User:Mrkeogh/sandbox

Saint Helier Estate
The area chosen in 1926, south of Mitcham and west of the River Wandle, was then part of the Urban Districts of Merton and Morden; Carshalton; and Sutton and Cheam. It was the largest of the L.C.C. estates south of the Thames, and the second largest overall. The estate was designed as a 'garden city', following the ideas of Sir Ebenezer Howard, founder of Letchworth and Welwyn garden cities: preserving as many as possible of the existing trees and natural features, and including many open spaces and sports and recreation grounds. It was hoped that greens, gardens, and shrubberies, backed by houses with bays and gables, would make the roads visually interesting and diverse. To this end 120 acres, more than an eighth of the site, were kept as open spaces. During building, much of the material was distributed about the estate by a specially-built light railway, communicating with sidings at Mitcham.

The area was intended to function as a community, or a series of communities, and for this purpose eighteen schools, seven churches, two large pubs, and the 2,000-seater Gaumont cinema (now a bingo hall) were built. Shops were constructed too, of course; sixty by 1938. There were 9,000 houses and flats, to accommodate 40,000 people. The huge St. Helier Hospital, a landmark for miles around, built near the top of Rose Hill, was opened in 1938. Here, in 1943, John Major, later to be Prime Minister, was born. His family lived in Worcester Park.

The roads, other than the major through roads, were named after monastic establishments in England and Wales. This was to commemorate the fact that Merton once had a notable priory; Morden once belonged to Westminster Abbey; Sutton to Chertsey Abbey; and Cheam to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the monastery of Christchurch, Canterbury. To help in locating roads, all were arranged alphabetically, with the A's in the north-west corner, ranging through the estate to the W's in the south-west.

The estate itself was named after Lady St. Helier, a former Alderman of the L.C.C. from 1910 to 1927 who had fought hard for the improvement of housing facilities in London, but who died in 1931 before the estate was completed. (St. Helier, Jersey, objected that the name would cause confusion, and suggested Jeuneville instead - Lady St. Helier was formerly Lady Mary Jeune.)