Thornhill Road: Housing Scheme No.10

One of the biggest changes to Ponteland happened at the beginning of the 1950’s when Castle Ward Rural District Council embarked on Housing Scheme No.10 building a new council estate on what had previously been farmland to the north of the village. It was an ambitious project which was centered around two fields which were preserved as public playing fields, the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Playing Fields and sport pitches for a new school, the Ponteland Coates Endowed Secondary School built as part of the scheme.

Thornhill Road, a new access road was laid between The Blackbird Inn and the Old Rectory, It ran in a large loop, rejoining North Road by Eland Green Farm. New winding streets of mainly semi-detached brick-built houses were laid out around the two central fields with most of the houses being completed by 1954.

There continued to be a shortage of affordable housing in the district and in 1959 the Queen Elizabeth Playing Fields were built over by the council with new houses. Although only five years had elapsed since the original houses were built, these new houses were very different in character to the earlier ones.