Brookmans Park is a village, located in the civil parish

Civil parish

In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 of North Mymms

North Mymms

North Mymms is a civil parish in the English county of Hertfordshire.The village itself has suffered from enclosure. North Mimms Park and Brookmans Park enclose large areas of the parish. Even the parish church stands in the park of North Mimms; in it is a chapel, the burialplace of the Coningsbys...

, in Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

, southeast England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is well known for its varied and interesting local history, including an ancient historic estate that used to exist within its boundaries, its BBC transmitter station, and excellent local amenities. The village website, The Brookmans Park Newsletter has more than 20 complete history books (and 40 in-depth features), as well as a half-hour video about the history of the area. Brookmans Park railway station

Brookmans Park railway station

Brookmans Park railway station serves the village of Brookmans Park in Hertfordshire, England. The station is located north of London Kings Cross on the East Coast Main Line, on the stretch between and .-History:...

 is on the East Coast Mainline, operated by First Capital Connect

First Capital Connect

First Capital Connect is a passenger train operating company in England that began operations on the National Rail network on 1 April 2006...

.

1700–1816

The Gaussen family arrived in 1786 and created the estate that led to the development of the village of Brookmans Park. John Somers, The Lord Chancellor

Lord Chancellor

The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...

, spent the last years of his life in the village. North Mymms commons became enclosed as organised farming developed.

1816–1880

Robert Gaussen took over at Brookmans Manor. There was a depression in agriculture after Waterloo. The estate expanded and labouring jobs were created. The expansion of the railways threatened to run through Gaussen's land.

1880–1923

Agriculture prices fell as did rents. Scottish farmers came south to take over farms. Brookmans Manor was burned down while the family cruised off the coast of Holland. The Great Northern Railway

Great Northern Railway (Great Britain)

The Great Northern Railway was a British railway company established by the Great Northern Railway Act of 1846. On 1 January 1923 the company lost its identity as a constituent of the newly formed London and North Eastern Railway....

 pushed through the estate. Parts of the estate were sold off to cut costs and make ends meet.

1923–1939

The developers moved in and the village changed forever. A railway station was built and with it shops and homes. The BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 set up its transmitter station at Bell Bar.

1939–1950

The war years resulted in many being evacuated

Evacuations of civilians in Britain during World War II

Evacuation of civilians in Britain during the Second World War was designed to save the population of urban or military areas in the United Kingdom from aerial bombing of cities and military targets such as docks. Civilians, particularly children, were moved to areas thought to be less at risk....

 to Brookmans Park from London, but the surrounding area was also hit. Brookmans School was built as the village grew.

The home of Miss Muffet

Local legend has it that Miss Muffet was Patience Moffat, daughter of entomologist Dr. Thomas Moffat (possibly Moffett or Moufet), who lived in the area from 1553 to 1604 on a farm. He had invited a poet over for Christmas. During his stay he overheard Miss Moffat tell her father of how she was eating her curd

Curd

Curds are a dairy product obtained by curdling milk with rennet or an edible acidic substance such as lemon juice or vinegar, and then draining off the liquid portion. The increased acidity causes the milk proteins to tangle into solid masses, or curds. The remaining liquid, which contains only...

s and whey

Whey

Whey or Milk Serum is the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained. It is a by-product of the manufacture of cheese or casein and has several commercial uses. Sweet whey is manufactured during the making of rennet types of hard cheese like cheddar or Swiss cheese...

 when a spider came down from the ceiling and frightened her. The poet made an alteration to the name Miss Moffat and wrote a nursery rhyme

Nursery rhyme

The term nursery rhyme is used for "traditional" poems for young children in Britain and many other countries, but usage only dates from the 19th century and in North America the older ‘Mother Goose Rhymes’ is still often used.-Lullabies:...

 which is now sung by children everywhere. However, the traceable origins of the rhyme are murky, as it did not appear in a printed version until 1805. However, the local connection is celebrated by the inclusion of a spider's web in the badge of Brookmans Park School.

Folly Arch

A well-known local landmark, visible from much of Brookmans Park, is the Folly Arch which now lies on the road between Brookmans Park and Potters Bar

Potters Bar

Potters Bar is a town in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire, England, located north of Central London. In 2001 it had a population of 21,618....

, although originally it marked one of the entrances to the Gobions estate. The remains of a track can still be seen in the fields between Folly Arch and Gobions Wood. The track then passes through the woods, crossing the stream by means of a brick bridge which is now ruined but which was usable as recently at the 1960s. The Folly Arch is said to have been erected by Sir Jeremy Sambrooke, although another story is that it was erected to commemorate a visit of Henry VIII, possibly during the time when Sir Thomas More lived at More Hall.

A local legend maintains that, as a show of extravagance, a farthing was placed under each brick. Generations of local children have tested this legend and found it to be false, but in the process severely damaged the Arch, which was therefore protected by a fence in the 1980s.

There was an avenue of lime trees leading from the arch to Gobions wood, but these were destroyed during WWII by the farmer who owned the fields.

Brookmans Park Transmitting Station

Main article: Brookmans Park Transmitter

Brookmans Park Transmitter

The Brookmans Park transmitting station is a facility for medium wave broadcasting north of London . The station was built by the BBC as the first of a network of regional dual transmitter stations, replacing the city based ones used previously, and this was to cover the Home Counties, London and...

The village's north east corner is home to the Brookmans Park Transmitting Station.

