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Between the World Wars 1919 – 1939
the history of Leyton and Leytonstone
from . dot to … dots – with plenty of spaces
Housing (continued)
Even a new house on Belvedere Road in 1928 had only one electric point (in the main room), and a copper and butler’s sink in the small kitchen 6.
6 WFOHW interview reference number 391
Something of an oddity for London was the area of makeshift homes sometimes called Lea Bridge Gardens, either side of Lea Bridge Road on the marshes side of the station and railway. ‘Plotlands’ existed near Basildon, Laindon and Pitsea and places in Kent, but were often second homes (as one was later to Leyton writer Lena Kennedy). The Leyton site horrified a Labour Party local councillor : “there were no toilets at all, they would just dig a hole in the back garden a few yard[s] away, and they would use that by the marshes. They were terrible places” 3.
3 WFOHW interview reference number 70
