BALDOCK

'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: many old coaching inns still operate as pubs and hotels, and Baldock has a surprising number of pubs for 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 had for many years 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 near the Hartsfield Primary School in the town. Earlier Iron Age remains have also been uncovered, as well as a medieval leper colony, on Clothall Road (formerly Pesthouse Lane).
From 1808 to 1814, Baldock hosted a station in the shutter telegraph chain that 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 film studio which swiftly folded, the building then became for many years the Kayser Bondor ladies stocking factory (which temporarily produced parachutes during World War II). Its Art Deco facade 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 (free) parking facilities. Fewer lorries now pass through the town because of the new bypass. In the past few years, many businesses have shut down in Baldock. Baldock lost its local football side, Baldock Town F.C. in 2001, after nearly a 100 years of existence.

Contents

Nearby villages

See also

External links

Nearby villages

★ Ashwell

★ Bygrave

★ Caldecote

★ Clothall

★ Hinxworth

★ Newnham

★ Radwell

★ Wallington

★ Weston

See also

★ Baldock Town F.C.

★ Jack o' Legs Legendary 14th century "giant" associated with the town

External links

★ Information about the town

★ Photographs of Baldock