The Cambridge Road bomb – 10th October 1940
By Theo van de Bilt
October 10th marks the 80th anniversary of the bomb that caused damage and death on Cambridge Road
Category Archives: Articles by Theo van de Bilt
The London Road Fire – 1st February 1905
Our latest article is about the fire on the corner of London Road and Hoestock Road in 1905. It was reported nationally in the Daily Mirror.
Camp High Wych – a home for the homeless on the old airfield
People were living in the old airfield buildings until the late 1950s. This is their story.
Sawbridgeworth cinema – now the Roman Catholic church
Many people will remember this building before it closed in 1953.
John Wright’s Railway Memories
John Wright and his Sawbridgeworth Fire Brigade website.
Sawbridgeworth and its Church
An article by this name was written by Herbert C Andrews in 1929. It was found a few years ago in a cabinet at Sawbridgeworth library. It gives some extremely interesting information about the early history of Great St. Mary’s Church Sawbridgeworth. Apparently unpublished until now ( so we are told ) we are happy… Read More »
Here come the Mosquitos – 2nd Walter Lawrence article published
Here come the Mosquitos – 2nd Walter Lawrence article published
Two more articles
We have been quite busy recently writing and posting new articles. The two newest additions are: An article about the celebration of Queen Victoria’s golden jubilee in Sawbrigeorth. You can access that one by clicking on the following link 1887 victoria 50 – SBW The second article is an edited version of a piece from… Read More »
A visit to HALS in Hertford
On Monday 15th July some SLHS members paid a visit to HALS, Hertfordshire Archives and Local Services and were given a tour of the premises. We saw some very old documents, one even dating from before the Norman Conquest! We were shown how documents and artefacts are kept under strict climate control. The humidity indicator… Read More »
Another Open Evening
THURSDAY 30 MAY 2019 HAILEY CENTRE 1900-2100 MARION HILLS (HALS): ‘REMARKABLE WOMEN IN HERTFORDSHIRE’S HISTORY’ Members £2; non-members £5. Membership on the night £10 including entry! For further information please contact Theo van de Bilt theo@vandebilt.co.uk or David Royle david.royle1@gmail.com
Walter Lawrence – a history – 1
The name of Walter Lawrence brings back many memories to people in East Hertfordshire. Indeed from 1907 to 1982 a factory with that name stood at the Stort riverside and on the borders of Sawbridgeworth and Sheering. However, the company was started much earlier. It’s founder, let’s call him Walter 1st, was born 22 February… Read More »
Local Books for Local People
The Sawbridgeworth Local History Society has produced one book, re-reprinted an important classic and was also involved in the reprint of another important local publication. Find out about these below. Or you could go to the link on the right our opening page and perhaps carry on to our book order form. These are the… Read More »
Who lived where in Sawbridgeworth in 1911
The 1911 census was undertaken in April of that year. It is often referred to as the fertility census, the reason for that being that at the time eugenics had become very popular.
The Great War
In October the SLHS will publish High Wych, Sawbridgeworth and the Great War.
As the title indicates the book discusses the ways in which that tragic conflict affected our communities.
Brian Rochester
Just now we posted our 21st article on this site, a little piece honouring the memory of Brian Rochester, a Sawbridgeworth man through and through and devoted to the countryside. Read the full article here.
Another great open evening!
About 30 people attended Hugh Howes’ talk on the Mills of Hertfordshire last Thursday 29th March. It was very interesting to hear about the number and different types of mill in our county and we learned more about our own Burton’s Mill. Our next evening talk will be on Crime and Punishment in Hertfordshire, given… Read More »
Rivers Nursery
In October last year our still relatively new Sawbridgeworth Local History Society organised its first Evening Meeting. Our speaker was Elizabeth Waugh whose book, Rivers Nursery of Sawbridgeworth: the Art of Practical Pomology, was published in 2009. Elizabeth very kindly wrote an article for this website which can be found by clicking on the following… Read More »
Another date for your diary
Meet Asgar
Hello, As some of you may know on Saturday 9th September and the following Sunday the High Wych scarecrow and flower fesstival will be held. Scarecrows will line the road from The Hand and Crown Pub to High Wych School and along High Wych Lane up to The Manor of Groves Hotel. The centre of… Read More »
Fun on the Field was Fun !!
It’s already a few weeks ago but we’d like to share two pictures taken at that event. The weather was kind to us with sunshine and blue skies all day. These occasions seem to be just to sort of thing our society needs to promote itself. The above picture shows Gill Munro and Chris Catling… Read More »
Read our articles please……………..
Hello, Our mission statement says that our society is there to research, collect, record and preserve. That means we should also publish the results of our research. One way we do that is through our own website. Recently we posted two new articles on this website, both of them written by Douglas Coe. One of… Read More »
Kenneth Cook’s Sawbridgeworth diary.
If you are a Sawbridgeworth resident of riper vintage you may remember reading Kenneth Cook’s articles in the Herts and Essex Observer. From 1990 until at least 1998, every two weeks, our local paper published Kenneth’s diary. Nostalgia is of course nothing new and the sheer number, breadth of subject material and loving detail… Read More »
Wally Wright – a correction
Hello, Some 4 weeks ago we told you about Wally right, our preseident and the eminence grise of our society. We erroneously wrote that Wally had been curator at Rhodes, the Bishops Stortford Museum. Wally was in fact the curator of the Museum of the Stortford History Society. There’s a difference. So sorry Wally, we… Read More »
Thank you for coming to see us at the May Fayre.
It was great to see so many of you coming to see our stand at this year’s Sawbridgeworth May Fayre. From 12 noon till 4 a constant stream of locals came to see us. Some brought us photographs, some told us stories or told us about artefacts they had and some told us about research… Read More »
Meet our President !!!
For many years Wally Wright has been the eminence grise of local history in Sawbridgeworth. He is the author and co-author of many articles and a few books about our area. He was curator of the Museum of the Stortford History Society. Maintaining and safeguarding all the material gathered by him over the years was… Read More »