The Ridge Estate: Wimpey, Late 1950s

The Ridge Estate was developed at the end of the 1950’s by the building company George Wimpey which later became Taylor Wimpey, one of the largest building firms in the UK.

This was an interesting time for UK housing. In the early part of the 1950’s only about 20-25% of all new homes were privately built, most new homes in the UK were council houses. Harold Macmillan as Minister of Housing relaxed restrictive building controls and private housing estates, which would go on to dominate new housing, began to emerge. George Wimpey was one of the pioneers of this new type of housing. They were much more widespread in the South of England and the Midlands but In the North East and Scotland, they began to supplement the council houses especially in the more prosperous areas such as Ponteland.

Wimpey Houses had two sites in the North East in 1958; Briar Dene at Whitley Bay and here at the Ridge Estate just outside of Ponteland. Their marketing stressed the advantages of owning your own home. “A house of your own protects you from the risks that every tenant has to face -raised rents and arbitrary termination of tenancy”.

The houses were three and four bedroomed villas, detached and semi-detached with prices starting from £2,725. They came with fitted cupboards and the kitchen, bathroom and toilets were all tiled up to a height of four feet.