Hatfield, Hertfordshire

Hatfield is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, in the borough of Welwyn Hatfield. It had a population of 29,616 in 2001, and is of Saxon origin. Hatfield House, the home of the Marquess of Salisbury, is the nucleus of the old town. From the 1930s when de Havilland opened a factory until the 1990s when British Aerospace closed, Hatfield was associated with aircraft design and manufacture, which employed more people than any other industry. Hatfield was one of the post-war New Towns built around London and has much modernist architecture from the period. The University of Hertfordshire is based there. In 2000, there was a fatal rail crash on the line that runs through the town from London to York, in which four people lost their lives. Hatfield is 20 miles north of London. A train service runs directly from Hatfield Station to Kings Cross, taking approximately 20 minutes on the fast service.

Early history
In the Saxon period Hatfield was known as Hetfelle, but by the year 970, when King Edgar gave 5000 acre to the monastery of Ely, it had become known as Haethfeld. Hatfield is mentioned in the Domesday Book as the property of the Abbey of Ely, and unusually, the original census data which compilers of Domesday used still survives, giving us slightly more information than got into the final Domesday record. No other records remain from that time until 1226, when Henry III granted the Bishops of Ely rights to an annual four-day fair and a weekly market. The town was then called Bishop's Hatfield. Hatfield House is the seat of the Cecil family, the Marquesses of Salisbury. Elizabeth Tudor was confined there for three years in what is now known as "The Old Palace" in Hatfield Park. Legend has it that it was here in 1558, while sitting under an oak tree in the Park, that she learned that she had become Queen following the death of her half-sister, Queen Mary I. She held her first Council in the Great Hall (The Old Palace) of Hatfield. In 1851, the route of the Great North Road (now the A1000) was altered to avoid cutting through the grounds of Hatfield House.

The town grew up around the gates of Hatfield House. Old Hatfield retains many historic buildings, notably the Old Palace, St Etheldreda's Church and Hatfield House. The Old Palace was built by the Bishop of Ely, Cardinal Morton, in 1497, during the reign of Henry VII, and the only surviving wing is still used today for Elizabethan-style banquets. St Etheldreda's Church was founded by the monks from Ely, and the first wooden church, built in 1285, was probably sited where the existing building stands overlooking the old town.

Aerospace industry
In 1930 the de Havilland airfield and aircraft factory was opened at Hatfield and by 1949 it had become the largest employer in the town, with almost 4,000 staff. It was taken over by Hawker Siddeley in 1960 and merged into British Aerospace in 1978. In the 1930s it produced a range of small biplanes. During the Second World War it produced the Mosquito fighter bomber and developed the Vampire, the second British production jet aircraft after the Gloster Meteor. After the war, facilities were expanded and it developed the Comet airliner (the world's first production jet liner), the Trident airliner, and an early bizjet, the DH125.

The Harrier Pub (formerly The Hilltop) is actually named after the Harrier Bird, not the aircraft, hence the original pub sign of a Harrier Bird.

British Aerospace closed the Hatfield site in 1993 having moved the BAe 146 production line to Woodford Aerodrome. The land was used as a film set for Steven Spielberg's movie Saving Private Ryan and most of the BBC/HBO television drama Band of Brothers. It was later developed for housing, higher education, commerce and retail. Part of the former British Aerospace site was intended to be the site of a £500 million new hospital to replace the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Welwyn GC and a new campus for Oaklands College, but both projects were cancelled.

Today, Hatfield's aviation history is remembered by the names of certain local streets and pubs (e.g. Comet Way, The Airfield, Dragon Road) as well as The Comet Hotel (now owned by Ramada) built in the 1930s. The de Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre, at Salisbury Hall in nearby London Colney, preserves and displays many historic de Havilland aeroplanes and related archives.

New Town
After the Second World War, Hatfield was designated a New Town under the New Towns Act 1946 (and the earlier Abercrombie Plan for London in 1944), forming part of the initial Hertfordshire group with nearby Stevenage, Welwyn Garden City and Letchworth. The Government designated 2340 acre for Hatfield New Town, with a population target of 25,000. (By 2001 the population had reached 27,833. ) The Hatfield Development Corporation, tasked with creating the New Town, chose to build a new town centre, rejecting Old Hatfield because it was on the wrong side of the railway, without space for expansion and "with its intimate village character, out of scale with the town it would have to serve." They chose instead St Albans Road on the town's east-west bus route. A road pattern was planned that offered no temptation to through traffic to take short cuts through the town and which enabled local traffic to move rapidly about the town.

