Moving onto the estate in 1952

Interview at "The Meadows"
rest home, Berry Hill

by John Steel

John Steel (JS): Do you remember Bentilee when it was still being built?

Edna: I was living in Bucknall at this time but I remember that the area was all farms, cornfields, and pits round here originally. I remember there was a Forrester's Farm (Ubberley House), and a Matthew Berrisford's Farm. They were all big farms.

Dorothy: I moved onto the estate in 1952, into a house on Dividy Road. They were still building then, as you went up the estate from Twigg Street, though I believe there were already houses up the Waggon & Horses end. The main thing I remember about the estate in those days was all the mud and building rubble everywhere. You couldn't leave the house without wellingtons then. I would have to take a pair of shoes to work with me and change into them there.

We flitted there at Christmas. I remember it was December 14th, the weather was perishing cold, the walls of the house wringing wet, and when you went to bed you just felt you were getting into a wringing wet sponge. It was wicked that first night.

Edna: I didn't move onto the estate proper until about twenty years ago (c.1970), from Ruxley Road, Bucknall, to the bottom of Beverley Drive. At that time I lived with one of my two sisters. We had some nice neighbours there, and we were both very comfortable. I remember the estate before it was built mainly as a place to explore and enjoy long walks.

JS: What were the facilities like when you first moved onto Bentilee?

Dorothy: There were few buses to start off with. One every hour, and if you missed that you'd had it: you were late for work. There were no buses on Dawlish Drive or Beverley then, just Dividy -- for years Dividy was the only major route through the estate.

In the early days you could still walk the entire length of Dividy Road and see no one.

Edna: And there were no street lights at night time.

Dorothy: And the buses were only once every two hours at night, so if you missed your bus then you were stuck for the evening. And you never knew if they were going to turn up, or miss a run, or what. You could be left standing for hours sometimes.

And there were no shops at first. It was about ten years before they built the shops on Devonshire Square. Even if you wanted a loaf of bread you had to go to Hanley. There were no schools for the kids. You were just plonked on the estate and that was it.

JS: Which shops were the first to be opened?

Dorothy: The Co-op was the first up, I think. It was just a wooden shack for the first few years, and there was a chemist, a newsagents, a wallpaper shop, and a drapers shop. And it was like this until the late 60s.

JS: Do you remember when the building first started?

Dorothy: The building started after the war (WWII). There'd been no building for six years because of the war, and so the council bought up all the farm land to build new homes on. The contracts were given to several builders including Harold Clowes and Seddon's. There was a waiting list of two to three years when the estate was first built because there were so many families wanting houses.