Harlow remained a village for many hundreds of years, until 1947 when it became one of the first places to be designated as a New Town following the passing of the New Towns Act 1946. In fact, it was the first place in Essex to receive this designation. The act was put in place following the Abercrombie Plan for London which recommended eight new towns on the outskirts of the capital, with the majority of the new residents relocating from the worst-hit areas following bombing during the Second World War.
The village was initially earmarked to become the centre of the new town, but the plans were altered as doing so would have meant the loss of some of its historic elements. The original Harlow is now called Old Harlow and is one of eleven wards of the modern-day Harlow New Town, whose town centre is situated a couple of kilometres to the west. The master plan for Harlow New Town was drawn up by Sir Frederick Gibberd with many of the original buildings designed by the leading architects of the time. He also wanted to have the finest works of art on display and this has led to Harlow currently having over 90 sculptures. In 2009 the local council voted to make Harlow the world's first 'Sculpture Town'.
In 1902 a company based in Old Harlow invented the world's first cricket scoreboard to feature revolving figures. The centre of the new town features Britain's first-ever pedestrianised precinct, and in 1951 Harlow became home to Britain's first residential tower block, called The Lawn. The building has nine residential floors, so is small compared to modern residential buildings, but it would have been quite impressive in its day. The town was once home to a company called Standard Telecommunications Laboratories which is recognised as the birthplace of fibre optic communications.
Gibberd's masterplan factored in many green spaces and as a result, one third of the town is parkland or fields. Many of these open spaces are referred to as 'Green Wedges' which were designed to separate the different areas of the town and of course to give residents access to natural spaces. The wedges are protected against further 'inappropriate' development through Harlow Council's 'Local Plan'. It is also well-known for its extensive cycle network (segregated and shared use) which connects all areas of the town, and of course provides residents with a viable alternative to driving.
The town's main green space is Harlow Town Park which was designed by Sir Frederick Gibberd and landscape architect Dame Sylvia Crowe. It is centred on Netteswell Cross which is a crossroads where the historic country lanes created a junction. While it is no longer a major thoroughfare, the roads themselves still exist as access for residents of the houses that line the road and for visitors to the park and The Greyhound pub which sits on the junction itself. This means the park is divided into compartments with the pre-war village houses and the pub effectively sitting within the boundaries of the park. Creating the park around the existing houses and pub was a purposeful design decision made by Sir Frederick.
The park was opened in 1957 and features a blend of formal gardens and natural spaces which have been landscaped into the beautifully undulating parkland. In total it now covers an area of 164 acres of former farmland and gravel pits, with much of it being land that was previously part of Spurriers House and Farm. Spurriers House still stands within the park and the ground floor is home to Spurriers House Cafe. Next to the house is a petting zoo called Pets Corner. Opened in 1966 it is home to traditional farm animals as well as alpacas, llamas, reindeer and some rare breed pigs. It is open to the public daily and is free-of-charge to enter. The park also contains a bandstand, adventure playground, outdoor gym, paddling pool, skate park and a footgolf course.
Elsewhere in the park there is a water garden, also known as Watercress Beds. This is made up of 3 cascading ponds, is home to much wildlife and features a Pisces sculpture. There are further garden areas dotted around the park, such as the walled garden, sensory garden, and the Miyawaki Forest (inspired by Japanese botanist Dr Akira Miyawaki and features a special planting method which is said to increase density and carbon dioxide absorption). There is also the Newfoundland garden - this was created to mark Harlow New Town's 50th anniversary and also Newfoundland's 500th anniversary. The two are twinned. The park is a multiple recipient of the green flag award which I hear it won 7 years in a row. It is also Grade II Listed which makes it one of only a handful of post-war parks to be granted this status.
In November 2014 the park became home to a free, weekly, timed 5km event called Harlow parkrun. It is open to all abilities and despite the name, there is no requirement to run - walking is a perfectly acceptable way to be part of the fun, as is taking part in a wheelchair, pushing a buggy or volunteering. I first visited this venue on Christmas Day 2015 with my daughter where we took part in event 61 with her in the running buggy. The write-up from that day can be found here: Harlow parkrun write-up 2015. We revisited on 20 July 2024 and took part in event 441. As the old write-up is a bit lacking in detail, I also took the opportunity to write this brand new one.
On both visits we travelled by car. The venue has a number of car parks, but the one that is closest to the parkrun meeting area is School Lane car park. However, please note that I have seen it referred to as The Greyhound Car Park and as Netteswell Cross Car Park. The sign at the entrance calls it the Town Park - School Lane Car Park. Parking at weekends is free for up-to two hours, but you must obtain a ticket from the onsite machine upon arrival. If staying for over two hours the fee as of July 2024 is a flat rate of £1.30. This can be paid at the machine, by text message or by using the MiPermit app. Should the car park(s) be full you may be able to find some on-street parking on some of the residential roads to the south of the park.
