Birdwood Road Estate, Cambridge

History of Birdwood Estate

1947 04 21
Title: Concrete houses under construction
Summary: Cambridge Borough Council was building 158 permanent concrete houses on the Birdwood Road site. Machinery and prefabricated construction methods were being used to complete the development rapidly.
Location: Birdwood Road Estate
People/organisations: Cambridge Borough Council
Credit: Mike Petty, Cambridge Cherryhinton Road Area Scrapbook 1897–1990, reference 47 04 21.

1948 10 15
Title: Birdwood Road housing estate completed
Summary: The City Housing Committee reported that 156 houses on the Birdwood Road Estate had been completed. Construction of the estate’s flats was delayed by a shortage of labour.
Location: Birdwood Road Estate
People/organisations: Cambridge Housing Committee
Credit: Mike Petty, Cambridge Cherryhinton Road Area Scrapbook 1897–1990, reference 48 10 15.

1954 11 20
Title: Gold coins traced to the Birdwood Road area
Summary: Council workers discovered 37 gold coins, comprising one sovereign and 36 half-sovereigns. Sludge containing some of the coins had come from drains in the Birdwood Road and Norfolk Street area; further coins were subsequently recovered from local gullies. Police suspected that they had been deliberately concealed or discarded.
Location: Birdwood Road and Norfolk Street area
People/organisations: Cambridge Corporation workmen
Credit: Mike Petty, Cambridge Cherryhinton Road Area Scrapbook 1897–1990, reference 54 11 20.

1957 10 31
Title: Catholic secondary school planned
Summary: A new Catholic school for more than 300 pupils was planned for the Birdwood Road area. The existing St Andrew’s Catholic School, then the only Catholic school in Cambridgeshire, would subsequently become a primary school.
Location: Birdwood Road
People/organisations: St Andrew’s Catholic School; Roman Catholic authorities
Credit: Mike Petty, Cambridge Cherryhinton Road Area Scrapbook 1897–1990, reference 57 10 31.

1962 07 20
Title: St Bede’s School formally opened
Summary: The Bishop of Northampton formally opened St Bede’s Roman Catholic Secondary School. The coeducational school accommodated 300 pupils and included eight classrooms, a library, laboratories, craft rooms and a combined hall and gymnasium.
Location: St Bede’s Roman Catholic Secondary School, Birdwood Road
People/organisations: St Bede’s School; Bishop of Northampton
Credit: Mike Petty, Cambridge Cherryhinton Road Area Scrapbook 1897–1990, reference 62 07 20b.

1962 11 23
Title: Work begins on new roundabout
Summary: Construction began on a roundabout at the junction of Birdwood Road and Perne Road.
Location: Birdwood Road–Perne Road junction
People/organisations: Cambridge highway authorities
Credit: Mike Petty, Cambridge Cherryhinton Road Area Scrapbook 1897–1990, reference 62 11 23a.

1963 06 14
Title: Cement dust affects Birdwood Road
Summary: Residents complained that white dust from the nearby cement works coated their houses and gardens, even turning red roses white. The works closed temporarily while a defect in its electrostatic dust precipitator was repaired.
Location: Birdwood Road
People/organisations: Birdwood Road residents; nearby cement works
Credit: Mike Petty, Cambridge Cherryhinton Road Area Scrapbook 1897–1990, reference 63 06 14.