Estates

Introduction

At their very worst, corporation houses are better than the slums they replace. The mere possession of a bathroom and a bit of a garden would outweigh almost any disadvantage. The other is that they are much more expensive to live in. (George Orwell, The Road to Wigan Pier)

In October 1919 the council had a list of 1,455 persons in the city who wanted houses, and it was estimated that 1,500 working-class houses would have to be built during the next four years. It was thought that most or all of the required houses would have to be provided by the municipality. In 1919 the Coleman Road Estate in North Evington and Tailby Estate in West Humberstone, both to the east of the town, were bought for housing. Under the Housing Act of 1919 the corporation built 746 houses to let, mostly on the two newly purchased properties. These houses were nearly all completed by October 1924. Under the Housing Act of 1923 a further 638 houses were built to let. It was evident, however, that building on an altogether larger scale would be needed. By May 1924 the council had received 5,700 applications for houses. It had become increasingly difficult to find sites within the city boundaries and it was thought advisable for the corporation to acquire large, compact blocks of property on which houses in sufficient numbers could be built with speed and economy. Accordingly the council by a succession of purchases in 1920–5 acquired a large area to the south of the city, partly within and partly without its boundary, and comprising the Saffron Lane Estate and Park Estate. In 1925 it bought the Braunstone estate of over 1,000 acres, mostly lying outside the boundary.

From British History Online, The City of Leicester: Social and administrative history since 1835, Pages 251-302.

Saffron Lane - the Parks Estate

In 1924, building was started on 1,000 concrete, and 500 brick, houses on the Park Estate, now known as the Saffron Lane Estate. The concrete homes were known as 'Boot' houses, after the Sheffield based firm Henry Boot and Sons. Concrete houses were seen to be quick to build - there were shortages of skilled labour for brick-laying - but defects in the construction were soon apparent and although 500 more concrete houses were built at Braunstone, brick was used thereafter.

"Saffron Lane, course I was still an apprentice there, and the people that came up to live there, they came from Friday Street, and St Margaret's, came from St Margaret's Church, and they were the salt of the earth, you know. Now they didn't understand anything about living in new houses. You know, coming from... Friday Street was the slums in those days. I mean, where they were, there'd perhaps be about half a dozen houses and one toilet outside, and when they got up to Saffron Lane they'd got a toilet and a bathroom, and they didn't know how to live, see?

"Another thing that they were a bit, upset them a lot, was the fact, they didn't know how to cater, because living at the bottom of Churchgate, if they wanted anything they'd nip up the market, daily. And of course when they got up there, Saffron Lane, they didn't know, there were only one or two little shops up there then in the 1920s, and of course they were flummoxed.

"And now when we did those houses, after six months, for the first six months if there were anything went wrong with them, then different contractors had to put them right you see. I can remember going in one house where there were no pictures but they'd took the lavatory seat off and put on the wall, and put a photograph of the King and Queen in. I saw that you know, 'cos it was the King and Queen then, 1920s. But as regards to being good hearted, you wouldn't have found a better lot of people, not in Leicester. Because I worked on some biggish houses for a couple of years as a lad, and I mean there the atmosphere of, 'Oh, you're only the painter', you know, but there (Saffron Lane) you were one of them."

Braunstone

James Winstanley bought the estate in 1649 for £6,000 and the family became influential in the area. In 1775 Clement Winstanley commissioned the building of Braunstone Hall. The family also established the park, which today is 168 acres of open parkland, ancient spinneys, wooded areas and meadow land. By the hall there is a walled garden, originally the kitchen garden for the family, which was described in 1792 as having 'hot houses of considerable magnitude, and the garden planted with choice fruit trees'. It was re-designed and opened to the public in 1983.

Various Winstanleys held positions of responsibility and power over the next two hundred and seventy five years. The hall was extended in 1911, only a few years before it was compulsory purchased by the Leicester Corporation. As well as the estate being affected, local allotment holders found their land was being built on too. Having protested to no avail, the Winstanleys sold the estate for £116,500 and Braunstone Park was opened to the public in the 1930s. The hall became a school until it closed in 1996.

South Braunstone

In 1925, the 1,200 acre Braunstone Estate was compulsorily purchased and the initial plan was for 1,200 houses. The principles of Garden Suburb design had been established by this time: the streets had open spaces, wide verges, many trees, curves rather than straight lines; the houses had rustic features, cavity walls, good sized gardens and plenty of light; there were bungalows for the elderly.

The rents of the houses varied according to the type from 7s (35p) to 10s (50p) a week, though the bulk of them ranged from 8s 6d (42p) to 10s (50p) a week, exclusive of rates. At the end of 1926 the number of applicants on the waiting list was 6,000. However, there was recognition that the rents charged still excluded the very poorest of Leicester's citizens.

