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New Earswick was the brainchild of Joseph Rowntree of the famous chocolate family. Garden villages for company employees had been established elsewhere but Rowntree wanted to take the idea one stage further. The Rowntree Society notes:

"New Earswick was more experimental with the ideas that came out of the garden city movement. It was less paternalistic than these places, not philanthropic housing for the relief of slum occupation, but social engineering designed to change the way people lived. The village was created in large part as a direct response to Seebohm Rowntree's groundbreaking study of poverty in York, published in 1901.
Its purpose was 'the improvement of the condition of the working classes … by the provision of improved dwellings with open spaces and, where possible, gardens to be enjoyed therewith, and the organisation of village communities with facilities for the enjoyment of full and healthy lives'.
Contrary to a common assumption that the houses were intended for rent only by employees at the Cocoa Works, tenancies were available to 'artisans and mechanics … and all persons who earn their living, wholly or partially, or earn a small income, by the work of their hands or their minds…' By 1954 only a third of the residents were company employees, the remainder from York itself, thus ensuring the mixed community that had been envisaged by Joseph Rowntree."

Housing was developed in four main phases, the architects, Parker & Unwin, working closely with Rowntree. The first, built between 1901 and 1904, is situated at the south end of the village between Haxby Road and the River Foss and comprises 30 houses in Poplar Grove, Western Terrace and part of Station Avenue. Between 1905 and 1914 a more expansive development took place to the north comprising the final housing on Station Avenue together with the whole of Chestnut Grove, Sycamore Avenue and Place, and Hawthorn Terrace (the east side of Haxby Road). All the original housing units in these two phases of development are Listed Grade II. In the 1960s, with the exception of Station Avenue, the estate roads were pedestrianised in the spirit of modern town planning ideas to separate pedestrian and vehicular movements, with garage courts created to the rear of the buildings absorbing some of the garden spaces previously provided.

During this period the main community facilities, including the Folk Hall, the village school (now Primary only), doctor's surgery and parade of shops on Haxby Road were also built.

Phase three occurred in the inter-war period (1919-1936) with funding from the 'Help for Heroes' fund, and comprises Rowan Avenue and its attached cul-de-sacs. The final main development in the 1950s comprises the south west part of the village along White Rose Way, and later still along Alder Way.

The Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust, set up in the early 20th century to develop the village continues to be responsible for all the housing in New Earswick. Link.

Created: Mon, 12 Dec 2022, Updated: Tue, 13 Dec 2022