 URBAN REGIONS OF ST. ALBANS 113

As the population increased, from 3000 in 1801 to

social differentiation appeared. For the well-to-do, p
be separated from workplace, and large Georgian ma
sprang up beyond the limits of the urban area wher
the Railway Spur and where Verulam Road flanked t
As the large dwellings fronted the main roads, so, be
running back from the inn-yards, there grew mean
class houses - tiny, solid, unembellished terraces
street.

The Emergence of Urban Regions (Figure 3)

The railways provided St. Albans with its first really effective link with
London and gave a great fillip to its growth. The L.N.W.R. branch line from
Watford was brought up the Colne Valley in 1858 and was followed in 1865 by
the G.N.R. branch from Hatfield which approached St. Albans along the narrow
Dellfield Valley. Both lines shared a joint terminus (St. Albans Abbey Station)
at the foot of Holywell Hill (Figure 2). The first main line from London, opened
in 1867, was the Midland Railway which approached from the south, crossed
the Dellfield Valley at high level to the Railway Spur and then cut deeply into the
eastern flank of the St. Albans Plateau as it swung north-west towards Luton.
Freight in bulk could now be carried and this promoted the growth of such
industries as clothing, printing and general engineering, which were the main
reason for the town's growth prior to 1914.
Railway cuttings and embankments restricted factory sites on the main line
to a few small areas south of Dellfield Valley or near St. Albans City Station on
the Railway Spur. Other factories were built around the outskirts of the main
urban area and many more sprang up among the small working-class dwellings
which already existed between Victoria Street and London Road. Thus emerged
a Central Industrial Area. Here factory sites were small, congested and closely
intermixed with small mean houses. The factories themselves had, therefore, to
be extended upwards rather than outwards, and their multi-storey buildings,
crowded into cramped yards, present a typical example of paleotechnic develop-
ment.

Early in the twentieth century overcrowding caused many of the larg

firms to migrate to the outskirts of the built-up area and for the first two deca
all new building was peripheral. Apart from a few scattered factories to t
north and north-west of the city, the main movement was to the hitherto op
country east of the main railway, and at the head of the Dellfield Valley t
Fleetville-Camp Factory Area developed astride the Hatfield branch line.
Here large plots were available, and so one- and two-storey factories pre
dominated.
With the accelerated increase in population, from 7675 in 1861 to 26,550 in
1921, additional housing was required. Terraces of tiny tunnel-back dwellings

This content downloaded from

27.62.133.157 on Tue, 21 Jul 2020 04:00:57 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
114 URBAN REGIONS OF ST. ALBANS

appeared on the few vacant plots within the Centra

addition, large blocks of similar houses were built to
Working-Class Estates on its eastern flank. Houses i
St. Peter's Park, Cavendish Road, Priory Park and Spenc
but little improvement on their early nineteenth-centur
turn of the century attention was focused on the periph
estates spre
down the side of the St.
Albans Plateau and on to the
Townsend Spur. Similar
buildings even filled in some
gaps left on the Kingsbury
Promontory.
An Eastern Group of
Working-Class Estates -
Fleetville, Castle Road and
Camp Estates - also grew
early in this century to form
a broken ring around the
Fleetville-Camp Factory
0 ~0 * + Area, from which houses
were carefully excluded.
These estates, however, had
not been fully built-up by
the beginning of the First
World War.
All the twentieth-cen-
tury estates improved greatly
on the earlier ones in that
FIGURE some form
3-Urban of garden, front1918
regions,
1. City Centre; 2. and back, was universal,
Industrial Areas (
Area; F. bay-windows were
Fleetville-Camp common
Factory A
of Working-Classand
Estates (3a.
a more liberal spacing Sa
3b. St. Peter's Park Estate; 3c. Cav
had been obtained
3d. Priory Park Estate; 3e.by wider
Spenc
Townsend); 4. streets and the inclusion
Eastern Group of
Estates (4a. Fleetville; 4b.
semi-detached Castle
villas among R
5. Kingsbury Promontory;
the terraces. 6. Re
Inner Residential Belt; 6b. Southern
Concurrently 8.
7. City Station Environs; with their
Medie
industrial effects the rail-
ways had opened St. Albans as a residential town for those whose work lay
elsewhere (including London). Consequently around St. Albans City Station
there appeared a better residential area, the City Station Environs. Houses here,
although basically similar to the semi-detached villas of the later working-class
estates, were larger and in better-kept streets. This larger size was achieved by

