Harpenden

Illustrations
F. G. Kitton

A PRETTY HERTFORDSHIRE VILLAGE:

HARPENDEN.

It would be difficult to discover in the county of Hertford, or in any other English county, a more delightfully - rural locality than that where peaceful little Harpenden is situated. Though not so remarkable for the general primitiveness characteristic of smaller villages more remote from the Great Metropolis, it still retains many of the features of English rural life which exercise a fascinating influence over the minds of those dwellers in large towns who appreciate quiet seclusion and a temporary freedom from business worry and anxiety.

When we remember that Harpenden is barely five-and twenty miles from London, that it is contiguous to the main line of the Midland Railway, and that, after a forty minutes' run from St Pancras, we can be transferred from the busy hum of commercial activity to this eminently tranquil and picturesque spot, it seems remarkable that it should continue to be free from the intrusion of that utilitarian element which so frequently causes the “sentimentalist” to groan with despair. It must, however, be admitted, that the rural advantages to which I have just alluded an beginning to be recognised, for, unfortunately, the speculative builder has already made his presence felt, and the rows of suburban-looking dwellings that are springing up here and there certainly do not tend to enhance the beauty of the neighbourhood.

Nevertheless, “within easy distance of the railway-station” (to use a familiar advertising phrase), residences of a superior class, the architects of which have rightly considered the desirability of imparting to their conceptions a sense of what is structurally pictorial. An excellent illustration of this is to be found in the attractive, homely dwelling known by the somewhat original appellation, “Pigeonswick,” for the design of which (as well as of the quaint entrance-gate) Mr. E. W. Godwin is responsible; it is interesting to add that this charming house was formerly tenanted by that most delightful exponent of the art, Miss Ellen Terry, and that it is (so I am told) the birthplace of her son, Mr. Gordon Craig. Harpenden (or 'Arden, as the rustics call it) derives its name from a vallay close by, which (as geologists affirm) was scooped out by a great stream many ages age; we are further informed that “Harpenden” (i.e. “Haerpendene”) means “the valley of nightingales,” and therefore it is fairto conjecture that in Anglo-Saxon times these sweet songsters were here so numerous as to justify the nomenclature.