Development of Earlsdon and Association with the Irby-Hopkins Estate

For much of the period up to the First World War, W H Hattrell was actively involved in the development of Earlsdon and other working-class districts of Coventry. Notes in the drawing register suggest an involvement in such developments from the very beginning of the practice. The first page of the drawing register contains entries:

Drawing No 1008    Plans and Sections Proposed Cottages, Station Street
Drawing No 1009    Elevations: Proposed Cottages, Station Street
Drawing No 1019    Eight Houses and One Shop: Foleshill

However, the papers of the Land Agents for the Irby-Hopkins estate deposited in the Coventry Records office include some 52 references to Walter Herbert Hattrell during the period 1902 to 1912. These are in the form of brief diary notes kept merely as a day to day record. Although the notes relate to several estates throughout the city, the new houses were all of a similar type, mainly terraces of artisans’ dwellings. Unfortunately, the Land Agent’s records provide only a small glimpse into the dealings among the various land owners, developers and builders. Extracts from the papers include such notes as:

14 Oct1902    Costs of Gosford Street estate road construction. Gosford Park Ref. 279/44/791
7 Nov 1906    Harrison & Hattrell preparing plan for the correct boundary line between Gardner’s land and C S Irby’s land
19 April 1909    WHH bargaining for Leicester Causeway back land
18 Aug 1909    WHH promises to fence Gosford Green land when sold
12 June 1912    WHH says that Gardner has completed Charterhouse Road but not St Margaret’s Road
29 June 1912.     WHH stipulates that Gardner may build two streets on the eastern side of his estate but must make up St Margaret’s and Clements Roads
27 Oct 1912    WHH allows Gardner to build on two plots previously reserved for road making