In Old Harlow is a field named Harlowbury, a de-settled monastic area which has the remains of a chapel, a scheduled ancient monument.

An organised field walk in the late 1990s by Bartlett (unpublished) indicates that most of the area, some 80 hectares, produced worked flint from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age with a smattering of Mesolithic.

[3] The entry in the Norman Domesday Book reads: Herlaua: St Edmunds Abbey before and after 1066; Geoffrey from Count Eustace; Thorgils from Eudo the Steward; Richard from Ranulf, brother of Ilger.

Its former Chapel is in a ruinous state in a field which was once the Harlowbury Abbey part of Old Harlow, is Grade I listed and is a scheduled ancient monument.

Gibberd invited many of the country's leading post-war architects to design buildings in the town, including Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, Leonard Manasseh, Michael Neylan, E C P Monson, William Crabtree, Maxwell Fry, Jane Drew, Graham Dawbarn, H. T. Cadbury-Brown and Gerard Goalen.

The town's authorities built Britain's first pedestrian precinct,[13] and first modern-style residential tower block, The Lawn,[14][15] constructed in 1951; it is now a Grade II listed building.

Gibberd's tromp-l'oeil terrace in Orchard Croft and Dawbarn's maisonette blocks at Pennymead are also notable, as is Michael Neylan's pioneering development at Bishopsfield.

Phase 2 of this scheme involved the construction of 530 eco-homes on the former sports centre site and the building of the Harlow Leizurezone adjacent to the town's college in the early 2010s.

The plan was supported by former MP Bill Rammell, all three political groups on Harlow Council, and the East of England Regional Assembly.

[21] An attempt to have Harlow North designated an "Eco Town" was rejected by the Minister for Housing, Caroline Flint MP, in April 2008.

Despite this development, the main shopping area of the town has been stagnating for some time, not helped by the closure of two of the Harvey Centre's anchor tenants - these being BHS and M&S.

In 2004, Harlow businessman Mo Ghadami won his High Court case to block a multimillion-pound extension of the town's Harvey Centre.

The Iranian-born entrepreneur, who presented his case in person, persuaded Mr Justice Richards to quash Harlow DC's grant of planning permission for the development.

[25] A government policy to allow developers to convert office space to residential has led to a proliferation of new 'rabbit hutch'-sized flats,[26][27] which are then let to London-borough waiting-list families.

[29] The National Planning Policy Framework states that one of the purposes of Green Belt land is to protect unrestricted sprawl from large built-up areas.

[citation needed] Harlow was originally expected to provide a majority of employment opportunities in manufacturing,[citation needed] with two major developments of The Pinnacles and Templefields providing the biggest employers in the region; as with the rest of the country, this manufacturing base has declined and Harlow has had to adjust.

In July 2017 Public Health England had bought the vacant site from GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) hoping to move altogether 2,745 jobs there, of which about 500 are from Porton Down.

[31] Nortel had a large site on the eastern edge of the town, acquired when STC was bought in 1991, and it was here that Charles K. Kao developed optical fibre data transmission.

There are also frequent bus services from the town centre to Epping tube station, which is on London Underground's Central line.

It argued this would reduce travel times to Epping and London, and help with efforts add 19,000 new homes to the town and expand the population to 130,000.

The airport operator withdrew a planning application for a second runway after the General Election of 2010, when all major political parties opposed it.

[40] In July 2022, Harlow Council unveiled plans to completely rebuild the bus station at a cost of £15m, along with the construction of a brand new integrated transport and cycle hub.

St Mark's West Essex Catholic School and BMAT STEM Academy also provide sixth form education.

[60] Built (to a design by HLM Architects)[61] by Caledonian Modular from 198 prefabricated modules, the school was forced to close in August 2023 due to concerns about structural irregularities.

[62][63] The DfE blamed poor workmanship for the structural issues; the school had not been built in accordance with its original architectural design.

The Harlow Greyhound Stadium has been at its present site for over 20 years and has regular race meetings each week as well as hosting other sporting events.

The 650sq metre park is made from concrete, and has a bowl as well as a street course which contains quarter pipes, flat banks, rails and steps.

Harlow is the home to a major collection of public sculptures (over 100 in total) by artists such as Auguste Rodin, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Gerda Rubinstein and Ralph Brown.

The museum is run in conjunction with the Essex Records Office (ERO) which holds family history archives in the search room.

Admission to the museum is currently free, but visitors are encouraged to make a donation to ensure future maintenance of services.