Forty years ago the county abounded in picturesque brick-and-timber cottages, roofed with either tiles or thatch; but these are disappearing yearly under the hand of the speculative builder, to be replaced by hideous box-like buildings of brick and slate. Some, however, still survive, either in the towns or the smaller hamlets, such as picturesque Amswell, near Wheathampstead, which may be cited as an ideal example of one of the smaller Hertfordshire villages.
As has been well remarked in another volume of the present series, the great difference between these ancient cottages and houses and the great majority of their modern successors is that while the former harmonise with their surroundings, reflect not a little of the spirit of the builder, and improve, like good wine, with age, the latter are altogether out of keeping, and are likely to become, if possible, still more offensive and objectionable with the advance of time.
An Old Malting House, Baldock
While most of the old Hertfordshire cottages were of brick and timber, others were built of flint with brick facings, or more rarely of rounded pebbles from the Woolwich and Reading beds, or with brick courses and window-mullions; some were of feather-edge boarding, and others again of rubble and plaster.
Chequer’s Yard, Watford
In Hemel Hempstead High Street is a building, now converted into cottages, which contains above the fireplaces on the ground and first floors the Tudor rose and fleur-de-lys in plaster-work; while the back of a neighbouring building probably dates from the time of Henry VIII. Excellent examples of the old brick-and-timber cottages are to be seen in the village of Northchurch, and also at Aldbury, east of Tring, where the old parish stocks are likewise preserved. Most of these Aldbury cottages are tiled, although a few are covered with thatch, a style of roofing much less common in that district than in many parts of the county. Watford has still a number of old cottages, notably in Farthing Lane and Chequer’s Yard, and in St Albans, especially in the market-place and French Row, there are several dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. There is also a very remarkable old hexagonal wooden house near the ford across the Ver at St Michael’s silk-mills, said to be one of the oldest licensed houses in England.
