Was looking at 1956 maps of Manc and noticed something I hadn’t noticed before- communities of pre-fabs in Hough End Fields and Heaton Park. Does anyone know when these were removed? Did anyones family ever live in them or know someone who did? It looks on the map as if they had proper roads, but there is certainly no trace now


http://img432.imageshack.us/img432/869/manc56ao7dp.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/7346/manc56ao26md.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I vaguely remember the Heaton Park prefabs as a kid. They must have been removed in the late fifties because I used to go regular and didn't see any in the early sixties. I believe they were built to accomodate some of the bombed-out families from the city and Salford docks.

I was born in one of the pre fabs off Princess Road in the 1960s-My parents could not get another house in Manchester at that time as there was a real shortage so they considered themselves lucky to have a pre-fab with lots of features that were unknown in the traditional Manchester housing at that time eg red brick terraces with no indoor bathrooms or central heating. The Hough End area had a real community spirit and lots of the people who lived there speak fondly of those days. It was also a good place for kids as they had the fields to run wild in and a brook running through to play on. I have no memories of living there as I was a baby at that time and the pre-fabs were already overdue to be removed but I do remember returning to the estate in the mid sixties for one last look and wandering around the roads looking into the empty buildings, each decorated and wallpapered individually.

I wrote a piece for the civic society magazine about prefabs but the website (where you can view pdf's of past issues) is up the swanny (like the civic society).

You can still see a vague road layout at Hough End - Framley Road is still shown on maps although is just a big path now - but like you said, there is little evidence of them left.

I got obsessed when i was researching the article on tracking down all the prefabs in Manchester and it gets a bit nerdy. Hough End and Heaton Park were certainly the biggest estates in Manchester - Salford had a couple of bigs ones aswell.

Funnily enough, just this week, i was asked by planners in Rochdale to look at a small close of rare prefabs that still survive.

Doesn't seem too much chance, but does anyone have any photos of these communities, or if not of similar from around the time? Would really love to see them, and I'm sure others would too. Otherwise any further information/reminiscences welcome.

If you go to
http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/
and type in 'prefab' you get quite a few images.

Why thank you.

If you pop by the Gmex you will see loads of prefabs inside and a few outside at the back. Might give you an idea of what they are like nowadays.

I remember the units at Hough End as I lived near there after my parents were slum cleared to Withington in the sixties. I remember them being rather nice, well looked after properties with little gardens enclosed by picket fences. I think they were used to house people who had lost their homes due to bombing in the war. They were only supposed to last 10 years or so but they hung around for about 30. There was a belated attempt to preserve them as I remember. The very real issue of clearing a massive amount of slum mid 19C two up two downs I suppose caused these units to be pressed into service longer than was originally envisaged.

amazing to look at the old pictures-no traffic, Princess Road is virtually empty and it all looks so peaceful-I remember older people used to talk about how that area was semi-rural and really sought after. Also didn't realise what a big estate the Hough End scheme was-difficult to believe that people fought to preserve these buildings, I suppose it was better than the alternatives at the time.

Hi all.
I spent a good part of my childhood in the prefabs in Heaton Park. I went to the school there and regarded the park as our garden. I cannot imagine a better place to grow up. We left when they were demolished, around 1960/1 I think. I have a few photos and could post them if anybody is interested? What I'd love myself is a copy of the pic of the map at the top of this thread in higher resolution so I could see the actual prefab plots, then I could see our house, 94 Broadmere Dr. If I could get a link to the original map sjwmoore?

I'd love to see your pics if you'd be kind enough to upload them on here, cheers.

me too

Is there a minimum post count? It says I can't post attachments.

We had prefabs where I grew up ...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3613/3322797962_c320da38cb.jpg?v=0

Can't see what the attraction is really.

Well ours were in a beautiful park with no views of a power station.

Is there a minimum post count? It says I can't post attachments.

You can't actually attach files to posts, to post a picture(if they are not already displayed somewhere on the web?), you will need to upload the images to a site like:

http://www.imageshack.us
http://www.photobucket.com
http://www.************

After you have uploaded them, to post an image click the 'Insert Image' icon http://www.skyscrapercity.com/images/editor/insertimage.gif in the tool bar above a post and paste the link to your image in there & it should [hopefully] appear!