Welwyn - Local Points of Interest

Local Points of Interest

The village has a brief association, celebrated by a blue plaque on a building on Church Street, with Vincent Van Gogh, who visited his sister (having walked from London) while she was staying in Welwyn.

In the fields surrounding the nearby Danesbury House, now converted into accommodation, is a dilapidated and neglected former fernery designed by Anthony Parsons (then gardener for the Danesbury Estate) and constructed by the second James Pulham (known as James 2, being the second of four successive James Pulhams within that family) of James Pulham & Son fame in 1859. It was built in a small chalk pit in the grounds of Danesbury Park and has a fine view across the valley - sadly now occupied by the A1(M) motorway. In its day it was well admired, with one W. Robinson (writing in "The English Flower Garden", published in 1883), stating that "In the home counties there is probably not a better fernery than at Danesbury."

On the outskirts of Welwyn are the remains of a 3rd century Roman bath-house, which was once part of the Dicket Mead villa. The villa and its bath-house were discovered by local archaeologist Tony Rook in the 1960s and subsequently excavated by him and a team of archaeologists and volunteers from Welwyn Archaeological Society. The remains of the bath-house are now preserved in a vault which is underneath the A1 motorway. The site is now run by Welwyn Hatfield Museum Service and is open to the public from 2.00pm-5.00pm on Saturdays and Sundays and bank holidays from January to November. It is also open in Hertfordshire school holidays everyday 2.00pm-5.00pm. Admission £2.50 for adults and children free.