Sectional Garage Doors in Hatfield

With on road parking becoming either scarce or charges being made in many areas, having a garage is a very attractive proposition. Sadly, the doors of the garages are rarely attractive. Old metal up and over canopy garage doors are the norm around Hatfield, but with a little thought and a phone call to ACE Garage Doors, you can change this.

We supply, fit and service a wide range of gorgeous garage doors and as we are based in Stevenage, we are within easy striking distance of Hatfield.

Different styles of garage doors in Hatfield

Sectional garage doors

Sectional garage doors are such a popular choice as they do not require any room at the front of the garage for them to open. This is a major advantage if your driveway is a little on the short side.

Our sectional garage doors are made up of panel sections that are connected with hinges. As the door opens and closes, wheels at the edge of each panel roll inside a vertical track on each side of the door opening.

The hinges between each panel section move over a curved section of the track. This allows the door to sit parallel to the ceiling when completely open or in line with the walls when completely closed.

A pair of high tension springs above the opening are attached to cables that operate the door to prevent it from slipping down when only open part of the way.

Sectional garage doors are usually made from steel, but can be made from timber or other composite materials, they are very low in maintenance, and can even include window inserts, hardware, textures, and many different colours. They come in both insulated and non insulated versions.

Roller shutter garage doors

ACE Garage Doors supply and fit the very finest quality roller shutter garage doors on the market.

We supply and fit easy roll insulated roller garage doors, Hormann Rollmatic garage doors, with the Hormann Duragrain finish.

Our roller shutter garage doors are great for commercial applications as well as residential homes. They are really good for garages where the ceiling space is required for storage, as they only take up a very small area of this ceiling space and only at the front of the garage. This style is made with steel slat sections that roll around a drum above the door opening.

Roller shutters are built to withstand a good deal usage and high performance units can be built without springs or enclosed to prevent rust, corrosion, and freezing. Due to the heavy duty nature of the roller shutter, the initial cost can be a little higher than a sectional garage door. Security is another major attraction of roller shutter garage doors, which is why so many retail and warehouses use them on their buildings.

Slide to the side garage doors

Although this particular style of garage door is rarely seen in the United Kingdom, we thought it was only fair to mention them.

The method of operation is quite similar to the sectional garage door. These garage doors operate by moving to one side of the garage and sitting parallel to the wall. They may be good for garages that have very little headroom.

They run along lower tracks that are flexible enough to work with slight slopes in the floor or ceiling. Slide to the side doors do not require balancing springs and have a built in retractable motor for automated operation without the need for a ceiling mounted operator. They are usually sectional in manufacture, but instead of opening and closing up and down, they simply move to one side.

Side hinged garage doors

These are like the good old fashioned barn door design. They are often manufactured from high quality timber. They are usually fitted to separate garage units that are built away from the main property. Homes with these garages are often much older and have extensive driveways.

Side hinged garage doors swing open and closed from a hinged frame on either side of the opening. Although they are usually made from wood, they can be manufactured from modern materials too.

Side opening garage doors are particularly suited to garages with pitched roofs and good solid walls that are capable of taking the stress of the doors weight. They can even be automated with special conversion arms. Many of the older properties in Hatfield have separate garages that would suit this style of garage door.

Up and over canopy garage doors

These are the most common around the Hatfield area. The traditional up and over canopy garage doors do not have several sections, they are made of one solid piece of material, usually metal, although they can be made from durable composite materials. They have a pivoting hinge mechanism, so they can tilt up into the garage roof space. The up and over style of garage door sits parallel to the garage ceiling and extends past the front of the garage when the door is open.

Cables either side form part of the mechanism of these garage doors and the lock and handle are often central in the door.

A little Hatfield history

During the Saxon period in history, Hatfield was known as Hetfelle, but by the year 970, when King Edgar gave 5,000 acres to the monastery of Ely, it had become known as Haethfeld.

Hatfield is recorded in the Domesday Book as the property of the Abbey of Ely, the original census data which compilers of Domesday used survives, giving us some more information than in the final Domesday record. No other records remain until 1226, when Henry III granted the Bishops of Ely rights to an annual four day fair and a weekly market. Hatfield was then called Bishops Hatfield. There is still a girls school on Bishops Rise called Bishops Hatfield Girls School.

Hatfield House is the seat of the Cecil family, the Marquesses of Salisbury. Princess Elizabeth Tudor was confined there for three years in what is now known as The Old Palace in Hatfield Park. Legend has it that she learnt here of her accession as queen in 1558, while sitting under an oak tree in the Park. The little that remains of the oak tree are still preserved in the house itself. Elizabeth held her first Council in the Great Hall of the Old Palace of Hatfield.

The Old Palace used to be the main building and was set in a square, sadly only the front wing remains today and the Jacobean house to the rear is the main residence for the family. The Old Palace is still used for Elizabethan Banquets and other events.

