About Hemel Hempstead
Hemel Hempstead wears two faces, and both are worth knowing. There's the ancient market town, going back more than 1,300 years, with a charming Old Town of cobbled streets, period buildings, and the parish church of St Mary's in Gadebridge Park, regarded as one of the most complete Norman churches in Hertfordshire. Then there's the post-war new town, designated in 1949 to take London's overspill, which gave the place its distinctive layout of self-contained neighbourhoods and its unmistakable modern character. Henry VIII granted the town its royal charter and market rights back in 1539, and the settlement grew wealthy first on the grain trade and later on John Dickinson's paper mills, powered by the clean water of the local rivers.
The new town spread out into a ring of residential districts, each built in its own phase. Adeyfield came first in 1949, followed by Bennetts End, Chaulden, Grovehill, Woodhall Farm on the old Brock's fireworks factory site, and Boxmoor and Apsley to the southwest, both of which grew up around the railway and the Grand Union Canal. Apsley Marina, built in 2003, brought the canalside back to life. Wealthier pockets like Felden sit in the semi-rural south west, while Gadebridge Park and the Water Gardens give the town centre generous green space.
Of course, no description of Hemel is complete without the Magic Roundabout, officially the Plough Roundabout at Moor End, where six mini-roundabouts loop around a central island and traffic can flow both ways. Opened in 1973, it looks like chaos to newcomers and works remarkably well once you're used to it. The town is also home to The Snow Centre, the UK's largest indoor real-snow slope. Economically, Hemel leans on light and heavy engineering, IT, and telecoms firms drawn by its position on the motorway network, with the Maylands Avenue business area and the Buncefield oil terminal to the east. Strong commuter links into London via Boxmoor station and quick access to the M1 and M25 make it a busy, well-connected place, and busy roads are exactly where a mobile tyre service proves its worth.