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

Newhall...

 

Hanley Lane, Newhall 

Can anyone spot the glaring omission from the road layout above? The one that at this point in time, when we’ve for some time been told we should be reducing reliance on our mostly combustion engined cars for environmental reasons, and turn instead to walking more? Even more specifically at this precise point in time in fact - when under lockdown rules it’s being encouraged to exercise from home...?

Yes - pavements. This road is part of the “North Chase” development - one of the newer parts of Newhall - in fact Google Streetview doesn’t currently show the houses that you see pictured above. Imagine being a family with children living there - your 8 year old wants to run up the road (in non-Covid times, obviously) to go and play with his friend. It’s only a short distance, you can watch him all the way,  but you can’t allow him to go unaccompanied because as soon as he’s outside the door, he’s got to share his route with traffic ranging from delivery drivers looking harder at their satnav than the road, the dustcart, older kids on bikes racing each other, and the deliveroo and similar riders on their mopeds who are on a time limit to deliver next doors pizza while it’s still hot... 

Harlow New Town was planned so carefully to ensure that it was safe for pedestrians - indeed far MORE geared up to pedestrians than many other places in the U.K. Newhall is letting the side down - this road is far from the only recently built part of this development without infrastructure to suit those on foot, or allowing children to play outside on the streets. You have to question why Harlow Council gave permission for this to happen! 

Where it all began...

 1949 - and construction begins on the first 120 permanent houses of the New Town we now know as Harlow. Chippingfield - to the south of the original village of Harlow - now Old Harlow. 

The first houses were tenanted by employees of the Development Corporation and many of the tradesmen brought in to construct the new town, and their families. It must have been very strange for their wives in particular - having come from places like Walthamstow and a Tottenham in London, areas which would at the time have had an infrastructure that they knew and house styles that were familiar - in the new town neither of these things applied.

Not only were shops more distant, and initially fewer than the new residents were used to. The houses too - the traditional London terrace build of the time would have seen a sitting room at the front, looking into the street, with living/dining room behind and the kitchen behind that. The toilet would likely have been either directly adjoining the kitchen, via the back door, or in a building across the yard. The designers of the new houses favoured kitchens at the front, theoretically allowing the “modern housewife” to feel like she was part of the community even whilst going about her day. In some cases the interior layout would have also been far more open plan than these families were used to also. 

Chippingfield today is a pleasant area, surprisingly quiet considering it’s proximity to Gilden Way. Many of the original features of the estate remain - the “open fronts” are far more universally maintained than in many areas of the town. The biggest change is that there are of course now cars everywhere - clogging the streets in a way that the designers could probably not have anticipated! 

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)