The Railway That Isolated you - The Hatfield Branch Story 

Hi. I just want to thank all of you for your comments on the video. This is the first time I’ve ever done something like this and Paul has done an incredible job putting everything together. It’s truly heartwarming to know that when we share stories like this, they’re still appreciated

Kate is a natural host. She was excellent. She needs her own channel/programme.

Thanks to Kate for an excellent guest appearance, and telling a fascinating story. I'm looking at the 1937 map of the hospital, and it is indeed huge. And set up for isolation - it has its own water tower and pumping station, chapel, laundry, cemetery, recreation grounds and tennis courts - each with pavilions... and within it, its very own isolation hospital, for those that must be isolated even more. It's troubling to think how much effort went in to hiding the poor unfortunate residents, and I hope we can do better today.

The story of Joan reminded me of my Grandmother, who was institutionalized most of her adult life. Keeping this short, when she and my Grandfather arrived in Canada with their oldest boy, eight years old, it wasn't long before he went under the ice and drowned. They didn't find his body until the spring, some four months later well downstream. I think my Aunt was a baby then, my Dad and my youngest Uncle unborn. I am left to guess that the grief of this started a downward spiral in my Grandmother's mental health. Without getting lurid, she suffered all the metal health treatments that were fashionable through the 1930's, 40's, and 50's. My Dad and My Uncle made sure she was "out" at Christmas and other significant holidays, but few from the rest of the family (my Grandmother's and Grandfather's families immigrated shortly after them) stayed away. Families abandoning the mentally ill and never talking about them was, I think, the norm until fairly recently. I do not know all of what happened to my Grandmother, but most of it came from my Aunt-- after my Dad died. My Dad would say very little about it. I've had people close to me having to spend time in a psyche ward, and I always make sure to visit frequently. For them-- and to let the staff there know they have someone on the "outside" monitoring. Today, I work close to where my Grandparents first lived in Canada. It's now a "sketchy" neighbourhood with homeless, addicted and mentally ill people wandering the streets. Some who obviously can't take care of themselves. Cruel neglect comes in many forms, and not just behind Victorian brick walls.

I had no idea that line was there. 3 St Albans stations and a linear path to Hatfield. I have to explore. Pass on thanks to Kate for telling the history so beautifully.

Brilliant episode guys. Well done Kate, that was great info too. So many women back in the day suffered the same fate as poor Joan. Thank you Kate for telling her story.

Short but superbly fascinating video. Kate’s back story of Hill End was very well told. Will we see her make more guest contributions?

Kate was amazing, can't believe she isn't a trained presenter! And Paul managed to not fall over, so that was good. These giant asylums were once scattered all over the countryside, I guess most served a county as they were often referred to by the county name. The two near here are now houses: I found the now overgrown and hidden graveyard for the Haywards Heath asylum, St Francis, a few weeks back. Chilling.

Very moving video. When I started my IT career in the mid '80's. I looked after a number of computers for the NHS. For some reason the IT departments were often located in ex asylum hospitals. Most were closed to patients, but a few still had a few remaining residents. On arrival it was a case of following A4 paper signs down long deserted and dilapidated corridors to find the IT offices. A very scary experience for a young inexperienced field engineer.

just google mapped the area and you can still see where the hospital was. Kate did an awesome job telling the story!

Great story about my local disused line. Pity you didn't spend a bit more time on Nast Hyde Halt as Nast Hyde Mike really needs a standing ovation for the work he tirelessly carried out to produce such a fantastic result, a real local legend. The Smallford station now has renovation work being carried out on it and hopefully it will be as good as what Mike did for Nast Hyde. Maybe come back and cover the Welwyn Garden City to Luton line which has another restored station at Wheathampstead.

What an amazing woman with a passion she hold so close to her heart, bless her

I live in this area and worked for many years in Hatfield. It's terrifying to think how many people were kept in these mega hospitals. Hill End is just one in the area. Thanks to Kate for telling the story so well. There was also a branch directly from the Midland main line nearby into the hospital at Napsbury, which also seems to have had elements of forced labour and agriculture. There was also a massive site at Harperbury just a few miles to the South and another even bigger site at Shenley, where the infamous R. D. Laing practiced in the 1960s. I've watched all of these institutions close down and be redeveloped. I think we are all better off for it! I believe there were large clusters like this on the Southern outskirts of London too, in Kent and Surrey. Welcome to Hertfordshire Paul! Lots more abandoned railways to be explored as I'm sure you know!