Leicester's council housing construction increased to a peak in 1927, but the economic and political climate was changing and the emphasis was becoming more on housing for those displaced by slum clearance than on general additions to the housing stock. Also, low interest rates and cheap mortgages became available, and the owner-occupier became the focus of new building.

The new, modern, houses were desirable places to be, although there was an initial lack of amenities and those used to close knit living in the terraced houses of the city could find themselves having to adjust to the wide open spaces of suburbia. As there were no shops, mobile vans came round on new estates. Firms touted for trade, trying to sell insurance, carpets etc. Eventually tenants' associations were formed and activities such as gardening competitions helped to create a community feeling.

"We finally got permission to go live at the Braunstone Estate. I think one of the primary considerations by the housing committee was the fact that I was a skilled woodworker and they anticipated that I would be able to afford to pay the rents, which were fairly high in those days. But the conditions on the Braunstone Estate were such that we formed a tenants' association, and when you realise that there was no made up road, no transport, no shops, no schools, and it was just like living in houses in the wilderness. And we formed the association and started to raise organisations to deal with the situation. The people we first attacked was the housing committee for the high rents, and then the rest of the city council of that time for the absence of made up roads, no buses, no schools, no shops, and we were completely isolated. But ultimately, as a result of our organisation, we did manage to get the council to accept their responsibilities over a number of years, and we maintained our organisation to deal with all sorts of problems, particularly including rent increases, right until the commencement of the Second World War.

"I remember we were very busy organising the tenants on the Western Park side of it, and we used to charge two shillings a year and we used to collect it at sixpence a quarter, and I remember that I used to go out collecting most Sunday mornings. Sixpence a quarter for their subscription, and then often of course we got all the problems which they were concerned with, so that we had to try and do our best to eliminate many of the hardships that were being created by the failure of the local authority, and the government at that time, to give any consideration to the environment in which we were living in.

"As far as the houses themselves were concerned, although there was no luxury about them, by the conditions that operated in housing generally at that time we felt we were in rather elite types of houses. And of course we had gardens, and as was the philosophy of working people in those days, they took a great deal of pride in maintaining both the houses and the gardens and we were very proud of them because they were far in advance of most of the houses that we had been living in and been born and bred in, so that we did appreciate the improvements which had taken place."

North Braunstone

In accordance with the Housing Act of 1930, the remainder of the Braunstone estate, known as North Braunstone, was developed from 1936 as an area for rehousing people from slum clearance areas. Very few of these houses were built with parlours: in 1928 only 92 of the 362 houses contracted for were of the non-parlour type, by 1931 the majority of houses erected at Braunstone were non-parlour.

Areas like North Braunstone contained cheaper, smaller, plainer housing. People moved to the area from Bedford Street, Wharf Street, Dover Street, and Calais Street, and Sanvey Gate and Burley's Lane; needy families were moved together and concentrated together. The rents charged were higher than people were used to, and there was the additional cost of furnishing the new houses; the nickname 'Dodge City' referred to the amount of people in debt in the area.

People moving into North Braunstone had to have their furniture fumigated and they were stigmatised as 'problem' families from the word go, which they resented. However, as in South Braunstone, many people thought they were moving into marvellous houses, particularly as there was hot water and indoor toilets and baths.

"Mr Fyffe, he were the housing manager, he were very very strict. He used to come round every week, if he saw any garden not dug, broken windows, he'd be on your door, knocking. Threats if they didn't want done, out you go. He were very strict but he was very very nice.

"We had a young couple next door, got no children. Come one dinner time, bum bailiffs chucked them out, come walking out with their dinner in a baking tin, come in here, said come and finish your dinner in here, we've got the bums next door - they couldn't go in - they'd nailed the door up and everything.

"That was the name then, bum bailiffs, yeah, they used to put a big note on your door - nobody was to enter - and nailed the doors up. Oh I've seen quite a few of them. People over the road, they've been... had the bums, they were a young couple but they just chucked them out like that, they... lost all their furniture and everything. They couldn't get another house, they had to go and take pot luck. They didn't nurse maid them then."

All quotes are taken from EMOHA82/16 'Housing the People'.

Audio clips and photos created by Carter Buckingham.

Further reading

Astley, P., The Story of the Saff: A History of the Saffron Lane Estate, Leicester (1998)

Brown, C., Wharf Street Revisited (1994)

Hyde, C., Walnut Street – Past, Present, Future (1995)

Nash, D. and Reeder, D., Leicester in the Twentieth Century (1993), ch.1 & ch.4

Newitt, N., The Slums of Leicester (2009)

Willbond, B., A Home of Our Own: 70 Years of Council House Memories in Leicester (1991)