Past & Present...

Photo from Clare Baster's "Harlow, a Photographic history of your town" 

Harlow "Rams" seen here in the plain jerseys competing against a visiting Czech side at their Ram Gorse ground. The club is still here and thriving, with three senior gents sides, plus vets, ladies, and junior teams turning out each week during the season to entertain.

The picture above was taken in April 2012, when Spanish side Poblenou Enginyers visited to play Harlow's "Saints". Surprisingly this was a league match - the Spanish side having played in the Greene King Premiere league for several seasons. The month before the Saints had travelled to Barcelona for their away fixture , taking a 25+ strong party of players and supporters.  More information on and photos of Harlow Saints RFC can be found at Harlow Fourth Team Photos.

We will remember them...

Some photos from Harlow's Service of Remembrance in the Town Park this morning...

The parade marching from Burnt Mill school along First Avenue before turning up School Lane to the park.

At the memorial ready for the service to commence...

Standard Bearers and Guard...

The Service underway...

Wreaths...

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them".

Harlow - Sculpture Town

Some signs appeared a while back, introducing Harlow as a "Sculpture Town" - whatever one of those is. A quick glance at Google suggests that this is a title unique to Harlow, but if that is the case then it's understandable, really.

Above is the official interactive map showing the sites of the 66 sculptures of varying types, shapes and sizes scattered around the town. With works from the likes of Henry Moore, Elisabeth Frink, and Rodin, this is a serious art collection which people travel to see. We who are resident are fortunate enough to have them on out doorsteps, and in most cases, we probably take them for granted. 

"Sundial" - Museum Garden

Almost every area has a sculpture or several of its own - the Town Centre is positively over-run With them, and even Church Langley have one of their own - outside Tesco. They range from the starkly modern (Solo Flight, at Mark Hall, and Echo, at Staple Tye) to the historic - Rodin's "Eve". Some were commisioned specifically with their space in the town in mind, and others have been purchased to add to the collection.

Next time you are walking through the town, to your local shops, or perhaps in the Town park, cast your eyes around you and see how many of these works you have been strolling past, without giving a second thought.

The Lawn...

Harlow has the distinction of being the home of the first modern-style residential Tower Block in England - The Lawn, in Mark Hall North was built in 1951 and is of such historical importance that it is now a Grade II listed building. It's design was clever in as much that every property had a south-facing sitting room in spite of there being 4 properties per floor. Sir Frederick Gibberd personally oversaw the pegging out for the foundations on the ground as the block had to be built with regard to the seven established oak trees which surround it.

The Lawn takes its name from the lawns of Mark Hall which used to be nearby. Indeed one of the Park Lodges still stands further along the road - look...

...I wonder how many people who walk or cycle past that regularly have no idea of the history of this unusual looking building!

How sad that a style of housing which originally started out so carefully planned and thoughtfully built has - thanks to the 1960's and 1970's trend towards high-rise block -  now become synonymous with all that is bad about the way people can be forced to live.

Have you ever lived in The Lawn? Or indeed in that Park Lodge? It would be lovely to hear some stories of the places direct from the people who have lived there.

Autumn Colour in the Town Park

Thanks to the attention paid to green spaces and room to breathe when the town was being built, this is possibly the very best time of year to live in Harlow...

It's an amazing place to walk at any time of year, but never better than when the leaves start to turn, when wherever you look is every shade imagineable from bright yellows and oranges, green, to the most startling bright reds.

If you've not been for a wander around there recently, why not pop along and take a look for yourself? It makes a great short cut when walking to the station from the Eastern side of the town too...

Past & present...

I've been loaned some old books about the history of the town. One of the most fascinating things has been to see how much things have changed - it's easy to presume that because Harlow is a New Town, it won't look that different, in fact nothing could be further from the truth!

The picture of Felmongers, above, was taken in 1955, before the area had even been fully completed (The old pictures I will be featuring over the next few posts are taken from Clare Baster's book "Harlow, a Photographic history of your town" and are all property of the Frith Collection).

