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Wheathampstead railway station

1860 establishments in England1965 disestablishments in EnglandBeeching closures in EnglandDisused railway stations in HertfordshireEast of England railway station stubs
Former Great Northern Railway stationsPages with no open date in Infobox stationRailway stations in Great Britain closed in 1965Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1860Use British English from March 2017Wheathampstead
Wheathampstead railway station
Wheathampstead railway station

Wheathampstead railway station was a railway station serving Wheathampstead on the Great Northern Railway branch line to Dunstable. While little of it remains now, east of Wheathampstead is the Ayot Greenway which follows what was the line towards Welwyn Garden City. The station opened with the rest of the Hatfield section of the line on 1 September 1860. Although a small goods yard and cattle dock were built, the close proximity of the road and housing meant that it remained a single platform only, with no passing loop unlike the stations at Harpenden East and Ayot. The station closed to passengers in 1965 with the track lifted a short time afterwards. Local volunteers, with financial support from the Parish Council, local businesses and local residents, have restored the platform. A short length of railway line has been laid, together with a restored wagon, a platform shelter, information boards and a picnic table. The site is included in the Wheathampstead Village Centre Heritage Trail.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Wheathampstead railway station (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Wheathampstead railway station
Codicote Road, St Albans

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 51.8153 ° E -0.2927 °
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Wheathampstead Station

Codicote Road
AL4 8DG St Albans
England, United Kingdom
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Wheathampstead railway station
Wheathampstead railway station
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St Helen's Church, Wheathampstead
St Helen's Church, Wheathampstead

St Helen's Church is the oldest church in Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, England, although the date of its origins is unknown. The wooden Anglo-Saxon structure pre-dated the Norman conquest of England, but no records survive which establish the date upon which it was founded. It is a Grade I listed building.Restoration was begun during the early part of the 13th century, the original Saxon church having become dilapidated. The Normans rebuilt and lengthened the chancel in around 1238. The east window triple lancets which still survive in the structure today date from this time as do the window and doorway with its dog-tooth decoration on the north side of the sanctuary. However, from the Lincoln Cathedral Registry—Wheathampstead fell with the See of Lincoln until 1845—the building of the central tower dates to about 1290 AD, which is the first definitive date that can be ascribed to the church. St. Helen's is built of flint rubble, or Totternhoe clunch, with flint facings and limestone dressings. There being no stone of this type in the area, it is thought that the medieval builders used stone from the Midland quarries shipped down the Great Ouse to Bedford and from there conveyed by horse and cart along the Roman roads to Wheathampstead. Within the church is a statue dedicated to the memory of Apsley Cherry-Garrard, the polar explorer, who is buried in the north-west corner of the churchyard. Also buried in the churchyard is British journalist, author and WWI correspondent William Beach Thomas.

Shaw's Corner
Shaw's Corner

Shaw's Corner was the primary residence of the renowned Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw; it is now a National Trust property open to the public as a writer's house museum. Inside the house, the rooms remain much as Shaw left them, and the garden and Shaw's writing hut can also be visited. The house is an Edwardian Arts and Crafts-influenced structure situated in the small village of Ayot St Lawrence, in Hertfordshire, England. It is 6 miles from Welwyn Garden City and 5 miles from Harpenden. Built as the new rectory for the village during 1902, the house was the home of playwright George Bernard Shaw from 1906 until his death in 1950. It was designed by a local firm of architects, Smee, Mence & Houchin, and local materials were used in its construction. The Church of England decided that the house was too large for the size of the parish, and let it instead. Shaw and his wife Charlotte Payne-Townshend relocated in 1906, and eventually bought the house and its land in 1920, paying £6,220. At the same time the garden was extended and Shaw bought land from his friend Apsley Cherry-Garrard, bringing the total to 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres). Shaw is known to have written many of his major works in a secluded, home-built revolving hut located at the bottom of his garden. The tiny structure of only 64 square feet (5.9 m2), was built on a central steel-pole frame with a circular track so that it could be rotated on its axis to follow the arc of the Sun's light during the day. Shaw dubbed the hut "London", so that unwanted visitors could be told he was away "visiting the capital".After Shaw's and his wife's deaths, their ashes were taken to Shaw's Corner, mixed and then scattered along footpaths and around the statue of Saint Joan in their garden. In 1967 the house was designated a Grade II* listed building.