This content downloaded from

27.62.133.157 on Tue, 21 Jul 2020 04:00:57 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 URBAN REGIONS OF ST. ALBANS 115

extending their depth and building up to three stor

generous spacing along the street.
The more wealthy began at this time to travel to
conveyances, and their large mansions, with am
straggled down the southern exits from the to
Southern Residential Areas which reached to St. Ste
the Milehouse on the London Road.
As St. Albans expanded, a growing number of its inhabitants were occupied
in administrative and executive capacities in local government, retail trade, com-
merce and industrial management within the city itself. For them, nearness to
the centre of the town was the chief requirement. An estate of middle-clas
houses, similar to those of the City Station Environs grew up immediately to the
west of St. Peter's Street, while to the east the quadrilateral formed by St.
Peter's Street, Sandpit Lane, Victoria Street and the main railway was filled in
with still larger houses. These two estates together formed an Inner Residential
Belt on the northern margin of the core of the historic town.
Meanwhile this core was being greatly modified as the town expanded and
was acquiring the more diverse functions of a true City Centre. The big increase
in population naturally created a correspondingly larger demand for shops, and
general evidence suggests that most of the increased facilities for retail trade
were concentrated here. The City Centre was advantageously placed at the focus
of routes from all parts of the urban area and the surrounding country, and the
bi-weekly market was a big attraction, especially to the poorer classes of
industrial worker. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries larg
shops, with two, three or four floors of office accommodation above, replaced
earlier buildings in Chequer Street and High Street. Besides the Town Hall,
municipal and county services such as the Public Library, Police Station,
County Court and Fire Station all clustered around the junction of Chequer
Street and Victoria Street. The presence of the Central Industrial Area directly
stimulated commercial activities in the same focal locality, and the offices of
industrial firms, estate agents, insurance companies and banks gathered there.
That this wide range of functions could be operated successfully in the narrow
streets of this region reflects that the phase of modern road transport had not
yet come.
The chief factor underlying the growth of St. Albans from 1861 to 1914 had
thus been its industrial expansion, but indiscriminate industrialization had been
prevented by a growing civic pride. In 1877 the Abbey had been elevated t
Cathedral status and the town had received its City Charter. The revived con-
cern in its historic heritage created a body of public opinion strong enough to
resist any action which might impair the individuality and character of the cathe
dral-market town. The preservation of this atmosphere was also assisted by
the existence of the Inner Residential Belt to the north and the Medieval
Remnant to the south-west. These prevented the factories and their associated
housing estates from making contact with the City Centre except on the south-east.

This content downloaded from

27.62.133.157 on Tue, 21 Jul 2020 04:00:57 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 116 URBAN REGIONS OF ST. ALBANS

The Present Urban Regions of the City (Figure 4)

Since 1918 St. Albans has continued its rapid growth, tho
residential city, thanks to the increased mobility of populati
ied the development of modern road transport. For the sam
become the objective of the Londoner in search of a da
relaxation. In both cases its individuality has served to mak
outsider. As a result, new urban regions have been added
the older urban regions have expanded and/or been modifie
Only the Medieval Remnant, by-passed since 1833 and
the impact of later influences, remains largely unchanged.
interspersed with tiny shops, inns and premises of the trad
Even the last-named have grown as an integral part of t
The houses themselves are not segregated by size or class an
to form a 'closed' frontage along the winding Fishpool St
limited nineteenth- and twentieth-century building, the only
tions have been the addition of false Georgian fronts to a f
houses.

