Parking solutions...

 I mentioned in the post about Bishopsfield that when the properties there were built, the expectation was that every property having an allocated underground garage would cover all the parking requirements for the development. Now of course with so many properties having more than one vehicle, the parking spills onto the surrounding streets too. 

Bishopsfield is not the only area to have been given this sort of underground parking either - some of the tower blocks have a similar arrangement- including Nichols Tower - pictured above. 

Now, the underground garages are closed off and disused - and mostly full of rubbish

The garages are quite narrow, and even with working lighting (you can’t tell from the photos but it was very dark inside) I’m none too sure I would fancy having to park my car in the very back of that area. I suspect this is the reason why they are no longer used. I’m sure when the town plan was written it seemed inconceivable that it would be possible for the majority of households to have a car, and also that in a town like Harlow, that so many people would consider they needed one. 

Passmores...

Passmores Academy has some of the most striking architecture of the schools in the town, but did you know it was originally in an entirely different location? 

Formerly situated further across to the West on Tendring Road, the site is now flattened and half is lying empty - all that remains is the old concrete foundations, some light standards..

...and the entrance, plus some fencing... 

 There is a “West Essex Community Education Service” sign lurking over to the left hand side there too. The other side of the site is in the process of having the new Sir Frederick Gibberd College built on it - currently looking as though it might just top Passmores on the architecture front. 

The original location of course makes sense of the name of course, being actually in the Passmores area! 

Bishopsfield

 In 1961 the Harlow Development Corporation held a competition open to all architects for the design of a housing area in the new town - they were looking for something unusual, and different, with the brief being “to solve old problems in a new way” and the design put forward by 24 year old Michael Neylan appeared to fit the idea perfectly. 

Featuring 256 dwellings - a mix of maisonettes and houses, the development is known as “The Kasbah” locally, and even now looks very different to almost anything else in the town. 

Bishopsfield consists of a horseshoe shaped development with alleyways radiating off it and green spaces between each section. 

Pedestrian walkways are vehicle free - with access being provided via a large open platform leading to a wide walkway accessed via either ramps or stairs. Parking was originally provided via garages tucked away beneath the blocks, but has now unsurprisingly spilled over into the street also. 

Beyond the 5 main blocks forming the horseshoe, the majority of the properties are built on a “back-to-back” pattern, with an L shaped design surrounding a courtyard style garden giving a great deal of privacy - the aim here was to achieve an almost Mediterranean feel. 

Bishopsfield was awarded a Civic Trust Award in 1968, and Housing Design Award a year later. 

Sculpture trail... (1)

During the first lockdown, we began the long overdue mission of finding and photographing as many as possible of the town’s many Sculptures. Although we’ve looked at a few of them before, and there is even an earlier post on here about Harlow’s Sculpture Town Status we had never actually attempted to walk the trail. 

We ticked them off on groups - taking an area at a time, walking to it, finding all the sculptures in that area, then moving on to the next area the next time we went out with this particular task in mind. For the purpose of these posts through, I’ll post in trail order. 

No. 1 - Cat - unable to access as inside the Civic Centre.

No. 2 - Well Head - Museum Gardens - finally got to this one last weekend...

No. 3 - Stone seat - Museum Gardens as above. 

No. 4 - Butterfly - Newstead Way, Fifth Avenue Development

No. 5 - Sophrosyne - The Chase, Newhall

No. 6 - Madonna & Child - unable to access - inside St Paul’s Church. 

No. 7 - Organic Farm - Fifth Avenue Development but we were unable to locate.

No. 8 - Energise - Harlow Leisurezone

No. 9 - Soldier Bending a Bow - unable to access - inside The Playhouse Theatre

No. 10 - Echo - Southern Way

To be continued... 

(All photos copyright www.photozone72.org.uk)

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! 

To the river...

 Alongside Harlow’s many green spaces, green wedges and of course the Town Park, we are also bordered along the northern edge by the River Stort - from Harlow Mill to the east through to Parndon Mill on the western side. 

The river is popular with runners, walkers, anglers, birdwatchers and even cyclists - generally managing to amiably share the towpath which runs on the north bank as far as Terling’s Park before switching to the opposite side to Burntmill Lane where it crosses back again as it leaves the town. 

Always beautiful - but never more so on a crisp, misty autumn morning with a frost edging everything  in  silver, and the sun just trying to punch through. 

As the “Navigation” designation suggests, this is a river still used regularly by boaters - both the traditional narrowboats and more modern motorised vessels - this morning I saw just one solitary narrow boat, but in a sunny summers day there is a regular stream of traffic using the waterway. 

Wildlife is plentiful - Kingfishers, Warblers, Whitethroats, and Blackcaps can all be found in and around the overhanging vegetation, ducks and rails on the water and various birds of prey and the ever present gulls overhead. Also present are water voles - now quite endangered and always a delight to spot. 

Next time you find yourself fancying a walk somewhere within the town, head downhill and explore the river - as well as the towpath there is also a footpath along a fair amount of the opposite bank accessible from the car park on River Way. The river and its surrounding meadows are also linked with the Town Park via the zigzag bridge, and is just a short stroll from the railway at either end of the town too. 

Word of mouth...

Moot House & “Chiron” sculpture

This morning I got the opportunity via a chance encounter to hear some word of mouth local history - so often the best way of learning about a subject. Ironically while I was taking photos for the blog, a chap kindly stopped to avoid walking across in front of me, and we got chatting when I thanked him and explained what I was doing (presumably not too many people take photos of Moot a house at The Stow as he was a little surprised to see what I was doing I think). 

The gentleman concerned moved to the town with his family in 1956, and has lived here ever since - so effectively he’s seen the New Town almost from the start. In that time he said he’s seen a lot of change, and not all of it good! 

I asked him about the common rooms and commented that I was curious about the variation in sizes. He agreed - while some were big enough that dances could be held in them, others like Blackbush Spring are tiny! He told me of the time when while working with his father in a wedding catering business they were booked to cater a reception in the Ladyshot Common Room - one of the few with an upstairs. This particular ‘upstairs’ had a sprung wooden floor which turned out to be surprisingly bouncy - while the rest of the food was being set up as the guests arrived, the floor bounced a little too much sending the wedding cake shooting off to one side all over the table! 

Those in the Mark Hall South area will be familiar with Latton Farm and its resident herd of cows. When my friend of this morning was a lad he worked for a while at the farm, with one of his responsibilities being taking the cows from their barn to the fields further along Latton Street, and occasionally slightly further afield, to the other side of what was then the A11 - now the rather busier A414. He recalled one particular occasion when several of the cows decided to “go rogue” and stroll away from the rest of the herd while part way across - 4 cars were delayed and had to wait while he rounded up the strays, he laughed “imagine what it would be like now - the police would be called and everything!”

Other snippets of history he recounted to me include the time somebody decided to build houses on Ash Tree field, ignoring the fact that it was part of the flood plain. They pressed on in spite of many locals telling them it was a poor idea right until the point where a bulldozer was driven into the field - and promptly sank! Also, the amusement when upon the decision being taken to build a play scheme in the Little Parndon neighbourhood where he grew up, it was decided that a local pond would have to be filled in because it was “too dangerous” to leave it there - he said that he had spent countless hours each summer with friends lying along the branch of a willow that overhung that pond - and nobody ever drowned!

A wonderful chance to hear some great stories about Harlow over the last 60 years!