Stevenage 75th anniversary magazine | biz4Biz - Magazine - Page 12
History
Aston House in about 1960, just before demolition, the
Stevenage Development Corporation had transferred to
Daneshill House
A drawing office in the grounds of Aston House
The early years were marked by lots of
official talk, and little action. Stevenage
lagged well behind nearby Hemel
Hempstead and Harlow. For nearly
five years the first incomers were the
professional, technical and administrative
staff of the Development Corporation,
MAKING A START
When development finally did get under
way, it was mainly in the Sish Lane area.
You can still see four ages of Stevenage
here: a mixture of pre 1914 buildings,
interwar, and early new town, and finally
the new Stoney Hall redeveloped flats and
houses. Into this area the old town and
new town people met and ‘just got on
with it’. Mary Tabor, Connie Rees, Susan
Morris, Maureen Wratten and others
formed deep and last friendships at this
time. Like the construction workers they
too had their grumbles, about health and
educational facilities for young mums
like them, and for shopping and social
facilities for all the new residents. It is
ironic that it was the very lack of facilities
that helped create a distinctive bond and
community spirit, nothing to do with
proper planning!
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based at Aston House, a former Wartime
Special Operations Executive (SOE) Base.
Symbolically up the hill, and just outside
the new town to be. The second group of
incomers were the construction workers
for the first estates, who liked what they
saw, and stayed on. It was to Aston House
Aerial view of Stoney
Hall being built
w w w. b i z 4 b i z . o r g
that these workers would come to voice
their many grievances against working
conditions (this was the infamous ‘lump’
scheme). They would be met, in the
canteen, by the General Manager, listened
to, and sent on their way. Given the
wartime service given by many officers
at the Development Corporation, there
was certainly an element of the wartime
military style of ‘Officers and Men’.
Finally, as new businesses took up the
offer of a brand new factory on the
industrial estate on Gunnels Wood Road,
the workers followed, often enticed by the
accompanying offer of a choice of three
houses to make a home for their family.