, originally '''Bishop's Hatfield''', is a town in the
Welwyn Hatfield district of
Hertfordshire , in the south of
England . It forms part of the
Welwyn Hatfield Constituency which also includes
Welwyn Garden City , and has been twinned with the
Dutch port town of
Zierikzee since 1953. Its
MP is
Grant Shapps (
Con. ).
The town is the site of the original campus of
Hatfield Polytechnic , which has since become the
University Of Hertfordshire . It is also the location of the first
De Havilland aircraft factory with an associated airfield where
Airliner s such as the
Dove ,
Heron ,
Comet ,
Trident and
HS146 were built. Production of the latter type was transferred to
Woodford in
Cheshire during the
1990s by which time it was known as the
British Aerospace 146 "
Whisperjet ". An early
Bizjet , the
DH125 , was also developed here although mass production took place at
Hawarden in
Cheshire . Some components of wind
Turbine s were also developed here prior to the airfield's closure.
Until the early
1990s British Aerospace maintained a substantial presence within the town. Their vacated premises and surrounding grounds served as a film set for some of the night-time scenes of the
BBC /
HBO television drama ''
Band Of Brothers '', which followed on from significant use of the site in the filming of the
Steven Spielberg movie ''
Saving Private Ryan ''. Subsequently, a large section of the land was purchased by the
University Of Hertfordshire and the £120 million
De Havilland Campus , incorperating a £15 million Sports Village, was opened in September
2003 . The university has closed its sites at
Watford and
Hertford , and faculties situated there have been relocated to the de Havilland Campus. The university maintains its campus at
St Albans , which houses law students.
In addition to the new university campus, part of the former BAe land will also be the site of a £500 million new hospital to replace the
Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in
Welwyn GC . The university is looking to expand its
Nursing and
Physiotherapy departments to accommodate and utilise the extra facilities available to it. Redevelopment of Hatfield town centre is also being planned. This will involve the construction 275 flats and retail units and is forecast to finish by the end of 2009.
Welwyn Hatfield Council . Plans are also under way for the regeneration of Hatfield Town Centre, and Hatfield Town Centre Redevelopment has now been granted planning permission subject to a section 106 legal agreement.
for those who died in the
Hatfield Rail Crash .]]
The area contains the site of a fatal
Rail Crash on
October 17 ,
2000 . The incident brought track maintenance deficiencies to public attention, to the severe detriment of
Railtrack , the company established to manage rail infrastructure, and set in motion the events that led to its insolvency. It is five miles north of
Potters Bar , scene of a later fatal
Train Derailment .
Hatfield has one swimming pool, two sports/leisure centers, one nine-screen cinema, a factory outlet shopping center called
The Galleria , situated above the A1(M), and two supermarkets - ASDA in the town centre and Tesco at the northern end of the town. Hatfield is most famous for being the location of
Hatfield House .
This is only related to Hatfield. As mentioned above, Hatfield House is located here. There is also a local history museum located at
Mill Green , just off the A414-A1000 junction. Also housed at Mill Green is a splendid water mill which still produces flour which can be bought there. There is also a café. The water mill is one of a very few in
Hertfordshire .
Of Hammond Lane there are nice walks around Symondshyde Great Wood.
Hatfield Town Council website .
A number of places named after Hatfield can be found around the world:
The British
1970s rock band
Hatfield And The North was named after the first road sign on the A1 motorway going North from London.
Babe Ruth , a 1970s rock band came from Hatfield.
