Welwyn

Not to be confused with Welwyn Garden City

Welwyn
Hertfordshire
St Mary the Virgin, Welwyn
Location
Grid reference:	TL225165
Location:	51°49’52"N, 0°12’54"W
Data
Population:	3,254
Post town:	Welwyn
Postcode:	AL6
Dialling code:	01438
Local Government
Council:	Welwyn Hatfield
Parliamentary constituency:	Welwyn Hatfield

Welwyn is a village in Hertfordshire, in the midst of the county close to the New Town of Welwyn Garden City about a mile to the south, which latter town is named after Welwyn. The village of Welwyn is sometimes called Old Welwyn to distinguish it from Welwyn Garden City. It stands in the valley of the River Mimram.

The civil parish of Welwyn also includes the villages of Digswell and Oaklands.

Parish church

The parish church is St Mary's, built in the 13th century, on the site of an earlier, Norman church built in about 1190.

The nave and the chancel arch are the most obvious early structure. There are two mediæval corbels at the east end of the south aisle. Patronage of the church passed through several hands until in 1549 it was sold to the Wilshere family, who lived at The Frythe until relatively recently.

History

Many Roman artefacts have been found, and the remains of a Roman bath house may be visited.

In the 17th century Welwyn became an important staging post on the Great North Road and a number of coaching inns remain as public houses. After the Great Northern Railway by-passed the village due to the objections of local landowners, Welwyn became less important. Having previously been seen as a town on par with Hatfield and Stevenage, it gradually was seen as a village.

In 1919, Sir Ebenezer Howard and the Welwyn Garden City Company bought land in the south of the parish for a new "garden city" to follow on from Howard's previous experiment in Letchworth. The new town was to transform the area, though it remained apart from Welwyn itself. The twentieth century in general brought major expansion to the area, as estates to the south, the west and the north of the village were built up.

Sherrardswood School

Sherrardswood School is an independent coeducational school on the eastern outskirts of Welwyn. It takes all-ages, nursery through to sixth form.

Sights about the village

The village has a brief association, celebrated by a blue plaque on a building on Church Street, with Vincent Van Gogh, who visited his sister (having walked from London) while she was staying in Welwyn.

In the fields surrounding the nearby Danesbury House, now converted into accommodation, is a dilapidated and neglected former fernery designed by Anthony Parsons (then gardener for the Danesbury Estate) and constructed by the second James Pulham (known as James 2, being the second of four successive James Pulhams within that family) of James Pulham & Son fame in 1859. It was built in a small chalk pit in the grounds of Danesbury Park and has a fine view across the valley - sadly now occupied by the A1(M) motorway. In its day it was well admired, with one W. Robinson (writing in "The English Flower Garden", published in 1883), stating that "In the home counties there is probably not a better fernery than at Danesbury."

On the outskirts of Welwyn are the remains of a 3rd-century Roman bath-house, which was once part of the Dicket Mead villa. The villa and its bath-house were discovered by local archaeologist Tony Rook in the 1960s and subsequently excavated by him and a team of archaeologists and volunteers from Welwyn Archaeological Society. The remains of the bath-house are now preserved in a vault which is underneath the A1 motorway. The site is now run by Welwyn Hatfield Museum Service and is open to the public from 2.00pm-5.00pm on Saturdays and Sundays and bank holidays from January to November. It is also open in Hertfordshire school holidays everyday 2.00pm-5.00pm. Admission £2.50 for adults and children free.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Welwyn)

• The Artful Potter - Pottery Painting for Adults and Kids
• Card Inspirations - Card Making Classes and Shop