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Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2021 census was 33,990. Letchworth was an ancient parish, appearing in the Domesday Book of 1086.
- International Garden Cities Exhibition
- Howard Park
- Broadway Cinema and Theatre
- Norton Common
- Broadway Studio & Gallery
- Broadway Gardens
- Standalone Farm
- Spirella Building
- Church of St Mary
- Hitchin Lavender
The lovely Arts and Crafts drawing offices for Letchworth’s chief architects have become a kind of visitor centre for the town and a the Garden City movement. Here you can explore Letchworth’s influence on town-planning around the world, get to know Ebenezer Howard, learn the finer details about the philosophy behind Letchworth and just how the tow...
Named for Ebenezer Howard, Letchworth’s main park remains true to his ideals. This green space, brimming with facilities, is a mainstay of the town, with large convivial lawns and secluded areas tucked away among mature trees for reading and relaxing. There’s a refreshments kiosk, an up-to-date play area and a massive paddling pool, along with form...
In a regal Art Deco building, the Broadway Cinema opened in 1936 with a black-tie screening of the Astaire and Rogers movie Follow the Fleet. Over the last 20 years, to move with the times, the building was updated to a four-screen cinema, while its opulent Art Deco interiors have been sympathetically restored. Of course you can catch all the lates...
Right in the middle of Letchworth is more than 60 acres of untouched woods and meadows threaded by the little Pix Brook. Norton Common has won the Green Flag award for the last five years, thanks to its high level of maintenance, as well as facilities like an outdoor pool (more later), tennis courts, bowling greens, a floodlit multi-use games area,...
In the Arcade between Station Road and Leys Avenue, the Broadway Studio and Gallery is a superb art attraction offering a platform for local talent but also staging some big-hitting exhibitions for a town of Letchworth’s size. In the last few years there have been shows for the German artist/nature photographer Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932), printmak...
The centre of Letchworth feels rather grand at this square/formal garden that was redesigned on the town’s 100th anniversary in 2003. During this work an imposing fountain was placed at the southern end, which looks great against the backdrop of the Edwardian Baroque town hall to the north. The gardens have neatly clipped hedges, herbaceous borders...
Children will be big fans of this farm park on Letchworth’s outskirts, open February to November. All the farmyard favourites can be found at Standalone Farm, like goats, ponies, horses, pigs, chickens cows, as well as llamas There are lots of opportunities for little ones to get involved, feeding pigs, lambs and goats, grooming ponies, watching co...
The Spirella Corset Company established this Arts and Crafts-style factory in Letchworth in three phases from 1912 to 1920. Chiming with the Utopian ideals of the Garden City, Spirella laid on a host of amenities for its employees, like a library, ballroom, showers, baths and a gymnasium, while providing free eye tests and bicycle repairs. The fact...
A sign of how small Old Letchworth used to be, the Church of St Mary was the parish church until 1903, measuring only 18 metres long. This is the oldest building in the area, dating back to the 1100s and constructed on the foundations of a Saxon church. A cute detail is the timber-framed bellcote over the west end, which houses a bell cast in the 1...
The countryside on Letchworth’s west shoulder is heart-melting in July when some 25 miles of lavender rows come into bloom. The neighbouring market town of Hitchin has a storied lavender tradition, going back to the 16th century. In the 19th century this provided lavender oil for Ransoms, the oldest independent pharmaceutical company in the UK. Que...
As the world’s first Garden City, Letchworth Garden City offers something quite different, with its unique heritage and some interesting places to explore. Planned to combine the best of town and country living, there’s plenty to see and do, whether you’re here for the day or stopping longer.
Letchworth, town (parish), North Hertfordshire district, administrative and historic county of Hertfordshire, east-central England. It is located north of London, about 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Luton. Britain’s first planned “garden city,” much copied elsewhere, it was founded in 1903 by Sir.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Letchworth Garden City (more commonly Letchworth) is a town of 34,000 people (2021) in Hertfordshire. Letchworth was the first city built under the "Garden City" plan to combine the best elements of city and country living.
Letchworth was the world's first Garden City, founded by Ebenezer Howard in 1903 based on the ideas he outlined in his 1898 book To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path To Real Reform. Nearly five years after he published his vision of Garden Cities, the first foundations were laid in October 1903 at Letchworth Garden City, in Hertfordshire.
Letchworth Garden City holds a very special place in modern British history. As the first garden city in the world, its neatly planned streets, attractive cottage housing and wide green spaces offered an alternative to the squalor of urban life in early 20th century Britain.
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