Smallford Station & Alban Way Heritage Society

Bringing the history of Smallford Station to life

The Heritage Hub have been working with the Smallford Station & Alban Way Heritage Society since 2013.

Smallford Station & Alban Way Heritage Society

Jeff Lewis Smallford Project Leader provides news and an update on the society and its future.

Over the past 4 years, a group of enthusiasts have been exploring the history of the Smallford Station, the railway it served and the impact they had on their surrounding communities.

Smallford Station is just over 150 years old and it is a Grade II listed building and despite its age, it is in remarkably good condition. Without the support of the University of Hertfordshire Heritage Hub, this local community heritage project, based just down the road from UH might well not exist.

We first met up in May 2013 and it was with their advice and support that we successfully applied for a Grant from The Heritage Lottery Fund that led to the Smallford project being set up at the beginning of 2014.

The Alban Way

There are three particularly significant activities taking place.

Over the past two years, we have been working very closely with Hertfordshire’s Countryside Management Service who are project leading St Albans District Council GAP Plan to improve the St Albans stretch of The Alban Way.

Included in this plan are improvements to three platforms, Smallford Station Car Park and the provision of Interpretation Panels - for which we’ve contributed historical information and photos.

We want to catalogue and archive our collection; for the past 6 months, we have been exploring the best way to do this. We have decided to ‘beta test’ EHIVE (an on-line museum archiving system) for 3 months and then review progress.

Smallford Residents Association

We were originally established as part of Smallford Residents Association but have in practice, grown beyond this. We plan to establish a new Society with a slightly broader brief.

We will be holding a Special Meeting at University of Hertfordshire on Monday 10 April 2017 starting at 19:00 where we expect to agree a new constitution for what will be called the ‘Smallford Station & Alban Way Heritage Society’.

We also have an as yet unfulfilled dream, to take ownership of Smallford Station, to renovate and restore it and make it available to our local community and the general public.

Sharing our work

We do our best to share our work and our findings.

We have a ‘travelling exhibition’ and give presentations to local groups: these are given freely but we will happily receive any subsequent generous donations to our Project.

Some of our members lead Guided Walks along Alban Way, if you’re lucky this will include exploring ‘an historical event’ that really did take place.

You can find out more about us and our work on our Smallford website, where you can also download our free publications (including a Guided Walk Booklet) and see two of our amazing finds – two B&W films showing trains arriving at Smallford Station (in 1928 and 1933).

If you would like to get in contact please email the society.