Welham Green is a village in the parish of North Mymms

North Mymms

North Mymms is a civil parish in the English county of Hertfordshire.The village itself has suffered from enclosure. North Mimms Park and Brookmans Park enclose large areas of the parish. Even the parish church stands in the park of North Mimms; in it is a chapel, the burialplace of the Coningsbys...

, Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is situated a mile to the west of the Great North Road coaching route that used to run through the neighbouring hamlet of Bell Bar

Bell Bar

Bell Bar is a village located in North Mymms, Hertfordshire, England.Thought to be named after the ancient Bell Inn which stood nearby, Bell Bar was a cluster of dwellings around this coaching inn on the Great North Road which used to pass through Bell Bar along what is now called Bell Lane...

 from London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 to York

York

York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...

 and the north. The Great North Road is now by-passed by the A1(M). Even so, Welham Green has developed into a large village over the last 20 years, helped by the 1986 opening of its own railway station between Brookmans Park

Brookmans Park railway station

Brookmans Park railway station serves the village of Brookmans Park in Hertfordshire, England. The station is located north of London Kings Cross on the East Coast Main Line, on the stretch between and .-History:...

 and Hatfield

Hatfield railway station

Hatfield railway station serves the town of Hatfield in Hertfordshire, England. The station is managed by First Capital Connect.It is located approximately north of London Kings Cross on the East Coast Main Line.- History :...

 on the East Coast Main Line

East Coast Main Line

The East Coast Main Line is a long electrified high-speed railway link between London, Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield, Leeds, York, Darlington, Newcastle and Edinburgh...

. Recent housing development has portended the joining of the village with the neighbouring town of Hatfield

Hatfield, Hertfordshire

Hatfield is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England in the borough of Welwyn Hatfield. It has a population of 29,616, and is of Saxon origin. Hatfield House, the home of the Marquess of Salisbury, is the nucleus of the old town...

. Some residents, including the North Mymms

North Mymms

North Mymms is a civil parish in the English county of Hertfordshire.The village itself has suffered from enclosure. North Mimms Park and Brookmans Park enclose large areas of the parish. Even the parish church stands in the park of North Mimms; in it is a chapel, the burialplace of the Coningsbys...

 Green Belt

Green belt

A green belt or greenbelt is a policy and land use designation used in land use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighbouring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges which have a linear character and may run through an...

 Society, wishing to maintain Welham Green's character, have resisted such development.

First balloon landing in England

In the village, on the corner of Huggins Lane and Parsonage Lane, is a stone plinth

Plinth

In architecture, a plinth is the base or platform upon which a column, pedestal, statue, monument or structure rests. Gottfried Semper's The Four Elements of Architecture posited that the plinth, the hearth, the roof, and the wall make up all of architectural theory. The plinth usually rests...

 marking a point close to which in 1784 (at 3.30pm on 15 September) the Italian balloonist Vincenzo Lunardi

Vincenzo Lunardi

Vicenzo Lunardi was born in Lucca, Italy. His family were of minor Neapolitan nobility, and his father had married late in life. Vicenzo was one of three children...

, while on the first hydrogen filled balloon flight in England, is reputed to have made his first landing, although there is reason to believe that the site was probably nearer Northaw. The plinth states that on landing Lunardi handed a cat and a dog that had accompanied him from London before re-ascending and continuing north east. According to legend, the recipient of the animals was a local woman.

Public transport

The village is served by Welham Green railway station

Welham Green railway station

Welham Green railway station serves the town of Welham Green in Hertfordshire, England. It is located approximately north of London Kings Cross on the East Coast Main Line....

 and local bus services provided by Uno

Uno (bus company)

Uno is a bus service operated by the University of Hertfordshire, England, serving members of the general public, and also its own students and staff...

, Arriva and Sullivan Buses

Sullivan Buses

Sullivan Buses is a bus operating company based in South Mimms, Hertfordshire, England. Founded in 1999, it operates local bus services in and around Hertfordshire including school services; rail replacement bus services in and near London; bus links in Surrey to and from Thorpe Park; and vehicle...

.