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==History== In the early tenth century Hatfield belonged to a ''vir potens'' (powerful man) called Ordmær and his wife Ealde, who may have been the grandfather of King [[Edward the Martyr]]. Sometime between 932 and 956 he exchanged the town for land in Devon with [[Æthelstan Half-King]], who then gave it to his sons. King [[Edgar, King of England|Edgar]] seized the land when he became king on 959, claiming that Ordmær and Ealde had bequeathed it to him, but Æthelstan's sons recovered it after Edgar died.<ref>{{cite book| first=Cyril|last=Hart |title=The Danelaw|page=586 |publisher=The Hambledon Press |location = London, UK|year=1992|isbn= 978-1-85285-044-9 }}</ref> Hatfield is recorded in [[Domesday Book]] of 1086 as the property of the Abbey of Ely, and unusually the original census data that compilers of Domesday used survives, giving us slightly more information than in the final Domesday record.<ref>''Hatfield And Its People'', Workers Educational Association, 13 vols., 1959–1966</ref> No other records remain until 1226, when [[Henry III of England|Henry III]] granted the [[Bishop of Ely|Bishops of Ely]] rights to an annual four-day fair and a weekly market. The town was then called [[Bishop's Hatfield]]. Hatfield House is the seat of the [[Marquess of Salisbury|Cecil]] family, the Marquesses of Salisbury. [[Elizabeth I|Elizabeth Tudor]] was confined there for three years in what is now known as The Old Palace in Hatfield Park. Legend has it that she learnt here of her accession as queen in 1558 while sitting under an oak tree in the Park. She held her first Council in the Great Hall (The Old Palace) of Hatfield. In 1851 the route of the Great North Road (now the A1000) was altered to avoid cutting through the grounds of Hatfield House. {| |[[File:Hatfield St Etheldreda.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|[[St Etheldreda's Church, Hatfield|St Etheldreda's Church]] in [[Old Hatfield]].]] |} The town grew up around the gates of Hatfield House. Old Hatfield retains many historic buildings, notably the Old Palace, [[Æthelthryth|St Etheldreda]]'s Church and [[Hatfield House]]. The Old Palace was built by the Bishop of Ely, [[John Morton (archbishop)|Cardinal Morton]], in 1497, during the reign of [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]], and the only surviving wing is still used today for Elizabethan-style banquets. [[St Etheldreda's Church, Hatfield|St Etheldreda's Church]] was founded by the monks from Ely, and the first wooden church, built in 1285, was probably sited where the existing building stands overlooking the old town. The church of St Etheldreda, well situated towards the top of the hill, contains an Early English round arch with dog-tooth moulding, but for the rest is [[English Gothic architecture#Decorated Gothic|Decorated]] and [[English Gothic architecture#Perpendicular Gothic|Perpendicular]] and largely restored. The chapel north of the chancel is known as the Salisbury chapel and was erected by [[Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury]], who was buried here. It is in a combination of classic and Gothic styles. In a private portion of the churchyard is buried, among others of the family, [[Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury]].<ref>{{EB1911 |wstitle=Hatfield |volume=13 |page=62 |inline=1}}</ref> ===Aerospace industry=== [[File:Hatfield, The Comet hotel - geograph.org.uk - 209701.jpg|thumb|The Comet; the carving of the pillar is by [[Eric Kennington]]; the aircraft is not the original ]] In 1930 the [[de Havilland]] [[Hatfield Aerodrome|airfield and aircraft factory]] was opened at Hatfield and by 1949 it had become the largest employer in the town, with almost 4,000 staff.<ref name=brett/> It was taken over by [[Hawker Siddeley]] in 1960 and merged into [[British Aerospace]] in 1978.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://hatfieldaviationheritage.co.uk/hatfield-aerodrome/ |title=Hatfield's Aviation Heritage » Hatfield Aerodrome |access-date=31 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503124104/http://hatfieldaviationheritage.co.uk/hatfield-aerodrome/ |archive-date=3 May 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In the 1930s it produced a range of small biplanes. During the [[Second World War]] it produced the [[de Havilland Mosquito|Mosquito]] fighter bomber and developed the [[de Havilland Vampire|Vampire]], the second British production jet aircraft after the Gloster Meteor. After the war, facilities were expanded and it developed the [[de Havilland Comet|Comet]] airliner (the world's first production jet liner), the [[Hawker Siddeley Trident|Trident]] airliner, and an early [[bizjet]], the [[BAe 125|DH125]]. British Aerospace closed the Hatfield site in 1993 having moved the [[British Aerospace 146|BAe 146]] production line to [[Woodford Aerodrome]]. The land was used as a film set for [[Steven Spielberg]]'s movie ''[[Saving Private Ryan]]'' and most of the [[BBC]]/[[Home Box Office|HBO]] television drama ''[[Band of Brothers (TV miniseries)|Band of Brothers]]''. It was later developed for housing, higher education, commerce and retail. Today, Hatfield's aviation history is remembered by the names of certain local streets and pubs (e. g. Comet Way, The Airfield, Dragon Road) as well as ''The Comet Hotel'' (now owned by Ramada) built in the 1930s. ''The Harrier Pub'' (formerly ''The Hilltop'') is actually named after the [[Harrier (bird)|Harrier bird]], not the aircraft, hence the original pub sign showing the bird. The [[de Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre]], at Salisbury Hall in nearby London Colney, preserves and displays many historic de Havilland aeroplanes and related archives.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.dehavillandmuseum.co.uk/ |title=de Havilland Aircraft Museum |website=dehavillandmuseum.co.uk |language=en-US |access-date=2018-11-26}}</ref> ===New Town=== [[File:Hatfield New Town.jpg|thumb|Hatfield New Town centre, looking west along its axis.]] The [[Patrick Abercrombie|Abercrombie Plan for London]] in 1944 proposed a [[New towns in the United Kingdom|New Town]] in Hatfield. It was designated in the [[New Towns Act 1946]] ([[9 & 10 Geo. 6]]. c. 68), forming part of the initial Hertfordshire group with nearby [[Stevenage]], [[Welwyn Garden City]] and [[Hemel Hempstead]]. The Government allocated {{convert|2340|acre|km2}} for Hatfield New Town, with a population target of 25,000.<ref name=brett>[[Lionel Brett, 4th Viscount Esher|Brett, Lionel]], ''Hatfield New Town'', Report of the Hatfield Development Corporation, 1949</ref> (By 2001 the population had reached 27,833.<ref>[http://www.hertsdirect.org/infobase/docs/pdfstore/tabKS01sett.pdf Office for National Statistics, 2001 Census, Key Statistics for HCC Settlements] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326085841/http://www.hertsdirect.org/infobase/docs/pdfstore/tabKS01sett.pdf |date=26 March 2009}}</ref>) The Hatfield Development Corporation, tasked with creating the New Town, chose to build a new town centre, rejecting Old Hatfield because it was on the wrong side of the railway, without space for expansion and "with its intimate village character, out of scale with the town it would have to serve."<ref name=brett/> They chose instead St Albans Road on the town's east–west bus route. A road pattern was planned that offered no temptation to through traffic to take short cuts through the town and which enabled local traffic to move rapidly.<ref name=brett/> Hatfield retains New Town characteristics, including much modernist architecture of the 1950s and the trees and open spaces that were outlined in the original design. As of 2017, a redevelopment of the town centre was planned.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.welhat.gov.uk/htcplans |title=Hatfield Town Centre Redevelopment |website=welhat.gov.uk |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170825103646/http://www.welhat.gov.uk/htcplans |archive-date=25 August 2017 |access-date=24 August 2017 }}</ref>
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