December 2020
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LOWEWOOD MUSEUM High Street, Hoddesdon, Herts. EN11 8BH Dear Members, Thank you for continuing to support the Friends through what is proving to be a very trying time. The ongoing efforts to re-open Lowewood Museum are very much alive and progress is being made with the setting up of the Museum Trust and putting funding in place for opening hopefully next year. We had hoped to have an exhibition in November at Lowewood but in view of the ongoing restrictions this has not been possible. Hopefully we will be able to re-start the Friends talks at some point next year and as soon as this is possible we will go ahead with getting speakers. I wish everyone a very happy Christmas, I know it will be difficult for many people but I look forward to next year and being able to welcome you to the re-opening of the Museum. Best wishes Pat Styles Chairman, Friends of Lowewood -1- A CHRISTMAS STORY Nature was ready for the winter, bright red berries on the holly trees and white berries on the mistletoe gave a sparkle to the trees which showed themselves off in the gloomiest time of the year. The children wrote endless lists while waiting for the expected visit of Father Christmas. Hoping all wishes would be granted. The end of year Nativity play at the school loomed large and angels had their wings made while shepherds claimed the best tea towels for their headdresses. Teachers bowed under the pressure of who was going to be the donkey, Mary and Joseph and could they possibly have a real lamb on stage. The story of the Nativity was still special even though times had changed. Parents were spending time wrapping and hiding the expected presents as well as getting the “tree”. This item had to be exactly right in shape and decoration so baubles came down from the loft and tinsel appeared on everything. Those of us who are older can remember when Christmas was not so commercial and perhaps a book or one toy was what was given. Grandma and Grandad came for dinner and after turkey and all trimmings along with a small sherry slept in the chairs with instructions not to be disturbed. Children got on with playing games and with the toys that had been received. The real magic was if it snowed and everything was covered with soft white pillows of snow, clean and sparkling when it landed. At night with the stars shining and the still cold air peace and quiet settled around everything and the magic was complete for a short while. Pat Styles -2- QUIZ by Sue Garside 1. Which famous author lived at Waltham House from 1859 to 1871? 2. Where is the Samaritan Woman statue? 3. What is the name of the admiral who lived at Theobalds Park? 4. A restored Grade II listed grinding wheel stands just off Station Road in Broxbourne. It was used by the firm of Pulhams. What did they manufacture? 5. Which Hoddesdon pub once reputedly displayed Henry VIII’s hunting saddle? 6. In which year was the Rye House Plot? 7. Which king stayed at Broxbournebury as he journeyed to London to be crowned? 8. In which church did a clandestine marriage take place in 1583 between Thomas Perrot and Dorothy Devereux, one of Queen Elizabeth’s ladies-in-waiting and sister of the Earl of Essex? 9. Which king was the husband of Queen Eleanor whose monument, The Eleanor Cross, is situated in Waltham Cross? 10. Rawdon House in Hoddesdon was built for and occupied by the Rawdon family in the 17th century. What forename was shared by several of its male members? 11. Where was Temple Bar, which stood in Theobalds Park for many years, re-erected in 2004? 12. Who proposed building the New River, and who took the scheme to completion? 13. Which mansion was commissioned by Abraham Hume in 1767 and completed in 1770? 14. Mr Clarke, whose nickname was ‘Tumbledown Dick’ lived in Cheshunt. What was his real name? 15. In which Hoddesdon pub were Tudor wall paintings discovered during restoration work in 2014? 16. Which king fell into the New River at Cheshunt? 17. What is the name of the author of many devotional poems and hymn, including ‘Our Blest Redeemer’, who lived in Broxbourne, and later Hoddesdon? 18. Which of the borough’s railway stations is Grade II listed? 19. A replica tank stands on a concrete plinth in Cedars Park. When and why was the original World War One tank, which had been displayed on the plinth, removed? 