Old, new, old again…

 A little wander at the weekend from the old town, into the very early parts of the new town, and ending up in Newhall - didn’t feel tempted to take any more pics of that though! 

North Lodge was one of the old entry points to the Mark Hall Estate as I understand it - it can be found down at the bottom of town adjacent to the Netteswell Road walking and cycle track and the road end at Stackfield, and is well worth a look (check out the amazing chimneys) but be respectful as people do live there! 

From there I walked through Park Hill (taking note of the lovely Oddfellows Terrace) before turning left along Broadway Avenue - with its classic 1930’s semis lining the avenue each side it looked rather fine in the sunshine. A bit of a wiggle at the end brought me into Jocelyns- and an intriguing glimpse of a view… 

Sure enough, the thoughtful approach that was taken with the original build of the New Town was in evidence here as behind me was a low-rise flat block - even the first floor here must have amazing views (there is no ground floor flats as far as I could see with that being given over to garages and storage sheds)  and the top floor must be able to see for miles. The architect here also took the “view through” approach that we also see elsewhere (The Chantry, I think?) with this walkway underneath the flats…

You can see how it allows a view through to the houses and the hill below. The intention of these was to “frame” particular views, although this one is slightly off the mark perhaps with the houses in place! 

Via Station road and back in to the old town proper - and a couple of interesting plaques with something in common…

The first on the Victoria Hall Theatre, the second on the wall of the building it refers to - the link of course being the first and second World Wars. 

From there into one of my favourite streets in the town - Bury Road. Such a complete mosh mash of building styles - it really is worth a stroll if you’re not familiar with it. A couple of my favourites here (although the next time I walk along there I will probably choose two completely different favourites!) 

The red brick house doesn’t seem to have a name - fairly unusual for the larger properties along here - while the yellow brick terraces are called Kimberley Terrace (nearest the camera) and Colenso Terrace and are dated at 1900 and 1901 respectively.  I particularly like the thin metal railings round the front gardens - giving an impression of the “open fronts” which were such a feature of the New Town. Colenso Terrace also provides us with a further link to WW1 as sadly in early 1917 in the space of just a few weeks, the sons of both no 1 & no 4 were killed in action. First A E Seymour on February 17th, then Herbert Clements - on March 26th. 

Robyn

Harlow Museum Gardens (2)

 A bright spot in the Covid/Lockdown darkness has been the opening, three days a week, of the Museum walled gardens to the public. A beautiful place to visit at any time, it’s somehow all the more special at the moment - when there are less options available to us. I posted about the gardens previously - you can see that post HERE

In that post I referred to the “unusual fruits garden” with its medlars and figs, among other things - the photograph above shows the figs are still prolific, and the same is true of the medlar tree - or “trees” I should say as we spotted another one on this visit.

The gardens currently have one staff gardener, and a handful of volunteers - numbers are being limited by Covid restrictions of course - and they are doing a wonderful job of keeping on top of the work required by gardens of this size. The big job currently is the stripping back of ivy around the tall red brick walls ahead of a structural survey which is needed. 

The 17th Century garden is looking very neat and tidy - look carefully and you can spot one of the Sculpture Trail works in the middle - there are 6 scattered around the gardens, look out for those getting a separate post of their own. 

You can compare this photo with the one in the earlier post - it’s taken from the same viewpoint up on the platform at the end. The planting has filled out in those closest beds in the last 12 years! 

Autumn colour and going car-free...

We are very fortunate that "New" Harlow was built around a network of roads that were already there - Latton street, Netteswell Road, Latton Common Road and many others were all closed off to motor vehicles once the New Town was built around them and are now available for safe cycling and walking, meaning that those of us who prefer to leave the car at home where possible have an easy "off grid" way of getting from A to B across the town. I can make my way from home in Mark Hall to the Town Centre barely touching a "normal" road, and to the station in the same way thanks to the Town Park.

Of course at this time of year the pleasure is all the greater as another of the Town Planner's achievements comes into its own with the fantastic colours from all the planting. There surely can’t be a better time for a stroll around Harlow than autumn, when even on a fairly overcast day there is still a stunning array of colour. 

During the first Covid lockdown we did a lot of walking around the old roads - indeed on a few occasions it became a bit of a challenge to see how far we could go using as few roads also used by motor vehicles as possible - and it was surprising how easy it was. I even did one 5 mile run almost entirely on old roads, tracks and footpaths, with only a couple of short sections where I was sharing my space with cars. 

Those who don’t know Harlow often voice the opinion that it’s a real concrete jungle - but mostly nothing could be further from the truth - we all have an abundance of green space right on our doorsteps, and the majority of households have open countryside within a reasonably accessible distance, too. Precisely what Sir Frederick Gibberd intended with his plans for our town! 

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!

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.