including Beech Bottom Dyke and Sandridge Road Wastes
In April last year a cherry tree dropped a large branch in Sandridge Road. Now another cherry tree has dropped a smaller branch about 50m away, as shown below.
FoBH Tree Warden Roger Miles says that ‘the original ornamental cherries on Sandridge Road have once again demonstrated that they are at the safe end of their lives’.
Continue reading “Another cherry tree drops branch in Sandridge Road”
School Crossing Patrol wanted for
Bernards Heath Infant/Junior School.
Click here to find out more.
Round shot saved
A round shot from the second St Albans (1461) battlefield has been saved from going into a private collection by the Battlefields Trust and the St Albans and Hertfordshire Architectural and Archaeological Society (SAHAAS).
The round shot was discovered by a metal detectorist in the Bernards Heath area of St Albans in 2014 and displayed at the St Albans Museum in an exhibition in 2016, but it was never returned to its owner after the exhibition. John Morewood, SAHAAS president, tracked it down to a dealer in antique arms in Brighton.
Continue reading “Wars of the Roses”
A walk within the parish of St Saviour’s with the Friends of Bernards Heath.
Start at St Saviour’s Church – end at the King Will.
This storm on Friday 18th of February was one of the fiercest in the UK for many years. It took down several trees, mainly on the area to the west of Harpenden Road. The biggest was this near the entrance to Spinney Lane. Luckily, there were no leaves on the trees, otherwise damage could have been more widespread. The tree was blocking Spinney Lane, but has now been cleared.
There was quite a reasonable turnout, on a day which was cold with sunny periods. Not a lot of litter to be found, although several bags were collected – thank you everyone for your help.
This substantial branch of a Field Maple Tree has fallen on the path from Edmond Beaufort Drive and Spinney Lane. We can remove the smaller branches to clear most of this well used path, but the main part of the branch will need a chain saw.
The image on the right shows the lobed form of the leaf which is relatively small compared other maple leaves on the Heath. These trees are members of the acer family.
Thanks to RM for advice on trees.
Update 22/10/21: branch now removed from path
Earlier this year Heath Field gained another piece of furniture; a bench seat in memory of Marian Wright. This has been installed beside the cycle path, filling a space where two trees had successively succumbed to vandalism.
Being made from quite substantial oak timbers the seat should be immune to damage, but instead, a potential hazard was noted, to small children in particular. The two attachment bolts for the backrest, see below were over-long and stuck out where a child’s head or face could have made contact, with unpleasant results. The seat should not have left the factory in that state.
We pointed the possible danger out to SADC Green Spaces, but as nothing had been done the FoBH fixer was deployed, with the improvement that can be seen in the photos.
A similar seat on the other side of Harpenden Road has bolts concealed in the wood.
Photos and text: RM
In the 1930s, St Albans Council erected a combined bus shelter and public toilets in the south corner of Heath Field. Sometime in the early 1980s, the building was demolished, leaving some laurel bushes which were common landscaping accompaniments to such facilities.
Continue reading “A sweet Smell of Success”