Category Archives: Housing and Planning

Livingston in the 1970s

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I have been cataloguing the archive of the Livingston Development Corporation for eight months now. The collection is great on the technical detail, on the why and how the town was built, on who made the big decisions, but sometimes you get the hankering for a personal touch – a view of the town that has an opinion. Because the Corporation was, well, a Corporation, much of its documentation can be a little dry, efficient, business like and very much to the point – and even, dare I say it, a little self-congratulatory.  

However, a couple of months ago, whilst cataloguing the records of the Housing Department, I came across the “Reports of the Assistant Housing Visitor.” They don’t sound that promising, but these turned out to be almost diary like entries made monthly by two or three women employed as Assistant Housing Visitors. From 1970 onwards and through the 1970s these women (they were all women) visited new tenants in the town and make sure they were settling in okay, to ask if they had any problems or any issues; and, unfortunately an all too common a problem, to help them find ways to pay their rent arrears. They ended up acting, in a town with limited community facilities and services, as quasi-social workers.

These reports, far from being brisk businesslike collection of stats and targets, give a wonderful insight of Livingston in the 1970s, and of the problems the community faced and overcame.  For example, something that I come across time and again is the problems caused by dampness in Corporation housing, this arose due to poor industrial construction techniques when building vast quantities of housing in a short space of time. I’ve come across a good many technical reports as to why the dampness happened, but in the visitors reports the issue is made far more human.

 

“The main complaints come from tenants in Bison flats who are “humbugged” by “dampness”. In most cases they are using their storage heaters properly and keeping their windows open slightly as they have been instructed – this does not seem to cure the trouble.”

The Corporation, in the early days, was reluctant to accept that their choice of building construction was to blame, and instead chose to tell people that because they had never used central heating before, it was their fault the wallpaper was hanging in damp shreds off the wall.

Another related issue was the cost of heating. Many of the early houses in Livingston were installed with electric storage heaters when electricity was cheap – then electricity prices rocketed. This was a pressing concern for many years (and one it looks like we are all going to have to face again). In 1972 the housing visitor wrote -

“There is a great deal of concern and anxiety among tenants over electricity bills. In many cases, money is not saved towards this bill at all – it is the ‘great unknown’ and panic ensues when it arrives…. for most people… the main problem is the insecure feeling caused by a large, long term fluctuating bill. The cards provided by the SSEB for calculating weekly costs are not widely used… most because people people would not really believe them or do NOT want to know about their bills, hoping they will be smaller when they arrive. “

In 1974 the visitor recorded that -

“I found that a great many of my tenants have solved their fuel bill problem this winter with some ingenuity. Several tenants living in the area arrange to visit one house for two days, then another house for two days, the person they visit has a warm house whilst the visitors can leave their heating off.”

Despite this novel solution, however, the cost of heating remained an issue for many years. In March 1977-

“It is generally accepted that this is the most quarrelsome time of the year and this is assuredly born out by the number of tenants who have sent for me because of family feuding, not necessarily about rent arrears, most because of the excessively high gas and electric bills… whilst Mrs is wondering how on earth she managed to accumulate such a bill, Mr is wishing he never got married, or blaming her for being extravagant.”

There are several more entries in the reports about this issue, it dragged on for years – however, the reports provide such a breadth of insights into life in the 1970s, it is worth moving on. There is another area of insight that the reports can give – into the social and economic mores of the time.

“It is now obvious that a percentage of women work either part time of full time and that it is not possible to make contact with them during working hours.”

This was a time when it was still thought that men were the breadwinners, and women were the housewives, though times were a-changing. But even then, there were obvious issues with unemployment in the early 1970s.

“It would appear that there is a shortage of jobs for the under twenties as well as part-time work for women and according to tenants, the Department of Employment & Productivity hold out very little hope of any immediate improvement. Two cases of men having given up their jobs to move to Livingston came to light. This could be a mounting problem with all its attendant difficulties.”

