The Francis Frith Collection.
You are here: Home > Explore your past > England > Hertfordshire > Letchworth Garden City
2008 Christmas Gift Guide - great gifts for your family and friends

Letchworth Garden City

Letchworth Garden City photos (30 available)

Old photo of Letchworth Garden City

Letchworth Garden City maps (2 available)

Old map of Letchworth Garden City

Letchworth Garden City books (9 available)

Letchworth Garden City memories

Letchworth Childhood

Letchworth Garden City, the Paddling Pool, Howard Park c1950

Seeing the fountain in this picture brings back childhood memories from the 1950/60s of sailing boats up and down the paddling pool at weekends or when your parents took you down on a sunny afternoon. Summer fetes and funfair on the grass area between the paddling pool and Norton Way South, last but not least playing in the small wood behind the paddling pool before the Council cut it down and spoilt it!
Contributed by Ian Griffin

Hertfordshire memories

Letchworth Childhood

Letchworth Garden City, the Paddling Pool, Howard Park c1950

Seeing the fountain in this picture brings back childhood memories from the 1950/60s of sailing boats up and down the paddling pool at weekends or when your parents took you down on a sunny afternoon. Summer fetes and funfair on the grass area between the paddling pool and Norton Way South, last but not least playing in the small wood behind the paddling pool before the Council cut it down and spoilt it!
A memory of Letchworth Garden City contributed by Ian Griffin

Halsey's Delicatessen

Hitchin, St Mary's Church from Market Place 1908

Our grandparents used to visit Halsey's weekly from Old Stevenage to buy their provisions. Now I with my sister visit regularly especially as we love the new owners' Kirsty and Damien's Tea Room. We take our children for 'tea' there and they think it's a real treat! Christmas simply wouldn't be Christmas without our Christmas Pudding Coffee, and Wild Boar and Black Seal Rum Pate!
A memory of Hitchin contributed by sharon dudley

Hitchin

Hitchin, Cars c1965

The scene is the rear of The Sun Hotel.

Extracts From Letchworth Garden City & Hertfordshire books

Letchworth Garden City, St Mary's Church 1922

The name of the town of Letchworth appears to derive from 'lecha weorthig', 'the farm by the rivulet'. There is no mention of a church here at the time of Domesday, although there was woodland for 100 pigs. Robert Gernon held the manor, and his name is remembered in Gernon Road, home of the District Council Offices. St Mary's lies just off Letchworth Lane, some distance from the original town, but close to Letchworth Manor.
An extract from from"North and East Hertfordshire Photographic Memories".

Letchworth Garden City, Letchworth Hall Hotel 1922

King Edward I transferred the manor of Letchworth to the Knights Templar. When the order was dissolved in 1312, it passed to the Knights Hospitallers and eventually to the Lytton family of Knebworth. Some of the fabric of Letchworth Hall dates from the late 1400s, but most is the result of subsequent restorations, particularly that of the early 1700s. In 1796, Letchworth Hall was bought by John Williamson, a baker from Baldock. It was eventually purchased by the Garden City Pioneer Company in 1903, and opened as a hotel in 1904. A licence to sell alcohol was granted in 1935, enraging many of the Garden City's teetotal inhabitants.
An extract from from"North and East Hertfordshire Photographic Memories".

Letchworth Garden City, St Mary's Church 1924

The tiny flint-walled church of St Mary was rebuilt c1135, and is one of the smallest in the county. It is only 60ft long, and consists of a nave and a lower chancel. There is no tower, just a small bell turret which was added around 1500. A single bell of about 1370 survives, and is tolled regularly. The neatly tended graveyard stands as a testament to the many generations of Letchworth people who have worshipped here.
An extract from from"North and East Hertfordshire Photographic Memories".

Letchworth Garden City, St Paul's Church 1924

It is difficult to realise that the apparently remote St Paul's church now stands adjacent to a busy roundabout at the junction of Pixmore Way and Baldock Road. Construction was started in 1919 on this Gothic-style 'Victory' church designed by Arthur Heron Ryan-Tenison; the photograph shows St Paul's shortly after its consecration early in 1924. It is now an Evangelical church.
An extract from from"North and East Hertfordshire Photographic Memories".

Letchworth Garden City, Leys Avenue c1950

We are looking westwards along Leys Avenue; we can just see the last of the Georgian-style shops and flats in the distance. The more modern Burtons tailors breaks the line and starts the row of more traditional buildings with their fine pargetted gables. In front of the Morris 8 is parked what must be one of the last of Letchworth traders' hand carts.
An extract from from"North and East Hertfordshire Photographic Memories".