Butts Close is an 11 acres (44,515.5 m²) park in the town of Hitchin

Hitchin

Hitchin is a town in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 30,360.-History:Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce people mentioned in a 7th century document, the Tribal Hidage. The tribal name is Brittonic rather than Old English and derives from *siccā, meaning...

, Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

 that used to once be a sporting ground for archery. The name refers to the archery butts that used to be on it during the Late medieval and Tudor times. During those years it was much larger but in the last centuries buildings such as a leisure centre and grammar school have been built on it. The remaining Butts Close is still used for modern fêtes and other special occasions though.

Facts and events

Henry VIII used to practice archery at Butts Close when he visited Hitchin.

Butts Close once had a tank in the middle of it to commemorate the First World War

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, but this was taken away during World War II and melted down.