Bennetts End

Last updated

Bennetts End
Bennetts End shopping parade.jpg
Bennetts Gate Neighbourhood Shopping Centre
Hertfordshire UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Bennetts End
Location within Hertfordshire
Population5,904 (2011 Census. Dacourum Ward) [1]
OS grid reference TL072059
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Hemel Hempstead
Postcode district HP3
Dialling code 01442
Police Hertfordshire
Fire Hertfordshire
Ambulance East of England
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Hertfordshire
51°44′32″N0°26′57″W / 51.742193°N 0.449064°W / 51.742193; -0.449064 Coordinates: 51°44′32″N0°26′57″W / 51.742193°N 0.449064°W / 51.742193; -0.449064

Bennetts End is a neighbourhood within Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, England. It is located in the southeast of the town and consists almost entirely of public housing built as part of the new town in the 1950s. It was the second neighbourhood to have construction commenced by the New Town corporation, after the nearby Adeyfield.

Contents

History

The area was mostly farmland up until the construction of the new town. The name first appears as a farmstead owned by "Roger de Beneyet" around 1269. [2] Old maps show Bennetts End Farm and Bennets End House as the only nineteenth century buildings. A local industry, dating back to medieval times, was tile and brick making which used the local brickearth clay. This is particularly suitable for making bricks at the low temperatures achievable in wood fired kilns. Local street names " Tile Kiln Lane " and "Kiln Ground" remember this activity. The area has many dells, hollows in the ground dug out by the brickmakers or by farmers seeking the deeper chalk to spread on their land and make them more fertile. [3]

Just before the First World War, Bennetts End was chosen as the location for Hemel Hempstead's isolation hospital, construction of which commenced in 1914. [4] The hospital, on St Albans Hill had a total of 45 beds, and was used to isolate patients with infectious diseases until its closure in 1952. [5]

Hemel Hempstead officially became a New Town on 4 February 1947. The initial plans for the New Town were drawn up by architect G. A. Jellicoe. Bennetts End was the second district to commence construction which began in 1951 and by autumn 1952 300 houses were occupied. The architect who planned its 821 acres (3.32 km2) was Judith Ledeboer. Consideration was made to keep it separate from existing areas such as Corner Hall with open public space. [6]

Post war new town housing in Bennetts End Kiln Ground Bennets End.jpg
Post war new town housing in Bennetts End

Amenities

A feature of the new town was a number of local neighbourhood shopping centres in addition to the main town centre. In Bennetts End this became the Bennetts Gate shopping centre, which faces competition from several major retail outlets in the town centre. The first shops opened at the Bennetts Gate shopping centre in 1954; until then, mobile vans served the district. [6] A purpose built pub, 'The Golden Cockerel' was also opened in 1954. [6] A smaller parade of shops at the bottom of Barnacres Road called 'The Denes' opened in 1955. Housing is mostly brick built two and three-bedroom terraced houses. The notable curved terrace called Long John, designed by Geoffry Jellicoe and partners has a hint of Georgian style. [6]

The secondary school serving the area is Longdean School, formed in 1970 from Apsley Grammar School and Bennett's End Secondary Modern School. There are several primary schools.

There was a dry ski slope in Bennetts End for many years. This has been replaced by The Snow Centre an Indoor skiing centre in 2009. [7] The structural design engineer for The Snow Centre was the serving Bennetts End Councillor, Suqlain Mahmood.

Related Research Articles

Berkhamsted Town in Hertfordshire, England

Berkhamsted is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, in the Bulbourne valley, 26 miles (42 km) northwest of London. The town is a civil parish with a town council within the borough of Dacorum which is based in the neighbouring large new town of Hemel Hempstead. Berkhamsted and the adjoining village of Northchurch are surrounded by countryside, much of it in the Chiltern Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

Hemel Hempstead Town in Hertfordshire, England

Hemel Hempstead is a town in Hertfordshire, England, located 24 miles (39 km) northwest of London, and part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population, according to the 2011 Census, was 97,500.

Apsley, Hertfordshire Human settlement in England

Apsley was a 19th-century mill village in the county of Hertfordshire, England. It is a historic industrial site situated in a valley of the Chiltern Hills. It is positioned below the confluence of two permanent rivers, the Gade and Bulbourne. In an area of little surface water this was an obvious site for the location of water mills serving local agriculture. Today it is a suburb of the larger town of Hemel Hempstead.

Dacorum Local government district in England

The Borough of Dacorum is a local government district in Hertfordshire, England that includes the towns of Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, Tring and the western part of Kings Langley. The district, which was formed in 1974, had a population of 137,799 in 2001. Its name was taken from the old hundred of Dacorum which covered approximately the same area. It is the westernmost of Hertfordshire's districts, being bordered to the west by the Chiltern and Aylesbury Vale districts of Buckinghamshire.

West Green, West Sussex Human settlement in England

West Green is one of the 13 residential neighbourhoods in Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England. Crawley was planned and laid out as a New Town after the Second World War, based on the principle of self-contained neighbourhoods surrounding a town centre of civic and commercial buildings. West Green was the first neighbourhood to be developed, and is one of the smallest and closest to the town centre.

