# Letchworth Depot, June 2010



## steve! (Jun 6, 2010)

Hi all,

This is my first site.

Herein lies Letchworth Depot. At least, that's what I think it's called. I've been staring at the site from the outside since last December and I've only just decided to check it out properly.

From what I can tell, it's been derelict for ~5 years. Vandalism is moderate with very few glass panels left in tact. It seems to be kitted out to handle office space and vehicle maintenance. It was last used by a housing company who have since re-located. The site was then left as surplus to requirements. No one has any real use for it (it would seem), and it's adjacent to a railway which makes it an iffy spot for housing.

Not much info on the web that I could see, but I managed to Google this council document which has more details: http://www.north-herts.gov.uk/item_9_-_icknield_way_depot.pdf

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

The first 3 are the view from the road.
















The next 3 are from the inside. It's quite a vast estate, which I've tried my best to depict.















Heading inside the vehicle service building.





I love the colours in this place. The vandals had a good eye, methinks! There's a yellow-tinted corrugated roof panel which bathes the area in a lovely soft and warm light. Mixed with the cold outside light it makes a nice blend.










I also like how well lit this room is. I also like how the plants are reclaiming it for themselves. Go plants!





Like I said, the vandals have a good eye.





The fire extinguishers were arranged in a semi-circle ...





The million dollar question! I hope he finds out and lets me in on the reason. Apologies if this is unsuitable for this website, I'm happy to remove it if need be.





The vandals are inquisitive, no? There's no answer to this riddle either.


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## UrbanX (Jun 7, 2010)

Nice one! Excellent first report, great photos, and I love the colours in there. 
Keep 'em coming!


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## bonecollector (Jun 7, 2010)

Great first report mate.
Love the graffiti in there, its better than the horrible tags in most places.


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## philpridd (Jun 7, 2010)

*letchworth*

nice pics.,could be way off the mark, but has the look of a one time military site,esp. the large areas of concrete ,maybe airfield related? philpridd


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## steve! (Jun 7, 2010)

philpridd said:


> nice pics.,could be way off the mark, but has the look of a one time military site,esp. the large areas of concrete ,maybe airfield related? philpridd



I wish. 

It's not clear from the pics, but it looked like it was mostly a car park. Its previous tenants operated a lot of vans. In picture six you can see what looks like an old booth to the left that might have been manned, along with some sort of mount to attach a rising vehicle barrier.

You can get a better understanding of how the site's traffic might have been managed from this:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&s...5619,-0.211557&spn=0.001145,0.002207&t=h&z=19


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## Neosea (Jun 8, 2010)

Was this the council yard? It has been so long since I have been to Letchworth that I just don't remember.


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## Faing (Jun 8, 2010)

wy is a raven like a writing desk is a quote from Lewis carrolls Alice in wonderland, the mad hatter asks this question at the tea party. 
Nice find by the way an some good picturs


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## paulydisco (Jun 8, 2010)

great pics mate


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## steve! (Jun 12, 2010)

Neosea said:


> Was this the council yard? It has been so long since I have been to Letchworth that I just don't remember.



It's god the odd council logo dotted about. I might ask the neighbours what went on there ...


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## Neosea (Jun 15, 2010)

steve! said:


> It's god the odd council logo dotted about. I might ask the neighbours what went on there ...



It's always worth asking.


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## shadowman (Jun 19, 2010)

I used to live about a mile from this place, when I sold cars I used to take them to the shed with the striped yellow door and they did MOTs.
It was always known as NHDC Depot.(North Herts District Council)


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## shadowman (Jun 19, 2010)

The primary function of this site was and operated by NHDC.

The Dustcart fleet for NHDC was based there, also all councill vehicles for NHDC were based here, all vehicle maintenance and servicing .

All road salt was stored here.

All Street Lighting services and maintenance was based there.

All UPVC windows were stored here for council house improvements.

A waste transfer station was based here.

I knew a guy called Les who worked here about 30 Years ago, he used to save me interesting street light fittings , and I would collect them after school ( Norton School, Gone also)


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## steve! (Jun 23, 2010)

shadowman, thanks for that, that's really helpful.

Interestingly, there's a new fence that's been put up to cover the gap since I posted.


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## Neosea (Jun 23, 2010)

Ah yes, its coming back to me, seem to remember the rock salt for some strange reason. Thanks SM.

Steve, that's the price you pay for posting the site on a public forum


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