NEN Gallery

A Plotlands house; this one is remarkable as having two storeys, and looks quite luxurious. Most Plotlands houses were much more simple. Towards the end of the nineteenth century farming became less profitable as cheap imports including frozen meat competed successfully with homegrown produce. Railway companies and developers bought farmland cheaply as farms went bankrupt. Land was sold off in plots to individual families, who built and gradually improved small houses on their strip of land. The first buildings were made from the cheapest materials, as the people who bought the plots were poor city families. There was no electricity, the streets were grassy tracks, and water supply was from standpipes. By the end of the Second World War, 25,000 people were living on the Plotlands in the Basildon area, there was a strong community, and some of the houses were solid and well designed.

Activity : Design a For Sale sheet for a plot, setting out what is available. Hold an auction for it.

Book a visit to Plotlands Museum.