The image above is of the entrance to the Four Acres site. © Saffron Walden Historical Society
© John Maddams
First published in Saffron Walden Historical Society Journal No.24 Autumn 2012
A front page report in the Saffron Walden Weekly News of 20 November 1959 declared: ‘£65,000 FOR ELDERLY FOLK’S HOME, Borough and County Schemes For South Road Site’. The newspaper stated that a few days earlier the Borough Council had before them a proposal from their Housing Committee to build in a meadow in South Road for local elderly people, 21 bungalows, six two-storey houses, and a warden’s house. An invited guest at that committee meeting was Stanley Wilson, Chairman of the County Council’s Welfare Committee, who explained that grants could be obtained for such a scheme, provided they included a common room and a guest room. It was agreed that the two councils should obtain loans and buy as much land as they would need to fulfil their aims. Thus Four Acres Community Sheltered Housing was built by Saffron Walden Borough Council in 1962 on a T-shaped corner of land, 3 1/2 acres at the back of Audley Road, originally used by Verts Nursery.
The impetus for this experiment, which has since been followed and improved upon by Uttlesford District Council and other local authorities, was the need to clear slum dwellings, and provide improved basic accommodation for elderly and infirm people. It arose also out of the heart and conscience of a number of Christian borough councillors of all parties to create a community where the elderly would be properly cared for and looked after. Christian Ministers were often at social events in the early years, and from 1962 onwards for over 40 years there was a monthly worship service in the Common Room. For a long time a prayer meeting was held at Ethel Swan’s home at No 28, and various Christians have served as wardens or on social committees, although services ceased in 2005 when attendance had dropped.
Residential accommodation comprised two semi-detached houses, four bungalows, nine blocks of four flats, some single bedroom and some double, two at ground floor, two at first floor. On the south-west corner of the site was built under the auspices of the Essex County Council, a home for elderly people called Stanley Wilson Lodge, named after Sidney Stanley Wilson, Alderman, Mayor, Justice of the Peace and County Councillor, a life-long Christian Socialist. It was demolished in 2008 and a larger building erected the following year.
At the centre of the complex was laid a spacious patio terrace with paved floor, flower beds, a fish pond with a fountain and a stork stone statue, surrounded by a hedge, beyond which a large lawn with trees and a paved path. This garden was laid out at the expense of Saffron Walden & District Co-operative Society, to mark their Diamond Jubilee in 1962. The credit for building of this complex goes largely to Borough Engineer and Surveyor, Mr T. W. Cloughton. The complex was opened by the Hon. Bernard Brain, MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health. Across the years, the Council (from 1974, Uttlesford) has improved the property and facilities.
In 1963 Mrs Margurerite Walker of London Road was the first Warden, followed in 1967 by Mrs Nora Cox, in 1984 Mrs. Ethel Griffiths, in 1987 Mrs. Joan Hoadley and finally in 2000 Janice Cousins. Outings, entertainments, charity fund raising and special events have been a feature through all the years. The closeness of R. A. Butler Infants and Junior Schools, and links of a couple of residents with Katherine Semar Infants School, brought regular visits from children bearing gifts of harvest produce, or to perform Nativity plays or sing carols, together with invitations and opportunities to visit school fetes, plays, concerts, sports events and galas. A group of County High School students did regular community work on site. We have had visits of Morris dancers, hawkers, Boys Brigade and St John Ambulance cadets drilling, teenage skate boarders and young courting couples – not to mention smokers, beer-swilling youths, skinny-dippers in the old school pool, and occasional visits from police officers, traffic wardens and community police! The Community’s Golden Jubilee celebrations were merged with the Annual Big Lunch Picnic and the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen.
John and his family moved to No. 35 Four Acres, in 1972 (see Fig. 1 left). The large mature trees behind their property were planted in the Victorian period. Compared with their old accommodation, the flat was a height of luxury with central heating, an indoor bathroom, a modern kitchen and even a small garden plot. John stayed in No. 35 until December 2024, when he moved almost next door to Stanley Wilson Lodge.
Notes:
- John Maddams was Archivist & Treasurer of the Four Acres Community.
- John died on 20 January 2026. His full obituary by Zofia Everett can be viewed in the new Saffron Walden Historical Society Journal, Series 3, Vol. 1, Spring 2026