And, by 1977, problems with inflation –

“this past year has been one of inflation and its attendant problems. After dealing with rent arrears problems last winter, I suggested to tenants that they should try to keep their rent a little in credit each month to try to help out with the problem months… it would be wise to stock up… as a buffer against the winter and the increased prices.”

The reports also record an issue that was unique to New Towns. The New Town Blues.  Because The main reason people moved to Livingston was “high standard of housing provided by the Livingston Development Corporation, probably the main reason why families choose to come, and remain in Livingston.” Housing in Livingston was newer, cleaner, warmer and better than the old slums and tenements of Glasgow, where many had come from, but these people left behind established communities to move to a town that had only existed since 1962, the first residents –  “the pioneers” – moving to Livingston from 1964 onwards, moved to a building site, a place of “dust in the summer and mud in the winter”. It was a town that had no established community; no established groups or societies; no cafes, cinemas, parks, or sports fields. Loneliness was rife.

“I have been discussing the problem of loneliness with quite a number of tenants. This problem is known as the New Town Blues and is widely recognised. Its avoidance lies in the development of a sense of community.”

This is something that the residents of Livingston tackled with relish. From zero in 1964, by 1973 there were two hundred and thirty clubs and societies, one for every 100 residents in Livingston. Community spirit in Livingston had flourished.

Finally, as well as the ‘big picture’ the reports also capture the smaller details that show that perhaps life doesn’t change as much as we think –  

“Another dangerous game of the children’s is to get boards and slide down the steep grassy slope from Eden Drive to the main road near the bus stop. I have seen children rolling down the slope which is quite steep and stopped my car to shout at them. One false move and these kiddies are straight under a passing car.”

Or, taking a break from work for a relaxing thirty minutes,

“the light entertainment of the month was caused through a tenant who had a hive of wild bees in her garden, these have now been removed by LDC… however I spent a quite pleasant half an hour watching the bees at close quarters, from the number of bees and the size of the mound I imagine it was quite a large hive.”

This remark attracted an annotation from the housing visitor’s boss Leslie Higgs, “Time available for this?”

Bosses are bosses, I suppose, no matter the decade. 

The Housing Visitor Reports are the subject of an ongoing blog about Livingston in the 1970s  which can be found at  http://newtownlivingston.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Aidan Haley, Project Archivist (Cataloguing), Livingston New Town: From Plan to Community, 1962-2012.

 

Edinburgh’s Inter War Housing

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St Leonards Lane, 1920s

Sanitary improvements to the urban framework of Edinburgh had got under way in the later 19th century with the work initiated by the Burgh’s first Medical Officer of Health, Sir Henry Duncan Littlejohn.  (An outline of his life and work is available to view on this website under ‘Exhibitions’ on the ‘Discover the Records’ tab)  Other improvements – including slum clearance – followed in the early 20th century along with the increase in ‘general needs’ housing developments.  These were responses to the growing shortages of dwellings within the city.

On the one hand the insanitary state of some of the then housing stock demanded a remedy.  On the other, “slum clearance” – quite an emotive title – both in and around the Old Town was even at the time frowned upon by those anxious to preserve the character of ancient Edinburgh.  One answer was what had become known as ‘conservative surgery’, an approach much less drastic than wholesale clearance and redevelopment.  To a more limited extent, this was the method used with the St Leonard’s schemes of 1927 & 1929.

Located to the south of the Old Town of Edinburgh with a dense concentration of  substandard  housing,  St Leonard’s

Gifford Park Backland

quite naturally became a candidate for remedial treatment.  A series of wonderfully graphic photographs of  the area prior to any improvement work survives within Edinburgh City Archives.  These illustrate the magnitude of the problem faced by the Council

The overall approach was designed to move most of the residents out to purpose-built housing in the new schemes on the outskirts of the metropolis leaving the cleared areas to be redeveloped with lower density housing and increased public & private open spaces.  The apparent dereliction of parts of the area as shown in the photographs, dictated a two stage approach with the 1st sanitary improvement scheme promoted in 1927 and the 2nd two years later in 1929.

