Stevens' Town
The space where the Green Man Estate was built used to be called Stevens’ Town. The district town incorporated a labyrinth of streets and passages along the east of Green Man Lane, the west of Brounlow Road, the north of Felix Road and the south of the Uxbridge Road. It was built by the Stevens family, a family of butchers between 1840 and 1850. During its time it formed the largest working-class colony in Ealing. The town has since been replaced with social housing under the name ‘The Green Man Estate’, however some of the cottages which were originally included within Stevens’ Town were left such as those in Felix Road, Alexandra Road etc. The reason for destroying the town was because there were a lot of issues concerning sanitation and high rent prices. In an article issued by The Middlesex County Times in 1896, one resident states “the population is growing faster than cottages are erected. Rent’s going up everywhere and people can’t get houses”. Doesn’t this resonate with us on some level today? Are we not still battling with the issues surrounding affordable housing and an increasing population? Another article was published in 1896 by The Middlesex County Times titled ‘A Trip to Stevens Town’ where the editor and associate Mr Thayers walked around the town and interviewed residents about the whereabouts of the sanitary inspector. Many of the responses from the residents in Alfred Road and Hope Road expressed that they had only seen him once or twice during the period of eleven years. However, one resident from the Green Man Lane division of the town stated that they had seen him 3 times in the 3 years that they had resided there and that when they couldn’t get any water, someone else came too. There is reason to believe that some areas of the Town were treated much better than others, we can only speculate whether this is the result of a class division.I recently spoke to some of the residents of West Ealing during an activity which I conducted in the town plaza. One resident expressed to me her concerns regarding the newly regenerated Green Man Estate she stated “There’s no emergency service when something breaks like a water leak. This is not a house it is a prison”. It is quite shocking to think that in the last hundred years or so we are still tackling these problems even with the introduction of social housing. As a resident of what once was Stevens’ Town, I have grown up here and witnessed the tearing down of a 10-acre site which was once a patchwork of fields and orchards. Since then it is now in its third stage of regeneration. I am fascinated by the stories of the residents and the land which has changed so much over the years, but has still left the problem untouched.Some may say that when they demolished Stevens’ Town they also destroyed an entire community. I am currently trying to collate stories, historical and modern into a publication, in hope to re establish a lost community. If there is anyone who has any stories of the late Stevens’ Town or if you have any stories or information concerning the Green Man Estate I would love to hear from you. You can contact me via Facebook or via my email at roisintierney@hotmail.co.uk
Roisin Tierney ● 2653d0 Comments