Thank you so much for all this fascinating information. I grew up in St. Albans, and when I got my first proper employment, I used the Abbey to Watford Line to buy my first leather jacket. This was in about 1973. My mother suffered from bipolar disorder and was admitted to Hill End soon after her mother died in 1966, and was there for several months. They gave her electric shock treatment. I checked information about the closure of Hill End online, and found comments by other people about relatives who had been in Hill End after the official closure date. We visited my mother in hospital and it was such a grim place. I recall that parts of the hospital had been closed down, so its likely that the hospital closed in stages and that the official closure date marked the start of the closures. Some further work is needed on this.

Thank you Kate and Paul for the wonderful video. I was in Hill End hospital in my late teens in the 90's suffering from depression from self harming. I didn't realise Hill End had siding to deliver coal but understood there have been a tram way that used to bring in injured soldiers from WW1.

Excellent video, I'm very proud to have been part of the memorial garden project as I made the oak entrance structure in the video. I worked for a Harpenden builder and ran their joinery shop, so we were approached for the contract.

Thank you. I can add to this story, we moved next door to hill end hospital in 1971. the house was a former Doctors home, there were several that where sold off about this time. The hospital back then still had a market garden and a thriving orchard. your old map of the hospital showed our house. it took a few years to stop people wondering through the garden as a short cut. the house had been derelict, for some time. the Marconi factory still existed then as well. not long after we moved there the Market garden and the orchard started to decline! the Bowling greens also disappeared! although the cricket pitch remained for many more years. a slow decline started to take hold. in the early 1980's I used the railway line to cycle to and from work each day in Hatfield at the bakery. it didn't look quite like it does today back then. when the hospital closed we sold our house. now the foot print of our former home is the drive way to seven houses on out land. If Kate is intreated I have some stories about former some of the former patients our family befriend over time. etc. thank you so much for taking me in a trip down memory lane.

This was a very interesting and intensely touching video. Thanks for inviting Kate to tell the story. #wheresRebecca

Well this is a bit close to home!!! Thanks for visiting my 'home' line - literally! Grew up a few mins from the Hatfield line in St Albans and as a kid in the 70's played all along on 'the old disused railway' long long before it was re-invented as the Alban way. I worked as an apprentice (and a full employee) at the Marconi Instruments Longacres factory in the late 80's that you and Kate referenced and even did a stint for temporary part time stores work at Hill End Hospital before that as a gawky teenager. I remember the rail siding that crossed the road and right into the hospital grounds. Hopefully Kate may have mentioned off camera that the district had FOUR mental institutions up until they all closed in the 90's - Hill End, Cell Barnes, Harperbury and Shenley, which is a bit further down the road. Also, the old Ballito's stockings factory that later became Marconi Instruments Fleetville site was on the site of the current Morrisons superstore in Hatfiled Road and the line and Alban way runs right past it! (you mentioned Morrisons - ha ha!) Marconi's has a whole history in and of itself and if time wasn't so short you would have gone a bit further to Hatfield and past the site and halt for the old de Havilland's factory and airfield (where I now work!) - another great history worth looking at as its the birthplace (literally) of the jet airliner! Oh and my brother knows Mike the man behind Nast Hyde halt and did some promo work for the charity fund raising that he did when completing the halt - really great guy (so is my brother too!). facebook.com/nasthydehalt.mike.5/?locale=en_GB nasthydehalt.wordpress.com/ Like I said - bit close to home this one. Thanks

It was lovely to see you return to the subject of disused railways. It seems a very long time since the last one. I know your interests are much wider, but it is the thing that initially drew me to your channel.

I worked in a large psychiatric hospital getting people out into the community. I remember working with Walter. He was a shell shocked WW1 soldier admitted in 1919 aged 19. I got him out in 1984 after 65 years!! Admittedly it was to a nursing home, where his quality of life improved immeasurably. I know it was one institution for another but they took him out into the community on frequent outings. One story I remember. I visited him at the home and one snowy day took him out for a drive. The area was flat and we went over a bridge and Walters face showed astonishment. He had never seen so much snow and such a scene. It still affects me all these years later. I taught my 4 year old daugher some WW1 songs and took her to meet him. He loved seeing her and sang with her. Very moving and the twinkle in his eyes was lovely. Thank you Kate for reminding me of such folk as Walter and you have a great job which you do with a passion.

