Pre Roman, Roman and Anglo Saxon remains have been found in the area but very little history is known about Hemel Hempstead.
Originally this area was known for its cereal growth and in the 18th century the grain market in Hemel was the country’s largest.
In the 16th and 17th centuries the area was mostly common land.
In 1647 the local court decided that it would be good for the area to have a wool market and the courtroom loft was used for the sales.
In the 19th century brickmaking, paper production and straw plaiting were the main sources of employment, later it became a watercress growing area.
On the hills near Boxmoor is a grass common known as Rough Down. Several of the houses in Hemel have a six inch plaque on the wall that means they have grazing rights on the common. Every year these are sold for 7s 6d allowing people to graze one animal for a year.
In 1946 Hemel was designated to become a ‘New Town’ mainly to house Londoners whose houses had been bombed and for those living in a slum area that was due to be cleared. The first estate was at Langlands and was started in 1949 the first people took up residence in early 1950.
Development of the town started in 1952 and 10,000 people wanted to move to Hemel. In 1959 the M1 motorway was opened to the east of the town and a new road laid connecting town to motorway.
Hemel Hempstead is a busy but unspoilt town and the area is well wooded with mainly horse chestnut trees. It is believed that the town and surrounding area is not over built or populated due to the fact that the nearest station is one and a half miles away at Boxmoor.
In Hemel there are municipal buildings, in the High Street, of red brick and stone these are the Corn Exchange and a Literary Institute. In the same road are some old cottages Keen’s Place. These are white painted brick and timber buildings. There are several very old inns in town one of them being The Kings Arms. Other old buildings in the town are the public Hall in George Street built in 1898 and the Police Station that was erected in 1895.
In town was Brocks the makers of fireworks. They employed a large amount of staff until they closed in the l970’s.
Hemel Hempstead is now a town with light and heavy engineering and telecommunication firms. Some of the local companies include BP Oil, B.T. Dixons, Epson, Fujifilm, Kodak and Xerox Office Supplies.
The Jarman Park Leisure Centre is home to an eight film cinema, bowling alley, ice rink, water park, and nightclubs. A MacDonalds and Tesco superstore were built on land originally for recreational use.
There is always a good supply to properties to rent in Hemel Hempstead with prices from £475 - £625pcm for a 1 bed flat, £659 - £850pcm for a 2 bed flat and £850 - £1200pcm for a 3 bed house.
There are two main shopping centre in Hemel, The Marlow Centre has such shops as Wilkinson, New Look, Top Shop, Anne Harvey, Burtons, Adams and Bay Trading. The Riverside Centre has Peacocks, T.K.Maxx and Monsoon.
A branch of the Midland Railways has a terminus at Hemel Hempstead.
Hemel is well known for its ‘Magic Roundabout’. There are mini roundabouts around the outside where the traffic coming from six directions meet and what seems to be another in the centre. The vehicles seem to be going both ways round the centre but in actual fact it is not a central roundabout and therefore no roundabout laws apply.
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