Harpenden

Harpenden
Harpenden
Population	30,000
OS grid reference	TL135145
District	St Albans;
Shire county	Hertfordshire;
Region	East;
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	HARPENDEN
Postcode district	AL5
Dialling code	01582
Police	Hertfordshire
Fire	Hertfordshire
Ambulance	East of England
UK Parliament	Hitchin and Harpenden;
	List of places UK England Hertfordshire

Harpenden is a town in the City and District of St Albans of Hertfordshire in the East of England. It lies on the A1081, between Luton and St Albans. Harpendens exceptionally high-performing schools and fast train links to the city of London make it a popular and extremely affluent commuter town; with an average house price of £500,000 and many properties up to £3 and £4 million it remains one of the most expensive places to live in the UK, outside of London. It boasts many boutiques and upmarket restaurants and cafes.

The town's total population is just under 30,000.^[1]

Geography and administration

There are two civil parishes: Harpenden and Harpenden Rural.

Harpenden railway station is on a fast rail link to central London served by First Capital Connect. Some of the trains stop at 'all stations' on the route, others stop at St Albans before continuing non-stop to London St Pancras International (Harpenden to St Pancras International - 25 minutes). Trains run north to Luton and Bedford. From London, the trains continue south to Brighton or Wimbledon and Sutton. The rail link gives direct access to London Luton Airport (one stop north) and London Gatwick Airport (approx 1hr 10 m on a limited stops train).

In common with much of the region, Harpenden is an area of extremely high property costs. Land Registry data indicates average house prices in St Albans District at £318,695 in the 3rd quarter of 2004, against a south east average of £227,991. Reliable data does not exist at the town level. More recent (unofficially collated) data suggests that the average house price in Harpenden in the 1st quarter of 2006 was £400,902 (against £287,277 for St Albans District generally, and £183,598 nationally). The data also indicates that an unusually high proportion of houses in Harpenden are owner occupied (81.4%, as opposed to 69.6% in the District generally, and 66.2% nationally).^[2]

The River Lea flows through the Batford neighbourhood. The Nicky Line railway used to link Harpenden, Redbourn and Hemel Hempstead. It has since been converted to a path forming part of the National Cycle Network. The A6 used to run through Harpenden, the road numbering was changed to avoid congestion. The M1 runs nearby.

Harpenden has a large number of its streets named for English literary figures on the East side of the town (an area known, unsurprisingly, as the Poet's Corner), including Byron Road, Cowper Road, Kipling Way, Milton Road, Shakespeare Road, Shelley Court, Tennyson Road, Townsend Road and Wordsworth Road.

History

Harpenden grew out of Westminster Abbey's gradual clearing of woodland for farming and settlement within its Wheathampstead manor, granted by Edward the Confessor in 1060. A first reference to a parish church is in 1221 (where it is referred to as Harpendene) so it is inferred that the town evidently grew up around then. The church of St Nicholas is the oldest known church in the town, originally built as a Chapel of ease in 1217.

Just beyond the southern edge of the town lies Nomansland Common (sometimes simply called "No Man's Land") upon which part of the Second Battle of St Albans were fought during the War of the Roses. Nomanland Common also saw the first annually contested steeplechase in England, in 1830 when it was organised by Thomas Coleman, and the last fight of nineteenth century bare-knuckle fighter, Simon Byrne. It was also the haunt of the highwaywoman known as "Wicked Lady".

Between 1848 and 1914 the common was a regular venue for horse racing. In his History of Hertfordshire in 1879, John Edwin Cussans commented "Notwithstanding that these meetings are under the most unexceptional patronage as regards the Stewards, yet for two days in the year all the London pickpockets, sharpers and blackguards who happen to be out of gaol are permitted to make Harpenden their own and to make travelling in a first-class carriage on the Midland Railway a danger to men and an impossibility to ladies."

The arrival of the railway and the sale of farms for residential development after 1880 radically changed Harpenden's surroundings.

Harpenden's most prestigious contribution to history is Rothamsted Manor and Rothamsted Research (formerly Rothamsted Experimental Station and later the Institute of Arable Crops Research), a leading centre for agricultural research. In front of its main building, which faces the common, is a stone, erected in 1893, commemorating 50 years of experiments by Sir John Bennet Lawes and Joseph Henry Gilbert.

