Celebrating & Protecting the Finest Garden City's Heritage

Welwyn Garden City (WGC), as its name suggests, is a garden city, founded by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the 1920s following his previous experiment in Letchworth Garden City, and designed by Louis de Soissons. Howard had called for the creation of new towns of limited size, planned in advance, and surrounded by a permanent belt of agricultural land, as a role model for lower-density urban development. Howard believed that such Garden Cities were the perfect blend of city and nature.

In Welwyn Garden City he achieved his aim, creating the icon of modern town design and the blue-print for many new towns the world over.

Despite this iconic status, Welwyn Garden City like all modern towns comes under constant development pressure.  In a  planning application submitted in November 2005 to knock down original Handside Village houses in Bridge Road in order to create a new housing development, the council received over 200 objections, many citing the historical significance of these houses.  This proves that there is a groundswell of opinion that the heritage of the town should be protected and furthermore celebrated.

Rather than simply coming together at ad-hoc times (such as to object to undesireable planning) many thought that a more permanent celebration and defence of the Heritage of Welwyn Garden City was necessary.

This site is therefore dedicated to the protection and celebration of the heritage of Welwyn Garden City and to provide a rallying point for all those interested in its heritage.  Please register with us (free) if you would like to participate in any way (actively or passively) or simply to indicate support of our aims.