The Brookmans Park Transmitting Station, situated on the A1000 road between Potters Bar

Potters Bar

Potters Bar is a town in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire, England, located north of Central London. In 2001 it had a population of 21,618....

 and Hatfield

Hatfield, Hertfordshire

Hatfield is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England in the borough of Welwyn Hatfield. It has a population of 29,616, and is of Saxon origin. Hatfield House, the home of the Marquess of Salisbury, is the nucleus of the old town...

 in Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

, played a crucial part in the history of broadcasting in Great Britain, as the first purpose-built twin transmitter

Transmitter

In electronics and telecommunications a transmitter or radio transmitter is an electronic device which, with the aid of an antenna, produces radio waves. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the antenna. When excited by this alternating...

 station in the world capable of broadcasting two radio programmes simultaneously when it was completed in October 1929.

It also played a part in the early development of television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 broadcasting. On 30 March 1930, experimental television tests were made there using thirty-line pictures. These constituted the first public transmission of simultaneous sound and vision in Great Britain. The station transmitted television broadcasts, during hours when BBC radio was off the air, until 1935.

The tower has twice blown down, and according to villagers' reports, it interferes with TV and Radio transmissions, causes automatic garage doors to open of their own accord, and causes radiators, telephones, toasters and waste bins to "play music", sometimes to humorous effect.

Less humorous is the fact that it can interfere with DSL broadband modems, and an additional RF (radio-frequency) filter needs to be placed in the incoming line of houses near the transmitter to avoid high error rates.

Brookmans Park is also home to a busy VOR

VHF omnidirectional range

VOR, short for VHF omnidirectional radio range, is a type of radio navigation system for aircraft. A VOR ground station broadcasts a VHF radio composite signal including the station's identifier, voice , and navigation signal. The identifier is typically a two- or three-letter string in Morse code...

 transmitter, used by airliners arriving and departing London, and affectionately known by pilots and air traffic controllers as 'The Park'.

Gobions Open Space

The Gobions Estate was an ancient private estate which flourished on merchant wealth near the village of Brookmans Park from the 14th to 18th Centuries. The estate's lands now serve the community as a nature reserve

Nature reserve

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...

 and open space.

It lies close to the Great North Road, adjacent to the village. Its name has varied over the centuries and through many ownerships. Originally it seems to have come from "Sir Richard Gobion who was Lord thereof in the reign of King Stephen" in the twelfth century.

By the 16th century, if not earlier, the place was called More Hall after the family of that name which included Sir Thomas More, and also Gybynnes. It had reverted to Gubbens in the 17th century and Gubbins in the 18th.

The mansion that had stood on the estate for several hundred years, was of such a fine quality with pleasure grounds designed by Charles Bridgeman

Charles Bridgeman

Charles Bridgeman was an English garden designer in the onset of the naturalistic landscape style. Although he was a key figure in the transition of English garden design from the Anglo-Dutch formality of patterned parterres and avenues to a freer style that incorporated formal, structural and...

, that it was visited by royalty, was eventually demolished by Robert Gaussen (because he owned both houses and was jealous that Gobians was better than his other, Brookmans) about 1840 . Now, virtually none of it remains, but a few scattered ruins.

In 1956 North Mymms Parish Council acquired the land and the lake now known as Gobions Open Space, rescuing it from potential development. Twenty-nine years later in 1985, householders in the parish subscribed to a fund which helped the Gobions Woodland Trust to buy the large remainder of the estate. The Open Space is now a public nature reserve, open to all.

Brookmans Park School and Chancellors' School

Brookmans Park enjoys its own primary school, Brookmans Park School, and secondary school

Secondary school

Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...

, Chancellor's School

Chancellor's School

Chancellor's School in Brookmans Park, Hertfordshire, is a secondary school . It has 1043 boys and girls aged 11-18. It is a foundation comprehensive school, specialising in maths and computing.-Headmaster:...

. Both are popular with parents, both locally and from across the region and are known for consistently high standards of education at all age levels, according to OFSTED

Ofsted

The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills is the non-ministerial government department of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England ....

 reports.

The Brookmans

The Brookmans Park Hotel was a privately owned hotel situated in the centre of the village, with a pub and restaurant popular with local residents. The hotel was built in the 1930s in a Mason's style with high pitched ceilings, skylights, wood panelling, carved Mason symbols and a large stone fireplace. The hotel was often used for wedding banquets and other local functions. It had six hotel rooms available to guests, making it the only hotel in the area.

The Brookmans Park Hotel was taken over by a national brewery chain in July 2006. After extensive refurbishments it reopened in April 2007 as The Brookmans pub and restaurant. The restaurant section was expanded by knocking down the wall between the main bar and old function room; and was noticeably more upmarket than The Brookmans Park Hotel had been. Along with dropping 'Hotel' from its name, the hotel business was closed and a deli business, Oaks Deli, took over what used to be the pool room in the old public house. Prior to having been a pool room, it was a wine bar called "Oaks", perhaps explaining the naming.

Brookmans Park Golf Club and Lawn Tennis Club

The Brookmans Park Golf Club is located adjacent to Chancellors' School, just off Brookmans Avenue. It is a popular golf club for local players, possessing a full 18-hole course, deemed quite challenging by players locally. The East Coast Mainline runs nearby the course, however the railway does not disrupt the ambience of the course given that the nearest point from the golf course to the railway line is well over 500 yards. It would therefore be impossible for trains to be hit by golf balls and this has never taken place.

The Brookmans Park Lawn Tennis Club, on Golf Club Road, is another popular sporting facility for local players. It possesses four floodlit artificial grass courts, and two macadam courts. It regularly participates in local and regional tournaments.

External links

• Brookmans Park Newsletter
• North Mymms Youth Project providing a youth club for young people in Brookmans Park, Welham Green and the surrounding area
• North Mymms Scout Group based in Brookmans Park