There is a very interesting research paper here by the Kent Archaeological Society about the Estate’s construction.
The land had previously been farmland bought by the Royal Arsenal Co-Operative Society at auction in 1887. By 1899 the Society had decided to develop the land into housing.
According to the researcher RF LeGear, the RACS’s works department moved onsite to make all the windows, doors etc for the new houses in situ. Sand, ballast and chalk for the construction were available in the local area and a chalk mine was dug.
The RACS observed trade union-approved working hours for its workforce, and paid above the local union-set rate.
The first stone was laid in 1900, and a tablet commemorating the event still stands on the corner of Bostall Lane and McLeod Road (on the wall of what was until recently the Co-Op supermarket). In 1903 the London County Council built a primary school towards the southern end of the site, to educate the workers’ children.
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