Arm and Sword Yard
On the walk around Old Hatfield
By Jane Toyne
This connects Park Street and the Great North Road, it was also known locally as ‘Blood and Gut Alley’ or ‘Bug Alley’ due to the butchers and slaughterhouse that were located there. There was at least one slaughterhouse and a number of butchers.
The Walby family were well-known butchers in Hatfield and in 1901 Henry Walby and his brother James had a butchers shop on the corner of Park Street and Arm and Sword Yard, they also lived there with their sisters Beatrice and Amelia.
By 1901 the residents in the yard were brickmakers, railway workers and carpenters, with women and children working as laundresses and straw plaiters.
Today, the car park and footpath down the side of the Horse and Groom pub are all that is left of Arm and Sword Yard.
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