The shot above was taken from as close as I could get to the exact same spot, and clearly shows how Frederick Gibberd's plan for a "green town" has come to fruition. The houses on the right are now barely visible through the tree canopy, and further planting on down the road has softened the lines of the houses on the left, too.

Housing in Harlow

One of the noticeable things about Harlow is the wide range of differing styles of housing in each area. It was one of the key things when the town was being planned - that varying types of people would live, essentially "mixed together", and of course that each  individual area has that all important green space. At Jane Drew designed Tanys Dell, above, their balconies have a view out over this lovely green with its mature trees, and every flat has its own balcony - even the ground floor. 

The mix of differing tyes of housing is illustrated clearly here at Mistley Road - with family houses and smaller bungalows sitting side by side. Almost all of Harlow's neighbourhood areas have this mix, with housing ranging from tiny bungalows, through houses of varying sizes, to flats, mostly low-rise but with most areas having a single mid-rise block also.

The Main arterial roads through each neighbourhood area keep to the Harlow theme of green spaces too - with wide grass verges and spacious roads. Of course back in the 1950's when these were built they would have appeared even more spacious, as hardly any cars would have been parked along them!

It certainly pays to look past what is obviously in your eyeline in Harlow. As well as all the random Sculptures dotted around the place, often where you least expect them, there are also assorted plaques within the New Town, and in the Old Town in particular the architecture is well worth a second look.

This Plaque appeared in the Water Gardens about a year ago - it balances the one already in place at the opposite end, to Harlow Town Designer Sir Frederick Gibberd.

In Old Harlow, the key is often look up slightly. As well as some fantastic buildings, you can find things like this lurking within the conservation areas:

(More information on the Conservation area that Oddfellows Terrace falls in can be found at THIS LINK)  and as for the Oddfellows, their own website tells us "The Oddfellows has no political or religious affiliations - membership is open to all, regardless of age, sex, political persuasion, religion, race or disability. Quite simply: We encourage members to build upon their friendship networks with others across the UK, and overseas, by socialising and showing mutual support." - how nice! They are a Friendly Society who have been in operation for over 200 years, and as you can see above their Terrace in Old Harlow houses a World War 1 memorial.

I little further on in Market Street we find the Sundial above, with it's very sensible message, and a date of 1759, showing just how much of a baby the New Town really is in comparison to its older sibling.

What have YOU seen when you've been out and about in the town? Tell me about it and I'll see if I can track it down, and photograph it.

Wildlife...

One of Harlow's best features in the sheer amount of open spaces around us, it was one of the major points in the original plans for the new town, and has been strictly adhered to since. Obviously we all know about the wildlife reserve at Parndon Wood, but were you aware that the town also has several other Local Wildlife reserves, and lots of smaller areas, designated as "Local Wildlife Areas"? These are in part tended by a team of volunteers called the Harlow Conservation Volunteers, who cheerfully give up their Sundays to manage these areas - you can find out more about them on their WEBSITE. They are a cheerful bunch who happily turn out in all weathers to get wet clearing streams, get scratched half to death by blackthorn, and drink lots of tea. I think the tea may be a deciding factor...

There is a lot of wildlife to be seen around the town if you stop and look for it. When I stepped outside this morning, the first thing I heard was a Woodpecker - a real indicator that spring is making its presence felt. We also have Treecreepers locally, as well as the more common birds like Blue, Great & Long Tailed tits, Redwings, Sparrows, Blackbirds and Robins of course, Wrens, Collared Doves, Chaffinches....the list could go on! Of course nearly every area of woodland has the squirrels running around - and then there are the Muntjac deer over towards Rye Hill...be cautious approaching Hastingwood roundabout late at night - I've seen the deer crossing the road to get to the green area in the middle!

Harlow Museum Gardens

Hidden away just off First Avenue, behind this inviting looking gateway, is the treaure that is Mark Hall Gardens. The walled gardens of the old Mark Hall, now forming part of Harlow Museum, are absolutely beautiful, if slightly neglected in places! A series of gates lead you through from area to area - just when you think you surely must have seen it all another surprise offers itself up...

