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Stevenage

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For other uses see Stevenage (disambiguation)
Borough of Stevenage
Stevenage is located in the United Kingdom
Stevenage
 Stevenage
Shown within Hertfordshire
Stevenage skyline
Stevenage skyline
Geography
Status: Borough
Region: East of England
Admin. County: Hertfordshire
Area:
- Total		 Ranked 342nd
25.96 km²
Admin. HQ: Stevenage
Grid ref: TL2424
ONS code: 26UH
Demographics
Population:
- Total (2022)
- Density		 Ranked

/ km²
Ethnicity: 92.5% White
3.0% S.Asian
1.7% Black
1.7% Mixed Race
1.1% Chinese or other[1]
Politics
Stevenage Borough Council
http://www.stevenage.gov.uk/
Leadership: Leader & Cabinet
Executive:  
MP: Barbara Follett

Stevenage is a town and district in Hertfordshire, England. It is to the east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), and is between Letchworth Garden City to the north, and Welwyn Garden City to the south.

Its population was 1,430 in 1801, 4,049 in 1901 and 79,724 in 2001. The largest increase occurred in the 1950s and 1960s after becoming a new town. However, to be more accurate Stevenage was a new town - created just after the Second World War under the New Towns Act of 1946.

Place-name meaning

Stevenage may derive from Old English stiþen āc / stiōen āc / stithen ac (various Old English dialects cited here) meaning '(place at) the strong oak'.

The name was recorded as Stithenæce, c.1060 and Stigenace in 1086 in the Domesday Book.

History

The present site of Stevenage lies near a Roman road that ran from Verulamium to Baldock. Some Romano-British remains were discovered during the building of the New Town, and a hoard of 2,000 silver Roman coins was discovered in 1986 during new house building in the Chells Manor part of Stevenage. The most substantial evidence of activity from Roman times are the Six Hills, six tumuli by the side of the old Great North Road - presumably the burial places of a local family.

A little to the east of the Roman sites the first Saxon camp was made in a clearing in the woods. This is where the church, manor house and the first village were later built. Similar settlements sprang up in the nearby areas of Chells, Broadwater and Shephall.

In the Domesday Book, its Lord of the Manor was the Abbot of Westminster. The settlement had moved down to the Great North Road and in 1281 it was granted a Royal Charter to hold a weekly market and annual fair (still held in the High Street).

The earliest part of St Nicholas Church dates from the 12th century, but it was probably a site of worship much earlier. The known list of priests or rectors is relatively complete from 1213.

The remains of a medieval moated homestead in Whomerley Wood is an 80 yard square trench almost 5 feet wide in parts. It was probably the home of Ralph de Homle, and both Roman and later pottery has been found there.

For a description of the medieval manorial records, and details of Stevenage's history from the Tudor period to the Victorian era - see the external history link.

In 1281 Stevenage was granted a twice weekly market and an annual fair. Both were probably held in the wide part of the present High Street to the north of Middle Row. The High Street is closed for an annual fair even today.

Around 1500 the Church was much improved, with decorative woodwork within, and with the addition of a clerestory.

It was in the 16th century (1558) that Thomas Alleyne founded the free grammar school — the school (now a comprehensive school) still exists on its original site at the north end of the High Street. Francis Cammaerts was headmaster of the school from 1952 to 1961.

Stevenage's prosperity came in part from the North Road, which was turnpiked in the early 18th century. Many inns in the High Street served the stage coaches, 21 of which passed through Stevenage each day in 1800.

In 1857 the Great Northern Railway was constructed, and the era of the stage coach had ended. Stevenage grew only slowly throughout the 19th century and a second church (Holy Trinity) was constructed at the south end of the High Street. In 1861 Dickens commented "The village street was like most other village streets: wide for its height, silent for its size, and drowsy in the dullest degree. The quietest little dwellings with the largest of window-shutters to shut up nothing as if it were the Mint or the Bank of England."

