In August 1914, within two or three weeks of the declaration of war, some 4,500 men from the Notts & Derbyshire regiment - Sherwood Foresters - were billeted in Harpenden. Billets had been arranged following a survey of all Harpenden houses, which were allocated men according to the number of rooms deemed to be available. While officers were allocated to the larger houses in the Avenues, the men were generally quartered four to a room in the terraced houses of Bowling Alley (Cravells Road) and in the streets off Luton Road.