From here you can see the main "Harlow Town" train station. Harlow Town was hastily built after World War II to ease overcrowding in London and the surrounding areas due to the mass devastation caused by the bombing during the Blitz.
The master plan for Harlow was drawn up in 1947 by Sir Frederick Gibberd. His vision sought to bring the character of the surrounding landscape into the town, through a series of gardens, green walkways and a relocated Market Square – a new Garden Quarter.
However extensive un-checked redevelopment has rather left his vision in tatters, with many warehouses and industrial units being built.
More of Frederick Gibberd can be dicovered at the quaint Gibberd Sculpture Gardens, 4 miles east of here at: N 51.791539, E 0.150057
The Mill
There is record of a mill having existed here, just south of the lock where the river splits, since 1203. Originally named Netteswell Mill, after the manor in which it sat and milled for, it later became known as Burnt Mill, probably as a result of fire damage.A small village sprung up around with the new name.
A local newspaper reports on a burglary at the mill in 1847. Two local reprobates are caught red-handed helping themselves to flour in the middle of the night, and henceforth are sentenced to seven years transportation (Australia).
Being so close to Gilston Mill and Parndon Mill, water power was always and issue for this mill, and towards the end of its life a turbine engine was used to keep it turning.However the mill eventually ceases production and is demolished in the 1800s and makes way for a Marine engineering factory.
In 1842 the Great Eastern Railway comes thundering through and Burn Mill Station is built nearby. It remains serving the little village of Burnt Mill until just after World War II, when Harlow (New Town) is built. The station is renamed "Harlow Town" and the Burnt Mill name can now only be found at this lock, and a few streets and industrial estates.
The Lock
Originally built as a turf-sided lock in 1769 and rebuilt in brick and concrete in 1913, a lock-house was added circa 1799.It was later extended in the early 1900s and was adorned with the red-hand plaque of George Duckett (see No.6 in this series) and a plaque of the Lee Conservancy Board. It was replaced by current bungalow in the 1960s.
There is another Stort sculpture placed here in 2007 by Graeme Mitcheson, entitled "Short Stort Thoughts". 3 concrete orbs sit on the north-east side of the lock incorporating objects that relate directly to the canal such as fish, ropes and chains. The series series uses globe shapes to symbolise the link that the River Stort Navigation has historically provided between Harlow and the rest of the world.
