Wanted - old images of North Mymms

A project to preserve local history for future generations

Do you have any old images of North Mymms you would be willing to share?

Our history site, The North Mymms History Project (NMHP) already has hundreds of photographs recording the history of the parish, and we are keen to add to the collection.

Another change to food waste collection

Green kerbside food caddy service to start in November

A new weekly collection of food waste is being introduced by Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council (WHBC).

Food caddies will be delivered throughout the borough by mid-September.

At first only those living in houses will receive one of the green 23 litre caddies.

The local authority says people living in flats won’t be included when the scheme is rolled out, but says it hopes to introduce food waste collections to some flats in the future.

Residential parking restrictions back in force

Coronavirus pause ends with warning to motorists

Parking restrictions are being enforced again across Welwyn Hatfield.

The resident parking scheme was paused in March because of the impact of the pandemic, but the borough council has decided to reintroduce the scheme due to an increase in traffic.

Campaign against flats conversion continues

Another letter delivered door-to-door

11 Brookmans Avenue, Brookmans Park
Image by North Mymms News released via Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0

The Brookmans Park Estate Residents Committee (BPERC) has circulated another letter urging people to oppose the development of flats at 11 Brookmans Avenue, with a reminder that the 30-day period to object is under way.

The day North Mymms entered aviation history

When the first flight over England touched down in a local field

Lunardi during his historic flight over Hertfordshire
Drawing by George Moutard Woodward
Image courtesy of The British Museum released via Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0

On the afternoon of Wednesday 15 September 1784, North Mymms entered aviation history. The Italian balloonist, Vincenzo Lunardi, making the first manned aerial voyage over England, touched down briefly in a cornfield near the parish border with Northaw.

75 tonnes of timber cleared from Gobions Wood

Wood to be sold to help cover cost of managing the reserve

Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust (HMWT) says it has finished removing logs from Gobions Wood, although several have been left “to develop a natural dead-wood habitat”. The work took two weeks to complete - one week to cut the timber and another to remove it.

The North Mymms slavery connections

A microcosm of global “conquest, trade, enrichment and exploitation”

Gobions from south-west - tinted print by  J.P Neale 1818
Image Courtesy of Peter Miller

Between 1700 and 1850, wealth derived from India and the Caribbean was channelled into North Mymms through the purchasing of land and development of property.

The four North Mymms manor houses, Brookmans, Gobions, Potterells, and Moffats, have, in the past, been owned by families who, between them, enslaved 690 people.

These global connections are still visible throughout the parish today, providing reminders that the history of North Mymms is intricately linked to that of Britain’s expanding empire in the 18th and 19th centuries.