Austin Village OS map 1936 1 2500 25 inch

Austin Village is a

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

housing estate of prefabs between

Longbridge Longbridge is an area in the south-west of Birmingham, England, located near the border with Worcestershire, historically being within this place. Public transport Longbridge is described as a hub for public transport with a number of bus ...

and

Northfield, Birmingham Northfield is a residential area in outer south Birmingham, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England, near the boundary with Worcestershire, which it was historically within. It is also a Government of Birmingham, Engl ...

. Herbert Austin, who created the

Austin Motor Company The Austin Motor Company Limited was a British manufacturer of motor vehicles, founded in 1905 by Herbert Austin, 1st Baron Austin, Herbert Austin in Longbridge. In 1952 it was merged with Morris Motors, Morris Motors Limited in the new holdi ...

in 1905, had to take on more workers during the First World War when his factory became involved in making tanks and aircraft. In 1917, he built a new estate for his employees in Turves Green on land bought for £7,750.''Birmingham - The Building of a City'', Joseph McKenna, Tempus Publishing Ltd. 2005, He imported 200 red cedar wood pre-fabricated bungalows from the Aladdin Company,

Bay City, Michigan Bay City is a city in Bay County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The population was 32,661 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is located just upriver from the Saginaw Bay on the Saginaw River. It is the princip ...

, USA. They were shipped across the Atlantic and survived potential loss by

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

attack. These were erected with twenty-five conventional brick-built

semi-detached A semi-detached house (often abbreviated to semi) is a single-family Duplex (building), duplex dwelling that shares one common party wall, wall with its neighbour. The name distinguishes this style of construction from detached houses, with no sh ...

houses at intervals to create firebreaks. They were fitted with coke-fired central heating, gas cooker, gas water boiler, sink and drainer, and a bathroom with bath.''The Austin Village'', Austin Village Preservation Society, 2002, The external size of the bungalows was wide by deep with an additional porch at the front and boiler room at the rear. The three bedrooms were each square. The brick houses were also fitted with two gas fires. Two octagonal children's shelters were built in the islands in Rowan and Laburnum Way but these have now gone. Hawkesley Farm buildings were converted to a village hall and club room. Mature trees were planted along the roads: Central Avenue, Hawkesley Crescent, Hawkesley Drive, Coney Green Drive, Cypress Way, Cedar Way, Laburnum Way, Rowan Way and Maple Way. The village was completed in eleven months and rented to Austin workers with seven in each bungalow and twelve in each house. A wooden Baptist church (now demolished) was built opposite the north end of Central Avenue and an Anglican church (Church of the Epiphany, now gone) was built on the corner of the Oak Walk.''Austin Village Preservation Society'', H. W. Mason, 1998 After the war the requirement for workers reduced and the bungalows sold. The estate is now occupied and surrounded by conventional suburban housing. It forms the Austin Village Conservation Area.Birmingham City Council - Austin Village Conservation Area
/ref>

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

has listed the conservation area on its Heritage at Risk Register due to its deterioration.

References

External links

*
Austin Memories
��History of Austin and Longbridge

{{Authority control Model villages Housing estates in Birmingham, West Midlands Conservation areas in England Kit houses

Village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

See also

References

External links