The threatened closure of the Bovingdon Fire Station brings to mind thoughts of how Chipperfield was provided with this vital service in times gone by.

In 2003 I went to a Dacorum Heritage Trust exhibition in Hemel Hempstead and much to my surprise one of the exhibits was a County Fire Insurance Mark, which had come from 1, Kings Lane Chipperfield. It is in fact one of the artefacts from the Kings Langley collection, which is held at the Museum Store in Berkhamsted. Such marks were originally issued by enterprising individuals, who, in return for a substantial fee, would guarantee to go to the rescue of a property in the event of a fire, but only if their plaque was depicted on the house and not that of a rival organisation.

Unfortunately, there is no other information about this plaque. I would be interested to know if anyone has any further details about it.

A Kings Langley History Society Newsletter from August 1976 provides some entertaining details about the local Volunteer Fire Brigade, which was formed under the captaincy of Mr Toms, the local headmaster in January 1898 at the request of the Parish Council (which also represented Chipperfield until the 1950′s). After water had been laid on in Kings Langley, the Parish Council purchased a handcart and several lengths of hose. The members of the brigade were summoned to a fire by the sound of a foghorn.

In March 1908 the fire brigade was called out to a fire in Chapel Croft, Chipperfield at the premises of Mr Monk who ran a marine store and second-hand clothes shop. The day was saved by Dr Fisher who towed the handcart from Kings Langley with his 8h.p. De Dion car. The brigade extinguished the fire and spent the rest of the night clearing the contents of the premises. Does anyone know where this shop was? The 1901 census records William Monk, 68, and Joseph Monk, 65, living at separate addresses in Chapel Croft. Both were described as ‘General Dealers (Shop)’.

Because the handcart was slow and tedious, the Parish Council bought a 16 h.p. Sunbeam saloon car in 1936, which was converted to carry the adapted fire fighting equipment. It was given a coat of red paint and ‘Kings Langley Parish Council Fire Brigade’ was painted on the side in black and yellow. Shortly afterwards a call was received about a fire at Chipperfield Manor House. Mr Brousson was astounded that the brigade arrived within 10 minutes. This possibly saved the house from total destruction.

During World War 2, the local Auxiliary Fire Service was based upstairs in the Men’s Club (now Blackwells), The members were all volunteers who lived in the village and they had a duty rota. The A.F.S. kept their firefighting pump, which was towed behind a car, in a garage at Copthall. Their water was held in a 4 feet deep tank on the corner of what is now the car park next to St Paul’s Church.

Today fire appliances serving Chipperfield are on standby 24 hours a day, but it is interesting to note that the target time for them to reach the village is still 10 minutes, no faster than that achieved by the Sunbeam saloon car in 1936!

Mary Nobbs