A Cornish housing charity has partnered with a local developer to deliver 36 new homes in Grampound Road and honour women misrepresented in history as part of the development.
Coastline Housing teamed up with Orchard Dean Developments for the first time to deliver the homes.
Of the 36 homes, 10 were offered for affordable rent and four for shared ownership. Orchard Dean, in its first affordable housing venture, will also offer four homes at a discounted sale for people in need of housing. The rented and shared ownership properties have now completed and are allocated or sold. The discounted sale homes will be marketed soon and the open market homes are currently being advertised by Bradleys Estate Agents.
The development has been called Alice Meadow, a name put forward by Dr Caitlin Dean, a Director of Orchard Dean Developments.
Dr Dean explains: “We were keen to seek out a name that would spark interest in the human history of this area. Our research showed that there were a number of figures with the name Alice in the history of this village. Alice Christopher was a local woman who was bequeathed a number of tin mines by Thomas Trethurffe in the early 1500s. There are also further mentions of the name Alice in reference to wives and daughters of local tin mine owners around the same period in this area. Notably one of these figures had a local estate left to her husband as women were not usually able to inherit property in those days.
“It’s been hard to pinpoint any more information than this about these particular characters which, in itself, speaks volumes. Personally I think it is notable that none of these Alice figures have their dates of living recorded, and that they are referred to only as the wives and sisters of men, which highlights exactly why we should now be using their names where appropriate for the areas and communities they lived in.”
In a happy twist of fate, three present-day women who are all supporters of the Women in Construction movement were instrumental in bringing this development to life.
Dr Dean was joined in the project by Angela Warwick, Director of Situ8 Planning, who secured the planning consent for the site and Jo Harley, Development Manager at Coastline Housing, who looked after delivery of the project on behalf of the social landlord.
Angela says: “It felt like serendipity that three modern day women in construction joined forces to peel back the years and honour women who have been misrepresented in history with this present day development. Despite comprising 50% of the population, women still make up only 11% of the construction workforce in the UK.
Jo from Coastline Housing adds: “We are absolutely delighted to be supplying more affordable homes in another area of Cornwall to families and individuals who are in need as the housing crisis continues to bite in our county.”