River Stort - Harlow
Thames Tributary River Stort
The Stort flows south west and is joined by Fiddlers Brook from the north west
Post to the north Pole Hill
Post to the west Burnt Mill Harlow
Edinburgh Way
In 1952 The Duke of Edinburgh visited what was then
Temple Fields Industrial Estate and thus the road was named. It was, and to some extent is, an area of
trading estates and some substantial factories – some of the longer established
are shown below. Much of the road now is full of garish burger and pizza bar,
cheap entertainment venues, ‘big shed’ retailers and such like.
The Kao-Hockham Building. Now the offices of Harlow Enterprise Hub, this was formerly Great Eastern House purchased by Harlow Council in 2006. It was built in the 1960s for Standard Telephones and Cables Ltd, the British telecommunications company dating from 1883. They had had laboratories in Harlow from the 1950s where in 1966, Charles Kao demonstrated that light rather than electricity could be used to transmit speech. Taken over by Nortel in 1991 who remained in site, but have recently sold the business.
Raytheon. They took over Cossor Electronics who had pioneered cathode ray tubes and later all sorts of TV, radio, radar etc. They moved to Harlow in 1958 in Edinburgh Place where the first British V.H.F. radios were made. In the late 1950s they moved to Elizabeth Way. In 1961 Cossor was acquired by Raytheon and they continue with Major advances in Radar.
Johnson Matthey Metals, opened in 1954 as the Harlow Metal Co. Their huge Harlow Plant was demolished and they seem no longer to have a presence in Harlow – although as a vast multinational there seems to be very few places where they don’t have a factory or two. Johnson Matthey has been involved with precious metals since 1817 at Hatton Garden where Johnson was in businesses as an Assayer with a gold refinery there in the 1830s –later moving into silver, nickel and much else, particularly platinum. They grew and grew and grew through the 20th. In 1953 Harlow Metal Co. Ltd. was formed to merge the company's mechanical production interests. It was a huge works – but the company histories never mention it.
OI – United Glass Containers, which originated partly as Key Glassworks in New Cross. United Glass had had the largest glass factory in Europe in Charlton, but high south London wages led to their move to Harlow. It is now owned by some American company but manufactures and markets glass containers in Britain from Harlow. The company also owns a silica-sand quarry in Scotland
Harlow Marsh
Marshgate Spring. The marshland is on the flat area near the railway with ditches and reed beds. Woodland slopes from the Queensgate Centre and contains springs that feed the marsh. There is oak, hornbeam, ash, hazel, and willow.
Queensgate Retail Centre
Glebelands
Contrapuntal
Forms, Sculpture by Barbara Hepworth commissioned for the Festival of Britain where
it stood outside the Dome of Discovery this is two blue limestone monoliths which
look very hard to vandalise.
School
Lane
Marsh
Gate Farm, was once called Redmells Farm. Timber-framed and weather boarded,
probably dates from the late 17th
Barn weather boarded, used by the Parks Dept. as a store and depot. Burnt down 2010.
Council Depot
The Stort flows south west and is joined by Fiddlers Brook from the north west
Post to the north Pole Hill
Post to the west Burnt Mill Harlow
Edinburgh Way
In 1952 The Duke of Edinburgh visited what was then
Temple Fields Industrial Estate and thus the road was named. It was, and to some extent is, an area of
trading estates and some substantial factories – some of the longer established
are shown below. Much of the road now is full of garish burger and pizza bar,
cheap entertainment venues, ‘big shed’ retailers and such like.The Kao-Hockham Building. Now the offices of Harlow Enterprise Hub, this was formerly Great Eastern House purchased by Harlow Council in 2006. It was built in the 1960s for Standard Telephones and Cables Ltd, the British telecommunications company dating from 1883. They had had laboratories in Harlow from the 1950s where in 1966, Charles Kao demonstrated that light rather than electricity could be used to transmit speech. Taken over by Nortel in 1991 who remained in site, but have recently sold the business.
Raytheon. They took over Cossor Electronics who had pioneered cathode ray tubes and later all sorts of TV, radio, radar etc. They moved to Harlow in 1958 in Edinburgh Place where the first British V.H.F. radios were made. In the late 1950s they moved to Elizabeth Way. In 1961 Cossor was acquired by Raytheon and they continue with Major advances in Radar.
Johnson Matthey Metals, opened in 1954 as the Harlow Metal Co. Their huge Harlow Plant was demolished and they seem no longer to have a presence in Harlow – although as a vast multinational there seems to be very few places where they don’t have a factory or two. Johnson Matthey has been involved with precious metals since 1817 at Hatton Garden where Johnson was in businesses as an Assayer with a gold refinery there in the 1830s –later moving into silver, nickel and much else, particularly platinum. They grew and grew and grew through the 20th. In 1953 Harlow Metal Co. Ltd. was formed to merge the company's mechanical production interests. It was a huge works – but the company histories never mention it.
OI – United Glass Containers, which originated partly as Key Glassworks in New Cross. United Glass had had the largest glass factory in Europe in Charlton, but high south London wages led to their move to Harlow. It is now owned by some American company but manufactures and markets glass containers in Britain from Harlow. The company also owns a silica-sand quarry in Scotland
Harlow Marsh
Marshgate Spring. The marshland is on the flat area near the railway with ditches and reed beds. Woodland slopes from the Queensgate Centre and contains springs that feed the marsh. There is oak, hornbeam, ash, hazel, and willow.
Queensgate Retail Centre
Glebelands
Contrapuntal
Forms, Sculpture by Barbara Hepworth commissioned for the Festival of Britain where
it stood outside the Dome of Discovery this is two blue limestone monoliths which
look very hard to vandalise.
School
Lane
Marsh
Gate Farm, was once called Redmells Farm. Timber-framed and weather boarded,
probably dates from the late 17th Barn weather boarded, used by the Parks Dept. as a store and depot. Burnt down 2010.
Council Depot
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