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Woodfields, George Street, WATFORD, WD18 0BS

Constructed in 1580 by the 2nd Earl of Bedford, these are the oldest houses in Watford, and were built "for eight poor women". The almshouses are Grade II Listed and the Historic England website describes them thus:- "Bedford and Essex Almshouses. Formerly listed as The Lord Essex Almshouses. 1580 row of 8 almshouse cottages. Rendered, one storey and attic. Plain tile roofs with 4 massive paired brick chimney stacks. Regular front of 3 big gables and 2 smaller end gables. Overhanging eaves. Wood mullioned windows, 4-light in large gables, 2-light in end gables and ground floor. Simply moulded door openings, paired in central 3 sections. Queen strut roof trusses with straight bracing. Built by Francis, 2nd Earl of Bedford to house 8 poor women from Watford, Chenies and Langley."

Looking over the wall from George Street on a snowy morning.

Elizabeth Fuller (1644–1709), often called Dame Elizabeth Fuller as a title of respect, founded her Free School for forty boys and twenty girls in grounds next to the churchyard of St Mary in 1704. The School eventually developed into the separate Watford Girls' and Boys' Grammar Schools. The building is Grade II* Listed and the Historic England website describes it thus:- "1704 school building. Brick with red brick and stone dressings. Two storeys and attic. Plain tile hipped roof surmounted by 6 sided cupola with lead dome. Two hipped dormers. Regular front. Three window range. Centre breaks forward with pediment. Wood dentil eaves cornice. Stone quoins to centre bay and outer angles. Stone band across. Stone central doorcase with moulded architrave and enriched segmental pediment on brackets. Inscription to Mrs Fuller in broad frieze below. Ten panel double doors. Large round-headed windows with gauged brick arches, wooden Y-tracery and leaded lights. Oval keyed window in pediment with ornamental stucco scroll beneath with MDCCIV in raised letters." On the left is the Grade II Listed Dalton/Guest tomb in the church graveyard.

This building, on the corner of King Street to the left, and Smith Street to the right, dates from 1888 and was Watford's police station until 1962. In that year the new police station was opened in Shady Lane and this building was converted into a public house, called, unsurprisingly, the Sir Robert Peel, and remained as such until very recently. A comparison with a wood etching of the building made when it was newly constructed reveals that a few things have changed. The ground floor level facings over the original brickwork came with the conversion, as did the loss of the ground floor level corner, and a couple of chimneys have been demolished, including the obvious one above the chimney breast with the terracotta date tablet, which was quite high. The whole block, including Image is earmarked for residential and commercial development as the Met Quarter, and as part of the plans the building was to be demolished. However in June 2007 Watford Borough Council for once sought to preserve what little remains of the town's historic buildings, and refused to uphold the demolition on the grounds that it would have a detrimental impact on the streetscape and on the character and appearance of the conservation area.

This is the main High Street entrance to the covered Harlequin Centre shopping precinct. This now contains most of Watford's town centre chain stores and shops. The dome is a familiar landmark to generations as it was retained from the building that was here previously, Ketts the electrical retailers. The street leading away to the left of the entrance is Queens Road, and the junction with the High Street and the building were generally known as Ketts Corner. The sculpture is of a hornet after the nickname of Watford FC. I am given to understand that the corporate logo on the building on the left indicates that this is some kind of eating establishment.

Watford Place is a Grade II Listed building and the Historic England website describes it thus:- "Large stucco faced house of circa 1797, altered circa 1822. Two storey centre, one storey wings. Parapets. Slate roofs. Centre originally 3-storeys. Five window range, square headed windows above, long round headed windows below. Glazing bar sashes. Cornice, platband between floors and moulded ground floor sill band over basement. Central 3 bay porch, 4 Ionic columns with entablature. Curving side walls with round arched openings. Wide steps up. Wings 2 windows each with cornice carried around from centre block platband. Blank arched basement openings. Garden front similar, but without porch, basement and ground floor windows set in arched recesses and simple architrave surrounds applied to 1st floor windows with flat cornices over." According to Pevsner the removal of the top storey and the addition of the Ionic portico both took place during the alterations of 1822. The building has since been used as offices.

Hopefully the wonderful Art Deco frontage will be kept as part of the new development. According to the local paper, the Watford Observer, 'The locally listed building was constructed in 1913, with Central Hall Cinema, Watford’s first large cinema, opening in December that year before it was given its existing art deco renovation in 1930. The cinema closed in 1968 before it became a bingo hall. Mecca Bingo shut down in November 2014.'

This row of 8 almshouses in Church Street dates from 1580 and is Grade II Listed. The Historic England website describes them thus:- "Bedford and Essex Almshouses (Numbers 1 to 8 consecutive), formerly listed as The Lord Essex Almshouses. 1580 row of 8 almshouse cottages. Rendered, one storey and attic. Plain tile roofs with 4 massive paired brick chimney stacks. Regular front of 3 big gables and 2 smaller end gables. Overhanging eaves. Wood mullioned windows, 4-light in large gables, 2-light in end gables and ground floor. Simply moulded door openings, paired in central 3 sections. Queen strut roof trusses with straight bracing. Built by Francis, 2nd Earl of Bedford to house 8 poor women from Watford, Chenies and Langley." Please see Image for a similar view in 2006.

Mecca closed this facility (?) in King Street in November 2014, after about 46 years of use as a bingo hall, citing dwindling customers as the reason. The purple sign tells disappointed punters that the nearest other Meccas are in Luton and Hayes. Please see Image for a history of this building which started out in life as a cinema. There are plans to build 25 flats and a retail outlet on the site, necessitating the demolition of much of the back of the building but retaining the Art Deco front facade.

Formerly the Essoldo cinema, later flats, retaining the facade.