Late 1940s estate
Oakland Way

The way it once looked
(photo taken of similar scene)

Oakland Way


Families in roads round here
Had come from local spots
‘Clean living’ tenants in the ward
Were given first choice plots,
These houses, then, were post war homes
For our returning troops
And moving here from somewhere else
Considered quite a scoop.
The bricks, you’ll note, are war time ones,
You’ll spot the zig zag edge,
But spacious were the rooms inside
Behind your garden hedge,
And best of all, as folks would find,
You got a bathroom too
And it was great to take a seat
Upon an indoor loo!

The late 1940s estates were built by the council soon after the war and it gave homes to families from the local area, and beyond. This was the start of the baby boom when husbands, returning home from the war and re-joining their wives, started to produce families and needed larger homes. The houses in Oakland Way (and possibly Buckingham Way) were built by German Prisoners of War and you can see that they were using up the war time supply of bricks - those which had a zig zag patterning on the sides.

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