Under stage 1 about 750 dwellings were cleared affecting 2600 residents who were rehoused primarily in the new Prestonfield estate.  It involved 15 sites which were located roughly between Nicolson Street and the Pleasance.  Stage 2 finally received central government endorsement in 1931 and, because of a building boom and a labour supply problem, took shape over the course of the 1930s.  This was a bigger operation than the 1927 phase involving the clearance of 24 sites, 1600 dwellings, displacing 5600 residents and relocating most of them in the new Niddrie Mains estate.  Although some of the original tenants were resettled in the area it is thought that this amounted to only around 10-15%.

St Leonards Improvement Scheme, 1927

The photographs, maps of reference drawn up for the redevelopments (see example here) together with the housing committee minutes and files preserved in the Archives give a comprehensive picture of these schemes and their impact on the urban and social character of the capital in the 1930s.

 

Rosewell Village

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Rosewell Post Office

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The village of Rosewell in Midlothian grew-up around the coal-mining industry. Mining had been taking place in theMidlothianarea since medieval times. Monks from Newbattle Abbey were known to work the local area. Whitehill colliery in Rosewell was owned by Wardlaw Ramsay. It was situated at the top end of the village where the houses ofRosedaleand Fairmeadow are now.  In 1856, Archibald Hood, an engine manager, acquired the lease for Whitehill Colliery from Ramsay. Hood modernised and extended the workings of Whitehill and extended the railway to service his pits at Carrington, Eldin, Gorton, Polton and Skelty Muir. Hood also improved the social conditions of the miners. Houses were built to accommodate workers and their families. The houses were built in a hierarchal system with managers and foremen having bigger houses than the ordinary mine worker. Unusually, every house had a garden attached to it so that workers could grow some of their own food. In 1846, the population of Rosewell was just 133 people, but by 1881 it had risen dramatically to 2129. This rise was due to many Irish immigrants coming over to find work and escape the effects of the Irish potato famine. This influx of Irish workers led to Rosewell becoming known as ‘littleIreland’.

 Rosewell Public school

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By 1885, Rosewell had a church, post office, school and a savings bank. In 1890, Whitehill colliery was amalgamated with the Newbattle collieries, which were owned by the Marquis of Lothian, to form the Lothian Coal Company. It was at this time that Archibald Hood’s son James took over as general manager of the company. James Hood was also a Midlothian County Councillor. He was closely involved with many of his father’s projects, such as the Rosewell Co-operative Society which was founded in 1862 and was the first of its kind inMidlothian. Rosewell was known as a ‘company village’, which meant that the coal company owned and controlled every aspect of life, apart from the school and the church. The co-operative retail society was encouraged and a ‘Gothenburg’ style system was adopted with the opening of The Tavern in 1909. The coal company stipulated that a proportion of the profits from the sale of alcohol went towards the creation of the public park and community facilities, such as abowling greenwhich opened in 1901. This was a win-win situation for the mine owners as the wages that they paid to their workers were handed back at the shop and the Tavern. If a worker lost their job then they also lost their house. There were strict rules about maintaining a tidy garden and planting. Failure to comply with these meant that a worker would be brought up in front of the infamous ‘green table’ to face the consequences.

 

Rosewell Tavern

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Life was undeniably hard in the early days. There was no electricity or running water, and water had been drawn from wells situated in the village streets. However, there was a strong sense of community. For example, on25 February 1892, the Rosewell Co-operative annual soiree and concert took place. James Hood was in the chair and guests were entertained by soprano singers and a ventriloquist. On21 July 1892, Rosewell Athletic Games were held in a field adjoining the colliery. Games were also held on29 September 1892under the auspices of the Rosewell Brass Band. These games included a pigeon race from Hawick to Rosewell, and there was also a trotting handicap. Rosewell had many different clubs at this time, including football, pigeon-racing and dramatic arts. By 1900, Rosewell was a self-sufficient village. Nobody really needed to venture outside of it as their needs were met. Local people worked hard and had few material possessions, but in many ways they appeared to be happy with their lot.

