Pettswood
In reality 90% of the UK population live in that much derided word “suburbia”. Even on a global level more people live in vast urbanisations than the country village that is high on the list of western humanities aspirations. It is beguilingly easy to see why people choose suburbia when you use Pettswood as the model.
An oasis of peace and tranquillity set amongst the hurly burly of city living. It is only thirteen miles from the capital and yet you would be forgiven for thinking that you were in another world. Open green space providing a haven for birds, amphibians and plant life. It is one of the best kept secrets of the South East. Yet it is a paradox because it has all of the vibrancy that one would expect of a place so near to the metropolis and is still able to provide the peacefulness of the countryside. It has a successful and vibrant economy – fantastic shops and restaurants, leisure facilities and good transport links. All of these things depend upon the local economy and Pettswood manages to support all of this and still offer a wide range of housing to suit individual needs. It is this combination of housing and people that has created such a strong sense of community for those who are lucky enough to live there.
Pettswood did not slowly evolve from village, town and thence suburbia, it was the dream of a man called Basil Scuby; an archetypal Essex Man who made his money as a property developer just after the First World War. He was following a trend that developed around the turn of the nineteenth century. It was part of a nostalgic dream that established itself amongst the English Garden Cities movement of people like Ebenezer Howard, who designed Welwyn Garden City. It was an attempt to move people from the confines of dirty, smog enveloped cities to healthier environs where people actually wanted to live but with the ease of travel that was necessary for work. I am sure that Scuby had the same ethos when he set out to develop four hundred acres of land on which to build his dream. The land at the heart of his dream was a peaceful, unspoilt landscape of woodland, lakes and fields of strawberries. The Londoners for whom this was probably going to become home already used the farmland as a place for picnics and a chance to recharge their batteries away from the city.
Practise makes perfect and it was a case of third time lucky for Pettswood as Basil Scuby had already had a practice run over in Essex and Peacehaven in Sussex. He had come to the conclusion that he couldn’t use inferior building methods to build a high quality environment that would encourage the “right sort” of people to move away from London. Scuby had no intention of ruining the peaceful landscape - only enhancing it. He wanted to retain as much green space as possible which was one of the concepts of a garden suburb.
Basil Scuby had a vision of houses that evoked an idealised version of a country cottage. As we now know they are very different to what most rural dwellers would have known! The designs were to reflect his idea of “rus in urbe” in lay man terms country amidst the town! I am not sure if Scuby was aware but it is fitting that there was a predominance of the use of oak; Tudor style properties featuring leaded light windows, oak front doors, heavy oak beams and timbered frontage. If you peer back through the mists of time Pettswood gained its name from a family of ship builders. The name first appeared in 1577; the Pett family leased the woods and used the timber – mainly oak to build a large number of ships!
The Pettswood that conformed to Scuby’s designs grew along the east side of the railway unfortunately as with other grand developments Scuby had overstretched himself financially and no longer had the financial resources to continue. It was probably this fact alone that was the saving grace for Pettswood as Scuby sold the land to the west of the railway to other developers. Although they did not have the vision of Scuby they recognised that the market for expensive middle class housing was probably swamped and they built homes to appeal to the masses.
Scuby’s estate was clearly characterised as a middle class bastion.
Husbands were professional city workers who would catch the early morning train to their offices in the city whilst their wives remained at home. The houses in Pettswood on the east side of the railway started at £795 for a small semi up to £2,200 for a four bedroom home; the average in London at the time was around £650. The new developers on the west side of the tracks quickly built much cheaper, more standardised housing, although some of the properties were of Tudor style the expensive fittings were avoided. This enabled costs to be cut thereby reducing prices
Pettswood demonstrates how advanced some of the architects were at the turn of the last century, they had already grasped what was likely to create a successful living environment. Their urban designs were an attempt to integrate the head and the heart, to locate the convenience of the city amidst the beauty of the countryside.
