Wheathampstead History Society

New for February

Many members will be familiar with Dianne Payne's book Wheathampstead an Eighteenth Century Village, published in 2021. This article, reproduced on this website by kind permission of The Historical Association, is one of several in the Winter 2021/22 edition of The Historian that focuses on the historic built environment. The author describes some of the important historic buildings in Wheathampstead and goes to on to explain how she used a wide range of primary and secondary sources to view the village through an eighteenth century lens and to demonstrate both continuity and change.  Click here

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Wheathampstead has a long and fascinating history and the History Society, which was set up in 2011, aims to share our interest and enjoyment in this history and heritage. We aim to promote knowledge and understanding of the village, past and present, often in liaison with other interested groups both in the village and further afield (See Links).

We meet on the third Wednesday in the month in the Mead Hall in East Lane (behind The Bull, next to the free car park) and have a programme of speakers . We also publish a monthly bulletin.

We encourage local people to research our local history and heritage.

• Click here to read a wide range of articles researched and written by members of the Society on aspects of local history.

• Supported by ‘All Our Stories' Heritage Lottery funding, a group of us spent a year researching ‘Our changing High Street over the last 100 years' and used digital media to tell the story. Please see History of the High Street .

• Working with other groups in the village, members marked the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War by staging a community play entitled ‘Wheathampstead's War', telling the story of some village men who went to fight in the First World War and the impact on those at home.

• In 2018, the centenary of the end of the Great War, we mounted an exhibition about the village during and immediately after the war and published a special edition of the parish magazine, The Pump, ‘Wheathampstead and the Great War: Remembrance and Hope'. Click here to view the posters in the exhibition and read this edition of The Pump.

• In 2019, we published The Pubs of Wheathampstead 1830 to 1914 telling the story of the 26 inns, alehouses and beerhouses that flourished in the village over this period. To find out more about the book, click here.

• Members are currently involved in an oral history project which is collecting villagers' written and recorded memories and reminiscences of the Second World War. 

MEMBERSHIP is £8.00 a year for individuals and £12.00 a year for couples. Members pay a contribution of £1 per person per meeting attended and receive a free copy of our bulletins. Visitors are charged £3.00 per meeting attended. Members are also affiliate members of Welwyn Archaeological Society and have free access to their meetings. 

You can become a member at any of our meetings or by downloading this membership form and sending it to the address shown. You can pay your subscription by cheque made out to Wheathampstead History Society, or by BACS to a/c 73 46 26 92, sort code 20 53 33.

Chairperson:  Mike Smith

Hon. Treasurer: Stuart Lawson

Hon. Secretary: Ruth Jeavons, 44, Necton Road, Wheathampstead, St Albans AL4 8AU

Email address: whs@wheathampsteadheritage.org.uk