Z1271/1

Black and White postcard photograph of Templars Way, Sharnbrook. The houses were the first council houses in Bedfordshire. Originally known as 1-6 Station Road, they were built on allotment ground given up to Bedford Rural District Council by Alfred Mayes and Joseph Coleman. Mr R Marriott was the building contractor and Mr E C Boyes of Sharnbrook the Clerk of Works. Although a plaque declares the buildings to be dated 1911 they were in fact completed in February 1912. A council committee selected tenants, bearing in mind their ability to pay the rent, their present housing circumstances and the size of their families. The first families chosen were Pettit, Wells, Surridge, Duke, Hulatt and Barker and they had all moved in by June 1912.Mr Morris Pettit is one of the children in the picture, and the original owner of the postcard. Each of the first families to live there were given a copy of the postcard. The gardens were communal and included chickens and a shared pig. The houses were modernised in the 1950s with hot water supplies and connections to mains drainage.

1912

From: 1911 To: 1912

No. of pieces: 1

Postcard

item

Pettit, Morris,
Bedford Rural District Council,
Wells,
Surridge,
Duke,
Hulatt,
Barker (d),
Marriott, R,
Boyes, E.C.

housing estates, general housing, Bedford Rural District Council, building contractors, Clerk of Works, DRAINAGE, allotments, pigs, gardens, Sharnbrook Station Road, Sharnbrook Templars Way, SHARNBROOK