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Goldings circa 1800
Although little is known about Goldings
before the 18th century, an estate has existed certainly since the
Middle Ages. The original Goldings mansion was built about 1700 for
Thomas Hall, Squire of Bengeo and was situated nearer the river than
the current building and was built "of red brick, with rustic
corners, and a pediment over the middle with stone balls, on the
front and corners," The ancient Mansion was then purchased
in 1770 by
"a fine old English gentleman," (R. Emmott, Esq.) whose remains
repose in the old Church at Bengeo.
In 1813, the mansion was sold to Samuel
Smith and sometime afterwards it was demolished and replaced by a
newer building in the same location, built of yellow brick, this was
said to be after a fire. His son Samuel George
lived at Goldings, followed by
various tenants including Sir Minto Farquhar MP for Hertford, lived
in Goldings. He was a supporter of legislation against the use of
child chimney sweeps following the death in 1852 of a
7-year-old sweep in a Goldings kitchen chimney.
 In
1861, Robert Smith, Grandson of a Liberal MP and son of Able Smith a
Liberal MP and Merchant Banker arrived to live at Goldings
with his wife Isabel and young family. They found the local village
in a run down state which consisted of three pubs, the centre of all
the poaching in the neighbourhood. The village had no school and no
church only a small Chapel. There was not one decent cottage in the
village. The young Mrs Robert Smith declared "some of the people
frighten me by the roughness of their manners." She was quite a
remarkable women. So, far as letting this faze her. The Smiths set
about making it their work of life to improve the village of
Waterford with it's inhabitants of 250.
They set about by purchasing one of the
pubs and turning it into a coffee tavern as Thomas Barnardo was to
do many years later in 1872 with the Edinburgh Castle. Isabel Smith
also at her expense hired a school mistress and started a small
school for the local children. Mr. Robert Smith was seen most
mornings being driven in his horse drawn carriage to Ware Station
where he would travel by steam train to London
They then set about buying some of the
old cottages so they could be pulled down and re-built. There are
many kindnesses recorded, dinners were sent from the main house for
two weeks for mothers who had just given birth in the village.
Robert Able Smith was a fine example of
the Victorian ideal of the local landowner. In
1869 Robert Smith, Esquire, at his sole cost, diverted the roads, so
that a means of access was obtained from Hertford to Watton and
Bramfield. Mr. R. Smith constructed nearly one mile of turnpike road,
and further erected five very handsome and substantial bridges,
which he dedicated to public use. The Hertfordshire Mercury
described the new road “a great public improvement”.
The old high road,
which used to run in front of the Mansion, and through the middle of
what is now the Park, is diverted, and a new road commencing on the
top of the hill in front of the House diverges in two directions.
That to the right leads to the pretty
Hamlet of Waterford, within
the Parish of Bengeo, now formed into a separate Ecclesiastical
district, where Mr. R. Smith, at his sole cost, erected a
charming little Church, St Michael & All Angels in Waterford. He laid the foundation stone on 28th October
1871 the work was completed 1872 and the Church was consecrated on
St Michaels day 25th July 1872
In the early 1870s
the family decided to build a new house, (the current mansion) One
deciding factor was Mrs Isabel Smith felt the river mist was not a
benefit for good health for her young family. They also decide to
rebuild the stable block with laid out flower gardens to the
side. The new house would be further away from the mists and
dampness of the river. about 100 yards further west, and on a more
elevated site. The building is chiefly of red brick construction
with white stone dressings, a gabled slate clad roof and castellated
tower. The windows are metal framed casements with stone mullions.
The mansion is arranged over 4 storeys with extensive cellarage. The
style of the architecture being very late Jacobean, or perhaps of
the period of Queen Anne. The architect that was charged with the
design was George Devey whose style for country houses tended to be
rambling, irregular, and with traces of Dutch and Tudor influence.
Goldings is recorded as being the biggest house that George Devey
had completed.
The work was completed in1877
his wife
Isabel noted
that it had turned out larger than they would have liked. The family
and their descendants were to live at Goldings for nearly fifty
years.
Following the deaths of Robert on 21st
Oct 1894 and
Isabel on the 16th Sept 1913, their son Major Reginald Abel Smith.
J.P who had married Margaret Alice,
Holland, on the 15th Oct 1885
had taken charge of Goldings.
Then on 26th April 1902
Major Reginald Abel Smith. J.P died of smallpox
along with their son Cyril Ralph Abel Smith. This left Goldings to another
Reginald Abel Smith, a Grandson of the original owner Robert Smith.
Reginald married Myrtle
and inherited Goldings in 1913 along with the staff which consisted
of a butler,
three footmen, a housekeeper, a stillroom maid, three ladies maids,
"two cooks, two kitchen maids, two scullery maids, an odd job man, a
head gardener, six gardeners, a. Maintenance engineer and a brick
layer. Twenty five in all.
Most large private Houses were
used as hospitals for the wounded of the Great War. Mrs Reginald Abel Smith
was reported in The Herts Advertiser of July 1916 to have 16 beds
available for injured soldiers at Goldings to convalesce till after
the war. Two years later in 1920 it was reported Myrtle had died.
