Broadway, Letchworth
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Broadway is a road through the centre of
Letchworth Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2021 census was 33,990. Letchworth ...
, in
Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...
, England, laid out when the garden city of Letchworth was created. It incorporates Broadway Gardens, and is listed Grade II in
Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...
's
Register of Parks and Gardens #REDIRECT Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England #REDIRECT Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England {{R from move ...
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.


History

Ebenezer Howard Sir Ebenezer Howard (29 January 1850 – 1 May 1928) was an English urban planner and founder of the garden city movement, known for his publication '' To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform'' (1898), the description of a utopian city in wh ...
pioneered the idea of creating garden cities; they would benefit the whole community, they would be well planned and integrate the best aspects of town and country. The first garden city was Letchworth, on a site acquired in 1903. It was planned in 1904 by the architects Barry Parker and
Raymond Unwin Sir Raymond Unwin (2 November 1863 – 29 June 1940) was a prominent and influential English engineer, architect and town planner, with an emphasis on improvements in working class housing. Early years Raymond Unwin was born in Rotherham, Yor ...
. This included a broad spinal approach road from the south and north, named Broadway, leading to Town Square, where the principle buildings of the town would be erected.
Lombardy poplar ''Populus nigra'', the black poplar, is a species of cottonwood poplar, the type species of section ''Aigeiros'' of the genus ''Populus'', native to Europe, southwest and central Asia, and northwest Africa.Flora Europaea''Populus nigra''/ref> ...
s were planted about 1914 to show the location of the buildings, which in the course of events were never built. The section from Hitchin Road northwards to the
roundabout A roundabout, a rotary and a traffic circle are types of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junct ...
was the first part of Broadway to be constructed, about 1906; along this section are large detached houses, built from 1905 to 1912. The roundabout, Sollershott Circus, opened in 1910, was the first in the United Kingdom. The section between the roundabout and Town Square was an unmade road until 1924. About to the east of Broadway is
Howard Park and Gardens Howard Park and Gardens is a public recreation ground in Letchworth, in Hertfordshire, England, laid out when the garden city of Letchworth was created. It is listed Grade II in Historic England's Register of Parks and Gardens. History The park ...
, also part of the original layout of the town.


Description

Broadway is long, running south-south-west to north-north-east. The southern end is the junction with Hitchin Road (the
A505 road The A505 is a road in the East of England. It follows part of the route of the Icknield Way and the corresponding Icknield Way Path and runs from Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire to the A11 road (England), A11 Abington Interchange North in Cam ...
); Station Place, the forecourt of
the railway station ''The Railway Station'' is an 1862 genre painting by the British artist William Powell Frith.Trotter p.63 The painting is held at Royal Holloway College, with a smaller version in the Royal Collection. Description It depicts a scene at the busy ...
, is at the northern end. Broad grass verges flank the road from Hitchen Road to Broadway Gardens. About north of Hitchin Road is the roundabout, Sollershott Circus, the convergence of several residential roads. Broadway Gardens (originally named Town Square and later, from the mid-1960s, John F Kennedy Gardens) is north of Hitchin Road. It was developed in recent years with a grant from the
Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...
. There is a fountain, herbaceous borders and a large open space where events can be hosted."Broadway Gardens"
North Herts Council. Retrieved 12 July 2022. Overlooking the gardens are the Town Hall (built in 1935), the library (1938), the town museum (1914–20) and the former grammar school (1931). Broadway passes the Gardens on both sides; north of the Gardens, Broadway is divided by a central boulevard where a tramway was originally intended, now a central walk.


References

{{Reflist Grade II listed parks and gardens in Hertfordshire Letchworth Roads in Hertfordshire