Written by Maureen Moffat, Local Studies Assistant

 

Staycationing – North Berwick Style

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North Berwick c1930

So Summer is here.  Technically. What more could anyone want.  Sea, Sand, Seagulls.  So North Berwick, East Lothian is obviously the ideal location for anyone seeking a summer break.  This was definitely the case back in the 1930s.

Long before the term ‘staycation’ was coined, the normal idea of a holiday in the UK was to find somewhere with a beach that wasn’t where you normally lived. Then on to the charabanc for a few days of peace and quiet away from the urban thrum, this was a generation or so before the whole week of sangria on the Costa Del Sol concept had even been considered.  Such was the demand on accommodation in the town of North Berwick that the Town Council that they appealed to the Department of Health for Scotland so that the ‘overcrowding standards’ laid down in the Housing (Scotland) Act 1935 could be temporarily relaxed to cope with the ‘seasonal influx of holiday visitors’.

East Lothian Council Archives hold a range of applications from householders from 1937 applying for the right to take in additional people for the summer.  The applications provide an amazing level of detail into the households of the people who wish to take advantage of the scheme.  However any tenant who had been located to North Berwick under the ‘Slum Clearance’ arrangements was prevented from participating as the ‘prohibition is absolute’ in their cases. So ‘staycationers’ could be assured of only the best sublet accommodation during their visit to North Berwick.

The Reverend Dr. James Maitland

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The Reverend Dr. James Maitland was an influential figure in the early years of Livingston New Town. In January 1966, he was inducted as the Church of Scotland minister for the Livingston Ecumenical Experiment, in a joint ceremony with the Rev. Brian Hardy of the Episcopal Church. This bold venture was an expression of unity between the churches, and helped to foster a sense of community among the first residents of the New Town in the 1960s and 1970s. The churches shared their pastoral duties, buildings and resources, and even held joint services for their growing congregation. The Episcopal Church, the Church of Scotland and the Congregational Church were the founding churches of the Experiment, with the Methodists joining in 1968. 

The Archive Service holds a collection of the Rev. Dr. James Maitland’s private records, which includes collected papers, diaries, newspaper cuttings, reports and minutes. They provide an insight into the pivotal role that the Rev. Maitland played in church and community life. He was an active figure in the development of community forums, which gave voice to the concerns of local residents and helped people to share their experiences of adapting to their new environment.

The Rev. Maitland also chaired the Leaking Flats Committee, and helped establish such projects as “Growing up in Livingston” which aimed to create a sense of community and inclusion amongst the town’s young people. His concern for education and environment is evident within the archive collection, which includes extensive notes on the subject. With the involvement of the town’s younger residents, James Maitland and others came up with innovative approaches to the social problems affecting those growing up in the New Town. Particular measures included the setting up of Neighbourhood Houses, which could act as focal points for community work.

One of the crowning achievements of the Ecumenical Experiment was the building of the Lanthorn, in Dedridge, which was officially opened in 1977. This represented a further step towards unity, because the design of the building allowed Roman Catholic services to take part in the same premises as those of the other denominations.

The Centre was built by Lothian Region Council, West Lothian District Council and Livingston Development Corporation along with the churches of the Ecumenical Experiment. In his pamphlet, Living Stones, James Maitland wrote of the spirit of cooperation that created the Lanthorn, which he described as ‘a place where people could meet easily and naturally and begin to find what life in community can really mean.’

The papers also record James Maitland’s ideas on the importance of compassion and care for those marginalised by society, and the role of church unity in the creation of community. Many of these ideas were expressed in his book “New Beginnings: Breaking Through to Unity”, published in 1998, and the Archive contains some of its early drafts. The Rev. Dr. James Maitland left a significant legacy to the Livingston community, which can be explored in his own words through this absorbing collection.