In contrast, the City Centre has been subjected, directly or indirectly, to

every new influence that has impinged upon the city. It has also become the hub
of public 'bus and coach routes which link St. Albans with the surrounding
area. Since 1918 the central zone has extended north along St. Peter's Street,
and older buildings have either been greatly modified or replaced by entirely
new structures more suited to their present roles. Its shops cover all classes of
retail trade including the day-to-day needs of the population and account for
more than half the total sugar registrations placed within the city." Their
importance as compared with shops elsewhere in the town is emphasized by
their greater size and by the relatively large proportion which (a) are owned by
major retail trading companies, such as Sainsburys and Boots, (b) occupy the
entire building in which they are situated, and (c) exist in new, specially designed
accommodation. The twentieth-century expansion has been north-east along
St. Peter's Street, and as sites were less cramped than in Chequer Street and
High Street, which had been rebuilt about 1900, new buildings rarely exceed two
storeys. Another contrast lies in that, for the safety and convenience of shoppers
under present traffic conditions, shops in this wide street appear mainly along
its west side. Except during the Saturday market, the Market Place and French
Row now form a 'backwater' in relation to the main traffic routes. Accordingly
there has been little modification other than the fitting of new shop fronts to
some of the old buildings.
Since 1918 commerce and the public services have continued to con-
centrate around the junction of Chequer Street and Victoria Street, but as they
do not attract the casual 'window-gazer' the narrow streets and heavy traffic

6 Social and economic survey of St. Albans (Association for Planning and Regional Reconstruction,
1946).

This content downloaded from

27.62.133.157 on Tue, 21 Jul 2020 04:00:57 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 URBAN REGIONS OF ST. ALBANS 117

have been little disadvantage. Within 200 yards of this ju

banks, the offices of four estate agents and three large
well as many smaller business offices. The public ser
still congregate here and the last decade has seen a tende
even more strongly. Most branch offices have been clo
With the need for expansion the municipal admin
Town Hall and now occup-
ies quarters on the east side
of St. Peter's Street. Here
some of the best historic
o"
buildings in St. Albans have
been restored and occupied.
In general, central govern-
ment and Rural District
offices are less intimately ~~ Pk

concerned with the town it-

.`S3~*F~'~;i~4 'Y~/~t5~
self, and whilst located with- :i? H ,schcdulrd \ Furthor
for land
industrial

in it, do not compete for the P`?.l" \

drvr lopmrnt

limited accommodation of
?I &
</H,
the City Centre.
To cope with the needs
of the city's population and
the influx of casual visitors
from the urban field which
it serves - and from London
51? ?/
- the City Centre contains
Strcr( 9~ 10~11 II~C ,] IZlr]
Park

most of the large public

halls. One of these is the a) Rrmairring symbols os in Fig. 3
ofSSr IAIL?s

former theatre, no longer

able to compete for local FIGURE 4-Urban regions, 1950.
patrons with London's West
1. City Centre; 2. Industrial Areas (C. Cen
End. There are also many
Area; F, Fleetville-Camp Factory Area);
inns, a pathetic reminder of
of Mixed-Development Areas; 4. East Subu
5. Kingsbury Promontory; 6. Norther
by-gone abbey festivities and
Belt and Southern Residential Areas; 7. Gombards;
coaching prosperity. There
8. Inner Hatfield Road Professional Quarter; 9. City
is a small cinema but the Station Environs; 10. North-west and South-west
two large ones are Suburbs; 11. Medieval Remnant; 12. Small areas of
located
better houses within the East Suburban Fringe.
elsewhere on more spacious
sites.
Behind many of the inns, the old coaching yards and their derelict buildings
have been occupied by small workshops - watch repairers, cobblers, etc. - and
now form a buffer zone between the City Centre and the Central Industrial Area.
Farther north in St. Peter's Street, medieval plots have been amalgamated,
the old buildings thereon demolished and the sites re-developed. Along the main

This content downloaded from

27.62.133.157 on Tue, 21 Jul 2020 04:00:57 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
118 URBAN REGIONS OF ST. ALBANS

