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.