In 1928, Philip Vincent bought the HRD Motorcycle Co Ltd out of receivership, immediately moving it to Stevenage and renaming it the Vincent HRD Motorcycle Co Ltd. He produced the legendary motorcycles, including the Black Shadow and Black Lightning, in the town until 1955.

Modern Stevenage

This slow growth continued until, after the Second World War, the Abercrombie Plan called for the establishment of a ring of new towns around London. It was designated the first New Town on 1 August 1946, and was planned with six self-contained neighbourhoods. The first two of these to be occupied were the Stoney Hall and Monks Wood "Estates" in 1951. Next to be built and occupied was Bedwell in 1952 - The Twin Foxes pub was Stevenage's first "new" public house and is still situated in the Bedwell estate. The public house was named after local notorious identical twin poachers (Albert Ebenezer and Ebenezer Albert Fox). Next came Broadwater and Shephall (1953), then Chells in the 1960s and later Pin Green and Symonds Green. Another area, (currently under construction) is Great Ashby, which will be completed in 2008.

At least two other public houses are worth mentioning, for they have got a direct relationship to local history: The name of the pub "Edward the Confessor"(closed 2006) could have a connection to the time in which the St Mary Church in nearby Walkern was built, for King Edward ruled from 1042 until his death in 1066. Walkern's village church dates from this time. The second pub with a strong bond to local history seems to be the "Our Mutual Friend" in Shephall, for the name of the pub is the title of a novel by Charles Dickens. Dickens was at some occasion guest to Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton in nearby Knebworth House, and for that reason he knew Stevenage very well.

pedestrianised town centre
cycle track in roundabout
Old town high street

The pedestrianised town centre was the first purpose built traffic-free shopping zone in Britain, and was officially opened in 1959 by the Queen. By the clock tower and ornamental pool is Joyride, a mother and child sculpture by Franta Belsky. Although revolutionary for its time, the town centre is showing signs of age and in 2005 plans were revealed for a major regeneration due to take place over the next decade. Details are still being debated by the council, landowners and other interested parties.

Next to the Town Gardens, the Church of St George and St Andrew is an example of modern church design, and houses Stevenage Museum in its crypt.

A distinctive feature of Stevenage is its urban landscape. It has many roundabouts, few traffic lights, a network of cycle tracks, and some of the tallest street-lights in Britain. Fairlands Valley is a large area of parkland with boating lakes. The town is a very green town, with avenues of trees (typically Norway Maple) throughout but also large woods such as Monks & Whomerley Wood, which is ancient semi-natural woodland. Indeed in the UK it is only matched for the ease of access to large woodland by places such the Forest of Dean (Woodland Trust data). There are also many playing fields (e.g. St. Nicholas playing fields near Ripon Road). The town's schools all have a substantial amount of ground; key examples are Ashtree Primary School, Moss Bury Primary School, Longmeadow Primary School and Barnwell.

Stevenage has a King George's Field in memorial to King George V.

In the old town centre of Stevenage, next to St Nicholas Church, in the parochial house there, called Rooksnest ("under the big wych-elm") the novelist Edward Morgan Forster lived from 1884 to 1894. Stevenage later acquired a monument through him, when he had Rooksnest in mind as a role model for the setting of his novel Howards End. In the preface of one paperback edition of Howards End, there is a lot to be found about landmarks of Stevenage and their relationship to the story of the novel, such as the Stevenage High Street and the Six Hills.

Also close to Stevenage is Knebworth House, a gothic stately home and venue of globally well-known rock concerts since 1974. The house was once home to Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Victorian English novelist and spiritualist, who, as reported by one of his visitors, was so deep in the belief of spiritual realities that he sometimes thought himself to be invisible while others were around.

The Stevenage Leisure Centre contains the Gordon Craig Theatre and many facilities for sports. The nearby Stevenage Leisure Park has a multiplex cinema, clubs and restaurants. The main shopping area is around Queensway and the Westgate. At the south of the town there is a retail park called Roaring Meg, named after the river that runs under it. The river can be seen along the western edge of the area. There is also shopping in the Old Town.

In 1999 a millennium countdown clock was mounted on the town centre clock tower, displaying the time remaining until the year 2000.

