33 Bell Villas, Ponteland

33 Bell Villas is probably the best-preserved example of the eight substantial stone-built free standing houses with large gardens erected by local landowner Matthew Bell of Woolsington Hall around 1826, to line the northern side of the main approach road into Ponteland from Newcastle. The story was that they were built to secure votes for Mr. Bell who was standing as a candidate in a parliamentary election, but that is most likely apocryphal.

As roads were improving in the 19th century, Newcastle business men were looking to move out of the city centre and these houses would have been most likely investment properties, offered for lease by the Bell family to prospective tenants wanting to take advantage of Ponteland's growing reputation as somewhere nice to live.

The street was the place to live in Ponteland. Whellan's Trade Directory of 1856 lists all the prominent tradesmen and people of note in Ponteland in that year. Of the 42 people listed, 14 give their address as Belle Villa.

The numbering of the houses on Bell Villas only became standardised after the Second World War, so it is not possible to say who lived in which house. Additionally, there have been many changes to the street over the years. For example, the house next-door to this one is a much later addition built into the garden of this one. Although it cannot be said with any certainty, this house looks to be the one in a photograph of the Hope family.

Until the First World War, the houses looked out onto open fields and the road was treelined, forming a very attractive entry into the village. Today's busy road lined with shops and businesses is sharp contrast to what it must have looked like.