Garden Town Or Green Belt?

The countryside around the villages of Eastwick, Gilston and Hunsdon could change forever if plans for a new ‘garden town’ are approved

- Liz Hamilton

In bright February sunshine I explored countryside to the north of Harlow around the villages of Eastwick, Gilston and Hunsdon in East Herts. I set out from tiny Eastwick, where a church has stood above the floodplain of the river Stort since at least the 13th century. I climbed steadily on to higher ground to the north, while skylarks sang overhead. Soon the towers and chimneys of the house at Gilston Park came into view. Built in the 1850s to replace an Elizabethan building, the house has been converted into apartments.

When architect Sir Frederick Gibberd designed Harlow New Town, he envisaged the river Stort as the northern boundary to the built-up area, with a rural backdrop of the ‘Hertfordshire Hills’ beyond. The hills where I was walking felt increasingly remote as I headed north towards St Mary’s church at Gilston. The oldest parts of the church are 13th century, and it is renowned for its exceptionally well preserved medieval screen. In the 19th century old houses around the church were demolished and much of the village’s population migrated south to Pye Corner.