The Callerton Lane Bungalows

By the 1930’s motor cars were becoming a familiar part of everyday life, especially in towns and suburbs. This change began to affect the layout of towns and villages. Before this time, they were compact, as most people needed to be able to walk to where they worked and shopped. Cars freed them from these restriction enabling them to live on the outskirts of established settlements where land was cheaper and more readily available.

The sides of the main roads leading into towns and villages became popular as building plots, and a new, lucrative source of revenue for local landowners. This led to long lines of houses alongside the roads which were known as “Ribbon Developments” because of their shape. In Ponteland, Cheviot View was a classic example of this, as were these ten bungalows built in the mid-1930’s down Callerton Lane. The bungalows were virtually the only houses along what was then a very rural lane.

These were luxury houses when built by the standard of the time but now would seem primitive with their coal fires, single-glazing and outdoor toilets.