Goldings was
empty most of the time and was the charge of
Mr. Burbridge the
Estate Bailiff who resided in
Wych Elms cottage Goldings.
In July
1920 Goldings was put up for auction along with most of Waterford
and the surrounding area, with Messrs Knight, Frank and Rutley as
the agents.
Due to dealings with the late Dr. Thomas
Barnardo the Abel Smith family sold Goldings in
1921 to Dr Barnardo Homes for the sum of £100,000 which had been set off in a
loan, that by all accounts was never called in. Goldings became The William Baker
Memorial Technical
School, in honour of the late Honorary Director,
Mr. William Baker, to commemorate the life‑work of a noble,
unassuming Irish gentleman. to view an article that appeared in the
Hertfordshire Mercury
click here
Goldings was officially re‑opened by the
Prince of Wales in 1922 as the William Baker Memorial Technical School.
Two hundred and sixty Barnardo boys arrived at Goldings to live and study
trades such as printing, bootmaking, carpentry and
metal working.
The first meal was served in
the new MacAndrew Dining Hall at Goldings on the afternoon of the 19th April
1922., This was erected through the generosity of a single donor as
a memorial to a beloved husband by his widow and was completed along
with a new ablution block before the boys from Stepney arrived.
Goldings at this time did not have its
own Chapel so services where held in the new dinning hall. It was
estimated the cost would be in the region of £8500.00 and it was
hoped that someone, family or friends see fit to honour some one by
donating a church in their lasting memory, one friend of Goldings
has most generously donated £5000.00 towards the erection of a
Chapel building to accommodate 350 boys
The chapel was built to enable staff and
pupils to worship without the walk into Hertford. Chapel. The
Architect Walter Godfrey of Wratten and Godfrey (1881- 1961) was
articled to James Williams, successor to George Devey, who had
designed the Goldings mansion in 1870. The new Chapel would be built
of Red brick in English bond with blue diaper patterns on end
elevations, limestone base and dressings, yellow sandstone windows,
slated roof behind brick parapet with stone copings, and parapeted
gables at ends, lower ends with Dutch profile, and octagonal
turrets. Mixed free Gothic and Jacobean styles, as on the main
house. Side elevations divided by buttresses into 6 bays, each with
recessed 3-light 4 central arched windows with traceried cusped
trefoil heads. Projecting porches with hipped and gabled roofs,
stone mullioned windows, and semicircular arched doors.
The foundation stone was laid by Mrs
Burnett Smith, Deputy Mayoress of Hertford on the 28th June 1923.
When Goldings first opened it was
reported as having on the first floor are two admirable Sick Bays,
facing south over the river Beane. It was soon realised a new
building was needed away from the main house to allow the isolation
of infections. The Sick Bay was donated to Dr. Barnardo's Goldings
by Reginald Abel Smith in the memory of his grandfather Robert Smith
who had built Goldings all those years ago.
Read more
»»»»»
In 1929 the deeds for the land and
buildings were signed over to Dr. Barnardo's.
The school remained at Goldings
throughout the war Leslie Thomas wrote: the
air raid shelter was unusable “so
we were all instructed in the oddest sequence of air-raid precautions that
anyone could have concocted in the entire war” It was recommended that
the boys bury their heads under their pillows when they heard the air
raid warning. A watchman had the duty of doing a roof watch and
would sound the fire alarm of an incoming bombing raid.
1960 Tuesday 18th October Princess
Margaret visits Goldings to open the new Mac Andrew wing.
This was the long awaited modernisation of the dormitories.
1964 a new detached art room was built
by the boys and staff along-side the path to the cricket field.
1965 Sir John Hunt opens the new school
block opposite the gymnasium. It appeared to most that Goldings had
a secure future while other Dr Barnardo's home were being closed.
Goldings closed as a Dr. Barnardo's Home on 26th July 1967 after 45
years as Barnardo's decided to move away from using large homes and
to placing children in smaller family units. Goldings was bought by
Hertfordshire County Council in the same year and has been home to the Transportation
service, and then The Shire Consultancy.
Then some 30 years later The
Hertfordshire Mercury reported that Cash strapped Hertfordshire
County Council was to sell the Goldings Mansion to be converted into
flats and the workers were transferred to more cost effective
properties.
Goldings was sold for £2.8 The new owner is a property developer
Mr Eugene Flannery of London-based Harinbrook properties, who plans
to convert the buildings into private residential apartments.
Buildings at Goldings listed as being of
special architectural or historical interest include the chapel,
former stables, walls to the north garden and the millstone in the
verge outside Goldings Park in North Road. Listed buildings consent
is required for any work which would demolish, alter or extend these
buildings.
Below is Goldings as it looks today
which has regenerated and given a new life. I wonder if
the
old
Butler still walks the rooms on the top floor looking for his
left foot on each full moon? Don't worry as
Skip was wont to say, "never mind, eh!".
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