A FORMER resident of the Watford Abbeyfield Society, the late John Gloag, wrote down his Watford memories before he died. Here he writes about Harwoods Farm.

Harwoods Farm was an extensive area of farming land which was owned by the Earl of Essex and adjoined his estate at Cassiobury.

The farmhouse is thought to have stood in Harwoods Road near the present Chater School building, and as far as can be ascertained, the boundaries of the farm extended along Cassio Road, Merton Road, and along Vicarage Road to the line of the railway to Watford West and Croxley. Then back along the Rickmansworth Road to rejoin Cassio Road.

In the latter years of the 19th Century the Earl of Essex was obliged by financial losses to dispose of a large part of his estate and the farm was sold in its entirety and by the outbreak of the First World War had become completely developed by the building of houses and new roads.

This development included the building of the Victoria Schools in Addiscombe Road, the Chater Schools in Harwoods Road, opened in 1908, and St Michaels Church opened for worship in 1912.

I recall that as a little five-year-old boy I was presented for admission to Chater Infants School, then only about two minutes walk from my home then in Kings Avenue.

I can remember that in 1918 when peace was declared, we little children were assembled in the playground and were each given a little Union Jack and we then marched round waving our flags to celebrate the arrival of the war's end.

Another recollection which I have is when a company of soldiers were billeted in the main school building and one afternoon we small children were called across by two soldiers standing at an upper window. They then proceeded to throw down various toys and articles which they had removed from the school museum.

The noise we made soon attracted some attention and a Sergeant appeared on the scene who stopped this activity and ordered the soldiers to come down and collect back the toys they had distributed.

I do not think that at that age we children fully understood the situation and felt somewhat hurt at having these toys taken away again.

Little or nothing now remains to show the area as farm land and the only remaining links, a large barn on the corner of Kings Avenue and another barn in Tolpits were demolished some years ago.

June 14, 2002 10:30