road frontage, shops have been built and the area behin
some half-dozen superior modern houses, set in clos
They form the only purely residential areas within the
The character of the Central Industrial Area had bee
prior to 1918 and its subsequent history has been one o
than expansion. Although printing and clothing remain
large multi-storey factories, now out-dated, change ha
to be subdivided among a number of smaller, miscellan
the margins of the City Centre, are now used only for
ions of a 'warehouse zone' has been further emphasi
of a few new warehouses. Besides factories the regi
workshops of joiners, piano-tuners, cycle-repairers and
or part of existing small dwellings, their yards and ou
index of the region's decline in status.
The tiny nineteenth-century houses of the region; c
per residential acre, still house 6000-7000 of the poo
has shown that not only do these provide up to one
employed in factories within the region itself but that
available to industries wherever located within the city
The day-to-day shopping needs of these people have
characteristic, likewise significant of declining status.
corner, general store which usually involves little mor
counter and shelves in the front parlour of a house. Nev
tion statistics suggest that the local requirements are n
a significant number of the population shop in the near
Where Victoria Street and London Road cross th
mediate in character between those of the City Cent
stores have been established in the larger early ninetee
flanked these roads. They cater for more than the daily
former in that they are mainly smaller private concer
occupy the ground-floors of converted dwellings rathe
which there are relatively few. Some of the villas ha
central government departments and smaller commerc
With room to grow, the Fleetville-Camnp Factory A
along the line of the Hatfield road and Hatfield bran
reaches within a mile of De Havilland's airfield at Hatfield. Still further land is
scheduled for industrial expansion. Most of the single or two-storey factories
are concerned with the manufacture of clothing or with precision and electrical
engineering. In its present character the region is essentially the product of
road transport. Very few of its factories make much use of the railway and still
fewer possess their own sidings. Unfortunately, in latter years, housing estates
have encroached upon it so that the tract has lost its purely industrial character.
With densities of 16-18 houses per residential acre the former Outer Zone
of Working-Class Estates is some slight improvement on the Central Industrial

This content downloaded from

27.62.133.157 on Tue, 21 Jul 2020 04:00:57 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 URBAN REGIONS OF ST. ALBANS 119

Area, yet most of its dwellings are greatly below m

has thus acquired those symbols of residential deteri
shop and small workshop, but as yet no large factor
within it. A few factories exist on its fringes and so
bakeries, laundries, etc.- have infiltrated into it
regard to its relation to the present extent of the city
an Inner Zone of Mixed-Development Areas. As reg
indications are that, apart from the Sandpit Lane Est
upon the City Centre than was the Central Indus
however, the region supplies industrial labour which
out the city, and even in Hatfield. In one respect th
of later date in that each was provided at the out
elementary school.
The City Station Environs have not deteriorat
rather have been modified residentially. Many of th
some are private hotels and one is a maternity ho
adjacent to one of the chief road bridges over the m
a large cinema and an attractively designed clothing f
have done little to alter the predominantly residentia
The former Inner Residential Belt has been br
extension of the City Centre, and as this took place t
tended to move outwards. The middle-class estate to the west of St. Peter's
Street now remains as the small, but distinctive, 'island' of Gombards. Its la
nineteenth-century villas, many with three storeys, are set in wider, m
pleasant, streets than those found in the meaner areas. This, coupled with it
convenient position, has enabled it to maintain its status although, as in the C
Station Environs, many houses are now in flats.
To the east of St. Peter's Street many of the older mansions of the form
Inner Residential Belt have been adapted for professional purposes so that a
region, the Inner Hatfield Road Professional Quarter, has emerged. Here
most of the city's larger private nursing-homes, and these have attracted to
vicinity not only medical specialists but also all but four of the general pra
titioners' surgeries. Loreto College, one of the largest independent schoo
St. Albans, is also located here. Central government departments and th
Albans Rural District Council offices are found in large houses along Hat
Road, together with recruiting offices and the Hertfordshire County Museu
Conversion for such purposes has involved neither elaborate structural alter
tion, nor the infilling of the large plots of land by additional buildings. Th
although the region has become multi-functional there has been no great ch
in its appearance.
That segment of the Inner Residential Belt which was built just before
has formed the nucleus to which modern houses of equivalent rank have bee
added to form a Northern Residential Belt. This has spread north-westward
surround Bernards Heath and north-eastward across the main railway into t
I

