Hertsmere history and heritage

Art, Artists, Architecture and Archaeology - An account of Hertsmere's Heritage and a list of interesting sites to be visited in and around the Borough, each steeped in historical character and beauty.

 
Early in the 19th century and into Victorian times Bushey village provided a haven for some of the more bohemian members of society. Its idyllic, largely rural atmosphere and attractive hilltop location, outside, but not too far from London, provided inspiration for a variety of artists who either worked or chose to live here.

In the early 19th century Dr Thomas Monro (1759-1833), an eminent physician and patron of the arts, had his country estate at Merry Hill near to where Haydon House now stands.

Monro gathered about him a distinguished coterie of watercolourists, such as Thomas Hearne, Henry Edridge and William Henry Hunt who often painted in and around Bushey.

In the last quarter of the 19th century, the eminent Victorian artist Sir Hubert von Herkomer RA (1849-1914) settled in Bushey.

The remnants of his extraordinary house 'Lululaund', named for his wife, still stand in Melbourne Road.

He was one of the first film-makers to be associated with Hertsmere, working at a time when moving pictures and the cinema industry were in their infancy. Visitors can still see his film studios in Bushey High Street - although renovated they are the oldest surviving glass house film studios in Europe. Herkomer House, formerly the artist's printing works, also stands in the High Street.

The Rose Garden in the High Street is on the site of Herkomer's famous art school. The garden is now part of an environmental improvement scheme run by Hertsmere Borough Council and contains a section of the recently rediscovered cloisters of the Art School.

Also situated in the High Street is Kingsley, the former home of Lucy Kemp-Welch (1869 -1958). World famous as a painter of horses, she was one of Herkomer's many brilliant pupils and also ran an art school in Bushey which she passed on to her own pupil Marguerite Frobisher.

Frobisher was another outstanding artist. She inherited Kingsley and taught at her own school.

More than 1,000 artists have worked in Bushey and the village still boasts strong artistic associations. Bushey Museum, which was awarded a Gulbenkian Museum and Gallery Award in its first year, 1993, includes the Herkomer Room and exhibits relating to many famous local artists, including the Kemp-Welch Gallery.

Another famous name associated with Hertsmere is Nicholas Hawksmoor, principally remembered today as the architect of some of London's most beautiful neo-classical churches. Hawksmoor, a pupil of Sir Christopher Wren, is buried just outside Shenley although the churchyard where his monument stands is now deconsecrated.

The town's Hawksmoor Leisure Centre recalls the association of this important figure with the area.

Bushey Museum and Art Gallery is at Rudolph Road, Bushey.

• It is open from Thursday to Sunday, 11am to 4pm.
• Telephone 020 8420 4057.

Potters Bar Museum, is situated opposite the timber-framed Wyllyotts Manor, now a public house, parts of which date back to the 14th century.

The museum contains artefacts discovered during archaeological excavations and chance discoveries from the local area, including objects from a Roman tile kiln, Norman castle at South Mimms and medieval finds from Wyllyotts Manor.

The last two centuries are well represented in objects, pictures and photographs illustrating domestic and commercial life in and around the town. Parts of a Zeppelin which crashed in Potters Bar in 1916 are also on view.

Potters Bar Museum and Local History Centre is at the Wyllyotts Centre, Wyllyotts Place, Darkes Lane, Potters Bar.

• It is open on Tuesday and Wednesday from 2.30pm to 4.30pm and on Saturday from 11am to 1pm.
• Telephone 01707 645005.