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Baldock
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Baldock is a town in Hertfordshire, England where the River Ivel rises. It is in the local government district of North Hertfordshire.
Baldock was founded by the Knights Templar (also the name of the town's secondary school) in the twelfth century, indeed the word Baldock is believed to be a corruption of Baghdad, which the Templars would have visited during the crusades (However, some have suggested that the name is more likely to be derived from "Bald Oak", meaning a dead oak, and that Baghdad was not, in fact, visited by the Crusaders.) The modern layout of the town, and many buildings in the centre, date from the sixteenth century.
The town grew up where the old Great North Road and the Icknield Way crossed. Despite the construction of the A1(M) motorway in 1970 which bypassed the town, it was still a major traffic bottleneck until March of 2006 when a new bypass removed the A505 road (old Icknield Way) from the town. Due to its location, the town was a major staging post between London and the north, with many old coaching inns still operating as pubs and hotels, and has a surprising number of pubs considering its size.
The number of pubs becomes less surprising once the adjacent, much larger town of Letchworth Garden City is visited. Letchworth Garden City had no alcohol prior to 1958, and only two pubs plus a hotel bar were present up until the mid 1990s. Its larger population has for many years instead visited Baldock for refreshment.
There has been human activity on the site well before the modern town was founded. Many Roman remains have been discovered during building work in and around the town, and the site of the Roman settlement is located near the Hartsfield Primary School in the town. Earlier Iron Age remains have also been uncovered, as well as a medieval leper colony, located on Clothall Road (formerly Pesthouse Lane).
From 1808 to 1814 Baldock hosted a station in the shutter telegraph chain which connected the Admiralty in London to its naval ships in the port of Great Yarmouth.
An authoritative history of "Baldock's Middle Ages" (ISBN 0-905858-97-2) was complied by Vivian Crellin, a former headmaster of the Knights Templar School.
The character of Baldock will no doubt change considerably now that the bypass has opened, removing traffic which has passed from the A1 motorway to the A505 towards Royston and Cambridge. The bypass was opened on 16 March 2006.
Baldock was formerly the location of a Kayser Bondor ladies stocking factory (which temporarily produced parachutes during World War II), the Art Deco facade of which still stands — converted to a Tesco supermarket in the late 1980s. Another notable building in the town is the thirteenth century Baldock Parish Church of St. Mary. Malting and brewing were formerly major industries in the town, but apart from some light industry, today it is mostly a commuter town.
The town has excellent (and free) parking facilities, and the number of lorries passing through the town has now been cut down due to the new bypass. In the past few years, many businesses have shut down in Baldock.
- Baldock Beer Disaster
- Baldock Town F.C.