is a town in
Hertfordshire ,
England with a population of 81,143 at the 2001
Census . Developed after
World War II as a
New Town , it has existed as a settlement since the
8th Century . It is part of the
District (and
Borough since 1984) of
Dacorum and the
Hemel Hempstead constituency.
On
11 December 2005 it was brought into the news by the
Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal Fire .
Hemel Hempstead is located at Latitude 51° 45'N and Longitude 0° 28' 20" W .
Hemel Hempstead (known locally as "Hemel") lies in a shallow
Chalkland valley at the confluence of the rivers Gade and Bulbourne. The
Main Railway line from London
Euston to the Midlands passes through
Apsley and
Hemel Hempstead Railway Station s to the west of the town, alongside the
Grand Union Canal . These communication links, as well as the original
A41 trunk road, all follow the natural course of the Bulbourne valley. In the
1990s , a motorway style bypass was built further west and numbered as the A41, which does not follow the natural lie of the land. Hemel is also linked to the
M1 Motorway to the east. The
M25 is a few miles to the south. To the North and West lie mixed farm and woodland with scattered villages (such as the villages of Bovingdon and Bourne End) part of the
Chiltern Hills . To the South lies
Watford and east lies
St Albans .
Possibly the best view of Hemel Hempstead in its physical setting is from the top of Roughdown Common, a chalk hill to the south of the town.
The settlement was called by the name Henamsted or Hean-Hempsted, i.e. High Hempstead, in Saxon times and in William the Conqueror's time by the name of Hemel-Amstede.
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The name is referred to in the
Domesday Book as "Hamelamesede", but in later centuries it became Hamelhamsted.
Another opinion is that Hemel probably came from "Haemele" which was the name of the district in the eighth century and is most likely either the name of the land owner, or could mean "broken country".
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Hempstead probably originated from "hamstede" which means homestead.
Remains of .
Hemel Hempstead on its present site is mentioned in the
Domesday Book of
1086 , though its existence can be traced back several hundred years before that. The church of
St Mary was built in
1140 , one of the finest
Norman churches in the county. The church features a very tall 200 foot
Spire added in the
12th Century , and one of
Europe 's tallest.
In
Tudor times, the town was granted a charter by
King Henry VIII to become a
Bailiwick with the right to hold a Thursday market and a fair on
Corpus Christi Day . The King and
Anne Boleyn are reputed to have stayed in the town at this time.
In and an
Elizabethan painted room in the next door cottage. In
1827 the building was converted into the first cottage hospital by
Astley Cooper providing free medical services .
Hemel's position on the shortest route between London and the industrial Midlands put it on the
Grand Junction Canal in
1795 and the
London And Birmingham Railway in
1837 . However it remained principally an agricultural market town throughout the nineteenth century. In the last decades of that century development of houses and villas for London commuters began. The Midland railway built a branch connecting to its main line at
Harpenden in
1877 (see
The Nicky Line ). Hemel steadily expanded, but only became a borough on
13th July ,
1898 .
During World War II, a stick of bombs demolished houses at Nash Mills. The nearby Dickinson factories were used to produce munitions.
After
World War II , in
1946 , the government designated Hemel Hempstead as the site of one of its proposed
New Town s designed to house the displaced population of
London where slums and bombsites were being cleared. On 4th February
1947 the Government purchased 5,910 acres of land and began work on the "New Town". The first new residents moved in April
1949 and the town continued its planned expansion through to the end of the
1980s . Hemel grew to its present population of 80,000, with new developments enveloping the original town on all sides. The original part of Hemel is still known as the "Old Town".
Its geographical position, between London and the Midlands, acted again in the
1960s when the
M1 Motorway was routed just to the east of the town. This gave it a central position on the country's motorway network.
In the 1970s, the town decided to abolish its mayor and set up in place, a district council. The first chairman of that council was Chairman John Johnson (1913-1977). In the 1980s, the town then decided to revert back to its original state, with a mayor. The political atmosphere of the town has changed significantly. Once a Labour stronghold, the town has seen an increase in Conservative Party voting in recent years.
As of the 2001
Census , Hemel Hempstead is the most populated urban area in Hertfordshire, narrowly more populated than its traditionally "larger" rival,
Watford .
