Water Gardens

The Water Gardens are a series of pools designed in 1952 and built between 1960 and 1963 by Frederick Gibberd and Partners for the Harlow Development Corporation. They are located in the centre of Harlow, at the highest point of the town. The design incorporates three concrete-lined terraces set behind brick and mosaic-clad structures, with stone steps and surrounds.

The upper terrace features a low retaining wall adjoins a 250-yard long canal with a York stone surround. The retaining wall is clad in blue mosaic, leading to a similar canal in the middle terrace, linked by seven fountain jets that emerge from the mouths of seven different abstract lion’s heads, each designed by William Mitchell. York stone surrounds the canal. A brick retaining wall with an artificial stone capping in a zig-zag pattern encloses six flower beds and the pump room, creating the wall for the lower terrace. This level features seven small York stone pool surrounds, originally each with a fountain. The terraces are connected by brick steps, and retaining walls at either end were modified in the 1990s to incorporate disabled ramps.

The site’s fourteen-foot drop in level was utilised to create the stepped terraces, providing an approach to the town centre via steps and views over the surrounding suburbs. The relief concrete lion’s heads by William Mitchell, completed in 1963, echo Mitchell’s contemporary work for the Liverpool RC Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King. Sculptures were added to the gardens in 1963, with further sculptures added subsequently. The integration of sculpture and formal landscape within a modern public garden is considered exceptional, and the gardens were among the first post-war landscapes to be included on English Heritage’s Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.