Worcester and Gloucester; a comparative study of urban expansion in two provincial cities between 1870 and 1939

• Main Author: Dunleavey, Janet Wendy
• Published: University of Birmingham 1999
• Subjects: 900; Urban growth
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.247091

The local authority building records of Worcester and Gloucester, two provincial county towns, were used to illustrate how aspects of urban development revealed by other research were evident in provincial towns between c.1870 and 1940. Local economic activity influenced the timing of building cycles, the extent and timing of which were discernible from the sequence of architectural styles used. The vernacular architecture of each town before 1914 had its own character. Development was influenced by the pre-existing pattern of land division, and by decisions taken by individual landowners when selling land for development. Gloucester Corporation was a major landowner, and the control exerted over local authorities by central government in the mid 19th century resulted in a distortion in the pattern of development around that city. Local building practice did not change dramatically after the introduction of bye-laws in 1858 because house types and street layouts used in both towns conformed with the byelaw requirements well before 1858. The scale of housebuilding projects was smaller than in other towns researched, and speculative builders did not operate far from their base before 1914. Qualified architects played very little part in the design of houses in Gloucester before 1914.