There was a major explosion in the town at the
Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal , Buncefield at 6am on Sunday
11 December 2005 . See
2005 Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal Fire . The Maylands Avenue industrial estate was severely damaged and much of it will need to be demolished. Nearby residential districts of
Adeyfield , Woodhall Farm and
Leverstock Green were also badly damaged and around 300 people made temporarily homeless. There were 41 people with minor injuries and 2 were seriously hurt. The only reason no one was killed was because it occurred before dawn on a Sunday.
Hemel Hempstead was announced as candidate No 3. for a New Town in July
1946 , in accordance with the government's "policy for the decentralisation of persons and industry from London". Initially there was much resistance and hostility to the plan from locals, especially when it was revealed that any development would be carried out not by the local council but by a newly appointed government body, the Hemel Hempstead Development Corporation (later amalgamated with similar bodies to form the
Commission For The New Towns ). However, following a public inquiry the following year, the town got the go-ahead. Hemel officially became a New Town on
February 4 ,
1947 .
The initial plans for the New Town were drawn up by architect
G. A. Jellicoe . His view of Hemel Hempstead, he said, was “not a city in a garden, but a city in a park.” However the plans were not well-received by most locals. Revised, and less radical plans were drawn up, and the first developments proceeded despite local protests in July
1948 . The first area to be developed was Adeyfield. At this time the plans for a double "magic" roundabout at Moor End were first put forward, but in fact it was not until
1973 that the roundabout was opened as it was originally designed. The first houses erected as part of the New Town plan were in Longlands, Adeyfield, and went up in the spring of
1949 . The first new residents moved in early
1950 .
At this time, work started on building new factories and industrial areas, to avoid the town becoming a dormitory town. The first factory was erected in 1950 in Maylands Avenue. As building progressed with continuing local opposition, the town was becoming increasingly popular with those moving in from areas of north
London . By the end of 1951, there was a waiting list of about 10,000 wishing to move to Hemel. The neighbourhoods of Bennett's End, Chaulden and Warner's End were started.
The Queen paid a visit shortly after her accession in
1952 , and laid a foundation stone for a new
Church in Adeyfield - one of her first public engagements as Queen.
The redevelopment of the town centre was started in 1952, with a new centre based on Marlowes. The old centre of the High Street was to remain largely undeveloped, though the market square closed and was replaced by a much larger one in the new centre. The former private estate of Gadebridge was opened as a public park. New schools and roads were built to serve the expanding new neighbourhoods. New housing technology such as prefabrication started to be used from the mid-50s, and house building rates increased dramatically. Highfield was the next neighbourhood to be constructed. The
M1 motorway opened to the east in
1959 , and a new road connecting it to the town was opened.
By
1962 , the redevelopment of the new town as originally envisaged was largely complete, though further expansion plans were then put forward. The nearby
USAF base of
Bovingdon , which had served as the town's ''de facto'' airport, closed at this time, though private flying continued for a further 7 years.
Dacorum College , the library, new Police station and the Paviliion (theatre and music venue) were all built during the
1960s . The town seemed to attract its fair share of celebrity openings, with shops and businesses opened by
Frankie Vaughan ,
Benny Hill ,
Terry Thomas , and the new cinema was opened by
Lauren Bacall . The last of the originally-planned neighbourhoods, Grovehill, began construction in
1967 . However, further neighbourhoods of Woodhall Farm and Fields End were later built as part of the extended plans.
Like other first generation new towns, Hemel is divided into residential neighbourhoods, each with their own "village centre" with shops, pubs and services. Each neighbourhood is designed around a few major feeder roads with many smaller cul-de-sacs and crescents, intended to minimise traffic and noise nuisance. In keeping with the optimism of the early postwar years, much of the town features
Modernist Architecture with many unusual and experimental designs for
Housing . Not all of these have stood the test of time.
The Jarman Park Leisure centre was opened, containing eight film screens, ten pin bowling, ice rink, water park and night club.
In
2005 the Riverside development was opened in the Marlowes town centre effectively extending the main shopping precinct towards the Plough roundabout and containing many new shops including a
Debenhams department store.
Hemel Hempstead returns its own MP at Westminster.
At the May 2005 General election the seat changed from Labour to Conservative.
Mike Penning , (Conservative), was elected with a majority of 499.
The previous MP was
Tony McWalter , (Labour), first elected 1997.