Excellent presentation from the channel . The videos keep getting better every week . Lovely but sad story from Kate . Her presence adds a new element to Paul and Rebecca’s weekly Sunday adventures . Maybe more local historical vids from her area . More train stations and Kate ! 🇨🇦👍

hello Paul Rebecca and Kate , i love seeing old station buildings and platforms open and still in use , such a sad story , that was great , really well done and thank you guys 😊

Kate is a natural commentator delivering the information really well with obvious interested emotion !!

That is a fascinating episode Paul; never realised St Albans had 3 stations! And thank you to your guest Kate to so passionately tell the sad story of the isolated hospital at Hill End; so many lives that were hidden away from society.

An excellent video with the guest, Kate. Always a pleasure to watch your video, this one was a real experience to comprehend. Thanks to Kate, and as always, hello to Rebecca. See you on the the next, Paul! Cheers to all! ❤️❤️❤️🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🙂🙂🙂👍👍👍🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

I grew up in Hatfield and remember this branch well. It was still operating a very limited freight service up into the 1960s. I believe it was servicing a scrapyard at Smallford but probably not beyond that. I remember an 08 class shunter pushing a single wagon along the branch. My paternal grandfather was in Hill End with dementia until he died in 1960. I can just about remember visiting him there and recall the tracks in the grounds, but I was only 6 so it is a dim memory now. I hope you get to visit Hatfield station which is now, sadly, all gone except for the platforms. It was once rather special as Queen Victoria used it to visit The Salisburys at Hatfield House, which lies opposite the station. There was even a special waiting room for her. You can ask why the up and down platforms are not opposite each other as is normally the case!

Excellent video and thanks to Kate for an great guest appearance and nice to a another railway video we haven,t seen Rebecca in many vlogs lately she is missed

Kate is a great story teller!

That story was so beautifully told - St Albans, like Epsom, must have been one of those areas outside London where these institutions congregated. Near me is Royal Earlswood (originally the “Earlswood asylum for idiots”) and that building has been converted into posh flats; its grand hall (complete with functioning pipe organ) now has a swimming pool inside. Such a contrast from what there used to be. (It is reputed that there was a tunnel from Earlswood railway station to Royal Earlswood to allow members of the royal family to visit the nieces of the Queen mother who were incarcerated there.) whilst it is known that they visited, I think the tunnel is a myth!

This is better than anything on TV - why do producers not pick this up?!

Suoerb as always, and Kate was a gem, what fascinating history, another bit of history recorded that may have been lost.

Love this series on lost railway stations and the history that goes along with them…..👍

Our daughter lived just off Camp Road in St Albans and we used to walk along this path and never ever knew it had so much history.

Excellent as usual Paul - I worked in a hospital like the one described - totally self sufficient, it had everything!!

Joan's story is heartbreaking. As a gay man it's chilling to think about how I might have been treated.

She was so good, what a great episode!

Paul. You need to do more like this. Showing the history behind the railway, stations and communities. Come to that you cold do the same for the canals as well. Kate was wonderful, sharing her passion and knowledge of the hospital and its residents. This was one of your best disused railway videos to date. Keep it up and thank you to Paul and Kate.

A very similar situation was at Epsom,Surrey where there was a very large estate of so called ‘mental hospitals’ with farms and its own branch off the mainline.

Wow Kate, you’re a natural on camera and so knowledgeable,, such wonderful story telling. I want to hear more of your passion.

Great to see you visiting my local area - I must have cycled the route hundreds of times and still learned something new.

Well done, Paul, for just allowing your eloquent, knowledgeable and committed co-presenter to tell the story. I'd guess she's good at her day-job as well. I only discovered the existance of a great aunt who spent her life in an institution like Hill End through researching censuses. The family never mentioned her. On All Souls Day (Thursday) I suggest a 2-minute silence to remember all those inmates, or should I say victims? of mental health policy.

Terrific stoy telling here, quite touching, well done Kate........If you're gonna make a Geoff Marshall vid, I'm gonna say 'Rebecca looks different in this one'.

Great walk & sad story well told.

It's horrific that people could be imprisoned for life on the whim of someone who did not like that they were attracted to someone.

Lovely story, so good to hear a history of forgotten people brought alive.

