Many fans of the Geordie band Lindisfarne may have seen a BBC FOUR programme broadcast on Friday 26th November 2021: Lindisfarne’s Geordie Genius – The Alan Hull Story. Presented by Geordie lad Sam Fender, among other things, it revealed the late Alan Hull had been brought up in Benwell at Sutton’s Dwellings. But what were Sutton’s Dwellings and who was Sutton?
Sutton’s Dwellings were small flats in barrack-like blocks built as basic homes for those on low incomes between 1900 and 1939. Many of these flats in Benwell were replaced by sheltered housing and low-rise housing in the late 1990s.
When millionaire London businessman William R Sutton died childless in 1900, to the surprise of his extended family, his last will and testament directed a trust be established to provide dwellings for the poor. Early philanthropic housing schemes were developed in London, but in the 1920s and 30s, the housing trust extended its model dwellings to other major cities including Newcastle upon Tyne.
Patricia Garside’s work shows there were177 flats built in Newcastle between 1900-19 and a further 276 between 1920-39. They ranged in size from one to four rooms. The 1930s Sutton estate pictured above was sited on the former gardens of High Cross House between Adelaide Terrace and Armstrong Road in Benwell, close to the factories along the River Tyne. The Sutton flats built in Barrack Road, were developed prior to 1920 (pictured below). Garside’s detailed work on the tenancies demonstrates Sutton’s trust made a ‘substantial’ contribution to housing the poor ‘in separate self-contained dwellings’ prior to World War II.
Nationally there has been a trend to sell off social housing of this sort for redevelopment and gentrification. There is an active campaign to save one of the estates built by Sutton’s trust in the heart of Chelsea in London.
“…in Kensington and Chelsea housing associations made £5.3m from auctions in 2013 alone. Between 2013 and 2018, Brent sold £20.9m, and Hammersmith and Fulham £13.7m.” The Guardian June 13 2018
- Save the Sutton Estate: http://www.savethesuttonestate.co.uk
- Sutton Housing Trust archives: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/0034f909-fe8f-4486-972a-1fa58fcf79ed
- Benwell through the years in maps and pictures (pdf booklet, 2015) by St James’ Heritage & Environment Group and West Newcastle Picture History Collection https://co-curate.ncl.ac.uk/resources/view/68500/
- Academic article by Patricia Garside (2000) ‘The impact of philanthropy: housing provision and the Sutton Model Dwellings Trust, 1900‐1939’, Economic History Review Vol 53 (4) (pages 742–766). DOI:10.1111/1468-0289.00176 https://www.jstor.org/stable/2598602
- Benwell photos: http://www.timarchive2.freeuk.com/html/benwell.htm
- Sutton dwellings Barrack Road Newcastle (image): https://flic.kr/p/56KFu5
- Sam Fender presents new BBC documentary on Lindisfarne’s Alan Hull: https://www.culturednortheast.co.uk/2021/11/01/sam-fender-presents-bbc-show-on-lindisfarne-frontman/
- ‘Leftie is now a slur in working-class towns’ Guardian Interview with Sam Fender by Ben Beaumont-Thomas: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/aug/25/sam-fender-interview-leftie-slur-working-class-towns
An earlier version of this post appeared on https://newcastleareas.wordpress.com
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The Past and other Places 