Letchworth, England
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Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the
North Hertfordshire North Hertfordshire is one of ten local government districts in the county of Hertfordshire, England. Its council is based in Letchworth Garden City and the largest town is Hitchin. The district also includes the towns of Baldock and Royston ...
district of
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. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2021 census was 33,990. Letchworth was an
ancient parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
, appearing in the
Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
of 1086. It remained a small rural village until the start of the twentieth century. The development of the modern town began in 1903, when much of the land in Letchworth and the neighbouring parishes of Willian and Norton was purchased by a company called First Garden City Limited, founded by
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 ...
and his supporters with the aim of building the first "garden city", following the principles Howard had set out in his 1898 book, ''To-morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform''. Their aim was to create a new type of settlement which provided jobs, services, and good housing for residents, whilst retaining the environmental quality of the countryside, in contrast to most industrial cities of the time. The town's initial layout was designed by
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 ...
and Barry Parker. It includes the United Kingdom's first
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 ...
, Sollershott Circus, which was built . The layout for Letchworth incorporates extensive parkland and open spaces, including
Norton Common Norton Common is a 25.7-hectare park and Local Nature Reserve in the centre of Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire. It is owned and managed by North Hertfordshire District Council, and the declaring authority is Hertfordshire County Council. T ...
and Howard Park. A
takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are publicly listed, in contrast to the acquisi ...
of First Garden City Limited in 1960 led to significant changes in how the company managed the town, which were opposed by the residents and local council who wanted the original garden city ideals retained. They secured an act of parliament which transferred ownership of the estate from the company to a
public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, pu ...
body, the Letchworth Garden City Corporation, in 1963. The corporation in turn was replaced by a charitable body in 1995, the Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation, which owns and manages the estate today. Letchworth today retains large business areas providing jobs in a variety of sectors, and the landlord's profits are reinvested for the benefit of the community by the Heritage Foundation. The town lies north of
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, on the railway linking London to
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
, and it also adjoins the
A1 road A list of roads designated A1, sorted by alphabetical order of country. * A01 highway (Afghanistan), a long ring road or beltway connecting Kabul, Kandahar, Herat and Mazar * A1 motorway (Albania), connecting Durrës and Kukës * A001 highw ...
, making it relatively popular with commuters. Residential areas in the town are mixed; large parts of the town are included in
conservation areas Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...
in recognition of their quality, but the town also contains four of the five poorest-scoring neighbourhoods in North Hertfordshire for
deprivation Deprivation or deprive may refer to: * Poverty, pronounced deprivation in well-being ** Objective deprivation or poverty threshold, the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country ** Relative deprivation, the lack of resources ...
. As the world's first garden city, Letchworth has had a notable impact on town planning and the
new towns movement While purpose-built towns and cities have many precedents in antiquity - the 195 BC iteration of Chang'an providing a case in point - the New Towns ''movement'' refers to an ideologically-driven social campaign. The best-known and possibly most inf ...
; it influenced nearby
Welwyn Garden City Welwyn Garden City ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London. It was the second Garden city movement, garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first New towns in the United Kingdom, new towns (designated 1948). It is ...
, which used a similar approach, and aspects of the principles demonstrated at Letchworth have been incorporated into other projects around the world including the Australian capital
Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...
,
Hellerau Hellerau is a northern quarter ''(Stadtteil)'' in the city of Dresden, Germany, slightly south of Dresden Airport. It was the first garden city in Germany. The northern section of Hellerau absorbed the village of Klotzsche, where some 18th cent ...
in Germany,
Tapiola Tapiola (; ) is a district of the municipality of Espoo on the south coast of Finland, and is one of the major urban centres of Espoo. It is located in the western part of Helsinki capital region. The name ''Tapiola'' is derived from ''Tapio (spi ...
in Finland and
Mežaparks Mežaparks () is a neighbourhood of Northern District in Riga, the capital of Latvia. It consists of a residential area to the South and a large urban park to the North of the same name – Mežaparks. The neighbourhood is located on the west ...
in
Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...
.


History


Before the Garden City: Old Letchworth

The area now occupied by Letchworth has been inhabited since prehistoric times. A late
Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
hill fort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...
, thought to date from , stood on Wilbury Hill, beside the ancient road of
Icknield Way The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern and eastern England that runs from Norfolk to Wiltshire. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills. Background It is generally said to be, withi ...
. The hill fort was refortified in the Middle Iron Age, and appears to have been occupied until the
Roman conquest of Britain The Roman conquest of Britain was the Roman Empire's conquest of most of the island of Great Britain, Britain, which was inhabited by the Celtic Britons. It began in earnest in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, and was largely completed in the ...
. Evidence for Bronze Age, Romano-British and late Iron Age settlement has also been found in the fields between Norton village and the A1. By the time of the
Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...
, Letchworth was established as a village. The name is derived from the
Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
"lycce weorth", meaning a farm inside a fence or enclosure. It appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Leceworde", when it was described as having nine households of villagers, four cottagers, one slave and one priest. The presence of the priest suggests that Letchworth was by that time a parish. Letchworth's
parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...
was built in the 12th century, but likely on the site of an earlier building. The original dedication of the church is unknown, but it was rededicated to St Mary during the First World War. The village was along Letchworth Lane, stretching from St Mary's and the adjoining medieval manor house of Letchworth Hall up to the staggered crossroads of Letchworth Lane, Hitchin Road, Baldock Road and Spring Road. Letchworth was a relatively small parish, having a population in 1801 of 67, rising to 96 by 1901.


The early days of the Garden City

In 1898, the social reformer
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 ...
wrote ''To-morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform'' (republished in 1902 as ''Garden Cities of To-morrow''), in which he advocated the construction of a new kind of town, which he called a "garden city". The idea was summed up in a diagram called the "Three Magnets", showing how the mixed advantages and disadvantages of town or country living could be combined into a third option, "Town-Country", offering the advantages of both cities and the countryside while eliminating their disadvantages. Industry would be kept separate from residential areas, whilst the residents would have good access to parks and the countryside. The garden city would be contained in a belt of open countryside, providing land not just for agriculture, but also for children's homes, asylums, new forests and
brickfield A brickfield is a field or other open site where bricks are made. Land may be leased by an owner to a brickmaster, by whom the manufacture of bricks may be conducted. Historically, the topsoil was typically removed and the clay beneath was str ...
s. Echoes of this idea of a protected rural belt were later taken up more generally in town planning in Britain from the mid-twentieth century as the
green belt A green belt or greenbelt is a policy, and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wilderness, wild, or agricultural landscape, land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts ...
.Hall, 1996, pages 92-97 Howard's ideas were mocked in some sections of the press but struck a chord with many, especially members of the
Arts and Crafts movement The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...
and the
Quakers Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...
. After examining several possible locations for establishing a garden city, the garden city pioneers settled on Letchworth as the chosen site. The Letchworth Hall estate had come up for sale, and although it alone was too small, secret negotiations with fourteen adjoining landowners allowed an estate of to be assembled and purchased for £155,587. A company called First Garden City Limited was established on 1 September 1903 to purchase the land and begin building the garden city. In 1904, architects
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 ...
and Barry Parker won a competition for designing the town's layout, and were appointed as consulting architects to the company. Most of the pre-existing trees and hedgerows were preserved in the layout. Unwin took the alignment of the town's main avenue (Broadway) from three old oak trees which stood on the central plateau of the estate and were incorporated into the central square (Broadway Gardens). A temporary railway halt was built in 1903 on the Great Northern Railway's Hitchin, Royston and Cambridge branch line, which crosses the middle of the garden city estate. Initially, services were irregular special trains for excursions and construction workers. A more substantial temporary wooden station was opened in 1905 with a regular passenger service. The current
railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
was built in 1912 in a prominent location at the end of Broadway. The first new houses were occupied in July 1904. The following month First Garden City Limited held a vote amongst shareholders and residents on what name the new garden city should take. Several options were proposed, including "Garden City", "Homeworth" and "Alseopolis". The chosen name was "Letchworth (Garden City)". The company adopted this as its name for the town, but adoption of the name was not universal. The legal name of the civil parish and (after 1919) urban district remained simply "Letchworth". First Garden City Limited also gradually dropped the "(Garden City)" suffix from the name, partly reflecting common usage, and partly taking the view that as the town matured it should not permanently be seen as an experiment. Similarly, the town's railway station was initially called "Letchworth (Garden City)", but was renamed "Letchworth" in 1937. The station is now known as Letchworth Garden City, with direct trains to Brighton via St Pancras International and terminating trains to King's Cross to the South, and Cambridge and King's Lynn to the North. Ebenezer Howard's wife, Lizzie (Eliza Ann Bills), died in November 1904 in London, shortly before she had been due to move to a new house in Letchworth with her husband. As a memorial to her a public hall was built, paid for by public subscriptions. The Mrs Howard Memorial Hall opened in 1906 and was one of the town's first public buildings. In 1905, and again in 1907, the company held "Cheap Cottages Exhibitions", which were contests for architects and builders to demonstrate innovations in inexpensive housing. The 1905 exhibition attracted some 60,000 visitors. The popularity of the exhibitions was significant in leading the ''
Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...
'' to launch the Ideal Home Exhibition (which later became the
Ideal Home Show The Ideal Home Show (formerly called the Ideal Home Exhibition) is an annual event in London, England, held at Olympia. The show was devised by the ''Daily Mail'' newspaper in 1908 and continued to be run by the ''Daily Mail'' until 2009. It w ...
), in 1908. One possible visitor to the fledgling town was
Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...
, who was reputed to have visited during May 1907 whilst attending the Fifth Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in London. Contemporary evidence confirming the visit is lacking, but the claim was published in the ''Daily Mail'' and the ''
Daily Sketch The ''Daily Sketch'' was a British national tabloid newspaper, founded in Manchester in 1909 by Sir Edward Hulton, 1st Baronet. The ''Sketch'' was Conservative in its politics and populist in its tone during its existence through all its ch ...
'' in November 1916 as part of articles accusing the town of being a haven for communists and conscientious objectors—claims which the town denied. For the first few years, the new town's
Anglicans Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
had to use the old parish churches at Letchworth village, Willian or Norton on the edges of the estate. Many of the town's pioneers had non-conformist leanings, in keeping with the radical spirit of the early town. The first new place of worship to be built was the Free Church, built in 1905 (later rebuilt in 1923). It was followed in 1907 by 'Howgills', the Meeting House for the
Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...
. Letchworth's founding citizens, attracted by the promise of a better life, were often caricatured by outsiders as idealistic and otherworldly.
John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman, (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architect ...
in his poems ''Group Life: Letchworth'' and ''Huxley Hall'' painted Letchworth people as earnest health freaks. One commonly-cited example of this is the ban, most unusual for a British town, on selling alcohol in public premises. This was initially decided by a public vote in June 1907, in which 54% voted against allowing a licensed public house. This did not stop the town having a "pub" however – the Skittles Inn or the "pub with no beer" which opened in March 1907. Despite the ban it is not entirely true to say that there were no pubs in the Garden City. Pubs that had existed from before the foundation of the Garden City continued to operate, including the Three Horseshoes in Norton and the Three Horseshoes and the Fox in Willian, and benefited from the lack of alcohol to be had in the centre of the town, as did the pubs in neighbouring
Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district of Hertfordshire, England. The town dates from at least the 7th century. It lies in the valley of the River Hiz at the north-eastern end of the Chiltern Hills ...
and
Baldock Baldock ( ) is a historic market town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. The River Ivel rises from springs in the town. It lies north of London and north northwest of the county town of Hertford. Nearby towns inc ...
. New inns also sprang up on the borders of the town, including the Wilbury Hotel which opened in 1940 just outside the town's border. The ban was finally lifted after a referendum in 1957, which led to the opening of the Broadway Hotel in 1962 as the first public house in the centre of the Garden City. Several other public houses have opened since then, but to this day the town centre has relatively few pubs for a town of its size.


Industry

One of the most prominent industries to arrive in the town in the early years was the manufacture of
corset A corset /ˈkɔːrsɪt/ is a support garment worn to constrict the torso into the desired shape and Posture correction, posture. They are traditionally constructed out of fabric with boning made of Baleen, whalebone or steel, a stiff panel in th ...
s; the
Spirella The name Spirella refers to the Spirella Stay which was invented by Marcus Merritt Beeman in the US in 1904 and made from tightly twisted and flattened coils of wire. The founders were Beeman, William Wallace Kincaid and Jesse Homan Pardee. O ...
Company, an American business, founded its British subsidiary in the town in 1910. In 1912, they built the first phase of a large factory, the
Spirella Building The name Spirella refers to the Spirella Stay which was invented by Marcus Merritt Beeman in the US in 1904 and made from tightly twisted and flattened coils of wire. The founders were Beeman, William Wallace Kincaid and Jesse Homan Pardee. O ...
, designed by Cecil Hignett in the Arts and Crafts style. It was completed in 1920. The building's prominence in the town led to it being nicknamed "Castle Corset". During the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the factory was also involved in producing parachutes and decoding machinery. The town attracted and developed a diverse range of industries. Other significant early businesses included: * J. M. Dent and Son, publishing house, moved to Letchworth from London in 1907. * Kryn & Lahy Steel Foundry founded in 1915 by Belgian refugees, and which was a target for German bombers in World War II. * Irvin Great Britain, a parachute factory established in the town in 1926 as the British subsidiary of an American company. *
Shelvoke and Drewry Shelvoke and Drewry was a Letchworth, Hertfordshire, manufacturer of special purpose commercial vehicles. It was best known for its innovative waste collection vehicles that were the preferred choice of municipal authorities in the UK together ...
, a manufacturer of
dustcarts A garbage truck is a truck specially designed to collect municipal solid waste and transport it to a solid waste treatment facility, such as a landfill, recycling center or transfer station. In Australia they are commonly called rubbish truc ...
and
fire engines A fire engine or fire truck (also spelled firetruck) is a vehicle, usually a specially designed or modified truck, that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to ...
which was founded in the town in 1922 and traded until 1991. * Westinghouse Morse Chain Company, making parts for engines, set up in Letchworth in 1920, later becoming part of
Borg-Warner BorgWarner Inc. is an American automotive and e-mobility supplier headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. As of 2023, the company maintains production facilities and sites at 92 locations in 24 countries, and generates revenues of US$14.2 bi ...
after the Second World War. The biggest employer for a number of years was the
British Tabulating Machine Company __NOTOC__ The British Tabulating Machine Company (BTM) was a firm which manufactured and sold Hollerith unit record equipment and other data-processing equipment. During World War II, BTM constructed some 200 "bombes", machines used at Bletchley ...
, which moved from London to Letchworth in 1920. In 1958, it merged with
Powers-Samas Powers-Samas was a British company which sold unit record equipment. In 1915, Powers Tabulating Machine Company established European operations through the Accounting and Tabulating Machine Company of Great Britain Limited. In 1929, it was ren ...
to become
International Computers and Tabulators International Computers and Tabulators or ICT was a British computer manufacturer, formed in 1959 by a merger of the British Tabulating Machine Company (BTM) and Powers-Samas. In 1963 it acquired the business computer divisions of Ferranti. It ...
(ICT) and finally became part of
International Computers Limited International Computers Limited (ICL) was a British computer hardware, computer software and computer services company that operated from 1968 until 2002. It was formed through a merger of International Computers and Tabulators (ICT), English Ele ...
(ICL) in 1969. A
power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...
was built in the 1920s on Works Road to supply electricity. There were two coal-fired generators, called Letchworth A and Letchworth B, with rated outputs of 8
megawatts The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named in honor o ...
(MW) and 13 MW respectively.''CEGB Statistical Yearbook'' (Various years). CEGB, London. Letchworth A was decommissioned in 1968, followed by Letchworth B in 1974. A
gas turbine A gas turbine or gas turbine engine is a type of Internal combustion engine#Continuous combustion, continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas gene ...
power station was then built on the site, with two 70 MW turbines and two reinforced concrete chimneys. The first turbine was commissioned in 1978. Output peaked during the 1984–1985 miners' strike. The power station was demolished in 2007. During the 1970s and 1980s, many of the town's large manufacturing businesses closed. The Kryn and Lahy Steel Foundry closed in 1979. Spirella and ICL both closed their factories in 1989. Borg-Warner also closed its factory during this period. The town went through a period of relatively high unemployment in the early 1980s. Some of the vacated factory sites were redeveloped as business parks and serviced offices, and the town's economy shifted away from a small number of large manufacturing businesses to a large number of smaller office-based businesses.


Housing

Early housing development in Letchworth largely followed Unwin and Parker's masterplan. The first houses built after the founding of the garden city were a group of six houses called "Alpha Cottages" at 22–32 Baldock Road, where the first residents moved in during July 1904. Much of the town's early housing was to the east of the nascent town centre, within walking distance of the main industrial area on the eastern edge of the town. Many houses were built in a modest cottage style, finished with cream painted render, green doors, and clay-tiled roofs. To the south-west of the town centre towards Letchworth village was an area of larger individually-designed houses for the upper middle classes. After the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
the focus for new development was on large
council estates Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council housing or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011, when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in social housing. D ...
. To the north of the town work began on the Grange estate in 1947. The estate included its own primary schools, recreation ground, public house and a neighbourhood shopping centre. The land for the estate was compulsorily purchased from First Garden City Limited by Letchworth Urban District Council. In 1959, land to the south-east of the town was also compulsorily purchased for the development of the Jackmans estate, another large council estate, with funding provided by
London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...
as the area was to accommodate
London overspill London overspill communities are the communities created as a result of the government policy of moving residents out of Greater London into other areas in the South East of England between the 1930s and the 1970s. The policy was extended to rel ...
. The Jackmans estate was developed on the " Radburn principle" which had been pioneered in
Radburn, New Jersey Radburn is an local government in New Jersey#Unincorporated communities, unincorporated community located within the borough (New Jersey), borough of Fair Lawn, New Jersey, Fair Lawn in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. st ...
, a town which was itself inspired by the garden city movement. The idea was to minimise the impact of traffic by having houses face onto pedestrian-only green lanes and open spaces, with parking and servicing provided in garage courts behind the houses.Miller, 2002, page 160 Private housing resumed more slowly after the Second World War, partly due to the tight controls on building materials and licences which were imposed and remained in force until 1954. As these restrictions eased, additional areas of private housing were built to the south of the town. This area south of the town was significantly enlarged by the Lordship and Manor Park estates, begun in 1971. Following the completion of these developments in the 1980s, most new housing in the town has been on previously-developed land, as sites vacated by closed schools and businesses have been redeveloped.


UK's first roundabout

Innovation in Letchworth was not confined to the design of buildings. The 1904 layout plan included a point on the main avenue where six roads converged, with the roads later being named Broadway, Spring Road, and Sollershott. Plans drawn up in July 1908 proposed a circular traffic island at this point, influenced by the in Paris, which Unwin wrote about in 1909. The Letchworth
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 ...
is known to have been in use by 1910. When first built, traffic could circulate around the central island in both directions; the instruction to keep left was not added until 1921. It was named "Sollershott Circus" and is recognised as the first roundabout on a public road in the United Kingdom. Two signs were erected on the roundabout in 2006 saying "UK's First Roundabout Built circa 1909" This was after a petition was made by Andrew White of Letchworth for a school project.


Wider impact of garden city

As the world's first garden city, Letchworth had a notable influence on town planning and the
new towns movement While purpose-built towns and cities have many precedents in antiquity - the 195 BC iteration of Chang'an providing a case in point - the New Towns ''movement'' refers to an ideologically-driven social campaign. The best-known and possibly most inf ...
in the twentieth century. It directly influenced
Welwyn Garden City Welwyn Garden City ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London. It was the second Garden city movement, garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first New towns in the United Kingdom, new towns (designated 1948). It is ...
, founded by Ebenezer Howard in 1920 using a similar model to Letchworth, and
Hampstead Garden Suburb Hampstead Garden Suburb is a suburb of London, north of Hampstead, west of Highgate and east of Golders Green. It is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations. It is an example of early twentieth-century ...
, founded in 1906 and also designed to a layout by Raymond Unwin and Barry Parker. Aspects of Letchworth's approach to blending town and county were subsequently used in the Australian capital
Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...
,
Hellerau Hellerau is a northern quarter ''(Stadtteil)'' in the city of Dresden, Germany, slightly south of Dresden Airport. It was the first garden city in Germany. The northern section of Hellerau absorbed the village of Klotzsche, where some 18th cent ...
in Germany,
Tapanila Tapanila () is a Subdivisions of Helsinki#Neighbourhoods, neighbourhood in Malmi, Helsinki, Malmi district, Helsinki. Tapanila has approximately 5474 inhabitants (2005).Mežaparks Mežaparks () is a neighbourhood of Northern District in Riga, the capital of Latvia. It consists of a residential area to the South and a large urban park to the North of the same name – Mežaparks. The neighbourhood is located on the west ...
in
Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...
.


Letchworth today

Ownership of the estate passed from First Garden City Limited to the Letchworth Garden City Corporation in 1963, which in turn was replaced in 1995 by the Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation. The estate eventually started yielding a financial surplus which could be used for the benefit of the town in 1973.Plinston, 1981, page 224 This led to investment in a number of town amenities, including a working farm tourist attraction opened at Standalone Farm (1980), the North Herts Leisure Centre (1982), and a free hospital, the Ernest Gardiner Day Hospital (1984). The Broadway
cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ** Filmmaking, the process of making a film * Movie theate ...
was extensively refurbished in 1996, and the Heritage Foundation has also supported several projects to enhance the town centre. Large parts of the town are included in
conservation areas Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...
in recognition of their quality, but the town also contains four of the five poorest-scoring neighbourhoods in North Hertfordshire for
deprivation Deprivation or deprive may refer to: * Poverty, pronounced deprivation in well-being ** Objective deprivation or poverty threshold, the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country ** Relative deprivation, the lack of resources ...
, in parts of the Jackmans estate, Grange estate and Wilbury area.The five lowest ranking Lower Super Output Areas in North Hertfordshire in 2019 were 009C, 009B, both in Letchworth South East ward, 012C in Hitchin Oughton ward, 007B in Letchworth Wilbury ward and 003C in Letchworth Grange ward. The town has extensive parkland and open spaces, with
Norton Common Norton Common is a 25.7-hectare park and Local Nature Reserve in the centre of Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire. It is owned and managed by North Hertfordshire District Council, and the declaring authority is Hertfordshire County Council. T ...
and Howard Park being two of the largest open spaces in the town, both of which hold the
Green Flag Award The Green Flag Award is an international accreditation given to publicly accessible parks and open spaces, managed under licence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, a UK Government department, by Keep Britain Tidy, ...
for well-managed green space. As the town approached its centenary, there was a campaign to change the name officially from Letchworth to "Letchworth Garden City", this time without the parentheses of the 1904 version of the name. Proponents of the change argued that as the later
Welwyn Garden City Welwyn Garden City ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London. It was the second Garden city movement, garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first New towns in the United Kingdom, new towns (designated 1948). It is ...
incorporated the "Garden City" within its official name, so too should the first garden city at Letchworth. The Letchworth campaign was successful, with the name of the railway station being changed in 1999 and the
SG6 The SG postcode area, also known as the Stevenage postcode area, is a group of nineteen postcode districts in England, within fifteen post towns. These cover most of eastern Hertfordshire (including Stevenage, Baldock, Buntingford, Hertford, Hi ...
post town A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in t ...
changing from Letchworth to Letchworth Garden City in 2003, the town's centenary year.


Governance

There are two tiers of local government covering Letchworth, at district and county level:
North Hertfordshire District Council North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...
and
Hertfordshire County Council Hertfordshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Hertfordshire, in England. The council was created in 1889. It is responsible for a wide range of public services in the county, including social c ...
. In addition to these local government bodies, Letchworth is unique in having a private charity, the Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation, which is responsible for the management of many aspects of the garden city estate, having some planning and grant-making functions similar to those normally associated with local authorities. These functions derive from the Heritage Foundation's ownership of the estate and do not replace the usual local authority functions and responsibilities, but operate in addition to them.


Local government

Historically, Letchworth was an
ancient parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
in the
hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...
of Broadwater. The parish also had a detached portion at Burleigh Farm, between Langley and
Knebworth Knebworth is a village and civil parish in the north of Hertfordshire, England, immediately south of Stevenage. The civil parish covers an area between the villages of Datchworth, Woolmer Green, Codicote, Kimpton, Whitwell, St Paul's Wald ...
, some to the south of the rest of the parish. The parish of Letchworth was included in the
Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district of Hertfordshire, England. The town dates from at least the 7th century. It lies in the valley of the River Hiz at the north-eastern end of the Chiltern Hills ...
Poor Law Union A poor law union was a geographical territory, and early local government unit, in Great Britain and Ireland. Poor law unions existed in England and Wales from 1834 to 1930 for the administration of poor relief. Prior to the Poor Law Amendment ...
from 1835. It therefore became part of the
Hitchin Rural District Hitchin Rural District was a rural district in Hertfordshire, England from 1894 to 1974, covering an area in the north of the county. Evolution The district had its origins in the Hitchin Rural Sanitary District. This had been created unde ...
under the
Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The act followed the reforms carried out at county leve ...
. The 1894 Act also created parish councils, but Letchworth's population was below the threshold to be given one, and so it only had a
parish meeting A parish meeting is a meeting all the electors in a civil parish in England are entitled to attend. In some cases, where a parish or group of parishes has fewer than 200 electors, the parish meeting can take on the role of a parish council, with ...
. Following the commencement of work on Letchworth Garden City in 1903, the area purchased for the new town straddled the parishes of Letchworth, Willian and Norton. An unofficial "Residents' Union" or "Residents' Council" for the town was established in June 1905.


Letchworth Parish Council (1908–1919)

The civil parish of Letchworth was substantially enlarged on 1 April 1908 to take over the area of Norton parish, which was abolished, and the northern part of Willian parish. The detached part of Letchworth parish at Burleigh Farm was transferred to Knebworth at the same time. A parish council was established, with Sir John Gorst, a barrister and former
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
Member of Parliament, being the first chairman of the parish council.


Letchworth Urban District Council (1919–1974)

On 1 April 1919, the parish of Letchworth was made an
urban district An urban district is a division generally managed by a local government. It may also refer to a city district, district, urban area or quarter Specific urban districts in some countries include: * Urban districts of Denmark * Districts of Germa ...
. Letchworth Urban District Council was formed to replace the parish council and also took over district-level responsibilities from the Hitchin Rural District Council. The first urban district council had 15 councillors: nine "all party", four Labour, and two
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
. The first chairman was Charles Ball, a Conservative, who had been the chairman of the old parish council since 1916. In 1935, the council built
Letchworth Town Hall Letchworth Town Hall is a municipal building in Broadway, Letchworth, Hertfordshire, England. The town hall, which was the headquarters of Letchworth Urban District Council, is a Grade II listed building. History Letchworth was developed in the ...
on Broadway to act as its meeting place and offices. The building stands in a prominent position overlooking Broadway Gardens in the centre of the town. The urban district was enlarged on 1 April 1935 by the abolition of Willian parish (which had already been reduced in 1908), plus smaller areas from other adjoining parishes. The council was granted a
coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...
on 11 December 1944. Over the course of its existence, the urban district council built nearly 5,000 homes in the town.Miller, 2002, page 177


North Hertfordshire District Council (1974–present)

Letchworth Urban District was abolished by the
Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...
, with the area merging with the urban districts of
Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district of Hertfordshire, England. The town dates from at least the 7th century. It lies in the valley of the River Hiz at the north-eastern end of the Chiltern Hills ...
,
Baldock Baldock ( ) is a historic market town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. The River Ivel rises from springs in the town. It lies north of London and north northwest of the county town of Hertford. Nearby towns inc ...
and Royston and the
Hitchin Rural District Hitchin Rural District was a rural district in Hertfordshire, England from 1894 to 1974, covering an area in the north of the county. Evolution The district had its origins in the Hitchin Rural Sanitary District. This had been created unde ...
to become the new
district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...
of
North Hertfordshire North Hertfordshire is one of ten local government districts in the county of Hertfordshire, England. Its council is based in Letchworth Garden City and the largest town is Hitchin. The district also includes the towns of Baldock and Royston ...
on 1 April 1974. With over 30% of the population of the new district, Letchworth was too large to be given a
successor parish Successor parishes are Civil parishes in England, civil parishes with a parish councils in England, parish council, created in England in 1974. They replaced, with the same boundaries, a selected group of Urban district (England and Wales), urban d ...
, and so it became an
unparished area In England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish (the lowest level of local government, not to be confused with an ecclesiastical parish). Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unparis ...
, governed directly by
North Hertfordshire District Council North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...
, with county level services provided by
Hertfordshire County Council Hertfordshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Hertfordshire, in England. The council was created in 1889. It is responsible for a wide range of public services in the county, including social c ...
. North Hertfordshire District Council established its headquarters in Letchworth in 1975 at the newly-built Council Offices on Gernon Road, which had been built as part of the Central Area (later Garden Square) Shopping Centre redevelopment.


Letchworth Garden City Council (2005–2013)

Between 2005 and 2013, the town had a
town council A town council, city council or municipal council is a form of local government for small municipalities. Usage of the term varies under different jurisdictions. Republic of Ireland In 2002, 49 urban district councils and 26 town commissi ...
. The council was created following a petition organised by a group of people dissatisfied with how the town was being managed by the Heritage Foundation. Opponents felt that the town council itself was an unnecessary layer of administration. Those opposed to the town council won 22 of the 24 seats on the council at the election in 2009 and began the process of abolishing the council, which took over three years, including legal action being taken and public consultation. The parish of Letchworth Garden City and its town council were eventually abolished on 31 March 2013. Shortly before the 2009 election, the town council had petitioned the
College of Arms The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional Officer of Arms, officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the ...
for a
coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...
, having found they were unable to use the former coat of arms of Letchworth Urban District Council. The college issued the council's new arms in May 2010, by which time the process of abolishing the council was already underway. The design includes the three magnets from Ebenezer Howard's diagram on a green background with a black squirrel. Since 2013, the town has therefore once again been an unparished area, directly administered by North Hertfordshire District Council, as it had been between 1974 and 2005. The 13 Letchworth councillors on the district council meet as the Letchworth Committee.


Management of the Garden City estate

The current arrangements have evolved from one of Letchworth Garden City's founding principles, that the profits from the town should be used for the benefit of the residents.Plinston, 1981, page 4


First Garden City Limited (1903–1962)

First Garden City Limited was founded in 1903 to purchase the land and develop the town. Once the garden city was substantially complete it was envisaged that the estate would be transferred to a public body which would manage it for the benefit of the community, and until then dividends to shareholders were restricted to no more than 5% per annum. This made it a very unusual company, but it was otherwise an ordinary
joint stock company A joint-stock company (JSC) is a business entity in which shares of the company's capital stock, stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their share (finance), shares (certifi ...
, owned by its shareholders. Until the Second World War, the company largely ran the emerging town, developing close working relationships with the Hitchin Rural District Council and (after 1919) Letchworth Urban District Council to ensure that any approvals needed were given when the company requested them. The company's layout plan was not underpinned by any statutory town planning role, but was instead a statement of intent from a private landowning company laying out its land as it wished. The relationship between the company and the council began to change after the Second World War, as more town planning functions were given to councils and utilities nationalised. In 1949, the company changed its
articles of association In corporate governance, a company's articles of association (AoA, called articles of incorporation in some jurisdictions) is a document that, along with the memorandum of association (where applicable), forms the company's constitution. The ...
to say that when the company was wound up only 10% of any surplus would be applied for the benefit of the town, rather than the 100% anticipated in 1903. The rest was to be distributed among the shareholders of the company. In 1956, limits on dividends to shareholders were removed, with the company chairman, Eric Macfadyen declaring that "there is no binding obligation to carry out the original policy." Shares in the company therefore became much more valuable. In 1960, a company called Hotel York Limited acquired a controlling interest in First Garden City Limited. Hotel York's chairman, Amy Rose (née Charles), became managing director of First Garden City Limited in January 1961. Hotel York Limited had been founded in 1906 and had previously owned and run hotels in London, including the
Berners Hotel The London Edition is a historic luxury boutique hotel, formerly known as the Berners Hotel, located in Berners Street in the City of Westminster. History The Berners Hotel was built in 1908–10, designed by John Slater (architect), John Sla ...
. The Rose family had taken control of Hotel York in 1957, and by 1960 all its properties had been sold. The town feared that such asset stripping might now happen to Letchworth, and the likelihood of the town gaining the financial benefit that Howard and the pioneers had originally envisaged was decreasing. Initial assurances from Mrs Rose about maintaining the integrity of the estate did not last long. During 1961, First Garden City Limited started auctioning freeholds of parts of the estate and the company proposed to the county council that much of the estate's agricultural belt could be developed, allowing the town to grow to 60,000 people rather than the 32,000 which had originally been envisaged.


Letchworth Garden City Corporation (1963–1995)

In response, the Letchworth Urban District Council began a campaign to restore the original ethos of the garden city to the estate. It enlisted the support of the local Member of Parliament, Martin Maddan, who sponsored a bill in
Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
which, despite much opposition from Hotel York Limited, became the Letchworth Garden City Corporation Act 1962 ( 10 & 11 Eliz. 2. c. xxxix). The act created a public body, the Letchworth Garden City Corporation, which on 1 January 1963, took over the garden city estate as it had existed on 20 July 1961. Compensation for taking the company's assets had to be paid to First Garden City Limited, which continued to exist as a
shell company A shell corporation is a company or corporation with no significant assets or operations often formed to obtain financing before beginning business. Shell companies were primarily vehicles for lawfully hiding the identity of their beneficial ...
until it was wound up in 1966. The level of compensation was eventually agreed at £3,115,000. Paying this compensation led to the Letchworth Garden City Corporation operating at a loss for its first few years, funded by loans from the urban district council. The debt was repaid in 1973 and the estate finally started to yield a profit that could be used for the benefit of the town as Howard had originally envisaged. Having recently taken over the freehold of the garden city estate, the corporation tried unsuccessfully to secure an exemption from the
Leasehold Reform Act 1967 The Leasehold Reform Act 1967 (c. 88) is an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom, which concerns English land law and compulsory purchase. A government bill, the law remains largely intact. It was passed by both Houses and had been tabled ...
, which gave long leaseholders of homes the right to acquire the freehold. A "scheme of management" was therefore introduced to allow the corporation to control changes which could be made to properties which had been acquired freehold. Such permissions under the scheme of management operate in addition to any requirement for planning permission from the council. The scheme of management did not apply to the parts of the original garden city estate where the freehold had already been sold, notably including the Grange and Jackmans estates.


Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation (1995–present)

The Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation Act 1995 replaced the public sector corporation with the Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation (LGCHF), an "
industrial and provident society An industrial and provident society (IPS) is a body corporate registered for carrying on any industries, businesses, or trades specified in or authorised by its rules. The members of a society benefit from the protection of limited liability ...
" registered with the Registrar of Friendly Societies with "exempt
charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...
" status. The Heritage Foundation retains most of the former corporation's functions and responsibilities, and continues to operate the scheme of management for proposed developments on the estate. Although a private body, with a chief executive (Graham Fisher, appointed 2017) and a team of executive directors, the Heritage Foundation also has a degree of democratic accountability with the directors reporting to a board of management, which includes local authority representatives. Six of the thirty governors of the Heritage Foundation are directly elected by residents, and ten governors are nominated to represent various groups in the town. The other fourteen governors are appointed by the board of trustees. Although many residential properties have been sold since the Leasehold Reform Act 1967, the Heritage Foundation remains the landlord of most of the town's industrial, office and retail premises and the surrounding agricultural belt. The Letchworth Garden City estate is therefore owned by a charity which is intended to act for the benefit of the town's residents. In 2020, its assets were valued at £193 million. The net income is reinvested for the benefit of the community in accordance with the Heritage Foundation's charitable purposes. Such payments in 2020 totalled £6 million.


Geography


Climate

Letchworth experiences an
oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...
(
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
''Cfb'') similar to almost all of the United Kingdom. Letchworth was struck by an F1/T2 tornado on 23 November 1981, as part of the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day.


Wildlife

Letchworth Garden City is home to one of the UK's largest colonies of
black squirrel Black squirrels are a melanistic subgroup of squirrels with black coloration on their fur. The phenomenon occurs with several species of squirrels, although it is most frequent with the eastern gray squirrel (''Sciurus carolinensis'') and the ...
s, which were first recorded in Letchworth in 1912. The origin of the colony is unclear, but a 2014 study at Anglia Ruskin University concluded that the squirrels are a variation of the common North American grey squirrel with a faulty pigment gene. The black squirrel is now a relatively common sight across Letchworth and the surrounding area. There are also
muntjac Muntjacs ( ), also known as the barking deer or rib-faced deer, (URL is Google Books) are small deer of the genus ''Muntiacus'' native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. Muntjacs are thought to have begun appearing 15–35 million years ago, ...
deer in the town, living principally on Norton Common, but also seen elsewhere.


Sport and leisure

Sport has played an important part in the town's history, with open spaces and playing fields being incorporated into the town's layout. Many early businesses in the town provided recreation facilities for their workers, in keeping with the ethos of the garden city movement.Miller, 2002, page 86 The town has numerous sports clubs, which are generally amateur in nature. Many of the clubs compete in regional and national leagues. The more prominent sports represented in the town include: * Cricket - Letchworth Garden City Cricket Club was established in 1905 and since 1996 has been based at Letchworth Corner Sports Club on Whitethorn Lane. The club has five men's teams, which all compete in leagues, and several junior teams. * Football - The town's
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
club is Letchworth Garden City Eagles, based at Pixmore Pitches on Baldock Road. Letchworth's previous semi-professional club, Letchworth Football Club (the "Bluebirds"), went out of business in 2002. The Hertfordshire Football Association is based at the former Letchworth Football Club ground (also on Baldock Road), now called the County Ground and used to host various county-wide and other competitions. * Golf - Letchworth Golf Club was founded in 1905 with a nine-hole course in the grounds of Letchworth Hall. The course was extended in 1910 to become a eighteen-hole course, designed by
Harry Vardon Henry William Vardon (9 May 1870 – 20 March 1937) was a professional golfer from Jersey. He was a member of the Great Triumvirate with John Henry Taylor and James Braid. Vardon won The Open Championship a record six times, and also won the ...
. It was extended to become a par-71 course in 2003.Miller, 2002, page 85 Another golf facility in the town is the Letchworth Par 3 Golf Centre at Willian Way, which has a nine-hole course. * Hockey - Letchworth Hockey Club was founded in 1960 and is based at Letchworth Corner Sports Club. It competes in the East Region Hockey Leagues. * Roller hockey - Letchworth Rink Hockey Club is based at North Herts Leisure Centre. The senior team were the National Rink Hockey Association's division 1 national champions in 2009. * Rugby - Letchworth Rugby Club was founded in 1924 and is based at Baldock Road. * Running - North Herts Road Runners was founded 1986. It hosts running events including the Standalone 10K, the Greenway Challenge, the First Saturday of the Month 5K, Santa Canta and Run Round the Garden. It was awarded the prize of England Athletics Club of the Year in the Eastern Region in 2019. Members regularly participate in Letchworth
parkrun Parkrun (stylised as parkrun) is a collection of 5K run, events for runners, walkers and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 23 countries across five continents. Parkrun was founded by Paul Sinto ...
, held each Saturday at the Grange recreation ground. * Swimming - Letchworth's first outdoor swimming pool opened in 1908 in Howard Park and was rather basic, being filled from the waters of
Pix Brook Pix Brook is a stream in England that flows through Letchworth Garden City in Hertfordshire and Stotfold in Bedfordshire, and meets the River Hiz north of Arlesey. Colloquially known as 'Dudleys Ditch' the river is the reason why local school E ...
. It was replaced by a
lido Lido may refer to: Geography * Lido (Belgrade), a river beach on the Danube in Belgrade, Serbia * Venice Lido, an 11-kilometre-long barrier island in the Venetian Lagoon, Venice, Italy * Ruislip Lido, a reservoir and artificial beach in Ruisl ...
on
Norton Common Norton Common is a 25.7-hectare park and Local Nature Reserve in the centre of Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire. It is owned and managed by North Hertfordshire District Council, and the declaring authority is Hertfordshire County Council. T ...
in 1935, now called Letchworth Outdoor Pool. As well as a , eight lane main pool with a large trainer pool alongside, the facility includes an extensive sun bathing area, and parking facilities. A public indoor swimming pool opened at the North Herts Leisure Centre on Baldock Road in 1982. Various clubs use the two public pools, including Letchworth Amateur Swimming Club, founded in 1934. * Tennis - Letchworth Sports and Tennis Club is based at Muddy Lane and has facilities for indoor and outdoor tennis, squash, gym and croquet.


Recreation routes

The Heritage Foundation marked the town's centenary in 2003 by building a landscaped path for walkers and
cyclists Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world for pur ...
. The path, known as the Greenway, forms a loop around the town. The
Icknield Way Path The Icknield Way Path or Icknield Way Trail is a long distance footpath and riding route in East Anglia, England. The ancient Icknield Way itself is unique among long-distance trails because it can claim to be ‘the oldest road in Britain’ ...
, a multi-user route for walkers, horse riders and off-road cyclists, passes through the town on its journey from
Ivinghoe Beacon Ivinghoe Beacon is a prominent hill and landmark in Buckinghamshire, England, 233 m (757 ft) above sea level in the Chiltern Hills, close to Ivinghoe and Aldbury. Dunstable, Berkhamsted and Tring are nearby. The Beacon lies within t ...
in
Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...
to
Knettishall Heath Knettishall Heath is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Knettishall in Suffolk, England. A larger area of 176 hectares is the Knettishall Heath Nature Reserve, which is managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. Despite its n ...
in
Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...
.


Art gallery

Broadway Gallery is a not-for-profit art gallery owned and managed by the Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation. Situated in the former Letchworth Art Centre, the Gallery opened to the public in 2016 with an exhibition of painter and prinkmaker
Richard Smith (artist) Richard Smith, CBE (27 October 1931 – 15 April 2016) was an English painter and printmaker. Smith produced work in a range of styles, and is credited with extending the field of painting through his shaped, sculptural canvases. A key figure in ...
, who was born and grew up in Letchworth.


Cinema

Letchworth had one of the first purpose-built cinemas in the country, the Picture Palace (later the Palace Cinema) on Eastcheap, which opened in 1909 and closed in 1977.Johnson, 1976, page 53 The town's remaining cinema is the Art Deco-style Broadway Cinema at the corner of Eastcheap and Gernon Road, which opened on 26 August 1936 with a black tie gala screening of ''
Follow the Fleet ''Follow the Fleet'' is a 1936 American musical comedy film with a nautical theme starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in their fifth collaboration as dance partners. It also features Randolph Scott, Harriet Hilliard, and Astrid Allwyn, wi ...
'' starring
Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz, May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, actor, singer, musician, choreographer, and presenter, whose career in stage, film, and television spanned 76 years. He is widely regarded as the "g ...
and
Ginger Rogers Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath; July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer and singer during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starri ...
. From the 1990s, the Heritage Foundation ran the cinema in partnership with its owners, before taking full control in 2008. The building was extended in 2016 to allow the main screen to be used as a both a cinema and theatre.


Local media

Local news and television programmes is provided by 
BBC East BBC East is one of BBC's English Regions covering Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and parts of Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire (including the City of Milton Keynes). It is headquartered in The Forum ...
 and 
ITV Anglia ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...
. Television signals are received from the 
Sandy Heath Sandy Heath transmitting station is a television and radio broadcasting station in England, located between Sandy, Bedfordshire and Potton near the B1042. It is owned by Arqiva, formerly NTL Broadcast. It was built in 1965, originally broadcas ...
 TV transmitter. The town's local radio stations are 
BBC Three Counties Radio BBC Three Counties Radio is the BBC's local radio station serving the counties of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Grove Park in Dunstable. According ...
 on 95.5 FM and 
Heart Hertfordshire Heart Hertfordshire (previously known as ''Hertfordshire's Mercury 96.6'') is an Independent Local Radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts across Hertfordshire. In 2005, it was ...
 (originally BOB FM) on 106.9 FM. The local newspapers are '' The Comet'' and ''
Hertfordshire Mercury The ''Hertfordshire Mercury'' is a weekly newspaper covering east and north Hertfordshire and parts of west Essex. It used to be published every Friday but from December 3, 2009, its publication day switched to Thursdays. The ''Mercury'' has fou ...
''.


Town twinning

Letchworth is twinned with: * Chagny, France (twinned 1978). *
Wissen Wissen is a town in the Altenkirchen (district), district of Altenkirchen, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the river Sieg (river), Sieg, approximately 12 km northeast of Altenkirchen. Wissen is the seat of the ''Verbandsg ...
,
Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...
, Germany (twinned 1983). *
Kristiansand Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...
, Norway (twinned in the 1960s).


Schools

Letchworth has a mixture of independent and state schools. There are two state secondary schools: *
The Highfield School The Highfield School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Letchworth, Hertfordshire. The Highfield School teaches from Year 7 through to Year 13. The school is part of the Letchworth Sixth Form Consortium with Fearnhi ...
*
Fearnhill School Fearnhill School is a mixed secondary school and sixth form located in Letchworth, Hertfordshire, England. Admissions Fearnhill School (formerly Letchworth Grammar School) is a foundation comprehensive school located in Letchworth Garden City ...
When work began on the garden city, there were pre-existing church schools in the villages of Willian and Norton. A "Garden City School" opened in November 1905 in temporary sheds near the railway. It transferred to a new building on Norton Road in 1909, becoming Norton School. Pixmore School opened in 1913 on School Walk, followed by Westbury School on West View in 1925. These were elementary schools, catering for children from ages five to fourteen, which was the school leaving age at the time. Letchworth Grammar School opened in 1931 in prominent buildings in the town centre, with the name carved in the stonework over its doors.Johnson, 1976, page 83 The school leaving age was raised to fifteen under the
Education Act 1944 The Education Act 1944 ( 7 & 8 Geo. 6. c. 31) made major changes in the provision and governance of secondary schools in England and Wales. It is also known as the Butler Act after the President of the Board of Education, R. A. Butler. Histori ...
and schools were gradually separated into primary and secondary schools. The secondary part of Pixmore School relocated to new premises on the Jackmans estate in March 1962, becoming the Willian School. The junior part of Pixmore School kept the name, but later moved from School Walk to Rushby Mead. The Highfield School opened in September 1965. With the move to
comprehensive schools A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis ...
, Letchworth Grammar School changed its name to Fearnhill School in 1973 and moved to its current site on Icknield Way in 1976. Willian School closed in 1991. Norton School closed in 2002. The Highfield School was rebuilt in 2016. The independent schools in Letchworth include the
St Christopher School St Christopher School is a private day and boarding school in Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire, England. Established in 1915 as the Garden City Theosophical School, it has long been a flagship of progressive education. The present name was ...
and St Francis' College. The St Christopher School was founded in 1915 as "Arundale" by the Theosophical Educational Trust, which took over the vacated buildings of the short-lived independent Letchworth School on Barrington Road, built in 1909. A new school building was built at the junction of Spring Road and Broadway in 1919, when the school assumed its current name, with the Barrington Road building then being used as accommodation for boarders. There is a
cornerstone A cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry Foundation (engineering), foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entir ...
on the Broadway building laid by
Annie Besant Annie Besant (; Wood; 1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933) was an English socialist, Theosophy (Blavatskian), theosophist, freemason, women's rights and Home Rule activist, educationist and campaigner for Indian nationalism. She was an arden ...
. The school consolidated onto the Barrington Road site in 1928. It is noted for its distinctive vegetarian and Quaker ethos. The site vacated by the St Christopher School on Broadway became St Francis' College, a girls' school, in 1934. Both independent schools admit boarders and day-pupils. In 2024,
Emil Dale Academy Emil Dale Academy is a musical theatre school founded in Hitchin, Hertfordshire before relocating to Letchworth in 2024. The Hertfordshire school offers a Bachelor of Arts degree awarded by the University of Bedfordshire, BTEC Level 3 diploma, a ...
, a musical theatre school affiliated with the
University of Bedfordshire The University of Bedfordshire is a Public university, public research university with campuses in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, England. The university has roots in further and higher education from 1882: it gained university status in 19 ...
, moved from Hitchin to the Old Grammar School building on Broadway.


Notable residents

* John Allison – comic writer *
Adrian Fortescue Adrian Henry Timothy Knottesford Fortescue (14 January 1874 – 11 February 1923) was an Catholic Church in England and Wales, English Catholic priest and polymath. An influential liturgist, artist, calligrapher, composer, Polyglot (person ...
(1874–1923) – Roman Catholic priest and scholar who founded the Church of St Hugh of Lincoln in the town * Walter Henry Gaunt (1874–1951) – English transport engineer *
Harold Gilman Harold John Wilde Gilman (11 February 187612 February 1919) was a British painter of Interior portrait, interiors, portraits and landscapes, and a founder-member of the Camden Town Group. Early life and studies Harold John Wilde Gilman was th ...
(1876–1919) – artist, founder member of the Camden Town Group *
Spencer Gore Spencer may refer to: People *Spencer (surname) **Spencer family, British aristocratic family ** List of people with surname Spencer * Spencer (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) Places Australia * Spencer, New ...
(1878–1914) – artist, first president of the Camden Town Group, lived in Gilman's house (100 Wilbury Road) after Gilman had left it, painting it as "Harold Gilman's House at Letchworth" * W. F. Harvey (1885–1937) – horror writer, lived in the town from 1935 until his death *
Annie Kenney Ann "Annie" Kenney (13 September 1879 – 9 July 1953) was an English working-class suffragette and socialist feminist who became a leading figure in the Women's Social and Political Union. She co-founded its first branch in London with Minnie ...
(1879–1953) – suffragette, lived in Letchworth for some years before her death in 1953 * Tom Killick (1907–1953) – international cricketer, and rector of Willian *
James Lovelock James Ephraim Lovelock (26 July 1919 – 26 July 2022) was an English independent scientist, environmentalist and futurist. He is best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis, which postulates that the Earth functions as a self-regulating syst ...
(1919–2022) – scientist, author of the
Gaia Theory The Gaia hypothesis (), also known as the Gaia theory, Gaia paradigm, or the Gaia principle, proposes that living organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a synergistic and self-regulating complex system that helps ...
, born in Letchworth *
Frank Newman Turner Frank Newman Turner, NDA, NDD, FNIMH, (11 September 1913 – 28 June 1964) was a British pioneering organic farmer, writer and broadcaster, who, based on his experience of natural treatment of animals, later became a consulting medical herbalist ...
(1913–1964) – a pioneer in organic horticulture who moved to Letchworth in 1958 and set up a practice in osteopathy, naturopathy and medical herbalism *
Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier ( ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director. He and his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud made up a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the m ...
(1907–1989) – actor; Olivier's father was Rector of Letchworth Parish 1918–1924. *
Philip Purser Philip John Purser (28 August 1925 – 1 August 2022) was a British television critic and novelist. Life and career Purser was born in Letchworth, Hertfordshire on 28 August 1925. His mother had been the first female student of an art school ...
(1925–2022) - television critic and novelist. *
William Ratcliffe William Ratcliffe VC MM (18 January 1884 – 26 March 1963) was an English private of South Lancashire Regiment. He was a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can b ...
(1870–1955) – artist and member of the Camden Town Group *
Hans Redlich Hans Ferdinand Redlich (11 February 1903 – 27 November 1968) was an Austrian musicologist, writer, conductor and composer who, due to political disruption by the Nazi Party, lived and worked in Britain from 1939 until his death nearly thirty yea ...
(1903–1968), musicologist, founded the Letchworth Choral Society in 1941 * Richard Smith (1931 – 2016) - English artist *
Frederick Tees Frederick Tees (16 June 1922 – 15 March 1982) was a member of No. 617 Squadron of the Royal Air Force who took part in Operation Chastise, the "Dambusters" raid of 1943, as a rear gunner. The raid was the inspiration for the 1955 film '' The ...
(1922–1982) – sergeant in the original "Dambusters" 617 Squadron, who was the sole survivor from his bomber; lived in Letchworth after the war. *
Peter Underwood Peter George Underwood, (10 October 1937 – 7 July 2014) was an Australian jurist and the Governor of Tasmania from 2008 until his death in 2014. He was the Chief Justice of Tasmania from 2004 to 2008, having been a judge of the Supreme Cour ...
(1923–2014) – parapsychologist and author, born in Letchworth *
Simon West Simon Alexander West (born 17 July 1961) is an English film director and producer. He has primarily worked in the action genre, most notably as the director of the films ''Con Air'', ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'', ''The Mechanic (2011 film), Th ...
– film director, directed the film ''
Con Air ''Con Air'' is a 1997 American action thriller film directed by Simon West and starring Nicolas Cage, John Cusack and John Malkovich in the lead roles. Written by Scott Rosenberg and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, the film centers on a pr ...
'' *
Josephine Wiggs Miranda Cordelia Susan Josephine Wiggs (born 26 February 1965), simply known as Josephine Wiggs, is an English multi-instrumentalist rock musician, best known for her work as bassist in the alternative rock bands The Breeders and The Perfect D ...
– bass guitar player of
The Breeders The Breeders are an American alternative rock band based in Dayton, Ohio, consisting of members Kim Deal (rhythm guitar, lead vocals), her twin sister Kelley Deal (lead guitar, vocals), Josephine Wiggs (bass guitar, vocals) and Jim Macpherson ( ...


Letchworth in popular culture

The author
George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...
lived in the nearby village of Wallington in the 1930s. In his polemic essay on wartime Britain, "
The Lion and the Unicorn The Lion and the Unicorn are symbols of the United Kingdom. They are, properly speaking, heraldic supporters appearing in the full royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom. The lion stands for England and the unicorn for Scotland. The combinat ...
", he said "The place to look for the gems of the future England is in light-industry areas and along the arterial roads. In Slough, Dagenham, Barnet, Letchworth, Hayes – everywhere, indeed, on the outskirts of great towns – the old pattern is gradually changing into something new." In ''
The Road to Wigan Pier ''The Road to Wigan Pier'' is a book by the English writer George Orwell, first published in 1937. Its first half documents his sociological investigations of the bleak living conditions among the working class in Lancashire and Yorkshire in the ...
'', chapter 11, he described "two dreadful-looking old men", supposedly socialists, getting on a bus in Letchworth. The 2013 film, '' The World's End'', directed by
Edgar Wright Edgar Howard Wright (born 18 April 1974) is an English filmmaker. He is known for his fast-paced and kinetic, satirical Film genre, genre films, which feature extensive utilisation of expressive popular music, Steadicam tracking shots, dolly zo ...
and starring
Simon Pegg Simon John Pegg (; born 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian and screenwriter. He came to prominence in the UK as the co-creator of the Channel 4 sitcom ''Spaced'' (1999–2001), directed by Edgar Wright. He and Wright co-wrote the ...
and
Nick Frost Nicholas John Frost (born 28 March 1972) is an English actor, comedian and screenwriter. He has appeared in the '' Three Flavours Cornetto'' trilogy of films, consisting of '' Shaun of the Dead'' (2004), ''Hot Fuzz'' (2007), and '' The World's ...
, was filmed in both Letchworth and Welwyn Garden City. The film is structured around a pub crawl, and several premises in Letchworth were used to portray the pubs in the film, including shops and the Broadway Cinema (which appeared as "The Mermaid") as well as the small number of actual pubs in town. Letchworth features prominently in
Richard Osman Richard Osman (born 28 November 1970) is an English television presenter, producer, and novelist. He is the creator and former co-presenter of the BBC One television quiz show ''Pointless''. He has presented the BBC Two quiz shows ''Two Tribes ( ...
's mystery novel ''We Solve Murders''.


See also

*
Broadway, Letchworth Broadway is a road through the centre of Letchworth, in Hertfordshire, England, laid out when the garden city of Letchworth was created. It incorporates Broadway Gardens, and is listed Grade II in Historic England's Register of Parks and Gardens. ...
*
The Cloisters Letchworth The Cloisters in Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire in the UK was built in 1905 as an open-air school dedicated to Psychology and where students were taught skills from the Arts and Crafts movement. After a period of neglect during World War ...
* St George's Church * Church of St Paul, Letchworth *
Letchworth Cemetery Letchworth Cemetery (properly the Icknield Way Cemetery) was the first burial ground for Letchworth Garden City in Hertfordshire. Letchworth's first cemetery and bordered by Icknield Way and Wilbury Hills Road, the cemetery is now closed for new ...


Bibliography

* Briggs, Geoffrey (1971). Civic and Corporate Heraldry. London: Heraldry Today * Gordon, D. I. (1977). A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Volume V: The Eastern Counties. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. * Hall, Peter (1996). Cities of Tomorrow (2nd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell. * Harrison, Roger; Walker, David (2006). David's Book of Letchworth. Letchworth: David's Bookshops. * Howard, Ebenezer (1898). To-morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform. London: Swan Sonnenschein. * Johnson, Kenneth (1976). The Book of Letchworth. Chesham: Barracuda Books. * Miller, Mervyn (2002). Letchworth: The First Garden City (2nd ed.). Chichester: Phillimore. * Plinston, Horace (1981). A Tale of One City. Letchworth: Letchworth Garden City Corporation. * Purdom, Charles Benjamin (1963). The Letchworth Achievement. London: J.M. Dent & Sons. * Ward, Stephen V. (2016). The Peaceful Path. Hatfield: Hertfordshire Press.


References


External links


They don't make them like they used to (Guardian, 1/12/03)

A photo guide to Letchworth Garden City


{{Authority control Towns in Hertfordshire Planned communities in England Intentional communities in the United Kingdom Populated places established in 1903 Former civil parishes in Hertfordshire 1903 establishments in England Radburn design housing estates Planned communities established in the 1900s Unparished areas in Hertfordshire North Hertfordshire District