Poor Joan, thank you for remembering her 🙂

Telling the stories of old hidden away mental institutions would be a really interesting series 👍

Wow, that was so interesting and Kate extensive knowledge added so much, thanks Kate, you were incredible! Hope there are more lines/history where you can work together again.

Current EDS completion estimate: 04/09/2084. That's 3 years and 9 months added to the estimate following EDS 55, the "Wiltshire's Lost Railway - The Missing Link" video. Current EDS total: 514.

Excellent variation of your usual disused railway stories! Thank you.

A fascinating video, and surprising how much remains. Maybe I should drive the 35 minutes up to St Albans to do both the Abbey Line and visit these sites.

I lived in St Albans while a student at Hatfield Polytechnic in 1980 and had no idea all this history was on my doorstep! Kate is a natural and added a very moving touch to a fascinating story.

My family moved very close to Nast Hyde halt at the end of the 1960s and we could see it from our bedroom windows. We came after the passenger service had stopped (pity because it would have been very useful). The occasional goods train ran along it pulled by small diesel shunters (Class 08) until it was finally closed which was exciting for a young boy. It was a shame it is no longer it a working line, but much of it is nice public walk way. This nice video brought back many childhood memories - thanks.

Kate was great to listen to and to know her local history was great listening. Hope Kate has her own channel 👏👏👏

Very high quality video that needs a wider audience. Bravo.

That’s a great presentation and Kate was essential! I have first hand knowledge of this line as my first job in 1969 was at the Marconi Instruments site that backs onto the line at that time. Napsbury was another asylum in this area which is now converted into luxury flats😉.

Excellent, Thank you Kate.

I love your train based content, but what a story that went with this one. Thoughtfully told by Kate, you both did an amazing job with this one 👏❤️

Top marks, Paul, for letting Kate join you and talk so enthusiastically about the railway and the hospital. A fascinating episode (not that they're not all fascinating!).

So well presented. Thanks to you both.

Very interesting walk, big thanks to Kate for coming on and adding so much detail. Well done to both of you

Tragedy, sorrow, heartbreak and new life all in one. Damn well done, Sir! That cemetery and its interred should not be forgotten.

This is fantastic, thank you Kate, you’re brilliant.😊

No need to guess where those stations used to be, if only they were all like that. Great back story about the hospital, really enjoyed this.

One of your best videos IMO. Great audio/video story-telling.

Great video and a really sad story about Joan. May she rest in peace

Just wonderful. A heart-breaking story, beautifully told. Well done!

Thank you for the vid ! I asked you to do the Hatfield line so thanks for that ! The line also served De Havelland aircraft factory during the war at Hatfield ! It was the first line to go to London from st Alban's ! London rd stations station master was killed by a permanent way hammer by his wife on the head in 1918 !!!

A SUPER episode. The incarceration of some people into a hospital simply because someone didn't like them is something that thankfully doesn't happen too often these days.

Only visited St Albans two days ago. I remember doing the Abbey Line but not noticing the Hatfield branch. St A is pretty but hard to park a car in…

The most gut-wrenching episode to date. The dehumanisation of people and the railway that made it possible. I'm away to hug my cat.

Wow! Paul and special guest Kate. Such a great presentation as I’ve said before better than anything like this put out by so called professionals. Whitewick productions Just brilliant

Great video as always, well done on getting that lady on, so much knowledge! 👏🏻👏🏻💪🏻

Great video, Kate's storytelling was excellent

An excellent story. Nice lass, thank you for that.

Thank you for telling this story! I appreciate your work and passion.

Paul - you have excelled yourself with this one - and with absolutely no disrepect to your many other productions featuring your fascinating reseach findings on various civil engineering / former industrial explorations - it is wonderful to hear a guest presenter as passionate as Kate, include a human aspect to what might otherwise seem like just another long-forgotten railway line... There were of course many similar institutions served by railway sidings and occasionally branches and, while the majority were mainly to facilitate the delivery of coal and other goods, several of them did indeed carry scheduled passenger services to their private stations. I'd imagine there would have been such military hospitals within a dozen or so miles' radius of Andover, while Park Prewett at Basingstoke had a short coal siding - as did Salisbury Old Manor, I believe. As you'll no doubt be aware, Knowle Hospital had a halt and siding on the still-extant railway between Fareham and Eastleigh - and perhaps the most significant branch of all within Hampshire, was that to the former Royal Victoria Hospital at Netley Abbey, which carried ambulance trains during both world wars, as well as trains for staff and visitors. It might even offer enough material for another of your occasional video threads! Incidentally, had Kate not been around to tell us about Hill End; "Salvation Army Halt" might have offered a different story, serving as it did the Campfield Print Works that produced everything from sheet music to the War Cry, in its day!