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Many would say that Petts Wood is London’s loveliest garden suburb. An oasis of peace and tranquillity set amongst the hurly burly of city living. It is only thirteen miles from the capital and yet you would be forgiven for thinking that you were in another world. A world of open green space and a haven for birds, amphibians and plant life. It is one of the best kept secrets of the South East.
Fantastic shops and lovely people are some of the many claims of Petts Wood but the facts speak for themselves, plenty of local shops and restaurants, twenty five minutes to London city centre, and one hour to Brighton or Whitstable beach and it was created because of one mans vision – Basil Scuby. An archetypal Essex Man who made his money as a property developer just after the First World War.
We are lucky that Petts Wood was one of his last and greatest projects, his earlier attempts were in the main of low quality cheap housing in Harlow, Essex and Peacehaven in Sussex. Petts Wood was to be something quite different! His ambition was to create a “garden suburb” which was to provide a high quality rural environment only a short train journey away from London for city workers.
Basil Scuby managed to obtain four hundred acres of land on which to build his dreams. The land at the heart of this story was a peaceful, unspoilt landscape of woodland, lakes and fields of strawberries. It was to this very place that Londoners of the time escaped the noise and grime of the city to recharge their batteries. Scuby had no intention of ruining the peaceful landscape - only enhancing it. He wanted to retain as much green space as possible which was one of his main concepts of a garden suburb. The area at the time was known as Petts Wood and it was named after an Elizabethan family of ship builders, the Petts or rather Phineas Pett who viewed the woodland as a prime source of oak used for building ships in the Chatham and Deptford dockyards. They may have built ships that fought in the Spanish Armada. This family was the countries leading ship builders for more than two hundred years! Much of the land is now preserved by the National Trust which has helped protect the area from too much development. There have been other famous names linked with Petts Wood, Charles De Gaulle live here whilst in exile from France and spent much of his time leading the “Free French” possibly from this very suburb! Another famous name is William Willet the campaigner for saving daylight hours. Even though there are streets named after him his link with Petts Wood is somewhat tenuous as he lived in nearby Chislehurst.
As soon as the essential infrastructure, roads, drains and other necessities were ready he then divided the area into plots and sold these on to speculative builders. Similar to the housing booms of today there were many bankruptcies amongst the builders who even then took on more than they could afford!
It did not take Scuby too long to realise that the railway was essential to the success of his garden suburb and even before Dr Beeching the railway companies were hesitant to open another station even though the nearest ones to Petts Wood were Chislehurst and Orpington, both too far away to be any use. The railway companies realised that they had Scuby over a barrel and drove a very hard bargain, he had to provide the land for the station and its needs as well as £6000 towards its construction. Looking on the bright side at least it wasn’t the good old tax payer footing the bill! Despite the scepticism of the railway companies Petts Wood Station was to become the third busiest of the twenty six stations in the Borough of Bromley. The station was also responsible for the name of Petts Wood, originally the area was to be called Crofton Park but there was another station of that name so Petts Wood it was!
The houses reflected Scuby’s dreams but also what most city dwellers of the time aspired too, a mock Tudor pad in the country with neighbours of the same social standing. The houses were far more expensive than similar properties elsewhere. This helped to keep the area exclusive. Unfortunately it made one side of Petts Wood overwhelmingly middle class. On the other side of the track or rather railway line the land was sold to developers who didn’t share Scuby’s dream and built houses that were sold at more reasonable prices. I don’t think the saying “born on the wrong side of the track” stems from Petts Wood.
Most of the development of Petts Wood occurred around the 1930’s providing good quality housing at reasonable prices. It was just a typical pre World War Two scenario. The whole vision was well planned with shops at its centre, churches, pubs, clubs and societies what more could Scuby possibly want? perhaps to be remembered! Petts Wood owes its very existence to one man who built his dream – an idyllic place to live. Is there a road or a memorial to this man? The answer is no, but then his vision lives on as a thriving garden community!
copyright© Wendy Stevenson 2011
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