Letchworth Friends spotlight Quaker roots
'Attenders in the past have included Ebenezer Howard, the founder of the garden city, built in 1903.'
An open day for George Fox 400 held by Letchworth Friends shone a spotlight on the garden city’s Quaker roots.
The event on 15 June was at Howgills Meeting House where Quakers have worshipped since around 1907. Attenders in the past have included Ebenezer Howard, the founder of the garden city, built in 1903. Others have included ‘conscientious objectors who were attracted to the newly-built garden city around the time of World War I’, said the online newspaper The Comet, which reported the event. According to the historical website ‘Moor Pool Garden Suburb’, the land used to build Letchworth as the first garden city was purchased by Quakers, who had intended to farm the area and build a Quaker community. ‘The town was laid out by Raymond Unwin as a demonstration of the principles established by Ebenezer Howard who sought to create an alternative to the industrial city by combining the best of town and country living.’
The first garden city had great influence on future town planning and the New Towns Movement, including nearby Welwyn Garden City. It followed Ebenezer Howard’s 1898 book Tomorrow: A peaceful path to real reform. In this, the social reformer and pacifist advocated for a new kind of town, where industry would be kept separate from residential areas and ‘trees and open space would prevail’.
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