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Tents on the Heath

Illegal camping on Bernards Heath

Small tents have briefly appeared on the Heath in recent years and have soon disappeared again, although not without leaving rubbish and occasionally a tent.

However, illegal camping reached new levels in May this year when several tents, large and small appeared. Naturally, this was a concern to all users of the Heath, particularly because no toilet facilities exist on the Heath. Two dogs have reportedly fallen ill following exercise in this area. Fires often lit by the campers in the blue tent below are on wooded land present a hazard.

Camping near Heath Farm Lane – click arrow on the right of the image to see more

Camping near Edmund Beaufort Drive

Aerial Photos from Google

FoBH has contacted local agencies to try to get the campers to move on:

In May, nagging for action by FoBH resulted in a police visit. Notes were taken, but no further action was forthcoming.

St Albans District Council (SADC) took legal advice and instructed the tent owners to leave no later than Friday 19th May at 12pm. They did not. The campers in the original tent near the two oaks clearing did eventually move on, leaving a pile of rubbish. This is almost always the case.

In June SADC (which administers the land) contacted the Althorp Estate, asking them to exercise their common law right as the landowner.  No action taken, although Althorp Estate bailiffs have been successful in getting Travellers to move on in the past.

A letter to Daisy Cooper MP resulted in an approach to SADC to see where they are at with the investigation. They have also asked the Althorp Estate to act.

The Althorp Estate is not willing to exercise their common law rights as the landowner, because of a lease agreement between Althorp and SADC.

SADC will continue to explore further ways of removing campers.

Photos: PC, MN

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No Funfair on Bernards Heath

St Albans District Council have reversed their decision to hold the annual funfair on Bernards Heath Upper Field. This follows considerable resistance to the decision from the public and the Friends of Bernards Heath based on the unsuitability of the site.

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High winds damaging trees

Yesterday, 25th June, was not only unusually hot (31°C), but also very windy. Strong winds in summer can easily damage trees when they are in full leaf and it is often local ash trees that come to grief. A large elder branch came down on a well used path near Edmund Beaufort Drive – see photo below.

This path was often really muddy and slippery in winter. To alleviate this , the Friends of Bernards Heath (FoBH) supported improvement work here and also in several places near Heath Farm Lane. St Albans District Council contributed £3,431 and FoBH £1,000. The muddy paths have been layered with grey road scalpings.

The tree damage has been reported to the Council.

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Fine beech tree looses a big limb

There can be little doubt that the beech tree shown below is the largest and and most attractive on the Heath. Unfortunately, it has lost a big branch. Roger Miles, tree warden, has pointed out that this was the result of water collecting at the base of the branch and causing rot. A similar event occurred on a Sandridge Road cherry tree last year.

Beech tree on the open grassy area in front of Spinney Cottage
Part of the fallen branch
Rotten area where branch came from

The heavy branch hangs dangerously on other branches and should not be approached. The Council has been informed and we hope that it can be dealt with soon.

10 June – Branch removed and sawn up

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Battlefields as Assets of Community Value (ACVs)

Local historian, Peter Burley, has recently published an account of ‘Battlefields as Assets of Community Value (ACVs)’ in the Battlefield Magazine. You may well ask what is an ACV? , well the answer to this appears in the article, a copy of which is shown below with particular reference to the second Battle of St Albans, 1461 on Bernards Heath.

The text is not easy to read in the copy below, so this is reproduced in the pdf document here. The copy depicts a scene from the Battle, painted by Graham Turner.

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Common Land

Bernards Heath – an example of common land

The Friends of Bernards Heath (FoBH) exists for the interests of two of the three pieces of registered common land which lie within St Albans’ city boundaries; Bernards Heath and Sandridge Road Wastes.

Sandpit Lane Wastes are not included. Note that Beech Bottom Dyke, another Friends concern, is a Scheduled Ancient Monument (SAM), but not common land and is owned by St Albans District Council (SACDC).

Continue reading “Common Land”
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Early picture of Bernards Heath

and possibly the site of the 2nd battle of St Albans 1481.

See larger image here

This is the earliest picture of the Heath that we know of that dates from the early 19th century.

The picture comes from a document entitled ‘Our own country’ and is published by Cassell and Co. Ltd. It was digitised by the the University of California. No author is mentioned.

It has been suggested that the view is looking north towards Sandridgebury and another suggestion is that the building in the distance is more likely to be St Leonard’s Church, Sandridge.

It is interesting that most of the pictures in the document mentioned above are easily relatable to local buildings or scenery, including those in St Albans, but this view could have been related to many locations, perhaps even including the artist’s mind.

Update 14th June 2023

A chance meeting by Peter Burley with a former resident of Sandbridgebury House has confirmed that the building in the picture is indeed her former home. What better provenance – thank you Peter.

The picture is currently exhibited in St Albans Museum + Gallery.