If travelling by train, the closest station is Harlow Town and this is conveniently located to the north of the park, just across the road. It is served by Greater Anglia services running out of London from Liverpool Street and Stratford, or in the other direction from Cambridge North, Bishop's Stortford and Stanstead Airport. The town also has plenty of bus services that stop alongside the park or at the train station. For anybody taking advantage of the town's cycling infrastructure, the only proper bicycle racks I spotted are located outside the cafe building. It looks like most people secure their bikes to a tree near the start.
The toilets can be found adjacent to the Pets Corner Playground, which is located in the north-west section of the park, but still quite central. When we visited they were open well in advance of the parkrun start time, but the exact opening times weren't on display or on the park's website. The only information given was a sign that read 'seasonal opening periods only to be advised'. The meeting point for the parkrun is located immediately to the southeast of the School Lane car park, which is in the southeastern section of the park, but again is quite central. If walking between the toilets and the start, there is a brief section walking along Park Lane and School Lane where you can walk through the car park to reach the meeting point.
The parkrun takes place over a 3 lap anti-clockwise course which takes place entirely in the northeast section of the park. The first two are full laps with each being 2.1 kilometres in length, while the third lap is much smaller at just 600 metres. The remaining 2 x 100 metres can be found during the start and finish leg. Underfoot is almost entirely tarmac paths with the exception of an extremely short sandy path that cuts across the grass about halfway through each of the two full laps. The course that was in use during my first visit was a little different and featured a lot more grass, but that one has now been retired in favour of the current course, which I understand was first introduced as the winter course. I'd say that choice of footwear is pretty easy with regular road shoes being the first choice all year round. While the course is largely flat, it does undulate a little and my GPS data reported an elevation gain of 42 metres.
With the first timers' and the main briefings complete, the participants line up on the main central path facing northwards. The start area is on a medium-width path which has no over-spill area, so once the parkrun is underway it can take 20-30 seconds or so for everyone to get moving. The opening 200 metres are also on a slightly uphill path, which meanders around into the northeast section. There is a section of the opening path that clearly feels like a country lane and this is the original Netteswell Road which has now been incorporated into the park. This heads eastwards where the immediate vicinity has an open grass area to the left.
The next part of the course is the beginning of what is effectively an out-and-back section which starts with a swooping down-then-up section which goes through an underpass and into the adjacent area known as Glebelands Wood. On the way out there is a sharp right hand turn onto what could be described as an uphill zig-zag and at the top the course continues to head further into the wood. The far end of this section is marked by not a U-turn, but a V-turn. The route then heads back via a slightly different path before swooping back through the underpass and returning into the main part of the park. The very short non-tarmac path is found here as the course transfers onto the opposite side of the open grass field and the returns to tarmac.
This path naturally leads around past the outdoor gym and then past the park's adventure playground (not the same one that I mentioned earlier). The remaining section of the lap has a slight incline as it passes alongside the Harlow Town Footgolf course which opened in April 2024. Once past the Footgolf, there is a bridge to cross called 'Brooks Bridge'. This has a very strong link to the parkrun as it has been named after a man called Spencer Brooks who sadly passed away in early 2020. He was a popular and well respected parkrunner and member of the wider local running community. In fact, at time of writing, the event that was held in his honour on 8 February 2020 still holds the record as Harlow parkrun's largest turnout with 416 finishers.
Once across the bridge there is a short, but narrow, uphill path which completes the lap. The second lap is identical to the first and the third lap starts the same but swings to the left at the very beginning of the open grass field where it joins the last section of the course at the outdoor gym, past the adventure playground, footgolf course and across the bridge. Once all three laps have been completed, the route turns right after the bridge and all that's left is the final 100 slightly downhill metres back around to the original meeting area where the finish can be found. Barcode scanning takes place on the path immediately after the finish line. I recorded the course using my Garmin and the GPS data can be viewed via my Strava account. This data was also used to create a Relive course fly-by video and that can be viewed on my YouTube channel.
The course is very well marked out with cones and arrows in all the right places. There are also plenty of marshals stationed at various points around the course. Some of the paths are on the narrow side, so if you are lapping or being lapped just remember to keep an eye out for each other. It can be quite a squeeze at times. As far as attendance figures are concerned, Harlow parkrun generally attracts an average of around 280 participants in good conditions, with occasional weeks surpassing the 300 mark. When we visited on 20 July 2024 the attendance figure was 258 with 25 people credited in various volunteer roles. The results were published later that morning.
The post-parkrun refreshments are held over at Spurriers House in the park's cafe where you will find all the usual cafe-style options and plenty of indoor and outdoor seating. It is worth bearing in mind that the parkrun course only covers one section of the park, and I would recommend taking a bit of time to explore the other areas as there are some really lovely spots to find. Sadly we didn't have enough spare time to go into the petting zoo, but I'm putting it at the top of my list for next time. A huge thank you goes to all the volunteers who made the event possible and made us feel very welcome.
Related Links:
- My Harlow parkrun GPS data (20 July 2024)
- The Relive course fly-by video (20 July 2024)
- My Harlow parkrun GPS data (25 December 2015) (old course)
- The Essex parkrun venues (blog7t)
