Hemel Hempstead is still known as a ‘New Town’ although it isn’t so new anymore. In 1949, to accommodate the rapid growth of the London population after the Second World War, it was decided by the government of the day to build a series of ‘new towns’ in the vicinity of London. Hemel Hempstead became a New Town , along with the likes of Milton Keynes and Stevenage. Now, 60 years later, Hemel Hempstead is a thriving town of over 80,000 people with a wide variety of industries and a modern and growing shopping centre.
Although Hemel Hempstead as we know it is a recent development its history goes right back to the 8th century. In the book, The History of Hemel Hempstead, by the Hemel Hempstead Local History and Records Society it says, Hemel Hempstead itself first enters the written records in the eighth century when lands in the district of Hamele were granted by Offa, King of Essex, to the Bishop of London in A.D.705. The word Hempstead itself probably simply means ‘homestead’.
Hemel remained a small hamlet right through to the times of the Tudors when Henry VIII granted a royal charter to make it a market town and he is said to have stayed here overnight with his wife of the time, Anne Boleyn. This gave the town some credibility and it began to grow a bit after that.
Today, its most famous landmark has nothing to do with royalty and is in fact a… roundabout known far and wide as, the magic roundabout, no doubt as a homage to the children’s TV programme of the same name. The ‘Magic Roundabout’ is not in fact one roundabout, it’s a series of mini roundabouts around one big central one.
Its official name, which it is never called, is the Plough roundabout! Handy to know for the SAT NAV users!
On first encountering the magic roundabout it can look a bit confusing and some older drivers have been known to drive a long way to avoid having to use it! However, once you get used to it, it is actually a very clever piece of road building and planning and there are hardly ever any accidents at this roundabout, which I suppose adds weight to those who say that we should remove more signs and instructions from our roads and allow the motorists to use their heads more.
Hemel has benefitted from its location and it has excellent rail links into London and north to Birmingham and beyond through Milton Keynes. It also sits right beside the M1 and is 10 minutes from the M25 which means that both Luton and Heathrow airports are within half an hour’s drive (on a good day!)
There are rumours that Hemel is set for another big growth spurt as the government comes under pressure to build more affordable homes around London but so far nothing has been confirmed. Let’s hope that if the rumours do have substance that Hemel’s many parks and wooded areas will remain untouched and that any development will concentrate on brown field sites.
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