Hatfield retains New Town characteristics, including much modernist architecture of the 1950s and the trees and open spaces that were outlined in the original design. The redevelopment of the town centre is being planned, involving the construction of 275 flats and retail units. Planning permission has been granted and compulsory purchase orders have been approved.

Governance
Hatfield is part of Welwyn Hatfield borough council in the county of Hertfordshire. It is a civil parish and has a town council. It is twinned with the Dutch port town of Zierikzee. Hatfield is part of the Welwyn Hatfield constituency, which includes Welwyn Garden City. The MP for Welwyn Hatfield is Grant Shapps, (Conservative).

Climate
Hatfield experiences an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb) similar to almost all of the United Kingdom.

Culture and recreation


Hatfield has a nine screen cinema, a factory outlet shopping centre situated above the A1(M) called The Galleria and two supermarkets - Asda in the town centre and Tesco at the northern end of the town.

Sport
Hatfield Town F.C. in Non-League football plays at Gosling Sports Park.

The town also has one public swimming pool and two sports/leisure centres.

Education
Hatfield contains numerous primary and secondary schools, including The Ryde School, St. Philip Howard Catholic Primary School, Onslow St Audrey's School and Bishops Hatfield Girls School and the independent day and boarding girls' school Queenswood School.

The University of Hertfordshire is based in Hatfield. A large section of the airfield site was purchased by the University and the £120 million de Havilland Campus, incorporating a £15 million Sports Village, was opened in September 2003. The university has closed its sites at Watford and Hertford; faculties situated there have been moved to the de Havilland Campus.

Places of interest

 * College Lane Campus and de Havilland campus of the University of Hertfordshire.
 * Hatfield House.
 * Mill Green Museum and watermill.
 * The Galleria.
 * Hatfield Business Park, former de Haviland plant, later became Base Systems Hatfield and was used for the filming of Saving Private Ryan(film) and Band of Brothers (TV series).

Notable businesses

 * EE (Head office; formerly T-Mobile)
 * Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce & Industry
 * Image2Output
 * Ocado (Head office)
 * David Lloyd Leisure (Head office)

Transport
Hatfield is 20 mi to the north of London. It is 14 mi from London Luton Airport and also near to Stansted airport The A1(M) runs through the town and it is close to the M25.

The East Coast railway line from London to York runs through the town and separates the old and new parts of Hatfield. A 22-minute commuter service connects Hatfield railway station to London Kings Cross.

There was a fatal rail crash at Hatfield in 2000, which brought track maintenance deficiencies to public attention. A garden beside the East Coast Main Line was built as a memorial for the crash victims.

Famous residents

 * Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury.
 * Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, Prime Minister.
 * Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury.
 * Robert Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury lived at Hatfield House.
 * Queen Elizabeth I (Hatfield Old Palace) lived at Hatfield House.
 * George Stephen, 1st Baron Mount Stephen lived at Brocket Hall
 * Michael Birch, Founder of the social network BEBO lived in Hatfield.
 * Sanjeev Bhaskar lived in Hatfield whilst studying at the University Of Hertfordshire.
 * Barbara Cartland, romance novelist lived in Hatfield.
 * Mick Taylor, Rolling Stones guitarist lived in Hatfield (1969–74).
 * Babe Ruth, a 1970s rock band came from Hatfield
 * Martin Carthy, Folk Musician - was born in the town
 * Matthew Connolly, Current QPR defender - lived in Hatfield and attended Primary School there too.
 * Donovan, Donovan Leitch- the famous folk singer came from Hatfield
 * Iain Dowie, Former West Ham player, QPR manager & BBC Pundit - was also born and brought up in the town, and once studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Hertfordshire
 * Jack Olding (Henry John Douglas Olding), came from Hatfield. He is known for founding Jack Olding & Co. Ltd (now defunct).
 * Colin Blunstone of The Zombies lived in Hatfield.
 * David Kossoff, broadcaster and father of Paul Kossoff of the '60s rock band Free lived in Hatfield.
 * Steve Lewins, Member of the American Blues bands The Bishops and the Fly Jugband, who toured with Motörhead, was born in the town and as of present still resides there.
 * Rodney Marsh, QPR football star is from here.
 * Reginald Maudling, Cabinet Minister lived in Hatfield.
 * Guy Ritchie, Film director famous for Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was born in Hatfield
 * Tracey Thorn, lead singer of Everything But The Girl.
 * Derek Martin, actor known for his portrayal of Charlie Slater in EastEnders.
 * Duncan James, member of British boy band Blue lived in Hatfield.
 * LH Sumanadasa Learned to Fly at Hatfield and worked there.