Co-op Estate

 I thought this week I would come back to the subject of ‘housing’ with a scheme from the late 19th century which provided homes for some of the vast and increasing number of working class people in the area. This is the Co-op estate in Abbey Wood and there is quite a bit about it on the web by various local history societies.  The estate features in both the first and second editions of Darryl Spurgeon’s ‘Discover Woolwich and its Environs’.

 Darrell worked most of his life for the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society in Woolwich and he must have known a great deal about their sites. His entries about the estate are quite long and I’ve cut them down a bit in these quotations. . In the first edition he says ‘this estate, under the shadow’ of Bostall Heath, was built by the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society between 1990 15 although some houses were added in the 1920s. There has been considerable extension and infill since the last war. The area retains a distinct Edwardian atmosphere.’  And he goes on with more detail which I will come back to.  In the second edition Darrell has added ‘the estate consists of long terraces in various styles and many houses have ornamental flourishes and distinctive brick patterns’.  He also mentions the road names in the area all of which have a distinct co-operative flavour 

As the result of some of the things which Darrell has mentioned in connection with the estate I have added even more subjects onto my extremely long list of things I hope to cover in these articles one day. So I will leave some gaps here and hope to come back soon. 

One of the best histories of the estate is by Rod LeGear who was writing about the chalk mine which was dug during the estate’s construction.   I will come back to the mine separately but I would also like to advertise that Rod is going to come and talk to Greenwich Industrial History Society in the winter about underground sites in Greenwich and have asked him to particularly pick up on the Co-op chalk mine. As well as describing the mine Rod has given a very detailed account of the early work building the estate.  .

Perhaps I had also better explain about the Co-op.  Today we see the Co-op as a massive retail organisation based in Manchester.  Back in the day there were lots of small local co-operative societies which had their own shops and other organisations – all gradually taken over by Manchester over the past 60 years. In Woolwich we had the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society which was one of the biggest societies of the country - very large and very innovative.  They not only had shops but also social facilities and a political arm.  I like to think that some of the corporative tradition in Greenwich is carried on today by our wonderful Greenwich  Co-operative Development Agency.

RACS had been set up by local people – predominantly Arsenal workers - and it involved discussion among members about what they were doing. The building of the estates was reported to meetings of ordinary society members and organisations in Woolwich.  It was also discussed at national congresses to which RACS sent delegates and which were sometimes held in Woolwich.

In 1886 RACS bought Bostall Farm with 52 acres agricultural land £6200 at public auction. Later a procession of carts from Powis Street arrived to ‘take possession’ of the farm. The initial idea was to supply fruit and vegetables to RACS shops and so work began to improve it the buildings and the land. They pulled down cottages and built greenhouses for cucumbers and tomatoes as well as piggeries.  The managers applied for a slaughterhouse licence. I don’t know if people will remember an article I wrote a couple of years ago about the ‘One and All’ wharf in Deptford and the role of Edward Greening in promoting local vegetable growing schemes. Like him RACS had ideas about improving the lives of working people. -  The ‘honest Artisan’ could grow quality food for his family’s food and the poor could become more self-sufficient, improve their health and also their economic lives.  Once the housing was built a road was named after Greening and unused land continued to be advertised as allotment space for new residents.

There were however problems with Bostall Farm and the amount of work needed to get it into a really decent condition. There were also demonstrations by RACS members against tithes – money which went to the local church.   RACS then bought Suffolk Place Farm which was adjacent to Bostall Farm – although there were rival bids for the farm at auction.   One benefit of these purchases which historians will appreciate was the handing over of many packets of deeds and papers to W.T. Vincent, the Woolwich historian. He was able to analyse them for papers and lectures on the history of this part of Plumstead. 

By 1900 it had been decided that what was really needed was decent housing for what was seen to be an imminent increase in staff at the Arsenal.  Plans were made for an estate about 3,500 houses most to be sold on a 99 year lease but with other options like permanent purchase or weekly tenancies, to be decided. They were to be the proper three bed houses with bathroom and a garden that most families would – and still do – aspire to.

The plan depended on improved transport links and hopefully a tram service would shortly begin. However William Booth, whose famous Survey of London came here in 1900, commented on how bad the train service was from Abbey Wood Station with trains always apparently running 20 to 40 minutes late. The new houses were aimed at Arsenal workers, who hopefully would not need the train.  

Building work was done in-house by the RACS Works Department, paying trade union rates.  Workshops were erected with modern machinery – the carpenters' department had a Marshall steam engine.  There was a smith’s shop to do all the metal work.  Most remarkably there was a chalk mine - the chalk was used as a foundation for roads as well as for making artificial stone which was used for window cills and so on. There was a special department to make artificial stone.  

The first brick in the estate was laid in May 1900 and this is commemorated by a tablet which is now on the wall of the coop shop in Bostall Lane. It originally stood on the diagonally opposite corner behind some railings, which are still there. Interestingly the Booth Survey mentions a ceremony carried out that May but I can find no newspaper report of this. . In 1900 the commemorative plaque was set up and a procession came from Powis Street to celebrate this.

The progress of the estate was reported on regularly to RACS members at society meetings. As a result for example, a Mr McKay of Woolwich moved a resolution at National Congress about the establishment of housebuilding programmes by co-operative societies and quoted the Woolwich experience.

 By 1900 it was said that 24 houses had already been leased out with an option to purchase; 43 had been sold-out right and it was expected that by the end of the year some 50 or so would be occupied ‘by members of RACS’. A resolution passed that properties would only be allocated one at a time as a way of stopping speculators from buying blocks and renting them out. Leases were also discussed and there was some disagreement among members of Woolwich Borough Council about this system 

The estate continue to expand over the next 20 years but after the Great War the number of workers at the Arsenal began to decline although houses continues to be built in the 1920s . A trip round the estate today will show a quiet area with houses of many types.  I assume they ae now in various types of ownership and l understand that the housing association undertake some management since RCS is now sadly long gone.

One memory of the origins of the area remains in the streets named for co-operative principles like–‘Congress' and 'Federation'.  - The main road to the estate was named after McLeod the secretary of RACS whose statue is on frontage of their Powis Street shop. There is also a road named after Greening and another -  ‘Owenite' – highlights support for the work of Robert Owen – ‘founder of utopian socialism and the co-operative movement’.. Crumpsall is the site of