Welwyn Garden City (WGC), as its name suggests, is a garden city, founded by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the 1920s following his previous experiment in Letchworth Garden City, and designed by Louis de Soissons. Howard had called for the creation of new towns of limited size, planned in advance, and surrounded by a permanent belt of agricultural land, as a role model for lower-density urban development. Howard believed that such Garden Cities were the perfect blend of city and nature.
Read more: Celebrating & Protecting the Finest Garden City's Heritage
Welwyn Garden City is a garden city, founded by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the 1920s following his previous experiment in Letchworth Garden City, and designed by Louis de Soissons.
The Shredded Wheat factory in Welwyn Garden City is still a landmark, despite being much reduced. It was opened by the 4th Marquess of Salisbury on March 16th 1926. The Welwyn Garden City News – forerunner of the Welwyn Hatfield Times – reported the ceremony at length. Lord Salisbury, who had sold some of his land to Ebenezer Howard for the new City, declared that the factory was “a splendid augury of what was coming”.
In the second of our regular Welwyn Hatfield Times columns delving into WGC's past, the WGC Heritage Trust looks at housing in the early days of the second Garden City.
In this, the Queen's Platinum Jubilee year, Welwyn Garden City Heritage Trust looks back on the day when Queen Elizabeth II opened the new hospital named after her in the third of their regular columns delving into WGC's past.
Read more: Queen's secret revealed on trip to open QEII Hospital
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