Hatfield, Hertfordshire

Hatfield
Administration
District:Welwyn Hatfield
County:Hertfordshire
Region:East of England
Nation:England
Other
Ceremonial County:Hertfordshire
Traditional County:Hertfordshire
Postal County:Hertfordshire

Template:GBdot Hatfield is a town in Hertfordshire, England.

Contents

Politics & Administration

It is administered together with Welwyn Garden City as the Welwyn Hatfield district of Hertfordshire. Its MP is Grant Shapps.

Historical Development

Modern Development

Arms of Hatfield Rural District Council
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Arms of Hatfield Rural District Council

The town is the site of the original campus of Hatfield Polytechnic, which has since become the University of Hertfordshire. It is also the location of the first de Havilland aircraft factory with an associated airfield where airliners such as the Dove, Heron, Comet, Trident and HS146 were built. Production of the latter type was transferred to Woodford in Cheshire during the 1990s by which time it was known as the British Aerospace 146 "Whisperjet". An early bizjet, the DH125, was also developed here although mass production took place at Hawarden in Cheshire. Some components of wind turbines were also developed here prior to the airfield's closure.

Until the early 1990s British Aerospace maintained a substantial presence within the town. Their vacated premises and surrounding grounds served as a film set for some of the night-time scenes of the BBC/HBO television drama Band of Brothers, which followed on from significant use of the site in the filming of the Steven Spielberg movie Saving Private Ryan. Subsequently, a large section of the land was purchased by the University of Hertfordshire and the £120 million de Havilland Campus, incorperating a £15 million Sports Village, was opened in September 2003. The university has closed its sites at Watford and Hertford, and faculties situated there have been relocated to the de Havilland Campus. The university maintains its campus at St Albans, which houses law students.

In addition to the new university campus, part of the former BAe land will also be the site of a £500 million new hospital to replace the Queen Elizabeth II hospital in Welwyn. The university is looking to expand its Nursing and Physiotherapy departments to accommodate and utilise the extra facilities available to it. Redevelopment of Hatfield town centre is also planned for 2005, when a large part of the northern end of the town centre will be demolished and replaced with improved shopping facilities and public amenities.

Hatfield rail crash

The area contains the site of a fatal rail crash on October 17, 2000. The incident brought track maintenance deficiencies to public attention, to the severe detriment of Railtrack, the company established to manage rail infrastructure, and set in motion the events that led to its insolvency. It is five miles north of Potters Bar, scene of a later fatal train derailment.

Culture & Recreation

Hatfield has two swimming pools, two sports/leisure centers, one multi-screen cinema, a factory outlet shopping center called The Galleria and two supermarkets - ASDA in the town centre and Tesco at the northern end of the town. Hatfield is most famous for being the location of Hatfield House.

Nearby Towns

Namesakes

A number of places named after Hatfield can be found around the world:

For a full list and entomology of the name, see Hatfield.

The British 1970s rock band Hatfield and the North was named after the first road sign on the A1 motorway going North from London.

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