Braydon Road and Houghton

Dear all, As a researcher I have become facinated by the sociological inquiries into the daily lives during the first post-Blitz years. In Coventry such a sociological survey was undertaken by Leo Kuper (then Birmingham University) in the late 1940s. He published his results in Living in Towns (1953). His case study is about what he calls 'the Braydon Road unit' in the neighbourhood of 'Houghton' in Coventry. Can anyone tell me something more about Braydon Road and/or Houghton? I cannot find those locations anywhere today. It could be possible that Kuper used fictional names to protect the privacy of the people in his book. But even then, to what 'real' locations might Kuper have referred to? Kuper suggests the dwellings were BISF A1 constructions (the prefrabicated metal houses) and council housing. He refers to Houghton as a remote site at which about 6000 people were planned to live. Many thanks in advance for all input on this! Kind regards, Stefan Couperus (Dutch historian working on post-Blitz histories in Europe).

Hello Stefancouperus & welcome to our forum Let's hope that you receive replies on this.

There is a "Braydon Road" in London and a "Houghton" to the south of London. The only council estate of any merit to accommodate anywhere near that amount of people in steel houses would be in Canley, Coventry. From the amount I read of the book, it seems to be taken from a few locations including London. Not much help but a start.

Hi scrutiny Thank you for your response. There are a few puzzled expressions as to the locality.

Thanks for the response! From Leo Kuper's papers I'm pretty sure he obtained his data from Coventry only. He does not hint at the exact location of the Braydon Road unit and Houghton area. But he uses quotes from the people he interviewed, which include references to other neighbourhoods in Coventry (Tile Hill, Bell Green and inner city). Houghton might be Canley since no external reference is made to that neighbourhood.

There is reference to this in an online Google book. On there it says the community centre was built in a disused farmhouse. In the book "The Coventry development plan 1951", in reference to community centres it says that Coventry has 6 community centres. Bell Green, Holbrooks and Pinley were constructed as a gift from the British War Relief Society. Cheylesmore and Whitley Abbey share premises with schools. Canley is established in a converted decontamination centre. So I think that is another vote for Canley. Tony1 refers to the community centre in a post last year as having been a disused farmhouse.

An interesting article - House building in post-war Coventry.

Many thanks for the new posts. I've been using Google Maps to get a grip on the Canley area, particularly the streets north of Charter Avenue. Based on the unclear map Kuper gives in his book on 'Braydon Road' (page 21) - definitely a fictional street name I think by now - I think I was able to find the exact location of where he pursued his neighbourhood research. I think Braydon Road refers to Thimbler Road. It has the exact same shape with the green space in between four cul-de-sacs. Does Thimbler Road ring a bell to any of you? Thanks!

Thimbler Road is also steel houses.

Another link to a reference in a book "Cheek by Jowll".

Looks like you cracked that one Anne.

Gosh - I walked past them on the way to junior school for 6 years, how did I forget those! They used to face a large open green, but that now has some sort of NHS building on it I think.

Here is a film about Coventry featuring Bill Owen from late 1940's. Prefab building on at 3 mins in.

Again, many thanks for the references! If anyone has memories or source references to the Canley housing programme of the mid and late 1940s, please let me know.

I grew up on the BISF (steel houses) north of Charter Avenue. At the outset they were 'temporary houses' with a life of 20 years - and still there There's a Hayton Green as one of the street names.