Stevenage pedestrianized town center: Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stevenage2.jpg Author: Traveler100
Due to its proximity to a Roman road running from Verulamium to Baldock, Roman artifacts have been discovered in Stevenage and its surroundings. As the name of the town is derived from Old English (meaning "place of strong oak"), we can deduce that it was established by the Anglo-Saxons.
According to the Domesday Book, when the survey was compiled in 1086, Stevenage was a manor owned by Westminster Abbey. In 1281, it relocated to a different site. That year it was granted a Royal Charter allowing it to hold a weekly market and an annual fair. One of its oldest places of worship, the St Nicholas Church, was built in the 12th century, but probably dates to even earlier than that.
Stevenage War Memorial: Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stevenage_War_Memorial._-_geograph.org.uk_-_109880.jpg Author: Robin Hall
Stevenage was one of the towns ear-marked for development immediately after the Second World War, to house the people in London who lost their homes. The plan was opposed by the locals who protested it at a meeting at the Town Hall. Nonetheless the plan was pushed ahead, and although the New Town Commission had promised not to touch the existing town, then the construction commenced, the first building to be demolished was the Town Hall itself.
The New Town of Stevenage had the first vehicle-free pedestrian shopping zone in Britain. It was declared open by the Queen in 1959.
Visiting Stevenage
Stevenage is located close to the A1(M) motorway and can be reached from it by taking Exit 7.
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