Harlow

Some Neolithic and Bronze Age finds have been found in the area, with more substantial evidence of occupation from the late Iron Age onwards. Excavations at the Iron Age mound at Stanegrove Hill have additionally found some features from the Paleolithic era, and evidence that flint tools were made at the site during the Mesolithic era. In Roman times, Harlow was the site of a small town. As well as the temple at Stangrove Hill, a Roman villa stood to the north of Old Oak Way.

Following the Second World War, the government adopted a policy of building new towns as part of the post-war reconstruction. The new towns were intended to ease overcrowding in London and other bomb-damaged towns and cities. Their modern housing estates and separate industrial areas were also designed to allow for subsequent population growth and to give industries which relocated to the new towns room to grow. The New Towns Act 1946 set the legislative framework for building the new towns. Harlow was formally designated as a new town on 25 March 1947. It was the fourth such new town to be designated, after Stevenage, Crawley, and Hemel Hempstead. The masterplan for Harlow was drawn up in…