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Development of Longbenton

By 1961 another two farmers had lost most of their land and a great new estate was thriving on it.

Between the wars Longbenton was a large area of countryside which was farmed by four farmers.  There were only two roads.  One of these was a country lane which went down to Killingworth Village and the other was a country lane which went down to Burradon Pit.  In the summer Sunday School trips and other day outings would come to Longbenton to enjoy the countryside and fresh air.

In 1938 builders moved in and started to develop a plot of land on the east side of Benton Lane.  They built rows of terraced houses, which had three bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and gardens.  These were far better than the old houses in Byker where people had lived before.  By 1945 these houses had been built well east of Benton Lane and well north of Goathland Avenue.

In 1950 the builders started to build a new style of house.  These were semi-detached with three or four bedrooms, kitchen, dining room, living room and gardens.  These houses were built on the east side of Benton Lane as well, but they were on the south side of Goathland Ave.  As more and more houses were built, so the farmers lost their land.  The farmer who had farmed most of the housing area and who had his farm at Four Lane Ends now only had his farmyard and two fields left.  Another farmer who farmed the rest of the housing area and had his farm at the bottom of Hailsham Ave, found that he was surrounded by houses.

In 1956 plans were passed for the building of three and five-storey flats, three-storey maisonettes and more semi-detached houses.  These were built on the west side of Benton Lane.  By 1961 another two farmers had lost most of their land and a great new estate was thriving on it.  But still more houses were needed and so the builders got to work and started to build two blocks of fifteen-story flats.  These flats helped to house a lot of people on a small area of land.  At the time there were many open spaces between the flats on the estate and with the population still growing and the demand for houses still greater, plans were passed to build houses in these spaces.  So now, over forty years since it all began, Longbenton has changed from part of the country to a major suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne housing many thousands of people.

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