Thank you Kate and Paul for this enlightening episode. I used to go to Brookwood Hospital for work and spoke with many staff and a few residents about Ladies that had been incarcerated initially for being pregnant, and subsequently for having illegitimate babies. Here in Basingstoke the Assylum, Park Prewitt, had its own branch line from the main Station, and was also self sufficient with a farm, Laundry, etc.

Thanks Kate for your input, you tell a very interesting story very eloquently. Id love to see you be a guest again on this channel!

Great education, thanks Paul. Best wishes are sent for you & the 'Good Lady' as you move forwards.

Kate knowledge and storytelling was epic and some very interesting locations, great video Paul.

Brilliant narration by Kate on this one. You should team up again if you can.

Hey Paul - as a resident of S Herts you & Kate were just "up the road" from me ! 😎

I recently cycled all 3 disused railway lines in Hertfordshire. Surprised you didn't bring your bike Great story telling as always

Thankyou to Kate and yourself for bringing us the story around the branch line.

That was a magnificent episode! I think every large city had such a hospital/campus. Remember the hospital near Bristol - Barrow Gurney that was the subject of a comedy song by the Wurzels - no-one gave it a second thought. Thank for reminding us of this important history.

I love finding old railway stations, we live in Cornwall where we once had quite a big railway infrastructure, working for the council I get to visit loads of little villages off the beaten track and the eyes start scouring the area when I come across a "station road or lane", so fascinating to think that once upon a time, big old trains were chuffing their way from A to B, sad that its all gone but I suppose time does move on 🤷‍♂️

Fascinating story.

Very interesting and moving video. People could be locked up for almost anything. Workhouses a bit similar I guess.

Thank you Kate and Paul for this fascinating story more for the hospital's history than the railway's in this case. Not too far from where I live is a psychiatric hospital that had been open for about a hundred years and only closed about 40 years ago, been on numerous tours of it since, that explained similar sad stories of people being placed there for depression anxiety bipolar illnesses but also sadly non-medical reasons. There are also some tales of ghosts. Fortunately the entire Hospital in the residence cottages and have been turned into a local college and been tastefully updated.

I did my RMN at Shenley in the 70's (where the movie Scum was filmed). Those institutions were terrible places and I am glad that in my later career I was involved in closing many of them down

A remarkable and poignant video Paul, over the last few years I have read quite a bit about these asylum hospitals created in the late 19th and early 20th century and even had a chance to visit one in South London for work a few years ago. It is fascinating that so many were rail connected and that the scars of these railwsys still exist. And as for Kate, she is what a local historian should, knowledgable and lucid. I love your video generally but this one was superb and , in my opinion, your best one yet, thankyou so much.

Very good. And its still there and looked after. These are the stories that make life interesting.

Quite a little irony for me, as after leaving Leavesden Hospital and its sub hospital across the road, I was offered a job as a guard on the St Albans line from Watford but fell through right at the end due to me being hospitalised and BR held the job open for a while but health just got in the way at that time. Leavesden hospital famous for its murals and the last major suspect for being Jack the Ripper dying there was quite a spooky old place to work, Abbots Langsbury Hospital across the way was ex school portakabins built up and around of quite cleverly but Thatcher's war against hospitals for the mentally infirm and the old was well under way by this time and so both closed, land flogged off on the cheap...

This is a fabulous and interesting, yet sad, story. 🙁 Such a sad story about Joan. 🙁 Astonishing by today’s standards. I look at the National Library of Scotland map and I only get the see the hospital on the 1937-61 map. Many thanks again, Paul, and also to Kate, for this insight. 😊

I miss the old railway station videos. 😀

Thanks to Kate, Paul and the various supporters of the trusts for keeping this story alive.

Loved the video and Kates contribution to it. I've run the length of the Alban Way, right up to Hatfield Station. The Hatfield section is not as scenic though. Fascinating to hear the story of Hill End Hospital. It looks like some of the buildings survive. Not too far from St Albans is the old Leavesden Asylum, now converted into upmarket apartments within a Country Park. The East Lane Cemetary just around the back of it is a beautifully tranquil area.

Yea !