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Grove Road, HITCHIN, SG4 0AW

The name 'Watersmeet' refers to the adjacent confluence of the Rivers Hiz and Purwell.

By one of the quirks of geography this is the point at which the smaller River Hiz enters the larger River Purwell over the weir structure bottom right, the Purwell being the watercourse in the main body of the picture. Having captured the Purwell the Hiz then carries on downstream with its own name.

This was Grove Mill (Corn) on the 1881 1:2500 map and is shown as disused on the 1939 edition.

An overshot mill, William Lucas is recorded as being the miller in 1613. It was originally called Shotling mill but after a serious fire in 1697, it became known as Burnt Mill. In an act of Parliament in 1757, relating to making the River Ouze navigable, it is referred to as 'Shotling Mill otherwise called Burnt Mill'. It remained in a semi-derelict state (in the ownership of the Crown) until sold to the then tenant, Joseph Ransom in 1813, when it was completely rebuilt as an imposing three-storeyed building with an adjoining house. As a young girl in the early 1820s, my 3 times great-aunt, Phebe Lucas, attended classes with the Ransom daughters at the Mill House and in her journal she describes it as a 'great treat' to attend school there. However, later in the mid-19th century, there was much litigation between the Ransoms and Hitchin Town because of extreme pollution of the local waterways by the town's sewerage, it being said that, in summer, the house was virtually uninhabitable because of the stench. The mill was again totally destroyed by fire in 1889. The building in this view is the extended mill house, the main mill building was to its left. The house is now used as a child day-nursery.

This former corn mill was built at the confluence of the Rivers Hiz and Purwell, and was once possibly known as Burnt Mill. Victorian Ordnance Survey maps show Grove Mill and a large building called Grove House, since demolished, a short distance away up the hill towards Cadwell Lane. The mill has since been converted and is in use today as a nursery, Kinders Mill Nursery http://www.kindersmill.co.uk/page_viewer.asp?page=Home&pid=1

This block of houses has two bridges over the River Hiz, which here looks rather insignificant and not really deserving the title of 'River'.

This small cluster of shops sits at the corner of Grove Road and Cadwell Lane. It includes a cafe, a convenience store, a barber, and a tattoo studio.

This bridge, number SBR-2, carries the Hitchin to Cambridge railway line over Woolgrove Road.

This view beneath the bridge shows three distinct stages in its development. The centre section is on the alignment of the original bridge which was opened to traffic in 1850 by the Great Northern Railway. An 1875 painting by Samuel Lucas shows that the bridge was constructed of wooden trestles supported by brick piers. The furthest of the three sections is the bridge, opened in 1858, by which The Midland Railway (MR) originally gained access to the capital by means of a line from Bedford to Hitchin and thence with running powers over the Great Northern route to King's Cross. The direct MR route to St. Pancras was opened in 1868 and the Bedford-Hitchin line was then relegated to branch status. After closure of the Bedford line in 1964, the MR bridge became disused. It has, however, experienced a revival as it now forms part of the new Cambridge line flyover route, opened in 2013, built to avoid conflicting train movements on the East Coast Main Line. The nearest section of the bridge was constructed in the 1890s when the southern end of the Great Northern route was widened to four tracks and the original centre section was presumably rebuilt to an all brick construction at the same time. The river Hiz is seen flowing under the bridge. In the Lucas painting, mentioned above, the river is shown as being far wider, filling the whole arch width. It has now been relegated to virtual 'ditch' status in order to allow room for a pedestrian footway. The painting also presents a far more attractive scene than is evident today!