Adjoining the residential parts of the town is the Industrial Area. For many years, British Aerospace (now MBDA) was the largest employer in the town, but now GlaxoSmithKline has a large pharmaceutical research laboratory complex (which is known as 'The Palace' to many of its inhabitants). A smaller but interesting enterprise is Astrium which has for some decades manufactured spacecraft, both as prime contractor and equipment supplier. There are many small to medium size firms as well.

The town is still growing, is set to expand west of the A1(M) motorway and may be further identified for development depending on the outcome of the Examination In Public of the Regional Spatial Strategy. The main area of recent development is Great Ashby to the northeast of the town (but actually in North Herts District).

Stevenage Borough F.C., the town's major football team, plays in the Football Conference and is based at Broadhall Way, grid reference TL24412279. Stevenage Borough F.C. won the 2007 FA Carlsberg Trophy beating Kidderminster 3-2 at Wembley Stadium. It was the first competitive club game and cup final to be held at the new stadium.

Stevenage holds a number of annual events, including the Stevenage Town Show (formerly Stevenage Day), Rock in the Park and Stevenage Carnival.

Transport

Stevenage is served by the A1(M) motorway, taking traffic both north and south. It is also served by the smaller A602 road taking traffic southeast, meeting the A10 road at Ware.

It is also served by Stevenage railway station, sitting on the East Coast Mainline. As such regular trains to London are available.

Famous inhabitants

Schools

Many schools were built in the 1950s/60s due to a massive rush of Londoners to affordable terraced housing in areas such as Shephall, Broadwater, Chells and St Nicholas. The town has around 23 primary schools (see below). Some go to the surrounding villages for schools in Aston, Benington, Walkern, Datchworth. Stevenage also has a number of secondary schools.

Primary schools

Local

  • Camps Hill
  • Round Diamond (Relocated)
  • Lodge Farm
  • Martins Wood
  • Giles
  • The Leys
  • Moss Bury
  • Trotts Hill
  • Bedwell
  • St Vincent de Paul RC
  • Pin Green (now closed)
  • Almond Hill & Letchmore Rd
  • Ashtree
  • St Nicholas C of E
  • Featherstone Wood
  • Broom Barns
  • Fairlands
  • Peartree Spring
  • St Margaret Clitherow RC
  • Roebuck
  • Longmeadow
  • Shephalbury Park Primary School (amalgamated with Shephall Green Infant School, September 2005, now closed)
  • Woolenwick

Nearby

  • Walkern
  • Aston St Mary's C of E
  • Graveley
  • Benington C of E
  • Weston
  • Knebworth JMI

Special Needs schools

  • Larwood
  • Lonsdale
  • Redemption Academy
  • Greenside
  • The Valley School
  • Barnwell (containing the VIBase for the Visually impaired pupils and the SPLD Base for Pupils with specific learning difficulties)

Secondary schools

In Stevenage

  • Barnwell School Barnwell, SG2 9SW (September 2006 Barnwell school took in the students from Collenswood School after the closure of the school students now remain on two sites: Barnwell East and Barnwell West)
  • The Barclay School, Walkern Rd, Stevenage, SG1 3RB
  • The Heathcote School Shephall Green, Stevenage, SG2 9XT
  • John Henry Newman RC (a specialist arts school) Hitchin Road, Stevenage, SG1 4AE
  • Marriotts School (a sports college), Telford Avenue, Stevenage, SG2 0AN
  • The Nobel School, Mobbsbury Way, Stevenage, SG2 0HS
  • The Thomas Alleyne School, High Street, SG1 3BE

Places of worship

Stevenage has an active network of churches of many denominations. Many of the churches work together for town-wide projects under the banner of "Churches Together in Stevenage". Stevenage also has a mosque.

Some of the churches are listed here:

Town twinnings

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stevenage.

51°54′N 0°12′W / 51.900°N 0.200°W / 51.900; -0.200

  1. ^ http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=276996&c=stevenage&d=13&e=13&g=455858&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1206877561799&enc=1&dsFamilyId=1812
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