Welwyn Garden City, England Vacation - 8/10/09 - 8/25/09

I apologize for the interruption in progress on my violin blog. I needed to travel to Welwyn Garden City in England to see my niece Leslie and her family and offer a helping hand with their move and unpacking. Welwyn Garden City was a planned city begun after WWI and is Northwest of London. The urban plan was to provide integrated green spaces with commercial and residential areas. Industrial parks were limited to separate quadrants. The planning prevented the development of urban blight, slums and overcrowding.

Below is a view of their new home taken from the garden bench at the rear of the house.
The center of the house was originally constructed in the 1920"s. Wings were later added at both ends and the Dining room was extended forward toward the Garden.

Below is the store front of Hill and Company String Shop in The Very Old Village of Welwyn. In 2008 I had visited my niece in St. Albans and had learned of this string shop.


I was very curious about it since the name Hill in my mind was associated with the famous William E. Hill and Sons of London. The rosin I have had since childhood was under their label. I later learned of their fame for expertise in restoring and appraising great violins. As well they made fine string instruments and bows. Furthermore, they had donated the great collection of 16th and 17th century string instruments including the oldest Amati and the Strad Messiah to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

W.E. Hill and Sons ceased to exist in 1992. Last year I looked up their original location at 140 New Bond Street and discovered that their business address and facade no longer existed. So I was curious as to whether or not this Hill and Co. was in any way related.


Above is the front counter at Hill and Company String Shop in Welwyn Village
On the cabinet next to the violin in a cast metal stand are early 1900's photos of the famous Mirecourt Violin district in Paris.


Below are Charlotte, Marguerite, and Leslie at Hill's. This was a trip to further inspire 4 year old Charlotte's interest in the violin. Hill's had a lovely sounding 1/8th size violin that was much better than the 1/16th size violin Charlotte was using. Leslie rented the new one on this trip.

While we were their I had the chance to meet the proprietor, Howard Hill. I learned that while he and his father who started the string shop were not related to W. E. Hill he had worked for them 12 years and acquired a great deal of his knowledge on restoration from that experience. Restoration is his primary focus rather than making violins.


Above is a framed 1976 poster commemorating Siegbert Reinhard's Paper Sculpture Titled "Rehearsal" of a string quartet. (I have a cutout art piece of this at home. Small world isn't it.)

This is the collection of string instrument for sale in the audition room

Below I am trying out a 1746 violin by French luthier Pierre Saint-Paul(1728-1746). He worked in Paris on Rue St. Andre. This was a remarkably powerful and resonant instrument. The G and D strings had warmth and power. I later deduced that this was probably an example of one of his smaller Amati models. I had some difficulty with intonation since it was smaller than the Strad model my current German violin is based on.