Hemel Hempstead: One of England’s First ‘New Towns’
New towns were built to try to accommodate more people, as London’s population grew. Hemel Hempstead is one such town, and also has the dubious title of being the first town to build a multi-storey car park.
Thankfully today peer-to-peer parking spaces are taking over, to end these horrible monstrosities.
Once named ‘England’s ugliest town’, things are looking up, as it’s fallen off the list in a recent Telegraph survey (the ugliest town is now Slough in Berkshire, with Lewes in Sussex the prettiest).
Hemel Hempstead is also home to the Plough Roundabout, opened in 1973. It did not prove popular, bringing traffic to a stop, due to letting motorists turn left or right. Thankfully a new Dutch-style roundabout is soon to be built here instead, giving priority to walkers and cyclists.
This town was known once as the ‘heavenly home of hemp’, due to Dutch settlers growing this eco-friendly material to make rope (Hemel is the Dutch word for heaven’). Hemp is only slightly related to cannabis, and won’t get you high. It grows organically, and can replace wood for paper and wool for fabric.
The Buncefield Oil Explosion
In 2005, a local oil factory exploded, with a blast so powerful it was heard in France, Belgium and The Netherlands. Considered the largest fire in Europe since World War II, it was a miracle no-one was killed. And proves just how dangerous the oil industry is. The explosion even registered as a mini earthquake.
The giant black smoke cloud could be seen over all of southern England, and the fire injured 40 people and damaged 2000 homes. All caused by a single failed safety switch, which caused a tank to overflow with 300 tonnes of petrol.
It was only due to the explosion happening on Sunday morning, that it was not worse. The damages exceeded £1 billion, and the firefighting foam (which contains ‘forever chemicals’) were used so much, it has caused long-term contamination of local groundwater.
