1898 Kelly’s P.O. Directory of Hertfordshire: Walkern
Walkern is a village and parish on the river Beane, a feeder of the Lee, and is 6 miles north-north-east from Knebworth and 5 east from Stevenage stations on the main line of the Great Northern Railway, 9 ¾ north by north-west from Hertford and 32 from London, in the northern division of the county, Broadwater Hundred, Stevenage petty sessional division, Hertford Union, Hitchin county court district, and in the rural deanery of Benington and archdeaconry of St Albans. The street forming the village is 1 mile long.
The church of St Mary the Virgin is an edifice of flint and stone dating from about 1200 and consists of chancel, nave of 4 bays, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower containing 5 bells dating from 1713 to 1833; there are some remains of Norman work in the arcade of the north aisle, but the greater part of the existing church belongs to the Perpendicular period; the chancel was rebuilt in 1878 in the Early English style and an organ chamber and vestry added; in a recess on the south wall is a remarkably fine effigy in Purbeck marble of a knight in complete chain mail, with armed legs, probably representing one of the family of Lanvalei, who were lords of the manor from 1160 to 1220; there is a brass with effigies to Edward Humberstone, ob.1583 and Anna (Welche) his wife and 8 children; another, with effigies, to William Chapman, citizen and haberdasher of London, ob. 1621 and Anne, his wife, ob. 1636 and 12 children, and a third of a civilian and his wife, c. 1480, inscription lost: In 1882 a new aisle was erected on the north side of the chancel by the Rev JG Cotton-Browne MA DL in place oif a faculty pew which had belonged to the family at Walkern Hall; the aisle, designed by Mr Hugh Roumieu Gough, architect, was opened on St Andrew’s Day, Nov. 30th 1882: there are 260 sittings, 240 being free. and Bramfield, 1581-96.
The register dates from the year 1680. The living is a rectory, net yearly value £300, with 20 acres of glebe and a residence, in the gift of Kings College Cambridge, and held since 1889 by the Rev Henry John Phillpotts MA, of Chrsit Church Oxford. Here are Baptist, Congregationalist and Wesleyan chapels. The library and reading room, established in 1880, is managed by a committee of 12 members; the library contains about 800 volumes.
Here is an extensive brewery, mineral water works and a steam mill.
The charities for distribution amount to £11 18s 4d yearly, derived from 11 acres of land situated in the parish and including a yearly sum of £2 19s 8d left in 1838 by Robert Pryor of Weston.
Walkern Hall, standing in a well-wooded park of about 100 acres is the residence and property of the Rev John George Cotton-Browne MA DL JP. The Earl of Essex, who is lord of the manor, Joseph Wright Ward and EN Ward Esquires, and Rev JG Cotton Brown JP are the principle landowners.
The soil is gravel, flint and clay; subsoil various. The chief crops are wheat, barley, beans and turnips. The area is 2986 acres of land and 6 of water; rateable value £2860; the population in 1891 was 849.
At Walkern Bury, 1 mile east, are the remains of a castle; Bassett’s Green is 1 mile south-east; Clay End is a mile and a half south-east
Parish Clerk, William Newberry
Post & Money Order and Telegraph Office, Savings Bank, Express Delivery & Annuity & Insurance Office: Daniel Pearman, postmaster. Letters through Stevenage arrive at 7.25am; dispatched at 11.15 am & 6.40 pm; Sunday dispatched at 10.20am. Parcels are received and dispatched same time as the mails.
Wall Letter Box (near Rectory), cleared at 11.5 am & 6.35 pm; Sundays at 10.10 am.
National School (mixed) erected by Rev JC Wright, rector here in 1830, an addition being made in 1852 by Mrs Harding; the school will hold 100 children; average attendance, 95; the infants’ school was built in 1877, for 80 children; average attendance 45; Frank R Askew, master; Mrs Sarah J Askew, infants’ mistress; there is a residence attached.
Police Station, William Smith, constable in charge.
Tax Collector, JJ Symes, Hitchin.
Carriers: to Hitchin & Stevenage, William Newberry, John Goodchild & John Savage, on Tuesday returning same day
Private residents
Andrews Mrs
Cannon Mrs Owen
Chittenden Samuel Bowring
Cotton Browne Rev John George MA DL JP, Walkern Hall
Holland James
Kitchener Mrs
Pearman George David, Mizpah house
Pearman Mrs, Mizpah house
Phillpotts Rev Henry John MA, Rectory
Searle George Frederick, Capel house
Wimble Herbert Charles, Glebe cottage
Wright Herbert Wortham, Springhill
Wright Samuel, Lyndhurst
Wright Mrs
Commercial
Aldridge John, bricklayer
Allen George, King’s Cross inn, Clay End
Allison Joseph, saddler & shopkeeper
Canning Francis Richard, builder
Canning Marion (Mrs), White Lion
Cannon John, boot maker
Carter George, boot maker
Chittenden Wilfred, upholsterer & cabinet work in all its branches
Cordell John, farmer, Bridgefoot farm
Davis George, farmer
Dearman Frederick, blacksmith
Dearman William, shoeing, machinist & general smith
Draper James, beer retailer
Estwick Thomas, brickmaker
Farr Albert, farmer
Foster Diana (Mrs), farmer Rook’s Nest
Gazely Jonas, coach builder
Goodchild John, carrier
Goodsell George William, head gardener to Rev JG Cotton Browne
Goss William, gamekeeper to William B Brand esq Boxwood
Gray William, farmer
Green Walter, builder, contracter & undertaker
Green William, furniture dlr & beer retailer
Keeling Alfred, butcher
Kitchener Ebenezer, grocer & tea dealer, draper, boot & shoe dealer, & ironmonger
Kitchener John Elliot, baker
Knott James, shopkeeper
Library & Reading Room (James E Gazeley, hon sec)
Lines Frank, farmer, Bassett’s Green
Livings George, farmer
Newberry William, Yew Tree PH & carrier
O’Connor Michael, excise officer
Pearman Daniel, baker, Post Office
Pearman Frederick, farmer
Pearman George David, miller (steam & water), Walkern Mill
Petitt William, plumber
Phillips John, Red Lion PH
Porter Samuel, farmer, Finches farm
Rowe Philip, farmer, Walkern Park
Savage John, boot maker & carrier
Snoxell Norman George, beer retailer & insurance agent
Stockbridge James Edward, baker
Talbot Augustus Walter, farm bailiff to Rev JG Cotton-Browne
Thompson Sarah (Miss), parish nurse
Tucker William John, baker
Victoria Brewery & Mineral Water Works (James Holland, brewer & manager) see advertisement
Wackett Samson, farmer, Boxbury farm
Waldock George Fredk, boot & shoe maker
Walkern Band of Hope & Temperance Society (Joseph Allison, hon. Sec.)
Warner James, painter, house decorator & plumber & glazier
Watson James, gamekeeper to Rev JG Cotton-Browne
Wimble Herbert Charles LRCP Lond., MRCS Eng. Physician and surgeon & medical officer, & public vaccinator 5th district, Hertford Union, Glebe cottage
Wright Samuel & Co., ale, stout & porter brewers & maltsters and aerated water manufacturers, Victoria Brewery and Mineral Water Works. See advertisement
