Ask someone who lives at the top end of Hoe View Road what they can see from their back window and they will likely tell you, “a view of Hoe Hill”. So that explains how Hoe View Road got its name.

The naming of the road is straight forward but the history of the building of Hoe View Road is not so obvious and a lot more interesting.

Before the 1950s none of Hoe View Road existed: by the early 1970s it was all there. But the road wasn’t built in one go, it took 20 years from start to finish.

The first question that comes to mind is, why was it built?

Before it, the village road plan was very basic, so much so that census reports usually list only “Main Street” (the Nottingham Road - Church Street continuum), Fern Road and Stockwell Lane (or one of its earlier names) – little else existed. Maps showed the layout hardly changed for 100 years.

What brought about the building of Hoe View Road – was it the mining of gypsum or maybe the making of cheese? Neither; it was aircraft.

Not seen the village air strip – that’s because it is 5 miles away, at Langar.

It was during the Second World War in 1942 that the airfield at Langar was constructed. By 1944 the Royal Airforce Bomber Command was flying from it, 32 Lancaster Bombers or, I should say, 32 AVRO Lancaster Bombers.

The AVRO company was founded by Alliott Verdon Roe in 1910 and was eventually merged into the Hawker Siddeley Company in 1963.

During the war over 7000 of the highly successful Lancaster Bombers were built at AVRO's factories in Manchester.

But aircraft damaged in the War needed repairing and that is what AVRO workers did in the giant sheds at Langar. They were able to quickly rebuild wrecked planes so that they could go into action again.

After the war, they used their skills to rebuild, repair and maintain the peacetime version of the Lancaster, the AVRO Shackleton which was used for maritime reconnaissance.

Workers need somewhere to live and the local council, Bingham Rural District Council in those days, chose Cropwell Bishop as the best place to build them homes.

The first stretch of Hoe View Road was built in 1952 and about half of the 102 new homes were occupied by AVRO workers and their families. Two families that moved in then, are still living there.

At its peak, over 800 people were working at AVRO in Langar. In 1965 it was still fully operational but in 1968 it was finally closed.

Why was Cropwell Bishop chosen for the needed homes rather than Langar or Barnstone or Harby? I don’t know: does anyone?

The houses built in this first phase of building are numbers 1 to 63 and 2 to 140. All the other homes on Hoe View Road were built many years later: but that is another Street Story.

Tony Jarrow

Note: Thanks to Anne Terzza, Pam Barlow and Linda Field for their help with this article.

The building of Hoe View Road began in 1952 (see Street Story: Hoe View Road 1st Build).

Bingham Rural District Council was responsible for the building of council houses in those days. Houses were built up to number 63 on the south side and 140 on the north side.

The planners left a wide gap at the top of the street — between the end houses, numbers 63 and 140. This suggests that, whilst not aware of future housing plans for the village, they were at least making provision for extending the road. They also left gaps in two places on the left-hand side, wide enough for a new road if needed.

Sixteen years later, the decision to enlarge Cropwell Bishop was made and the end of Hoe View Road was opened up and Parkin Close built (see Street Story — Parkin Close).

At this stage, the planners would have had sight of proposed plans for a new housing estate in the Village and known that Hoe View Road would eventually stretch to Nottingham Road.

They would also have appreciated that new access roads to the estate would necessitate a number of homes being demolished. The people living in them would need re-housing. So would another section of the community — those living in old, substandard houses.

Consequently, the Council not only built the homes on Parkin Close, but also a variety of homes on the extension of Hoe View Road up to Parkin Close. They included houses, flats and bungalows.

Being merely an extension of the existing Hoe View Road, there was no need for a new street name. House numbering simply continued on from the 1st Build houses.

After the homes were completed, there existed a fence across the end of the road. There it would remain until the completion of the third, and final, build of Hoe View Road — one which would finally make it a true road, instead of a cul-de-sac, with access to Nottingham Road. But that is another story.

Tony Jarrow

Note: Thanks to Anne Terzza, Pam Barlow and Linda Field for their help with this article.

