Talk:Harpenden

Untitled

What about population? Present history? City Square Size?

Population and history are in there. I have no idea what the square mileage of the town (not a city yet) is. Legis 18:54, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

No longer a stub

Article was promoted from stub status due to its length; expand tag added to allow other editors to decide if there room for expansion SP-KP 14:12, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Influx of chain stores

I noticed that the sentence "It has recently received an influx of chain stores and new shops." got removed - probably right to remove it without more info (although the statement itself is true). There is a local traders association (which I cannot now recall the name of) that has been formed to "fight" the influx, or at least limit future openings, and it might be better to put a para in about that under its own sub-heading. I'll see if I can dig the info up and put it in. It got some free promotional material in the town's Christmas 2006 celebrations. --Legis (talk - contributions) 16:28, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Whether its true and whether its encyclopedic are different questions, WP:NOT. I tend to think the statments a bit POVish. --Salix alba (talk) 16:54, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

House prices

Is it necessary for the article to have such a large and prominant mention of house prices, this is basically trivia rather than anything encyclopedic.GazMan7 11:16, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

Well it is quite a distinguishing feature of the town with prices twice the national average, The east and west common districts have some very expensive houses which only the like of jimbo could afford. These all add to the demographic makeup of the town. Just bee looking at cencus data for the constituancy, 34% degree level qualif, 17% in higher managarial/profesional ocupations, the St Albans & Harpenden PCT had the lowest proportion of residents in socially rented households (2.2%),[1].

These all point to one rich well educated town. --Salix alba (talk) 15:37, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

interesting maybe, but not really that encylcopedic? I would suggest a small comment aboutit lower down the article is more in proportion.GazMan7 16:50, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

You have to remember that we are talking about a town in rural England here, not revolutionary Tibet. Higher than average house prices is about as interesting as things get in Harpenden. --Legis (talk - contributions) 18:28, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

"sons of Harpenden"

"Killing the Lawyers" by Reginald Hill has a citation from a charge by the sheriff which says "nor shall it be taken as mitigation of rudely laying they hands on a citizen and breaking his head, to say that thou mistook him for a Son of Harpenden. But against such as are known by certain signs to be Sons of Harpenden, whose depravations and depredations are notorious amongst sober Christian folk, then lay on amain!" (p. 26, beginning of cap. iii) I presume this is fictitious, but a) should it be in references and b) is there a notorious rivalry between Harpenden and Luton? (the novel takes place in Luton) (or a reference to Cussans' comment, cited in the article?) 142.68.54.190 21:33, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Sounds a bit unlikely to me; Harpenden was a pretty insignificant speck until about 1865 when they cut the railroad (at that time it broke away as a parish from Wheathampstead, which at the time was much larger), and even then, it was only a very small village until about the 1960s when the Thameslink cut through London making it grow rapidly. By contrast, Luton has been a historically significant and sizeable place for hundreds of years. Any kind of rivalry would probably be a bit lop-sided. --Legis (talk - contribs) 19:48, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

Craig Charles

would it be appropriate to call craig charles a 'celebrity alleged rapist' as well as red dwarf and robot wars star Stevehancock (talk) 15:11, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

Generally NO, we have quite strict policies of Biographies of living persons. Any accusations may be appropriate for the Craig Charles page but not here. --Salix alba (talk) 15:45, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

what about mike tyson

or john leslie

aer they a celebrity rapist? Stevehancock (talk) 15:50, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

The only thing that is appropriate to say about Craig Charles on the Harpenden page is that he lives there, and he is primarily famous for X (presumably his appearances on Red Dwarf). Anything about allegations of rape, time on remand, how many times he has been married etc. should be reserved to the Craig Charles page. Same with Mike Tyson, John Leslie and anyone else whom allegations of rape have been made about that ought properly to be documented.

The allegations are already covered there, albeit only briefly: Craig_Charles#Personal_life --Legis (talk - contribs) 17:56, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

Population of 30 000?

