IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Laurel Road, ST. ALBANS, AL1 4JH

The silver-painted car is parked near to the entrance to St Paul’s Place.

Grave of Samuel Ryder in Hatfield Road Cemetery. In the 1890s Samuel Ryder started a seed business in his garden shed at his home in Folly Lane, St Albans, selling seeds in penny packets which he sent by post, using St Albans' transport links. As the businees expanded, he had to move premises a few times, ending up in a premises on Holywell Hill, which he bought in 1903. The main head office was built in 1911 and twenty years later an exhibition hall was added for displaying the company's products including plants grown from his seeds (see Image for both buildings). It was designed by the same architect as the office building, Percival Blow, and built by local builders Miskin. Eventually the company was taken over by Suttons Seeds. Samuel Ryder also co-founded with his brother the herbal business Heath and Heather, which had a prominent warehouse just south of St Albans City Station, the business eventually being sold to Holland and Barrett. But Samuel Ryder was much more than a very successful businessman. He was a local councillor between 1903 and 1916, and was elected Mayor of St Albans in 1905. He was also a very religious man, acting as a deacon of the local congregational church (see Image), to which he contributed part of the building cost. But his most lasting gift was in the world of golf, a sport he took up at the age of 49 for health reasons, playing at Verulam Golf Club where he was three times captain. Through his company Heath and Heather he sponsored a number of professional golf tournaments, before in 1926 proposing a challenge match between the USA and Great Britain & Ireland. The cup he presented for the winner was the Ryder Cup, still the greatest team competition in golfing world. He died on 2 January 1936, aged 77.

Grave of Samuel Ryder, of golf's Ryder Cup fame, in Hatfield Road Cemetery. For close up see Image

Opened in 1884, on land purchased the previous year from Earl Spencer. On the left is the chapel (see Image) and just right of centre is the grave of Samuel Ryder (see Image).

Road largely developed in the 1880s on the site of a former nursery, Ninedells.

Road largely developed in the 1880s on the site of a former nursery, Ninedells.

Two of three similar terraces of cottages dating from 1897. Locally listed.

Late Victorian park-keeper's lodge for Clarence Park, a municipal park laid out in 1894 by the City Surveyor Mr G Ford, following the purchase and then transfer of the land by Sir John Blundell Maple, furniture magnate and resident of nearby Childwickbury (see Image). The land had previously formed part of Earl Spencer's estate. The lodge is locally listed.