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Prefabricated houses in the 1950s

Wilson Avenue, Whitehawk. 'Before the invasion!'
From the private collection of Tricia Leonard.

Comments about this page

  • I lived in Wiston Close from 1947 to 1958. The steps in the foreground look like the ones that led down past Wiston Close (which ran parallel to Wilson Ave), all the way down to Whitehawk Road. Of course all those prefabs have been pulled down now. I’ve been looking for maps and photos of this area as it was in the photo. Can any one help?

    By Eric Cook (10/03/2007)
  • Hi Eric, did you have a brother called Michael, and a Dad who worked at Corrals Coal?

    By Jerry (15/01/2008)
  • Hi Jerry. No, but I did have a brother named Tony and my dad (George) worked for the railways. He would bring his Austin railways lorry home and often it would be the only vehicle parked in the street.

    By Eric Cook (29/01/2008)
  • Your comment about Corrals – any idea where their railway goods yard was in the Brighton area?  They ran a fleet of privately owned railway wagons.  Thanks.

    By Shaun Underhill (31/05/2009)
  • There was a coal yard at the bottom of Richmond Road, on the railway sidings adjacent to the site of the old Lewes Road Station on the Kemp Town branch. I’m pretty sure this was Corrall’s. As a ten-year-old (1959) I used to look over the fence from Mayo Road into the yard below and watch the wagons being shunted.

    By Len Liechti (22/02/2010)
  • Eric, if you look at a Whitehawk area map, find Nuthurst Close (once Road) look at the eastward end where it stops, its there that the Cinder Track (as it was called) ran from Wilsons Ave to Whitehawk Road. It crossed over Findon Road. I remember the council building the temporary Rent Office on the Cinder Track in Findon Ave as it was called.

    By David (Chris) Christie (03/03/2010)
  • Thanks for that Chris, I’ve managed to get a map of the area at the time of the prefabs, but it doesn’t show the path. Also I have found aerial photos, but again they are either before or after the prefabs were there. I’d love to find some photos af the path and prefabs between 1946 and 1958. cheers

    By Eric Cook (13/03/2010)
  • I went to Whitehawk Boys school, between 1958 and 1963, and one event I used to hate was thye cross country every week. We had to run up to Manor Road, along the race course to Wilson Avenue, right down the Avenue back down through the estate to school. One day a group of us took a short cut through the allotments on Wilson Avenue. But did we get into a lot of trouble at school the next day after complaints from allotment holders.

    By Leslie Carter (27/11/2010)

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