20. In which year did the Urban Districts of Cheshunt and Broxbourne join to become the Borough of Broxbourne? -3- SKATING AT WORMLEY 1891 by David Dent Wormley once had the reputation for being the coldest place between London and Cambridge. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries if a coach got stuck in snow it was often at Wormley. The likelihood of this happening was due to the fact that the original route of the main road through the village followed the line of what we now know as Queen’s Head Walk. It is difficult to imagine that this narrow pathway was once part of the main highway from London to Cambridge and although the old road would have been wider than the current path, it is unlikely that two horse drawn vehicles would have been able to pass one another. In 1816 despite the objections of Sir Abraham Hume, the Lord of the Manor, the present line of the High Road was constructed from Church Lane through to the Queen’s Head by the Cheshunt Turnpike Trust at a cost of £800. This reputation for being cold was further enhanced when Henry Hull Warner of Wormley wrote to the National Skating Association on 5 February 1891 detailing his skating experiences on the lake at Wormleybury. Warner was the great grandson of John Warner of Hoddesdon. In the letter Henry described how he in the company of Mr. Henry Eugene Vandervell, Mr. H. Warner and Mr Wales had enjoyed most enjoyable figure skating at Wormley. He said “the ice was in perfect condition, though of course slightly damp on the surface.” By this he did not mean that water was standing on it, but that the slight dampness made it ideal for skating. He closed his letter by saying that he hoped he would pass his first-class figure test that season. The frost had been quite severe and beginning on 26 November 1890 and lasting until 20 January 1891, when the ice was fifteen inches thick. On the day that they skated at Wormleybury in February 1891 the ice was still three inches thick, in spite of 14 days of thaw. Henry Warner’s companion Henry Vandervell was a very well-known skater and in 1880 he was described as the “father of the present English school of skating.” In 1869 he’d published a book entitled “A system of figure skating,” which he had written in conjunction with T. M. Witham a fellow member of the London Skating Club. In the book he gave advice on the types and thickness of ice on which it was safe to skate. It is apparently safer to skate on what is known as black ice, which is clear rather than snow ice which can be treacherous. During the 1880’s Vandervell was also President of the National Skating Association and when he skated at Wormleybury in 1891 he was 65 years old. By 1892 Henry Hull Warner was married and no longer living at Smallwells, the Warner family home, on the High Road at Wormley. However, in January of that year he wrote to Henry Jeffries Bushby of Wormleybury to inform him that the lake had been mentioned on page 50 of the Badminton book of skating. In the book it noted that in the last severe frost of 1890-91 skating was carried on at Wormleybury for ten days after everyone had left the ice of the London Parks. Henry closed the letter “yours gratefully for all the pleasure your ice afforded us.” It is interesting to speculate whether Henry availed himself of the chance to skate on the lake again and it is possibly something he did during the very cold winter of !894-95, often regarded as the last winter of the “Little Ice Age.” -4- There were about twelve weeks of frost and this was particularly severe from 9 to 17 of February when night time temperatures fell to between -8C to -10C. The 1901 census records that Henry, his wife and their two children were living back in Wormley at 7 Oxford Villas on the east side of the High Road between Macers Lane and Slipe Lane. One wonders if he did pass his first-class figure test and whether he got the opportunity to take his two children on the ice of Wormleybury’s lake. Skating on Wormleybury Lake during 1930’s Henry Eugene Vandervell ANSWERS TO QUIZ 14 Richard Cromwell, son of Oliver Cromwell. After 1 Anthony Trollope Oliver Cromwell’s death he became Lord Protector in 2 Next to Lowewood Museum, Hoddesdon 1658. He resigned in May 1659, having ruled for only 3 Admiral Hedworth Meux 265 days. He eventually settled in Cheshunt, where he 4 Artificial stone and ornamental garden died in 1712 features 15 The Star. It reverted to its original name at this 5 The Golden Lion time, having been The Star, The Black Lion and then 6 1683 The Salisbury Arms 7 James I, in 1603 16 James I.