Jellicoe - Saving the Serpent
Hemel New Town was the third of the Mark 1 post-war sites to be designated as sites for New Towns. Geoffrey Jellicoe was awarded the commission to design the new town, both neighbourhoods and town centre in 1947. However, his ideas were not accepted and the New Towns’ Commission produced their own plan. After several years delay, Jellicoe was approached to draw up plans for the town centre gardens. These were executed and were much beloved. Unfortunately, the council allowed them to fall into decay and alarm bells were rung when they decided to build their new council block in the gardens themselves. This is the story of the gardens from rise to fall to resurgence today with the help of an Heritage Lottery Fund grant.
Time: 10:00 BST
