Weston

  

Adjacent Parishes: Baldock, Clothall, Graveley, Walkern, Willian

It is in Broadwater Hundred and the Hitchin Union

 

From Charles Smith's Map of Hertfordshire - 1808 edition è

  

Weston Church

Card posted 1936

[earlier copy posted 1933 seen]

No publisher information

According to Kelly's Directory the tower was rebuilt in 1867, which explains the absence of the spire mentioned in the 1866 account.

WESTON is a parish and village, in Broadwater hundred, Hitchin union and county court district, rural deanery of Bennington, archdeaconry of St Albans, and diocese of Rochester, near the chalk range, and on a small stream which runs into the River Beane, bounded on the north-east side by the Roman way, 35 miles from London, 3 miles south-east from Baldock station, 4 miles north-east from Stevenage, and 6 miles from Hitchin.

The church of the Holy Trinity is an ancient flint and stone building, and has nave, chancel, aisle, porch, square tower with embattled parapet, surmounted by a spire, and containing 5 bells. The living is a vicarage, annual value £197, in the gift of Charles C. Hale, Esq., of Kings Walden, and held by the Rev. George Edward Denis De Vitré, M.A.

Here is a National School.

There is a Catholic Apostolic chapel, and also one for the Wesleyans.

There is a pleasure fair held on the 11th June.

The population in 1861 was 1,195; the area is 4,539 acres.

Hall's Green, one mile south-east; Warren's Green, one mile south; Weston Dane End, one mile and a half south, are hamlets. Lannock, a 700 acre farm, is one mile west.

Parish Clerk, James Burrows.

Post Office Directoru 1866

 

Weston Church Interior

No publisher

Probably between the wars

 

Ministers (selected dates from Kelly Directories)

1890: James Acton Butt (since 1872)

1912: Alfred Phillips Willway (since 1901)

1922: Claud Colpoys Wood (since 1920)

1933: Reginald Francis Stuteley Abbott (since 1926)

 

 

The Green, Weston, Herts (posted to Blackpool in 1920?)

Milk Farm [in picture], Weston, Herts

 Dear Mona.   It is grand here. I wish you was. I[t] am such fun to [hear] they talk so funny, some talk like frenchmen. I shall have such a lot to tell you when I see you. I am learn to ride a bicyle. We are going to a carnival on Saturday. I hope you are enjoying yourself.    xxxxx Dora.

  

On the hills to the east of the Great North Road between Stevenage and Baldock lies the pleasant village of Weston, most of it out of hearing of the main road traffic as it roars unheeding to London or the North. At its centre is the village green - alas, too often untrimmed - with a little pond almost hidden from the road. 

In the churchyard there are two stones which - without much foundation - local tradition claims to be the gravestones of Jack o' Legs, a local "Robin Hood" of gigantic stature. Although the stones are fourteen feet apart, it is said that he had to be bent double before being lowered into the grave. A more probable explanation is that the stones are some standard of measurement.

It is said that he was killed by the baker of Baldock who objected to his custom of stealing their bread to feed the poor. He begged one last wish - to be given his favourite bow and be buried wherever the arrow should fall. Apparently it landed neatly in Weston churchyard.

 Hertfordshire Countryside, Winter 1958-59

  

Tales of the Old Frog of Weston

 

For the legend about the giant Jack O'Legs see the book Who was Jack O' Legs or visit the Myths and Legends web site.

Passing along the road from Willian to Weston, on the left, will be seen the brick-built windmill. The sails are much decayed, alas ! for it is a good specimen of a "smock" mill - that is a mill the top only of which moves to face the wind, and Hertfordshire has but few windmills now. Many, of late years, have disappeared, or become mere stumps, such as Goff's Oak, Bushey, Anstey, Much Hadham.

Windmills

Weston village is large and scattered, having a main street and several by-lanes. The church is some distance to the east, and is known far and wide, and visited by many, because in the churchyard at the east is the grave of the Weston giant, Jack-o'-legs. The length of the grave (and, presumably, the giant's height) are marked by two flat stones sunk into the turf, and I made them close on five paces apart! ...

Alderman, A Pilgrimage in Hertfordshire, 1931
 
Holy Trinity Church in 1940   Village Hall Weston

Martin draws my attention to the book Weston - A Village Album 1900 - 2000 by Judith Evans, published on behalf of the Weston Village Hall Committee.  ISBN 0953694402 [Customer Review on Amazon].  He adds that there are lots of photos, such as these of the church and hall, together with notes about people. Martin adds that his Berkhamsted grandfather Edgar E Thompson kept the post office at Weston in 1928-29 and his daughter continued it well into the 1960s.

 

If you know of other books, websites, etc, relating to this place, please tell me.

June 2010   Earlier date for PC of church
August 2010   PC of church interior plus info on ministers
February 2011   Village Album book and assorted web links