Watford has a population of 20 000, is a fully urbanised area and is twice the size of Harpenden. Conclusion: There is no fucking way that Harpenden has a population of 30 000.

Watford has a stated population on here of 80,000, even that sounds a little low. Luton is 185,000. Harpenden has a fully referenced population of about 30k. Conclusion check your f-ing facts before making silly statements.

The figure that keeps coming up when I searched for it is about 28.5k in 1991. Local PCT puts the St. Albans & Harpenden at around 129k in 2001, so it doesn't sound improbable. KRMike (talk) 19:42, 18 September 2009 (BST)

Sources? --Legis (talk - contribs) 21:39, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

ONS 2001 Census data puts the population of the Harpenden urban area at 27,777 see here and if the adjoining rural parish is added it is just 28,200. Boundary changes since 1991 may have affected the total. If nobody want sto contest this source, which is the basis for all the other UK settlement stats on Wikipedia, then perhaps someone can put this new figure and source up. Tmol42 (talk) 22:15, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

@Legis' (talk - contribs) - I didn't add sources since it's so far out of date as to be a rough estimate as it stands. I can dig it out if really needed, but I don't really feel the population number needs questioning TBH. KRMike (talk) 00:48, 26 January 2010 (GMT) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.154.151.74 (talk)

Harpenden, Hertfordshire

I was just wondering whether it would be useful in adding a small change to the Harpenden page. It is often the case that the town is confused with similar town 'Harlington' in the neighbouring county of Bedfordshire. I think it would be very useful if we named the page 'Harpenden, Hertfordshire' instead of just 'Harpenden'. Any thoughts?

Hrachik m (talk) 01:12, 2 November 2014 (UTC)

I don't think they are sufficiently similar, sharing just the first syllable. See Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(geographic_names) for the general guideline. --Salix alba (talk): 08:02, 2 November 2014 (UTC)

Merge

I have suggested that Aldwickbury School should be merged here as a non-notable primary, as per WP:SCHOOLOUTCOMES. Any comments appreciated. CalzGuy (talk) 16:21, 11 January 2017 (UTC)

It's probably non-notable (see Wikipedia:Notability (schools)). But merging it into an article on the whole town feels not-quite-right. I am thinking consolidate into a single Education in Harpenden (similar: Education in Aberdeen), or List of schools in Harpenden (similar: List of schools in Edinburgh) article where the schools can all be listed with any relevant detail? --Legis (talk - contribs) 16:37, 11 January 2017 (UTC)

I think a list should be a list and it is already listed in List of schools in Hertfordshire. So I wouldn't fancy that. But if you feel Education in Harpenden is sufficiently notable to warrant it's own article, by all means go for it.CalzGuy (talk) 17:01, 11 January 2017 (UTC)

External links modified

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External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 3 external links on Harpenden. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

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• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110716182242/http://www.harpenden.gov.uk/Uploads/Site796/Files/FULLCOUNCIMINUTES9THJULY2007.doc to http://www.harpenden.gov.uk/Uploads/Site796/Files/FULLCOUNCIMINUTES9THJULY2007.doc
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090604212125/http://www.hertsdirect.org/comdirectory/comvol/herit2y/hthist3y/587461 to http://www.hertsdirect.org/comdirectory/comvol/herit2y/hthist3y/587461

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Origin of the name Harpenden

I have found some information on the etymology of Harpenden Here, which claims Harpenden is derived from 'Herpe dene'. If this can be confirmed, then I believe a small section explaining the etymology of the name Harpenden should be added. The credibility of the site is in question, as in the section above what I have linked to claims that the plaques of the twinned towns have been removed, however the last edit of the page was in 2021, and I have personaly seen the plaques earlier this year, so I cannot trust the site. If someone has more information please share said information. 2A00:23C8:449C:A701:A05D:F6A6:F72F:499F (talk) 12:56, 28 April 2023 (UTC)