Work in the Area
Living in History
The first six houses of the project were built during 1907 on Victoria Road and officially opened on 26th February 1908 by Hon. Augustus Legge the Bishop of Lichfield. The cost of renting these houses was 6/6d per week, with the end two houses costing 8/ as they had 3 bedrooms and an upstairs bathroom whereas the rest only had 3 bedrooms. Unfortunately, Sir Richard Horner Paget was not able to see this opening as he died on the 3rd February 1908 at Cranmore Hall, Somerset aged 76. This meant the work had to be overtaken by his son, Sir Richard Arthur Surtees Paget.
A Model Housing Competition was entered by the movement, and so different houses were built as entries across the land permitted to be used. The exhibition had to be completed by September, so work proceeded soon after the opening of the first six houses. However, many of the houses weren't built as hoped, with some exceeding the specific cost of £150-£200. Houses numbered 9-19 on Thorneycroft lane (just to the left of the houses on Victoria Road) cost about £220 each after slight changes.
The foundation stone at Chubb's factory of Wednesfield road (built on ten acres of land bought from Sir Richard Horner Paget) was laid on the 9th July 1908 by Sir George Chubb, of whom he and his workforce later drove to the first six houses built. He received a framed photograph of the houses, and his wife received a bouquet from the daughter, Miss Matthews, of the first tenant. This event is shown in the image at the top of the page.
19th September, 1908 saw the opening of the exhibition: a total of fifty-three houses, twenty-nine of which (including the first six) were built by the Fallings Park Garden Suburb Movement. It was open until 24th October, whereupon the prizes were supposedly due to be awarded and a conference would take place, promoting Garden Suburb ideas. The 10th November saw this event, held by Sir Arthur Paget (his wife was not present), with the Bishop of Lichfield presenting the prizes. To much annoyance, there do not seem to be any records of who won these prizes or the Bishop's criticism's.
By 1915, only twenty more houses were built, with only half of the Busbury- Victoria- Cannock Road triangle being completed. However, strangely at least ten were built in Thorneycroft Lane and two in Old Fallings Lane (18 and 20). This was due to the fact that the Fallings Park Garden Suburb Movement was sadly losing its ambition to continue work, mainly caused by the death of Sir Richard Horner Paget, as it was his own idea. His son and Lady Muriel seemed to have lost interest in continuing the work his father had wanted them to continue as he had planned, as well as losing interest in their lands in Wolverhampton, thus dividing the estates into lots and selling them (including Old Fallings Hall). Many of his own plans were changed or not followed, with the movement building houses outside of the triangle, which was not originally as planned. By 1928, the first six houses built were being sold and let. Vast open land on the corner of Victoria Road and Cannock Road was unfortunately built on before the Second World War (not to the plans which Sir Richard Horner Paget had wished), thus changing the whole idea of the Garden Suburb Movement, leaving little evidence of its original plan. The space at the front of the first six houses was originally tennis courts and bowling greens, until the Second World War saw its claiming for strips of land for culitvation, later becoming gardens for those living in the houses. The rest of the open space opposite the houses was also later built on, leaving only a strip of land for a newly laid road. Sadly, the rural land of the movement's triangle was taken for further housing and lost, changing the area from a peaceful and spacious land to a busily crowded environment. The purpose of the Fallings Park Garden Suburb Movement was now lost forever, with only a small semicircle of open grass surviving to the right of the back gardens of the first six houses.
A Model Housing Competition was entered by the movement, and so different houses were built as entries across the land permitted to be used. The exhibition had to be completed by September, so work proceeded soon after the opening of the first six houses. However, many of the houses weren't built as hoped, with some exceeding the specific cost of £150-£200. Houses numbered 9-19 on Thorneycroft lane (just to the left of the houses on Victoria Road) cost about £220 each after slight changes.
The foundation stone at Chubb's factory of Wednesfield road (built on ten acres of land bought from Sir Richard Horner Paget) was laid on the 9th July 1908 by Sir George Chubb, of whom he and his workforce later drove to the first six houses built. He received a framed photograph of the houses, and his wife received a bouquet from the daughter, Miss Matthews, of the first tenant. This event is shown in the image at the top of the page.
19th September, 1908 saw the opening of the exhibition: a total of fifty-three houses, twenty-nine of which (including the first six) were built by the Fallings Park Garden Suburb Movement. It was open until 24th October, whereupon the prizes were supposedly due to be awarded and a conference would take place, promoting Garden Suburb ideas. The 10th November saw this event, held by Sir Arthur Paget (his wife was not present), with the Bishop of Lichfield presenting the prizes. To much annoyance, there do not seem to be any records of who won these prizes or the Bishop's criticism's.
By 1915, only twenty more houses were built, with only half of the Busbury- Victoria- Cannock Road triangle being completed. However, strangely at least ten were built in Thorneycroft Lane and two in Old Fallings Lane (18 and 20). This was due to the fact that the Fallings Park Garden Suburb Movement was sadly losing its ambition to continue work, mainly caused by the death of Sir Richard Horner Paget, as it was his own idea. His son and Lady Muriel seemed to have lost interest in continuing the work his father had wanted them to continue as he had planned, as well as losing interest in their lands in Wolverhampton, thus dividing the estates into lots and selling them (including Old Fallings Hall). Many of his own plans were changed or not followed, with the movement building houses outside of the triangle, which was not originally as planned. By 1928, the first six houses built were being sold and let. Vast open land on the corner of Victoria Road and Cannock Road was unfortunately built on before the Second World War (not to the plans which Sir Richard Horner Paget had wished), thus changing the whole idea of the Garden Suburb Movement, leaving little evidence of its original plan. The space at the front of the first six houses was originally tennis courts and bowling greens, until the Second World War saw its claiming for strips of land for culitvation, later becoming gardens for those living in the houses. The rest of the open space opposite the houses was also later built on, leaving only a strip of land for a newly laid road. Sadly, the rural land of the movement's triangle was taken for further housing and lost, changing the area from a peaceful and spacious land to a busily crowded environment. The purpose of the Fallings Park Garden Suburb Movement was now lost forever, with only a small semicircle of open grass surviving to the right of the back gardens of the first six houses.