My great great grandfather, George Comley, lived in Lower Cravells Road in Harpenden in 1881 and his occupation was ‘Inspector of Nuisances’. I believe the modern day equivalent of this would be Environmental Health Officer, but I suspect it had a lot more to do with sewage that it would have nowadays!
In earlier censuses, living in Luton, he is listed as a ‘contractor’ which I take to be a kind of civil engineer.
Looking at Google street view, Cravells Road looks as if it might be much the same as it was is the late 1800s. I would love to see any photos that exist of the area at that time.
The editors added the photos below, drawn from the Local History archives and showing Cravells Road as George Comley knew it.
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More views of Lower Cravells Road around 1890 and 1927 have been added above.
The Post Office is shown on the 1924 OS 1/2,500 map, and moved to Southdown Road in c.1930.
Thank you for the photograph! Amazing to see fields at the bottom of the road!
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