Historically, the area was agricultural and was noted for its rich cereal production. The agricultural journalist
William Cobbett noted of Hemel Hempstead in 1822 that ''"..the land along here is very fine: a red tenacious flinty loam upon a bed of chalk at a yard or two beneath, which, in my opinion, is the very best corn land that we have in England." ''[http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/text/chap_page.jsp?t_id=Cobbett&c_id=8&p_id=573#pn_8]. By the eighteenth century the grain market in Hemel was one of the largest in the country. In 1797 there were 11 watermills working in the vicinity of the town. [http://www.hertfordshire-genealogy.co.uk/data/directories/directories-hemel-1797-des.htm].
In the nineteenth century, Hemel was a noted
Brickmaking ,
Paper manufacturing and
Straw -plaiting centre.
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Hemel was also a noted
Watercress growing area, supplying 1/16th of the country's national demand - following development of the New Town, the watercress growing moved to nearby
Berkhamstead and
Tring . The cress beds were redeveloped as the modern day Water Gardens.
In
1803 the first automatic
Papermaking machinery was developed in Hemel by the Fourdrinier brothers at Frogmore. Paper making expanded in the vicinity in the early nineteenth century and grew into the huge
John Dickinson mills in the twentieth.
A traditional employer in the area was also Brock's, manufacturer of
Firework s. The factory was a significant employer since well before World War II, and remained in production until the mid
1970s . The present-day neighbourhood of Woodhall farm was subsequently built on the site.
Significant historic local firms:
Hemel Hempstead has a mixture of heavy and light engineering companies and has attracted a significant number of information and telecommunications sector companies helped by its proximity to London and the UK motorway network. However (and again in common with many new towns) it has a much narrower business base than established centres, particularly
Watford and
St Albans .
Significant firms with a local presence include:
- 3Com , Telecommunications equipment
- ACT (formerly Apricot Computers )
- Aquascutum , Clothing manufacturer
- ASOS (As Seen On Screen) WEB fashion trader.
- BP Oil, petroleum
- British Telecom , telecommunications
- BSI (British Standards Institution) materials testing
- Bull (formerly Honeywell ), computers
- DSG International Plc (formerly Dixons Group), electrical retailer (global headquarters)
- Dixons , electrical retailer (national headquarters)
- DuPont , petrochemicals
- Epson , computers
- Fujifilm UK HQ electronics and photography
- Kodak , photography - (In March 2005 Kodak announced that it would vacate its central headquarters tower block in Hemel, and will be located on 3Com Campus in Hemel)
- NEXT , clothing (distribution centre)
- Northgate Information Solutions , specialist software for human resources
- Sappi group, paper, at Nash Mills. Has announced the mill will close in 2006
- Unisys , computers
- Waverly TBS , wine and spirits wholesale subsidiary of Scottish & Newcastle
- Xerox , photocopiers
- Kent's Brushes - has manufactured high quality hair and paint brushes at Apsley since 1901.
Just east of the town is the
Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal (HOST), known locally as the Buncefield complex. This is a major hub on the
UK Oil Pipeline Network (UKOP) with pipelines to
Humberside ,
Merseyside , and
Heathrow and
Gatwick airports radiating from here. This was destroyed by a huge explosion 0n 11 Dec 2005. ( See
2005 Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal Fire ).
Hemel is famous (or perhaps notorious) for its "
Magic Roundabout " (officially called the Moor End roundabout, or "The Plough Roundabout" from a former adjacent public house), a huge interchange at the end of the new town (Moor End), where traffic from six routes meet. Traffic is able to circulate in both directions around what appears to be a main central roundabout (and formerly was such), with the normal rules applying at each of the six mini-roundabouts encircling this central reservation. It is a misconception that the traffic flows the 'wrong' way around the inner roundabout; as it is not in fact a roundabout at all, and as such no roundabout rules apply to it. Easy for locals, it presents a challenge for those who encounter it for the first time, and broken glass and plastic from minor collisions constantly decorate the road surface.
Hemel claims to have the first purpose built
Multi-storey Car Park in Britain. Built in
1960 into the side of a hill in the Marlowes shopping district, it features a giant humorous mosaic map of the area by the artist
Rowland Emett .
The new town centre is laid out alongside landscaped gardens and water features formed from the River Gade known as the Watergardens. The main shopping street, Marlowes, was pedestrianised in the early
1990s .
