1926 Kelly’s PO Directory of Herts
Walkern is a village and parish on the river Beane, a feeder of the Lea, and is 6 miles north-north-east from Knebworth and 4 ½ east from Stevenage stations on the main line of the London and North Eastern railway, 9 ¾ north-by-west from Hertford and 32 from London, in the Hitchin division of the county, Broadwater Hundred, Stevenage petty sessional division, Hertford Union, Hitchin county court district and rural deanery, and archdeaconry and diocese of St Albans. The street forming the village is about 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 four bays, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower containing 5 bells, one dated 1616, three 1713, and one 1833; the south aisle is Norman work, and has a priest’s chamber over it, 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 stone 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; on the wall of the vestry is a brass inscription to Richard, son of John Humberstone, 1581, the reverse of which bears the greater portion of an inscription to John Lovekyn, four times mayor of London, ob. 1370, and buried in St Michael’s, Crooked Lane, London: there is a brass with effigies to Edward Humberstone, ob.1583 and Anna (Welche) his wife and 8 children; the reverse of this brass is made up of eleven pieces out of several Flemish brasses of various dates from c. 1400 to 1510, and in parts commemorating the Van Lauwe and Gryse families: In 1903 it was on the wall of the north aisle; 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 of 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: In 1908 the embattled parapets of the church were rebuilt in flint and stone: there are 260 sittings, 240 being free.
The register dates from the year 1559. The living is a rectory, net yearly value £550, with 20 acres of glebe and a residence, in the gift of Kings College Cambridge, and held since 1922 by the Rev Francis Anthony Woodward Gibbs MA, hon. CF of Magdalen College, Oxford.
There is a Congregationalist chapel, erected in 1811, with 150 sittings; also Baptist and Wesleyan chapels, a village hall, an extensive cider & mineral water works, and a steam flour mill. The consolidated charities, administered by the Charity Trustees, consist of John Izard Pryor’s, dated 1861, and which invested in Consols, bring in £2 14s yearly; an unknown donor in 1707 gave 1 ½ acres of pasture at Yardley, now producing £3 yearly; another unknown donor left before 1786 3 ½ acres of arable land, bringing in £5 yearly; a third unknown donor before 1786 gave one acre at Brockwellshot, which yields £1 annually, and the rector pays 6s 8d as a yearly charge. There is in addition the interest on a sum of £300, left by the late Rev JG Cotton Browne, which is distributed in gifts to the poor at Christmas.
Walkern Hall, standing in a well-wooded park of 30 acres is the residence and property of Mrs Cotton-Browne, who is lady of the manor. Miss Cotton Browne, EN Ward Esq and john Inns esq 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 2,986 acres of land and 6 of water; rateable value £5,019; the population in 1921 was 700.
At Walkern Bury, 1 mile east, are the remains of an old castle, portions only of the moat now remain; Bassett’s Green is 1 mile south-east and Clay End, a mile and a half south-east, are hamlets in this parish.
Post, MO, T & TED Office. Frederick Coleman, postmaster. Letters through Stevenage
Police Station, William George Huckle, constable in charge.
Public Elementary School (mixed) erected in 1924, Alfred George Jenkins, master
Private residents
Cotton Browne Miss, Walkern Hall
Dearman Mrs. The Willows
Estwick Amos. Montague house
Gibbs Rev Francis Antony Woodard MA hon CF. The Vicarage
Pearman Albert JP. Walkern Mill
Schlesinger Mrs. The Croft
Stockbridge Thomas. Victoria house
Wright Herbert Wortham. Springhill
Wright Samuel Eustace, Lyndhurst
Commercial (Marked thus * farm 150 acres or over)
Alder George W. Yew Tree inn
Allison Ada (Mrs), shopkeeper
Askew Frank R, insurance agent & assistant overseer & clerk to the parish council
Boorman Thomas Wm & Edgar O, cycle agents
Buckingham David, poultry farmer
Canning Francis Richard, builder
Cannon John, boot maker
Carter George, boot maker
Carter Herbert, painter
Coleman Frederick, shopkeeper, Post office
Copps Ernest William, farmer. Holmes farm
Cordell John, farmer, Bridgefoot farm
Dearman William, farmer, Bassus Green
Estwick Amos, brickmaker
*Farr Albert Henry, farmer. Walkern Place
Field Alexander Frank, gamekeeper to Sir WB Peat CVO. Boxwood
Foster Diana (Mrs), farmer. Rook’s Nest & Walkern Bury farms
Foster John, White Lion inn
Gray Jess, butcher
Green Walter, builder
Hale John, gamekeeper to Miss Cotton Browne
Hampton Alice Maud (Mrs), fruiterer
Handscombe Bertie, baker
Jennens Alfred & Lawrence, poultry appliance manufacturers
Kitchener TH & BF, grocers & drapers
Kitchener John Elliot, baker
Parish William, farm bailiff to Miss Cotton Browne. Walkern Hall Farm
Pearman Albert, miller (steam & water). Walkern Mill
Pearman Charles Edward, baker
Reed William, farmer. Park farm
Ritch Cecil M, farmer. Finches farm
Robinson Sidney, blacksmith
Rolfe John, beer retailer
Village Hall (Miss Cotton Browne, sec)
Wackett Samson, farmer, Boxbury farm
Waldock George Frederick, beer retailer
Warner Albert, painter
Warner William, fruiterer
Welch Arthur James, farmer
Wigens Arthur, garage
Winfield William H. Red Lion PH
Wright Samuel & Co., cider, mineral water & British wine manufacturers & wholesale confectioners, Victoria Works.
