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Harlow Leasing

Did You Know?

Harlow's sculptures are world famous and have led to the town being designated as a Sculpture Town. Harlow's sculpture trails boasts over 100 works by world famous artists such as Auguste Rodin, Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth.

There is some dispute as to where the place name Harlow derives from. One theory is that it derives from the Anglo-Saxon words 'here' and 'hlaw', meaning "army hill", probably to be identified with Mulberry Hill, which was used as the moot or meeting place for the district.

Harlow, new town and coextensive district, administrative and historic county of Essex, England. It was designated by British planners in 1947 as one of London's eight post-World War II new towns to promote the decentralization of the metropolis.

The town has many stories to tell. Not only is Harlow the birthplace of fibre optic telecommunications technology, it’s also the home of the first tower block in the country and the invention of the first automated cricket scoring board! 

The innovative development of Harlow New Town, by the renowned architect and master planner Sir Frederick Gibberd, was based on neighbourhoods and integrating green spaces which connect to the surrounding countryside and waterways. As a result, one third of Harlow is green space, with our nature Reserve at Parndon Wood.

Old Harlow is a historic village founded by the early medieval age and most of its high street buildings are early Victorian and residential, mostly protected by one of the Conservation Areas in the district. In Old Harlow is a field named Harlowbury, a de-settled monastic area which has the remains of a chapel, a scheduled ancient monument.

The original village, mentioned in the Domesday Book, developed as a typical rural community around what is now known as Old Harlow, with many of its buildings still standing. This includes for instance the Grade II listed St Mary's Church in Churchgate Street. 

Harlow has one of the most extensive cycle track networks in the country, connecting all areas of the town to the town centre and industrial areas. The cycle network is composed mostly of the original old town roads. The town's authorities built Britain's first pedestrian precinct, and first modern-style residential tower block, The Lawn, constructed in 1951; it is now a Grade II listed building.

Since becoming a new town, Harlow has undergone several stages of expansion, the first of which was the "mini expansion" that was created by the building of the Sumners and Katherines estates in the mid-to-late seventies to the west of the existing town.