Hemel also was home of one of the first community based television stations
West Herts TV which later became
Channel 10
For many years the lower end of Marlowes featured a distinctive office building built as a bridge-like structure straddling the main road. This building was erected on the site of an earlier railway viaduct carrying the Hemel to
Harpenden railway, known as ''The
Nicky Line ''. When the new town was constructed, this part of the railway was no longer in use and the viaduct demolished. The office building, occupied by
BP , was designed to create a similar skyline and effect as the viaduct. In the early 1980s it was discovered that the building was subsiding dangerously and it was subsequently vacated and demolished. Adjacent to BP buildings was a unique double-helix public car park. The lower end of Marlowes is being redeveloped into the Riverside shopping complex, due for completion at the end of 2005. On
27 October 2005 , several of the retailers taking residence at the Riverside complex opened their doors, including
Debenhams and
HMV .
A few hundred metres away, overlooking the 'Magic Roundabout', is Hemel's tallest building; the 19-storey Kodak building.
The
Heathrow Airport holding area known as the
Bovingdon Stack lies just west of the town . On a clear day at peak times the sky above can be seen to be filled with circling aircraft.
- Nicholas Breakspear (c. 1100 - 1159 ), the only English Pope ( Adrian IV 1154 - 1159 ) was born in nearby Bedmond, a village between Hemel and Abbots Langley.
- Sir Francis Bacon - 1561 - 1626 was Lord Of The Manor of Gorehambury which included Hemel Hempstead from 1601 .
- Robert Snooks (abt. 1761 - 1802 ) Englands last highwayman was executed and buried here.
- Astley Cooper ( 1768 - 1841 ) English surgeon and anatomist. Lived at Gadebridge House, the grounds of which are now a public park.
- Joseph Cranstone , set up an engineering works in Hemel Hempstead in 1798. His son, also Joseph, built a steam coach in 1867 which he drove to London but which went disastrously out of control on Stanmore Hill on the return journey.
- John Dickinson 1782 - 1869 , inventor and founder of the paper mills at Apsley & Nash Mills which evolved into John Dickenson plc, built and lived at Abbots Wood, Nash Mills.
- Charles Longman , heir to the publisher Longmans and partner to John Dickinson , bought the Shendish estate in 1853 and built an impressive manor house there.
- Sir Arthur Evans , , ( 1851 - 1941 ) archaeologist, was born at "The Red House", Nash Mills.
- Lyn Harding ( 1867 - 1952 ) actor and film star lived at a house called Logandene in Tile Kiln Lane, Leverstock Green, Hemel Hempstead.
- Christopher Trace ( 1933 - 1992 ) first presenter of BBC TV's Blue Peter children's show lived for a time in Blacksmiths Row, Leverstock Green.
- Marianne Faithfull the pop singer was born here in 1946 .
- Roger Moore , actor, famous for his roles as The Saint and James Bond , lived in Tile Kiln Close, Leverstock Green, Hemel Hempstead in the 1960's.
- Paul Boateng MP, one of Britain's first black MPs, was at secondary school at Apsley Grammar School (now Longdean School).
- Bill Morris former leader of the TGWU , lived in Hemel Hempstead and still lives within the Borough of Dacorum.
- Dave Vanian (real name David Letts), the lead singer of The Damned , was born in 1956 and lived in Chaulden.
- Steven Wilson , multi-instrumental musician, singer, songwriter and Producer was born here in 1967 . His band Porcupine Tree was also formed in Hemel Hempstead around the year 1987 .
- Vinnie Jones , footballer and actor, is a local resident.
- Chris Eagles , footballer for Manchester United in the FA Premier League (currently on loan to Watford F.C. ) is from Hemel Hempstead.
- Anthony Davidson , Formula 1 driver was born here. Formula 1 drivers Christian Klien and Vitantonio Liuzzi live in Apsley.
Also born in Hemel were Oliver Low , and Alison Wheeler
To the north
To the south
To the east
To the west
- The nineteenth century mill town of Apsley now forms part of Hemel Hempstead.
{Link without Title} Edwards, Dennis F.(1994) ''Hemel Hempstead in old picture postcards'' European Library , ISBN 9028857974
Hemel Hempstead Directory of 1797 [http://www.hertfordshire-genealogy.co.uk/data/directories/directories-hemel-1797-des.htm - Early description of the town.
Description of Hemel Hempstead (1870-72), John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales.[http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=767460&word=NULL
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