Letchworth Local History Research Group

Letchworth signpost

We have changed the way we meet to a less regular pattern. Members will get together as and when necessary, to discuss progress on our current project, cataloguing the Clutterbuck collection of glass negatives of early Letchworth.
Current group members will be informed; get in touch if you’d like to join us.

We want to emphasise that research and publication (in a variety of media) is our core activity and would like to welcome new, committed, members. No special skills are necessary, but you will need your own laptop.

In November 2022 we started a new project, cataloguing the Arthur Clutterbuck collection of photographs of early Letchworth, in conjunction with the Garden City Collection. If you would like to join us please get in touch with the Group Contact.

Industrial Letchworth: The First Garden City 1903–1920 is now available from David’s Bookshop, other bookshops, online sources and direct from University of Hertfordshire Press.
Buying a copy will support future research projects, which will start when we can meet in person.

Please make sure to check the 'Group events' panel on the right ⇒ for the time and venue of the next meeting.  Meetings take place at the International Garden City Exhibition (IGCE)  296 Norton Way South, SG6 1SU, whenever possible.

Group Events

No Events

Group Articles

Award to Phillipa Parker

  Congratulations to Philippa from all at LALG

The Local History Group collected donations over a considerable period to erect a memorial to Eliza Ann Howard, who made valiant efforts in support of her better-known husband, Ebenezer, in founding Letchworth Garden City 

The ‘unveiling’ of the stone took place on a sunny, but bitterly cold, afternoon on Sunday 22 January 2023 in the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin, Letchworth Lane, Letchworth Garden City.

The (then) Letchworth Local History Group’s exhibition in October 2015 titled Letchworth – England’s first new industrial town? aimed to highlight Letchworth as, primarily, an industrial experiment. The Group’s first project was a study of the 1911 Census data for the town; we envisage building on this when the 1921 data becomes available, as it will offer a fascinating picture of the first 18 years of Letchworth. 

In October 2015 the Letchworth Local History Group mounted a highly successful exhibition in the Letchworth Heritage's Community Area in the Arcade showing the range of early industries in Letchworth Garden City and emphasising the fact that the principal aim of the Garden City was to attract INDUSTRY and provide a much better living environment for its workers than the often miserable conditions in the great industrial cities.

New memorial to Eliza Ann Howard in Letchworth churchyard
It is always pleasing when a sustained campaign to celebrate an unsung woman bears fruit, so Letchworth Local History Research Group (LLHRG) is thrilled to report that there is now a memorial stone to Ebenezer Howard’s first wife, Eliza Ann, in the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin, Old Letchworth, where she was buried.

In recent months we have researched the early visitors to the Garden City.