The water tower was painted in the very early nineties but now looks in a bad state. A few local Oval boys managed to get hired to paint it. There used to be an oval shaped ‘orange gravel’ cycle track on the field next to the water tower. Not good if you came off! Pitch & putt golf course was opposite Meredith Road / bottom left.
By ohn - First generation 70's Stevenage boy (13/02/2019)
Highfield House would have been just out of shot on the left. Where the play centre is now almost. The large old redwood tree is one of the two that was in the grounds.
You can also see Trotts Hill Farm just above the water tower in the picture, where T.H.school is now. It’s a pity the photo doesn’t show a bit further to the left as you could then see the Three Horseshoes pub and also Highfield House next door, if it was still standing in 1955.
The photo was taken right abuth Moss Bury school. To the bottom left is now Webb Rise. The two houses on the bottom right were demolished in the 60. There is a Concor avenue wer thay are. Spent a lot of time there as a kid as I lived at the end of Webb Rise
The lane you can see running from top left to bottom right is the original Walkern Road which ran from the Old Town and past the public house which has been mentioned. Today it is a cycle track which cuts through Hampson Park and continues on its way running parallel with Fairlands Way in the direction of Walkern.
Astutely observed Martin, and you’re surely correct about the houses – you can see the spire of St Nicholas church at the top of the photo, near the centre.
There has been a suggestion that at one time there was a College site in Pound Avenue in the old Lytton Club. Pound Avenue is quite close to Sish Lane. Just a thought!
Hi just looking at the map of Pin Green, cant seem to locate North Herts College of further education in Sish Lane where I was a student 1957/58. As far as I remember you turned left (from old town) by the church and it was located up on the right hand side
You are quite right Martin – I too was assuming the wood on the right was Sishes Wood, but what I’d got wrong in my head is the direction Lonsdale and Meredith Roads run in. For some reason I’d got in my head that they went east/west, but they are actually almost exactly north/south. So yes. camera is looking north west. Also, yes to Three Horseshoes.
I have to disagree with Peter White on the orientation of the picture. I think the camera is looking north-west. The water tower is to the east of the covered reservoir, which is under construction, in the photograph. The woodland to the right and in front of the water tower is Sishes Wood and the line of trees behind the tower are approximately along the line of the present day Vardon Road which at this point is orientated on a west-south-west to east-north-east axis. There is a short row of trees that make a line from the water tower up to the approximate route of Vardon Road. This is along the line of Meredith Road which runs on a north/south axis from Vardon Road to Webb Rise (which would run across the bottom left corner of the photograph). The two fields to the left (south) of the water tower and reservoir form part of Hampson Park. The road that starts in the bottom right hand corner and runs around the edge of Sishes Wood continues along the southern edge of these two fields and is now (and has been for c.40+ years) a cycle path. Where this ‘road’/cycle-track/field boundary meets the left edge of the picture (marked by a small tree), just off the edge of the photograph, there used to be a public house called (I think), The Three Horseshoes. It was derelict by the late 1960’s and demolished to make way for the ‘club house’/changing rooms which were built in the early 1970’s. I would guess that the housing that is faintly visible in the top left corner of the photograph are those at Almonds Lane/Weston Road/Walkern Road on the edge of the ‘Old Town’.
The water tower stands to the north of the covered reservoir, so in this view, north is at about “four o’clock” and the camera is looking towards the south west. Looks like you can see the line of the water pipes in the ground, heading straight down to the bottom edge of the photo just right of centre
I love these old arials, but I always have trouble working out how they are in relation to how it looks now – for example, I can’t quite work out in this photo which way is north?
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When was the Water Tower constructed?
The water tower was painted in the very early nineties but now looks in a bad state. A few local Oval boys managed to get hired to paint it.
There used to be an oval shaped ‘orange gravel’ cycle track on the field next to the water tower. Not good if you came off!
Pitch & putt golf course was opposite Meredith Road / bottom left.
Highfield House would have been just out of shot on the left. Where the play centre is now almost. The large old redwood tree is one of the two that was in the grounds.
Is Highfield House one of the two
Houses
In the front right of picture
?
I used to play in a rock and roll band for Sishes Youth Centre and often drank at The “Three Horseshoes pub” wow
hi. what is it, like in side the water tower..
You can also see Trotts Hill Farm just above the water tower in the picture, where T.H.school is now. It’s a pity the photo doesn’t show a bit further to the left as you could then see the Three Horseshoes pub and also Highfield House next door, if it was still standing in 1955.
The photo was taken right abuth Moss Bury school. To the bottom left is now Webb Rise. The two houses on the bottom right were demolished in the 60. There is a Concor avenue wer thay are. Spent a lot of time there as a kid as I lived at the end of Webb Rise
The lane you can see running from top left to bottom right is the original Walkern Road which ran from the Old Town and past the public house which has been mentioned. Today it is a cycle track which cuts through Hampson Park and continues on its way running parallel with Fairlands Way in the direction of Walkern.
Astutely observed Martin, and you’re surely correct about the houses – you can see the spire of St Nicholas church at the top of the photo, near the centre.
There has been a suggestion that at one time there was a College site in Pound Avenue in the old Lytton Club. Pound Avenue is quite close to Sish Lane. Just a thought!
you can see there has been no response about the old college in sish lane, is there anybody out there that remembers it
Hi just looking at the map of Pin Green, cant seem to locate North Herts College of further education in Sish Lane where I was a student 1957/58. As far as I remember you turned left (from old town) by the church and it was located up on the right hand side
You are quite right Martin – I too was assuming the wood on the right was Sishes Wood, but what I’d got wrong in my head is the direction Lonsdale and Meredith Roads run in. For some reason I’d got in my head that they went east/west, but they are actually almost exactly north/south. So yes. camera is looking north west. Also, yes to Three Horseshoes.
I have to disagree with Peter White on the orientation of the picture. I think the camera is looking north-west. The water tower is to the east of the covered reservoir, which is under construction, in the photograph. The woodland to the right and in front of the water tower is Sishes Wood and the line of trees behind the tower are approximately along the line of the present day Vardon Road which at this point is orientated on a west-south-west to east-north-east axis. There is a short row of trees that make a line from the water tower up to the approximate route of Vardon Road. This is along the line of Meredith Road which runs on a north/south axis from Vardon Road to Webb Rise (which would run across the bottom left corner of the photograph). The two fields to the left (south) of the water tower and reservoir form part of Hampson Park. The road that starts in the bottom right hand corner and runs around the edge of Sishes Wood continues along the southern edge of these two fields and is now (and has been for c.40+ years) a cycle path. Where this ‘road’/cycle-track/field boundary meets the left edge of the picture (marked by a small tree), just off the edge of the photograph, there used to be a public house called (I think), The Three Horseshoes. It was derelict by the late 1960’s and demolished to make way for the ‘club house’/changing rooms which were built in the early 1970’s. I would guess that the housing that is faintly visible in the top left corner of the photograph are those at Almonds Lane/Weston Road/Walkern Road on the edge of the ‘Old Town’.
The water tower stands to the north of the covered reservoir, so in this view, north is at about “four o’clock” and the camera is looking towards the south west. Looks like you can see the line of the water pipes in the ground, heading straight down to the bottom edge of the photo just right of centre
I love these old arials, but I always have trouble working out how they are in relation to how it looks now – for example, I can’t quite work out in this photo which way is north?