On the 21st July 1969, man first stepped on the Moon. Ten days later came a first step (an auction) that had Cropwell Bishop bracing itself for a very different arrival: the Baby Boomers were coming to the village!

In the late 1940s, after the end of the Second World War, times were hard economically, but people could at least see a more secure future ahead of them and were keen to get married and start a family.

The dream of many was to rent a brand-new council house – and the English Councils were building them in their millions. Housing estates were springing up in cities and urban areas everywhere.

The result was a population boom. People born from 1946 to 1964 are generally described as baby boomers.

As they grew up, they would endure lows and enjoy highs. From the age of 5 they would walk up to a mile to school, sit in classes of 36+ inside Victorian school buildings, face being caned, and dread the 11+ exam that would send the “top 20%” or so (the percentage depended on the council's school building programme) to a Grammar school where bus travel, new buildings and text books were the norm.

The other 80% were consigned to the nearest Secondary Modern school. These schools would have to accommodate the population bulge. For the ever-increasing pupil numbers that arrived, classes in the school hall, dining room or prefabricated rooms were common place.

But they would also be taught practical skills like woodwork, cooking and metalwork that, in the long run, would serve them well.

Those who qualified for higher education could get a grant that paid all their living expenses while at university – and tuition was free.

Whether youngsters finished their education on leaving school at 15, or at 21 with a university degree, they at least shared the same prospect. All of them, irrespective of academic success, would be able to find a job (of some kind) that put money in their pockets.

By the end of the 1960s these baby boomers wanted a home of their own. But, unlike their parents, they didn’t want to rent a house – they wanted to buy one.

This time around, new housing estates were of private houses, with good reason; the majority of young couples could afford to buy one. In those days, getting married and moving straight into a new house was a real possibility for many.

So, 1969 was the year that Cropwell Bishop joined the housing boom that would eventually result in nearly 300 new homes. During the next 7 years people of all ages joined the village community – and they were predominantly baby boomers looking to start a family.

As you can imagine, the influx of so many ‘outsiders’ was not a welcome sight for some of the older residents, but the majority saw as it as an opportunity to breathe new life into the community.

The plan for the new estate was drawn up and builders bid for the contract. It consisted of 174 houses, 97 bungalows and 6 flats.

It included a road that joined the top end of pre-1970 Hoe View Road with Nottingham Road and, logically, it was also called Hoe View Road.

House building does not always go to plan. The company that built the houses on, and around, Hoe View Road was John Thomas Bell & Sons Ltd based in Doncaster. The company was founded in 1946 so, I suppose, you could call it a baby boomer company.

The company began by building homes on Hoe View Road and the cul-de-sacs off it (except Cooper Close). It built over 100 fine homes – about half were bungalows and the rest, large detached houses.

At this point the Bell Company had a change of heart. It decided to sell the remaining land and building contract to George Wimpey Ltd. At the time (1972) Wimpey was the largest private housebuilder in the country.

Now, nearly 50 years later, it is difficult to explain Bell's decision. Maybe the time and cost of regular travel from its base in Doncaster was having a negative effect on its profits.

Wimpey built show houses at the top of St Giles Way and set up its sales office next door. But the house designs were their own, not those of Bell.

Wimpey stuck with the road layout of the original plan but not the size and placement of houses: they had their own ideas, and they knew that customers would not be difficult to find.

This was a time in Britain of extremely high price inflation and, belatedly, wage inflation. You could buy a 4-bedroom detached house for about £7000 but, a year later, it would cost you £8000 to buy a 3-bedroom semi.

Look, below, at the original plan of the estate and compare it with the aerial photograph of 2016. The houses built by Bell appear to match the plan, but those built by Wimpey deviate quite a bit.

Building continued for about 5 years, and noise, dust and unmade roads became a way of life until, suddenly, it came to an end.

Cropwell Bishop was no longer the little village it was and its character would change for ever.

Tony Jarrow

Note: Thanks to Anne Terzza, Pam Barlow and Lol Simpson for their help with this article.