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Austin Village

early view of central avenueaustin vehicle on central avenue

 

The Austin Village was erected in 1917 to accommodate the ever increasing numbers of women munitions workers at the Austin Motor works, Longbridge during the Great War, many of whom previously had a 4 to 5 mile daily walk to work.


Lord Herbert Austin bought a 120 acre site and imported 200 prefabricated cedar wood bungalows from The Aladdin Company, Bay City, USA.
The village was built in 11 months, housing 2000 workers, plus their children, with 7 workers per bungalow and 12 to each brick built ‘fire break’ house.

The footprint of the village has remained unchanged, with 200 single story bungalows, with double pitched roofs and porches, all regularly spaced and unique to this country, interspersed with brick built houses.
Many of the 300 trees originally planted are now fully mature.


The village still has a community feel and is an epitaph to The Great War.

Pictured: Early view of Central Avenue (main pic credit John O Keefe)


Detailed Information

Contacts:

Address: Longbridge/Northfield, Birmingham

Contact Person(s): Hazel Griffiths

Tel:



Austin Village Website


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Finding us

(Parking on the roadside but please be mindful of residents.)

map showing in black line drawing the original layout of Austin Village

More views

recent view of central avenuebungalow