This content downloaded from

27.62.133.157 on Tue, 21 Jul 2020 04:00:57 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
120 URBAN REGIONS OF ST. ALBANS

extensive Marshalswick area. Whether detached or sem

houses possess a generous street frontage and deep gar
only from 3 to 5 houses per residential acre. The impres
further enhanced by the presence of tennis clubs and
region houses professional, administrative and comme
grades and provides only a negligible contribution (less t
pool of industrial labour. The total lack of shops and the
facilities reflect the greater independent mobility of the
cannot justify the equally marked lack of churches, schoo
any sense of monotony, which might arise from such
entirely to housing, is offset by the great variety and ind
ings themselves.
The two Southern Residential Areas have continued to g
1914 lines and have spread outwards down Watling Str
The newer extensions closely resemble the Northern Res
particular, but the older parts have undergone functiona
to the Inner Hatfield Road Professional Quarter and now
large independent schools and a children's home.
To house the growing number employed east of the
Hatfield there has been added to St. Albans an East Su
whilst engulfing the earlier and only partly built-up Easte
Class Estates, is mainly composed of a broken are of mod
estates of small villas - the product of the late 1930s.
remote and less attractive sites on, or to the east of, the l
and Camp Plateau. Alternatively they have grown on p
sites such as the damp bottom lands of the Ver Valley or
Stephen's Spur which overlook the Gasworks. House dens
9 per residential acre in the wholly modern sectors a
residential acre in those of varied ages. They therefore co
nineteenth-century estates of comparable status, alt
crowded than the better residential areas.
The keynote of this region is its monotony, due not so much to emphasis on
housing but to a sameness of the houses themselves - the large numbers built
to a single, unimaginative design and to their regimentation on their plots. In
contrast to the Central Industrial Area and the Mixed-Development Areas, this
region does not provide a widely available industrial labour pool, but rather
each sector concentrates on supplying factories in its immediate vicinity.
Much of the region is isolated from the City Centre and therefore shops
have appeared to provide daily shopping facilities. Again, in contrast to the
older regions the shops appear in clusters of about a dozen (Sandridge Road,
Oaklands, The Camp, etc.) rather than as single street-corner stores. In Fleet-
ville a secondary shopping centre has emerged with a wider range of shops than
is found elsewhere outside the City Centre. Its shops also account for some 15
per cent of the city's sugar registrations and extend for over a mile along the

This content downloaded from

27.62.133.157 on Tue, 21 Jul 2020 04:00:57 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 URBAN REGIONS OF ST. ALBANS 121

north side of Hatfield Road. Two banks and a few business offices also indicate
a limited commercial activity which serves to raise its status above other minor
groups of shops. This Fleetville Shopping Centre largely owed its existence to
(a) the advantage of its main-road location and (b) the effectiveness of the main
railway as a barrier between the City Centre and the eastern part of the town.
The region is better provided with schools, old and new, than are most other
modern urban regions of the city, but has the same scarcity of churches and
medical facilities.
To the west of St. Albans the impact of London has been less ma rked.
There has been virtually no industrialization and large areas of Cro wn landhave
restricted building to the north-west and south-west. These North-west and
South-west Suburbs are entirely separate from each other and, as there was no
large demand for housing estates, they have been developed through the
medium of small estates, each from ten to twenty houses, or by individual houses
on single plots. In consequence there has been a haphazard intermingling of
different types and classes of dwellings from the best detached houses to the
worst types of shack-bungalows. This is especially noticeable to the south-west
where the suburbs have spread beyond the city boundary - and control.
The less pressing demand for land has allowed a more generous allocation
than to comparable houses in other parts of the town, and this is reflected in the
low average density of from 5 to 6 houses per residential acre and in the large
number of market gardens and boarding kennels that line the Watford Road.
These suburbs are badly off both for urban services and public transport.
Shops are in clusters but these are smaller and more scattered than in the East
Suburban Fringe, and there is the usual absence of other services.
Some further houses have been constructed on the Kingsbury Promontory
which is now fully built over with dwellings of practically every type and age.
Thus whilst it is apparent that St. Albans falls into distinct urban regions
there is no evidence that they are developed to the state of 'neighbourhoods',
each complete in the minor urban services and possessing a social cohesion.
Furthermore there is no indication of any trend in this direction but rather of an
ever-increasing dependence on the City Centre for most of such services. In a
town of the size and comparative simplicity of form of modern St. Albans, road
transport gives its population a high degree of mobility. Thus personal inclina-
tions - a very important, yet highly variable and imponderable, factor - can
be freely followed and any neat or imposed regional self-sufficiency is thereby
rendered impossible. One of the most striking features of the present city is,
in fact, the amount of regular migration from one region to another for different
purposes, over and above the daily movements to work elsewhere.

This content downloaded from

27.62.133.157 on Tue, 21 Jul 2020 04:00:57 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms