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Welwyn Garden City ( ) is a town in Hertfordshiremarker, Englandmarker, the second garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first new towns (designated 1948).

It is unique in being both a garden city and a new town and exemplifies the physical, social and cultural planning ideals of the periods in which it was built. Because of its historical importance it attracts visitors from around the world.

History and description

Welwyn Garden City was founded by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the 1920s following his previous experiment in Letchworth Garden Citymarker. Howard had called for the creation of planned towns that were to combine the benefits of the city and the countryside and to avoid the disadvantages of both. The Garden Cities and Town Planning Association had defined a garden city as

"a town designed for healthy living and industry of a size that makes possible a full measure of social life but not larger, surrounded by a rural belt; the whole of the land being in public ownership, or held in trust for the community"


View to the northwest from the Parkway Fountain


In 1919, Howard arranged for the purchase of land in Hertfordshire that had already been identified as a suitable site. On 29 April 1920 a company, Welwyn Garden City Limited, was formed to plan and build the garden city, chaired by Sir Theodore Chambers. Louis de Soissons was appointed as architect and town planner and Frederic Osborn as secretary. The first house was occupied just before Christmas 1920.

The town is laid out along tree-lined boulevards with a neo-Georgian town centre. It has its own environmental protection legislation, the Scheme of Management for Welwyn Garden City. Every road has a wide a grass verge. The spine of the town is Parkway, a central mall or scenic parkway, almost a mile long. The view along Parkway to the south was once described as one of the world's finest urban vistas. Older houses are on the west side of Parkway and newer houses on the east side

The original planners intended that all the residents of the garden city would shop in one shop and created the Welwyn Stores, a monopoly which caused some local resentment. Commercial pressures have since ensured much more competition and variety, and the Welwyn Stores were in 1984 taken over by the John Lewis Partnership. A shopping mall, the Howard Centremarker, was built in the 1980s, incorporating the original railway stationmarker.

Welwyn Garden City was designated a new town in 1948, when the Welwyn Garden City company handed its assets to the Welwyn Garden City Development Corporation. Louis de Soissons remained as its planning consultant. That year, The Times newspaper said: "Welwyn Garden City made The New Towns Act possible". In 1966, the Development Corporation was wound up and handed over to the Commission for New Towns. The housing stock, neighbourhood shopping and green spaces were passed to Welwyn Hatfield District Council between 1978 and 1983.

Arms of the former Welwyn Garden City Urban District Council


There is a sports centre, The Gosling Sports Centre, with a dry ski slope, golf driving range, indoor and outdoor tennis, squash, football pitches, an athletics track, a gym and bowls. There is an airfield at Panshanger, currently used by the North London Flying School. The King George V playing field, on the boundary of the old Hatfield Hyde village, was once used by the England football team for training. There are two golf courses: Panshanger, owned and operated by the borough council, and the Welwyn Garden City Golf Club, of which Nick Faldo was once a member. The Stanborough Park and lakes was the venue for a free annual Water Carnival and firework display and a November 5 fireworks display, both of which attracted large crowds from great distances.

Roman Baths are preserved in a steel vault underneath junction 6 of the A1(M) and are open to visitors.

There is a large hospital in the town, the Queen Elizabeth II Hospitalmarker.

There is a resurgence of interest in the ethos of the garden city and the type of neighbourhood and community advocated by Howard, prompted by the problems of metropolitan and regional development and the importance of sustainability in government policy.

Local government

After local government reorganisation in 1974, Welwyn Garden City was administered by Welwyn Hatfieldmarker District Council (now Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council). The nearby town of Hatfield and the village of Welwyn have parish councils with limited responsibilities, but Welwyn Garden City has none. There are indications that a change could be on the way with the establishment of a Welwyn Garden City Council, so devolving local administration to the town.

Commerce and industry

Welwyn Garden City has a strong commercial base with several designated employment areas. Among the companies trading in the town are:



Tesco has a head office at Shire Park, a business park in the north of the town, including a full-size supermarket mock-up for staff training.

The Hertfordshire Constabulary has its headquarters in the town.

Welwyn Garden City was once well-known as the home of the breakfast cereal Shredded Wheat, formerly made by Nabisco. The disused Shredded Wheat factory with its large white silos is a landmark on rail routes between London and the north of England. The factory, designed by de Soissons and built in 1924 by Peter Lind, is a Grade II listed building. Cereal production moved to Staverton, Wiltshire in 2008 when the owner, Nestlé, decided that the factory was too small. Tesco has made a planning application for a store, leisure facilities and offices on the site.

The former supermarket chain Fine Fare had its head office in the town at one time, as did ICI's Plastics Division. In 1929 Sir Henry Birkin built the first supercharged Blower Bentley car at his engineering works in Broadwater Road.

During World War II the Special Operations Executive (SOE) had a research department in the town, the Inter-Services Research Bureau, which developed the Welrod pistol and the Welgun sub-machinegun. Station IX was a secret SOE factory making commando equipment at the old Frythe Hotel.

Geography

Climate

Welwyn Garden City experiences an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb) similar to almost all of the United Kingdom.

Education

Welwyn Garden City has four secondary schools:



Tewin Water School moved from Digswellmarker to Monk's Walk School in 1998 and was later renamed Knightsfield School to create links with hearing pupils.

The former Sir John Newsom School merged with Stanborough School on 1 September 1998.

Notable people

Current and former residents of Welwyn Garden City



Popular culture

Several films and television programmes were shot in whole or in part in Welwyn Garden City, including

The film Battle of Britain shot scenes at Panshanger Aerodrome and the film of Graham Greene's Brighton Rock was made at the Associated British Picture Corporation's Welwyn Garden City studios.

Welwyn Garden City is sometimes referred to on account of its name or suburban character, for example inGeorge Orwell's Keep the Aspidistra Flying, a sketch by Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones in Alas Smith and Jones, the TV series Porridge and Strange, in the lyrics of Billy's Line by Red Box, and in a song by Edwyn Collins.

See also



References

  1. Review of C. B. Purdom, The Building of Satellite Towns, J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, 1925
  2. Hertfordshire.com
  3. Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council
  4. Welwyn Garden City Conservation Area Appraisal 2006.
  5. Maurice de Soissons, Welwyn Garden City, Cambridge, Publications for Companies, 1988
  6. North London Flying School
  7. David Schuyler, From Garden City to Green City: The Legacy of Ebenezer Howard, Johns Hopkins, 2002
  8. School Index


External links




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