Lawes inherited the family estate in 1834. Acknowledged as "the father of agricultural science", his early field experiments on Hertfordshire farms led him to patent a phosphate fertiliser, the sales of which enriched him immensely. With the proceeds, he established the experimental station, building laboratories in the 1850s. The station continued the development of the artificial fertilisers on which most modern farmers now depend. Some of the long-term 'classical field experiments' begun by Lawes and Gilbert remain in place to this day, representing a unique resource for agricultural and environmental research.

Parks and commons

One notable feature of Harpenden is its abundant parks and commons. The central area of Harpenden, known locally as "the village" is characterised by Church Green, Leyton Green and the High Street Greens, which give the town its provincial feel.

Just to the south of the town centre is Harpenden common, stretching from the shops in the town centre for more than a mile to the south, encompassing a total of 238 acres.

In addition the town has large green public spaces available in Rothamsted Park, Batford park, Kinsbourne Green, Lydekker park and the Nicky line which bisects the town.

Just to the south of Harpenden is the large expanse of Nomansland common.

Twinning

Harpenden is twinned with:

Miscellany

The Rothamsted Experimental Station is in Harpenden.
Sir John Lawes School, Roundwood Park School, and St. George's School, are all in Harpenden.
Youth With A Mission an international Christian missionary organization, has an estate in Harpenden. [3] This is on the site of the old National Children's Home.

Notable residents

Saracens and England Rugby player Andy Farrell
Red Dwarf actor and Robot Wars commentator Craig Charles
The visionary poet Ralph Chubb was born here in 1892.
Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy, involved in the Dreyfus affair lived here, in Milton Road, after his flight from France until his death in 1923.
Donald Coxeter one of the great geometers of the 20th century attended St. George's School, Harpenden.
Everest mountaineer, author, scriptwriter and director Matt Dickinson
Former Arsenal footballers Lee Dixon and Andy Linighan
Ronald Fisher, a statistician who almost single-handedly created the foundations for modern statistical science,[4] worked at Rothamsted Experimental Station.
Martin Gore from the band Depeche Mode
The great filmmaker Stanley Kubrick lived and died in nearby Childwickbury Manor.
Australian writer Henry Lawson lived in 'Spring Villa', Cowper Rd, Harpenden from July-September, 1900.
Late comedian Eric Morecambe lived in Harpenden (after whom the town hall is named), close to his beloved Luton Town FC. His funeral and burial took place in St. Nicholas Church in Harpenden town centre.
Albert Moses, an actor who starred in Mind Your Language playing Punjabi student Ranjeet Singh and a number of James Bond films, is a long standing resident of Harpenden.
Football commentator John Motson
Tim Rice, the composer, attended Aldwickbury School.
Vijay Michalik and Fraser Saville, the explosive surf duo who burst onto the extreme surf scene in 2000.
Christopher Strauli an actor who starred in Only When I Laugh and Full House was born in Harpenden.
Alternative musician Richard Youngs grew up in the town and recorded several albums there, especially Lake and Advent
Ken Brown, who played in the Ryder Cup and is now a commentator for major golf competitions such as the British Open
Frank Ifield, legendary Australian singer and yodeller lived in Harpenden
Guy Johnston Leading cello soloist and winner of BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2000

Sport

Harpenden is home to various sports clubs. Just a selection are listed below:

Gallery

Harpenden High Street, looking north
Harpenden High Street, looking north
Harpenden High Street, looking south
Harpenden High Street, looking south
Harpenden War Memorial
St Nicholas Church
Lydekker Park
Rothamsted Park

References

^ Hertsdirect.org, however, other sources suggest that the population is either higher,[1] or lower.[2]
^ Source. Part of the discrepancy is explained by the "top-heavy" nature of the Harpenden property market, which has a disproportionately high level of detached houses (40.8% in Harpenden, against a national average of 22.8%) and a disproportionately low level of flats (16.5% in Harpenden, against 19.2% nationally) and, slightly perplexingly, significantly fewer terraced houses (15.4% in Harpenden, against a national average of 26.0%).

External links

[1] Hertsdirect.org, however, other sources suggest that the population is either higher,[1] or lower.[2]

[2] Source. Part of the discrepancy is explained by the "top-heavy" nature of the Harpenden property market, which has a disproportionately high level of detached houses (40.8% in Harpenden, against a national average of 22.8%) and a disproportionately low level of flats (16.5% in Harpenden, against 19.2% nationally) and, slightly perplexingly, significantly fewer terraced houses (15.4% in Harpenden, against a national average of 26.0%).

[1]

[2]