Houghton Neighbourhood and Braydon Road

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 Rd." 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. Edited by member, 19th Mar 2014 9:39 am

Hi Mattash 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. Edited by member, 19th Mar 2014 11:42 am

An interesting article House building in post war Coventry

Here are the houses in the "Canley Estate" - located in Charter Ave. Image ©Google maps

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! Edited by member, 19th Mar 2014 12:33 pm

Thimbler Rd is also steel houses.

Another link to a reference in a book Cheek by Jowll

Looks like you cracked that one Anne.

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.