...Like this still, lurking round a corner! One of the most surprising areas must be the "Unusual Fruits" garden, with medlars and figs growing, among other things. Whoever would have thought there were figs growing happily in Harlow, eh?!  There are also traditional formal gardens like the area below, which was funded by Marks & Spencer to celebrate their centenary in 1984. Some of the benches were paid for by the staff association, and at one end there is a raised gallery enabling you to see the layout of the garden fully.

St Mary At Latton & Solo Flight

Another example of old & new sitting alongside one another - St Mary At Latton Church watched over by the "Solo Flight" sculpture. (By Antanas Brazdys, 1982) Solo flight (possibly my favourite of all the works to be found in the town) was originally commissioned for the Harvey centre, and indeed stood there for some years until eventually being replaced by a lift, when a new site was found for it.

3 other works by this artist can be found in Harlow, including "Echo" at Staple Tye which is of a similar polished stainless steel construction. 

Like most art the scultures provoke strong feelings, although this from a lady calling herself "Colleen" on the blog of Harlow MP Robert Halfon seems a little strong;

"'Solo Flight' is iconic in its own way: in its sheer dreadfulness and the terrible choice of location. There it sits, under the Stansted flight path, a shining, mud splattered, resource squandered totem of out of control consumerism and runaway aviationism, artistically coated in brown goo by children who use it as a climbing frame and slide. If it really is a bird, as some claim, and not a plane, then it must be a predatory pterodactyl."

I'm not entirely convinced that she likes it?! She goes on to talk more about sculture, and quite a lot of other things too, as you can see over at Rob's Blog - these things are clearly subjective as I love Solo Flight and anyone who has ever watched children playing around, under and indeed through it can't fail to realise that this interaction is one of its strongest points.

St Mary At Latton is one of the town's oldest churches and town designer Sir Frederick Gibberd deliberately ensured when putting together his plans for the town that it remained surrounded by green space in order to reflect its rural heritage. In fact the church makes good use of the space in front as they hold afternoon teas there in the summer!

Newhall...

Harlow is slightly unusual in that old and new sit alongside one another so closely. Even since the building of the new Town in the 1950's the expansion continued with first Church Langley and now Newhall springing up. Both of these areas break with the "Harlow tradition" of areas of housing centred around small shopping areas, but maintain the theme of plenty of green areas and, in the case of Newhall in particular, a strong architectural/design focus.

Some areas of Newhall are still under construction - the block above is for sale at the moment even though the common parts are still very much a work in progress. Once the current developments "North Chase", "slo" and Be:" are completed, there will be a Phase 2 to be built, which should put into place some of the infrastructure which feels to be lacking at present.

Winter Sunshine in the Town Park

Where better to walk on a cold, crisp winter afternoon than the Town Park?  With 164 acres to explore, there is plenty to see, from the fun and games of Pets Corner to the Bandstand with it's music events.  It will come as no surprise to anyone local that several of the Town's sculptures can be found hiding in there too - check out which ones from Visit Harlow's Sculpture Trail Map - meanwhile, over by the skate park, the art is a little more modern...

Welcome!

Welcome to Recording Harlow - a blog dedicated to capturing the town's history in pictures. We've lived here since 2003 - and have always had an interest in the history of the town. It's easy to dismiss Harlow as "just another new Town" - and of course, it IS "another" New Town, but it's more than that as well. For example, nearly one-third of Harlow is open space. It was carefully designed that way, and, in fact, that was one of the things that the new residents found it hardest to get used to back in the 1950's when they started arriving - the fact that everywhere you looked, there was GREEN! Harlow Town Park is one of the largest of it's type anywhere in the country, and we are also home to the first ever residential high-rise block.

Keep checking back - the site may not be updated daily, or even weekly, but as and when I get the chance to just go out and wander with a camera, and capture another facet of the town, I promise you'll find the results here.