Baldock
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Template:GBdot Baldock is a town in Hertfordshire, England on the River Ivel. It is in the local government district of North Hertfordshire.
Baldock was founded by the Knights Templar (also the name of the town's secondary school) in the twelth century, indeed the word Baldock is believed to be a corruption of Baghdad, which the Templars would have visited during the crusades (However, some have suggested that the name is more likely to be derived from "Bald Oak", meaning a dead oak, and that Baghdad was not, in fact, visited by the Crusaders). The modern layout of the town, and many buildings in the centre, date from the sixteenth century.
The town grew up where the old Great North Road and the Icknield Way crossed. Even though the Great North Road, later the A1 no longer passes through the town centre (since the construction of the A1(M) motorway in 1970), the town is still a major traffic bottleneck. This should be relieved in 2006 when the new bypass removes the A505 road (old Icknield Way) from the town. Due to its location, the town was a major staging post between London and the north, with many old coaching inns still operating as pubs and hotels, and has a surprising number of pubs considering its size.
There has been human activity on the site well before the modern town was founded. Many Roman remains have been discovered during building work in and around the town, and the site of the Roman settlement is located near the Hartsfield Primary School in the town. Earlier Iron Age remains have also been uncovered, as well as a medieval leper colony, located on Clothall Road (formerly Pesthouse Lane).
Baldock was formerly the location of a film studio, the Art Deco facade of which still stands - converted to a supermarket in the late 1980s. Another notable building in the town is the fourteenth century Baldock Parish Church of St Mary. Malting and brewing were formerly major industries in the town, but apart from some light industry, today it is mostly a commuter town.
Nearby villages
External link
Information about the town (http://website.lineone.net/~jbaldock/town.htm)