Your Patch
He had a dream
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2 months ago
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Garden Village
Last updated 2 months ago.
Thus in his letter to Mr Ferens, Sir James Reckitt observed, “While I and my family are living in beautiful houses surrounded by lovely gardens and fine scenery, the workpeople we employ are, many of them, living in squalor, and all of them without gardens in narrow streets and alleys”. This was the view of a man living in Swanland Manor, writing to Thomas Ferens who at that time occupied Wilton House ( on the site of the present H.I.C.A home) in the leafier part of Holderness Road. Many of Reckitt’s workers lived in the Holderness Road area where the housing situation was not as dire as Sir James described. Nevertheless the streets were intersected by terraces of small two-up, two down houses and those built before important bye-laws of the late 1800s were usually without access to the little back yards except through the houses, Nearer to the river, right among the smelly seed-crushing mills and other works were older streets of inferior dwellings, that originally housed chiefly agricultural workers who had come from Lincolnshire and elsewhere to seek and take up work in a major port. These were in the areas worst affected by the big cholera epidemics of the nineteenth century and of the sporadic returns of the disease year after year, even after the time when Isaac Reckitt, James’s father, had laid the foundation of the great firm of Reckitt and Sons Ltd.
Holderness Road led out to an area of pseudo-countryside, East park, a great pleasure-ground accessible to all, and even though a major phase of ribbon development had begun by 1908, in the construction of family houses beyond the Crown Inn, yet after the city boundary at Ings Road was open countryside with farms and fields.
To build a village within the city, with certain amenities of its own, with houses linked by gardens and tree-lined avenues was Sir James Reckitt’s dream. The necessary formalities dealt with, construction began and on 1st July 1908 the dream became a reality -
Written by local historian Mary Fowler May 2008
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MikeCovell Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!
This is fantastic stuff. Mary Fowler is a fantastic author and researcher and her "Holderness Road" book is amazing. I also read her "River and Spring" book about the development of water supplies in Hull.
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Roberto Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!
It will be great to read the "Centenary Booklet" which Mary and John Markham have contributed towards. Mike, I hope You get the opportunity to visit Waterstones bookshop on 01/07/08 where there will be copies available to buy.
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MikeCovell Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!
I can often be found propping up a "Local History" bookshelf! I love John Markham’s work too. "Street names of Hull" is a great resource tool.
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June Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!
I have had the great honour of compiling the centenary booklet – it has been an absolute pleasure – though quite a long job – and great to meet and chat with such a lovely bunch of folks – I hope those who get a copy enjoy reading the book as much as I have writing it. The launch will be at Waterstones on 1st July 6pm – around 7.30. Pop in, have a coffee and maybe meet some of the people whose lives are featured in the publication. There will also be a display of memorabilia and CD of pictures of the village throughout its 100 year life.
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Roberto Submitted 2 months ago Unsuitable Content? Report it!
Having seen pictures of the earlier housing in the area around the Reckitt’s factory, Particularly the houses around the drain, I think Sir James Reckitt fulfilled not only his dream but the dreams of countless people that have lived or still live in the Garden Village.
Sir James had the intentions of his project reaching much further than providing a good home and I personally think that the social implications resulting from this development have borne fruit over the last century judging by the kind and considerate nature found in most, if not all of the villagers.
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