Progress Estate

 

The First World War - the ‘Great War ‘- was declared in August 1914. It must have been quite clear to politicians in Woolwich that things had got to change and quickly. The Royal Arsenal - the principle manufacturer of arms and ammunition for the Government , was in Woolwich – it would need to expand rapidly and effectively. It was going to become a very, very big factory and a lot of people would work there.  Where were they all going to live?? 

In the first months of the war as the Arsenal began to expand and new groups of workers were recruited it was soon very, very clear that housing was going to be a real problem. In December 1914, Will Crooks, the local Member of Parliament went, along with a deputation from Woolwich Council, to the Government’s Local Government Board to say that something had to be done.  Within a month, at the end of January 1915 the Woolwich Labour Party’s paper, The Pioneer, announced that land had been bought and plans made for a Garden City at Well Hall in Eltham. It would provide family accommodation and would help to house the many specialist and skilled workers who were moving into the area. A team of architects had been set up by the Government, they were already at work and the Pioneer’s reporter had seen the actual plans

This would be a remarkable speed for getting together a small building plan – and this was for a whole estate. It was the framework for building what most of us know as the Progress Estate – it was originally called ’ the Well Hall Estate’.   It shows what can be done if normal protocols are ignored add official doors are opened everywhere. It shows that current bleats about the slowness of local government and planning depends on circumstances -  but even so the speed which this scheme was put together must be remarkable

Of course the estate itself is remarkable and there has been a very great deal written about it.  A quick look on the net will show endless major pieces of writing by Greenwich Council,  English Heritage and The Twentieth Century Society and many, many others about the estate and how it was set up. I think in all their minds is a question about how this estate, which was built under such pressure and in wartime conditions manages to still look so good and how when it was built met the highest standards of housing  design of the day.

I am very nervous about writing about it  because so much has been written and I’m almost bound to get it wrong.  However I have been aware for some time that for its centenary in 2014 a book about the estate was commissioned by the Residents Association, written by Keith Billinghurst  and self published with help from various local grants.  I’d never seen the book and had tried to get a copy and failed. However the Residents Association have now republished it  and so I thought a review might be in order now.

Basically I am very, very impressed.  As a local history it is based firmly on the estate and demonstrates it’s connections and influences from far and wide.

From the start it gives a major role to Woolwich Council and understands some of the personalities and local  politics.   As I noted above he makes it clear that the initial ideas for the estate came from Woolwich Borough Council and through the reports of the local Medical Officer of Health.

A major section of the book is ‘How garden suburbs came to be’.  The author looks at ideas about society and housing in the late 19^th century - beginning with John Ruskin - a South Londoner - and traces many links between the schemes and personalities.  I thought this was most interesting - it is a subject I am probably desperately ignorant about  but I thought the way influences on and links between individuals are traced and put together in the book was very important.  The final project he describes is Hampstead Garden Suburb and I had been aware of the various personalities involved there. So, despite an initial reaction to ‘Hampstead’ as fashionable and up market, I also knew about their work in the East End and in particular at Toynbee Hall, which is somewhere I used a lot in a previous existence.  He also makes the point that garden suburbs were never housing for the poor. He then goes on to explore housing and planning legislation in the early years of the 20^th century. Crucually at the beginning of recruitment for the First World War it was discovered that  many potential recruits had severe health issues which could be put down to poor quality housing.

Like every goods locally written and researched local history it describe the previous ownership of the site and some of its geographical features.   The detail is astonishing - down to individual trees, some of which are there is still there now.  It then moves on to the actual story of the construction of the estate in a great deal of extremely interesting detail about  issues like site layout, roads, gardens and parlours and much else – what building materials were used and how they were sourced. Of particular interest is that clinker used on the site all came from the Woolwich Council recycling generating station at White Hart.

In February 1915 nothing had begun on site but the first tenants moved in to the first finished houses in May and all 1,298 houses were finished by the end of the year. At the height of activities one house was being completed every two hours.  It was a major achievement.

The book goes on to describe every road on the estate, and to give the history of the person it was named after – William Cobbett... Admiral Seymour – and so on.   This might seem a bit nerdish and certainly would be so in a similar book aimed at an academic audience but this book was commissioned for people and by people who lived on the estate and it is just the sort of detail which people like to know and would be able to talk about in future years.  

During  the Great War the estate was managed by the London County Council but returned to the Goverment  Office of Works in 1920 .  It was then sold to the Royal Arsenal  Cooperative Society and it is because of them that it is known now as the Progress Estate – ‘progress’ is very much a Co-op word. I’m far from sure why RACS bought the estate and why it was not left with London County Council which seems a more appropriate body. The Co-op had built its own estate down in Abbey Wood, which, although providing quality housing for a similar aspirational community, but which really had no major garden city aspirations. I’ve also extremely unclear if they had a permanent housing management team at Abbey Wood since the vast majority of the properties were sold. 

I am reminded however of some of the work of space Blackheath based E.O. Greening some years earlier -- I’ve mentioned him in several previous articles about the Co-op and about Deptford. He introduced ideas of aspirational communities and mutual organisations helping working people to a better life. It’s close to the Garden City movement but not identical to it.  RACS provided  a community centre - Progress Hall  - which has had a  reach far beyond just the estate. I remember going to a film club there in the 1970s which had very, very good films which were not shown by the local commercial cinema..

This estate suffered considerably from bombing in the Second World War and every known instance is meticulously recorded in the book along with the damage done.  Again, this is just the sort of detail which local residents would be very keen to have – and which will come up in the memories people have of their lives and places which have been meaningful to them.

The last chapters deal with the end of the Co-op management of the estate and its transfer to Hyde Housing.

I have only been able to give a very brief outline of some of the elements of the Progress  Estate covered in the book, which, after all came out 10 years ago and everybody else has probably read it and knows it very well. It seems to me that the book manages very well to deal with details of interest to estate residents about their properties while also deftly handling  the ideas about what housing should be like.  It tells us most impressively about the speed with which the estate was built, the authorities involved in this and in particular the work, and career, of Frank Baines.

For other people who have not read the book – copies may still be available.  It is self published so I suspect it won’t be in any bookshops and has to rely entirely on kind helpers and the post to get it out to people .They say:

“Progress Estate Mutual Aid is proud to announce the re-publication of this fantastic book, all about the history of the Progress Estate in Eltham by Keith Billinghurst.  Please email progressestatemutualaid@gmail.com to order a copy. Limited signed copies available while stocks last!

 

The book was first published to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Progress Estate, and is re-printed for the benefit of the local community. 100% of the proceeds will go towards funding community projects and events.

 

Standard price £13 +P&P. Discounts available for residents of the Progress Estate (£10) and SE9 (£12).”