Letchworth, officially Letchworth Garden City, is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, with a population of 33,600.
The town's name is taken from one of the three villages it surrounded (the other two being Willian and Norton) – all of which featured in the Domesday Book. The land used 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 be best of town and country living.
As one of the world's first new towns and the first 'garden city' it had great influence on future town planning and the New Towns movement; it influenced Welwyn Garden City, which used a similar approach and inspired other projects around the world including Canberra, the Australian capital, Hellerau, Germany, small village of Tapanila, Finland, and Mežaparks in Latvia.)
Read more about Letchworth: Town Twinning, Schools, Black Squirrels and Other Wildlife, Roundabouts and Green Belts: Letchworth and 20th Century Urban Design, Notable Residents, Literary References, Archaeology