A secret tunnel

A fair distance from the park, at the end of Old Rectory Drive, their stands Howe Dell Manor house. This was and old Parsonage and William Cecil was a rector there. The house has been a school and survives today as a care home for adults with mental health issues.

It is rumoured that a secret tunnel was dug from the parsonage to the park as a means of escape for the men of faith during the time of King Henry VIII. Henry was closing down places of worship and other buildings that were not in line with his religious reforms following his split from the Catholic Church. No apparent records of the tunnel exist, so this may just be a rumour with no truth to back
it up.

In 1851, the route of the Great North Road, which is now the A1000 was altered to avoid cutting through the grounds of Hatfield House. The Church of St Etheldreda in Old Hatfield is still used as a place of worship today and sits just outside the grounds of Hatfield Park.

Hatfield grew up around the gates of Hatfield House. Old Hatfield retains many historic buildings, notably the Old Palace, St Etheldredas Church and Hatfield House. The Old Palace was built by the Bishop of Ely, Cardinal Morton, in 1497, during the reign of Henry VII.

St Etheldredas Church was founded by the monks from Ely, and the first wooden church, built in 1285, was probably sited where the existing building stands overlooking the old town.

The church of St Etheldreda, well situated towards the top of the hill, contains an Early English round arch with the dog tooth moulding, but for the rest is Decorated and Perpendicular, and largely restored. The chapel north of the chancel is known as the Salisbury chapel, and was erected by Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, who was buried here. It is in a mixture of classic and Gothic styles. There is a private portion of the churchyard that has been reserved for members of the noble family.

Drink in some Hatfield history

At the bottom of Fore Street in old Hatfield, the Eight Bells public house sits.

The Eight Bells is the oldest pub in Hatfield and is on the corner of Park Street and Fore Street. It is now a Grade II listed building. The Pub dates from the 17th Century and was very important as a staging post on the Great North Road. This road linked London to the North of Britain. Coaches would leave The Eight Bells at seven in the morning every day. Staging posts were vital as they allowed the traveller to rest and change horses if needed.

The Eight Bells used to be known as the Five Bells, but changed its name at some point between the 1730s and 1756. The name changed in accordance with the changing number of bells in the nearby Church, St Etheldreda. The pub has kept the name of The Eight Bells despite the fact that the Church now has ten bells.

Charles Dickens famously visited Hatfield in 1835 when reporting on the fire that killed the first Marchioness of Salisbury. The Eight Bells is widely accepted as being mentioned in Dickens famous Oliver Twist novel. Although he does not mentioned the pub by name, Dickens refers to a small public house in Hatfield, undoubtedly The Eight Bells. It is in this public house that Sykes, the villain of the tale, calls for a drink after he has murdered the character of Nancy. A sign outside the pub celebrates this piece of literary history.

Other rumours suggest that Dick Turpin, the famous highwayman, also visited The Eight Bells. One tale suggests that he jumped out of a window and onto Black Bess, his horse, to escape from the Bow Street Runners.

Hatfield is rich in aerospace history

In 1930 the de Havilland airfield and aircraft factory was opened at Hatfield and by 1949 it had become the largest employer of local residents in the town, with almost 4,000 staff. It was taken over by Hawker Siddeley in 1960 and merged into British Aerospace in 1978. In the 1930s it produced a range of small biplanes. During the Second World War it produced the Mosquito fighter bomber and developed the Vampire, the second British production jet aircraft after the Gloster Meteor. After the war, facilities were expanded and it developed the Comet airliner, which became the worlds first production jet liner, the Trident airliner, and an early bizjet, the DH125.

British Aerospace closed the Hatfield site in 1993 having moved the BAe 146 production line to Woodford Aerodrome. The land was used as a film set for Steven Spielbergs movie Saving Private Ryan and most of the television drama Band of Brothers. It was later developed for housing, higher education, commerce and retail. Part of the former British Aerospace site was intended to be the site of a new £500 million hospital to replace the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Welwyn Garden City and a new campus for Oaklands College, but both projects were cancelled. The divisional headquarters of the Hertfordshire Constabulary is now in the front buildings of British Aerospace, a small hairdressers occupies the security gatehouse and KFC use the old personnel block building.

Today, Hatfields aviation history is remembered by the names of certain local streets and pubs. For example, Comet Way, The Airfield, Dragon Road, as well as The Comet Hotel built in the 1930s. The Harrier Pub, that changed its name from The Hilltop is not named after the Harrier aeroplane, but the bird of prey. The de Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre, at Salisbury Hall in nearby London Colney, preserves and displays many historic de Havilland aeroplanes and related archives.

ACE Garage Doors have been fitting and maintaining all styles of garage doors in and around the Hatfield area for many years and have a long list of satisfied and happy customers. We can often come out for repairs in Hatfield at very short notice as we are only a short distance away.