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Norton Common

LetchworthLocal Nature Reserves in HertfordshireNorth Hertfordshire DistrictParks and open spaces in Hertfordshire
Trees on a snowy Norton Common geograph.org.uk 404206
Trees on a snowy Norton Common geograph.org.uk 404206

Norton Common is a 25.7-hectare park and Local Nature Reserve in the centre of Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire. It is owned and managed by North Hertfordshire District Council, and the declaring authority is Hertfordshire County Council.The common has diverse wildlife including wildflowers in meadows, and black squirrel, muntjac deer, and birds such as chiffchaff and blackcap in woodland. The Pix Brook, which is fed by mineral-rich springs, provides areas of marshland.Facilities provided at the Common include an outdoor swimming pool, bowling green, tennis courts and a skateboard arena. There is access from Icknield Way.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Norton Common (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Norton Common
Pix Brook Court, North Hertfordshire Jackmans Estate

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Latitude Longitude
N 51.985277777778 ° E -0.22666666666667 °
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Norton Common

Pix Brook Court
SG6 1FG North Hertfordshire, Jackmans Estate
England, United Kingdom
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Trees on a snowy Norton Common geograph.org.uk 404206
Trees on a snowy Norton Common geograph.org.uk 404206
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Letchworth
Letchworth

Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2021 census was 33,986. Letchworth was an ancient parish, appearing in the Domesday Book of 1086. It remained a small rural village until the start of the twentieth century. The development of the modern town began in 1903, when much of the land in Letchworth and the neighbouring parishes of Willian and Norton was purchased by a company called First Garden City Limited, founded by Ebenezer Howard and his supporters with the aim of building the first "garden city", following the principles Howard had set out in his 1898 book, To-morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform. Their aim was to create a new type of settlement which provided jobs, services, and good housing for residents, whilst retaining the environmental quality of the countryside, in contrast to most industrial cities of the time. The town's initial layout was designed by Raymond Unwin and Barry Parker. It includes the United Kingdom's first roundabout, Sollershott Circus, which was built c. 1909. The layout for Letchworth incorporates extensive parkland and open spaces, including Norton Common and Howard Park. A takeover of First Garden City Limited in 1960 led to significant changes in how the company managed the town, which were opposed by the residents and local council who wanted the original garden city ideals retained. They secured an act of parliament which transferred ownership of the estate from the company to a public sector body, the Letchworth Garden City Corporation, in 1963. The corporation in turn was replaced by a charitable body in 1995, the Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation, which owns and manages the estate today. Letchworth today retains large business areas providing jobs in a variety of sectors, and the landlord's profits are reinvested for the benefit of the community by the Heritage Foundation. The town lies 32 miles (51 km) north of London, on the railway linking London to Cambridge, and it also adjoins the A1 road, making it relatively popular with commuters. Residential areas in the town are mixed; large parts of the town are included in conservation areas in recognition of their quality, but the town also contains four of the five poorest-scoring neighbourhoods in North Hertfordshire for deprivation. As the world's first garden city, Letchworth has had a notable impact on town planning and the new towns movement; it influenced nearby Welwyn Garden City, which used a similar approach, and aspects of the principles demonstrated at Letchworth have been incorporated into other projects around the world including the Australian capital Canberra, Hellerau in Germany, Tapiola in Finland and Mežaparks in Latvia.

Howgills, Letchworth Garden City
Howgills, Letchworth Garden City

Howgills in Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire, England, is a Grade II listed building on the Register of Historic England in use as a Meeting House for the Society of Friends (Quakers). Howgills was built on South View in 1907 to a free-style Arts and Crafts design by Robert Bennett (1878–1956) and Benjamin Wilson Bidwell (1877–1944), typical with this firm of architects, although it is thought the design is mostly by Bidwell, a Quaker himself. Associates of Parker & Unwin who were closely connected with the Garden City Movement, Bennett and Bidwell opened an office in Letchworth in 1907 and over the next thirty years went on to design many distinctive buildings in the town. The construction was undertaken by local builders Palmer & Ray. The Meeting House with its large, galleried wood-panelled central meeting room is based on Briggflatts in Cumbria and was named after the Howgill Fells that surround that hall. The building is of two storeys with an irregular façade of three bays with a projecting entrance in the centre bay with a gable roof. The brick chimneys stacks are tall with moulded caps, while the stack on the front façade has weathered offsets. The walls have a roughcast surface while the casement windows with leaded lights sit within stone surrounds. The entrance arch is recessed and has boarded double-doors. The carved timber inscriptions over the entrance hall and meeting room fireplaces are apparently early work by Eric Gill. The decorative copper plaque in the porch is in the Art Nouveau style and reads: "THIS BUILDING ERECTED 1907 IS THE GIFT OF JULIET RECKITT TO THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS". One of Letchworth Garden City’s most distinguished and unique early buildings, Howgills was commissioned by Juliet E. Reckitt, the philanthropic niece of the Hull industrialist Sir James Reckitt; she had moved to Letchworth in its early days and allowed the local Society of Friends (Quakers) to meet in the large Meeting Room in the building. In 1913 she donated Howgills to the Quakers while maintaining a flat for herself within the building. In 1934 she also helped with finance when the Society of Friends decided to purchase the freehold.The horror writer W. F. Harvey was a member of the congregation. His funeral service was held at Howgills before his burial in the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin in Old Letchworth.Howgills has been a Grade II listed building on the Register of Historic England since 1979.