Adeyfield Human settlement in England

Adeyfield was the first planned neighbourhood to be built in the postwar new town expansion of Hemel Hempstead, in the English county of Hertfordshire. The keys to the first houses to be occupied, in Homefield Road, were handed over to their tenants in February 1950. The Queens Square shopping parade was visited by Queen Elizabeth II on 20 July 1952, to lay the first foundation slab of St. Barnabas Church.

River Gade

The River Gade is a river running almost entirely through Hertfordshire. It rises from a spring in the chalk of the Chiltern Hills at Dagnall, Buckinghamshire and flows through Hemel Hempstead, Kings Langley, then along the west side of Watford through Cassiobury Park. After passing Croxley Green it reaches Rickmansworth, where it joins the River Colne. For its whole course the Gade is unnavigable.

Boxmoor Human settlement in England

Boxmoor is part of Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire. It is within the district of Dacorum and comprises mainly 19th-century housing and meadowland, with transport links from London to the Midlands. At the 2011 Census, the population of Boxmoor was included in the Dacorum ward of Bovingdon, Flaunden and Chipperfield.

<i>Hemel Hempstead Gazette & Express</i>

The Hemel Hempstead Gazette & Express is a local newspaper in the United Kingdom that covers the towns of Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted and Tring and the surrounding area in Hertfordshire.

Woodhall Farm Human settlement in England

Woodhall Farm is a neighbourhood on the northern tip of Hemel Hempstead in the county of Hertfordshire. It was built on the former Brocks Fireworks site.

Felden Human settlement in England

Felden is a semi-rural neighbourhood of Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, situated to the south west of the town, close to the railway station. At the 2011 Census the population of the neighbourhood was included in the Dacorum Ward of Bovingdon, Flaunden and Chipperfield.

Primary schools in Dacorum

This article gives brief information on schools that cater for pupils up to the age of 11 in the Dacorum district of Hertfordshire, England. Most are county maintained primary schools, sometimes known as "junior mixed infant" (JMI). A small number are voluntary aided church schools or independent (fee-paying). The Local Education Authority is Hertfordshire County Council.

Warners End is a neighbourhood or district of Hemel Hempstead, a new town in Hertfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census the population of the District was included in the Chaulden and Warner's End ward of Dacorum Council. It was the fourth of the new districts built during the expansion of Hemel Hempstead into a new town with work on its construction commencing in 1953.

Great Gaddesden Human settlement in England

Great Gaddesden is a village and civil parish in Dacorum Hundred in Hertfordshire, England. It is located in the Chiltern Hills, north of Hemel Hempstead. The parish borders Flamstead, Hemel Hempstead, Nettleden and Little Gaddesden and also Studham in Bedfordshire.

Fields End Human settlement in England

Fields End is a hamlet to the North West of Hemel Hempstead, just beyond Warner's End on Boxted Road, in Hertfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census the population of the hamlet was included in the Dacorum ward of Chaulden and Warner's End.

Chaulden

Chaulden is a residential district in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England located west of the town centre and bordering on open countryside. It was an early development in the construction of Hemel Hempstead new town, commenced in 1953 and has its own neighbourhood shopping centre.

Highfield, Hertfordshire Human settlement in England

Highfield is a neighbourhood district in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. It was constructed on a green field site as part of the construction of the postwar newtown expansion of Hemel Hempstead. It is located north of the old town centre. It is most likely named from Highfield House which still exists, although ultimately derived from an old field name which reflects the altitude of the district which reaches 469 feet above sea level. At the 2011 census the population of the district was included in the civil parish of Hazlemere

Gadebridge is a district of Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, UK, located north west of Hemel Hempstead old town. It was developed from land that once formed part of Gadebridge House in the 1960s and centres on the Rossgate shopping parade. Gadebridge Park is the largest green space in Hemel Hempstead. A major Roman villa was discovered here at the time of its development. The population of the Dacorum ward at the 2011 Census was 5,655.

Berkhamsted Town Hall

Berkhamsted Town Hall is a municipal building in the High Street, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England. It is a Grade II listed building.

Old Town Hall, Hemel Hempstead

The Old Town Hall is a municipal building in the High Street, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. The town hall, which was the meeting place of Hemel Hempstead Borough Council, is a Grade II listed building.

References

  1. ↑ "Dacorum Ward population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  2. ↑ "The Street Names of Hemel Hempstead (A-G)". HemelToday. 2009. Retrieved 21 November 2009.[ dead link ]
  3. ↑ Yaxley, Part 1 Chapter 1 The Rural landscape. Especially Figure 1
  4. ↑ Yaxley, Part 1 Chapter 7 The Twentieth Century
  5. ↑ The National Archives Hospital Records Database , Accessed January 2009
  6. 1 2 3 4 Hemel Hempstead – The Story of New Town Development. Fletcher,Lynne ; Hastie, Scott; (1997).. Dacorum Borough Council. ISBN   0951153927.
  7. ↑ Ski centre gets go-ahead Hemel Hempstead Gazette, , 15 December 2006
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.